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From a rapper to a reggaetón-pop hitmaker, Becky G‘s musical journey has been nothing short of eclectic. On Friday (Sept. 29), the artist unveiled a new chapter in her ever-evolving career, as she dropped the mesmerizing Mexican music album Esquinas — a sincere exploration of her identity as a proud “200 percenter”: 100% Mexican, 100% American. Her third studio album is a tribute to her roots, and a celebration of her identity.
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Growing up in Inglewood, Calif., Becky G found inspiration in the rich tapestry of regional Mexican music, a source of deep connection since childhood. Her musical tastes, spanning from R&B to country to rancheras, led her to declare herself a genre-defying artist. “Music is a universal language — it feels limitless, it feels like I can create with intention, no matter the sound, no matter the language,” she tells Billboard Español.
With Esquinas, she embarks on a journey of rediscovery, delving into her Chicana roots, a tribute influenced by her abuelitos who encouraged her to explore regional Mexican music. It’s a full-circle moment where her diverse influences coalesce into a heartfelt homage to her heritage.
Featuring classic música mexicana covers, and an impressive cast of guests including Yahritza y Su Esencia, Ivan Cornejo, DannyLux, Peso Pluma and more, the album beautifully encapsulates her identity— a convergence of cultures, languages, and flags — at the crossroads of her rich and diverse experiences.
Becky G sat down with Billboard Español to discuss this new project.
You debuted as a rapper, then you became a reggaetón-pop hitmaker. Today you released a regional Mexican music album.
It’s been quite the journey, girlfriend. Para mí desde niña la música regional siempre me inspiraba (Since I was a little girl regional Mexican music always inspired me). I grew up listening to all kinds of music in English and Spanish: from R&B, country, reggaetón and rancheras — and everything in between. I consider myself a genre-less artist, and I love that about my creativity. I’ve even done a K-pop fusion.
Music is a universal language. It feels limitless — it feels like I can create with intention, no matter the sound, no matter the language, si es en español, o si es en inglés (be it in Spanish, or be it in English.)
How did you come up with the title, Esquinas?
I’ve always felt like I’m not this side or that side of the street. I am literally la esquina (the corner). La esquina is where those cross streets meet — where those two languages, those two flags, and the two cultures [reside.] When I close my eyes and I think of what I experienced in my culture growing up, to capture that essence as close as I can to when I was a little girl is really important to me. Even the city that I grew up in is changing so much. So it’s a very intentional body of work, from the visuals and song selections to all of the collaborators. [Producer and songwriter] Edgar Barrera is family to me, and he really helped create a sound that represents me in this space. I feel like you can really hear me and see me in this album.
You’ve pulled up some amazing guests on your new album: Peso Pluma, Gabito Ballesteros… How do you select who to collaborate with?
Going back to creating something of our own as 200 percenters… There is this wave of fresh and authentic artists in the regional space, and we’re not necessarily erasing our traditions; we’re embracing tradition as well as giving it our own new school flair. I had my heart set on artists who interpret regional music in their own way, because I think that’s really how we’re going to continue to evolve and introduce it to the world. Obviously, it’s been around forever, but that was my intention.
When I worked with Peso y estuvimos en el estudio (and we were at the studio), we didn’t really have intentions. It was just to introduce each other. Then Edgar [Barrera] whips out a guitar, and next thing you know, we wrote [“Chanel”] in 45 minutes, así de la nada (just like that out of nowhere). It was instant chemistry between Peso and I. One of my favorite memories is working with Ivan Conejo on our song [“2ndo Chance”]. He almost canceled the studio session, ¡le tocó los nervios! (He got nervous!) He’s like, “I feel a little bit of pressure. I want to do a really good job. I’m going to be going on my first tour, and I just don’t want to let you down.” I was like, “Bro, you could literally come and we can eat In-N-Out and just hang. We don’t have to write anything. Let’s just vibe.” Then one thing leads to another and you start creating these beautiful friendships.
There are also a few Mexican oldies but goodies in the album.
Like any traditional regional project, you want to have some covers on there. I personally selected the covers that I did for the album. They either take me to a point in time in my life that remind me of my childhood or have such a deeper significance, even before I ever existed. One of those is “Cruz de Olvido.” It’s a song that my papi (grandpa) dedicated to my grandma when he was crossing over from Mexico to the United States. My grandma had her sons, she was left behind by the love of her life, so he could hopefully establish a better life for them — and to eventually cross them over as well.
“Cruz de Olvido” is one of the first mariachi songs that I ever learned. I have a video of me singing it to my papi on his birthday. I’m 12 years old, singing it in the front of my papi’s house in Inglewood. He is no longer here.
Stepping into this project, what did you rediscover? How did you reconnect with your heritage?
The essence of me being Chicana, born and raised in Inglewood, and being very proud of my Mexican roots, that’s always been there. Maybe it wasn’t at the forefront of my [creative work] or aesthetics. But as far as my essence and my being, I am who I am because of the culture that raised me. I’m very lucky to have had my abuelitos. All four were very present in my life for most of my childhood. Two years ago, when I lost my papi, my abuelito… he was kind of the catalyst as to why I decided it was time to do the project, because it has been a dream of mine since I was little. Yo siempre hablaba con ellos, they would be like, “mija, ¿y cuándo [harás] música regional? Es que cantas muy bonito cuando cantas con mariachi” (sweetheart, when will you [make] regional music? You sing very beautifully when you sing with mariachi). My grandma would make fun of me because when I would rap, she was like, “Ay mija, ¿por qué tan enojada?” (why so upset?) I’d be like, “Because I got s–t to say, grandma.” It’s so beautiful now. It feels very full-circle. It definitely feels like it’s a part of my soul when I sing música regional mexicana.
I remember watching you live at a Mexican festival a few years ago, and you said something beautiful: “I love my life in between two worlds representing two flags.” You are a proud 200 percenter. What does that mean?
I remember there was a moment in my life when I was like, “Man, 50/50 doesn’t cut it. Why do I have to give up half of myself to be accepted here, and then vice versa?” It doesn’t do what I feel in my heart justice to just cap it at 50% here, and 50% there. I’m 100% proud to be from Inglewood, but I’m also 100% proud to be Mexicana, to be Latina. I want to consider myself 200%. I feel like it’s something that a lot of youth who grew up in mixed ethnicity households can identify with.
I have friends who are Asian-American, African-American, and they’re like, “Girl, I hear all the time, I’m not enough this, or I’m not enough that.” [I wanted to] create a space for ourselves to be who we are, authentically. And as time goes on, hopefully the next generations can get more inspired to understand that nunca es tarde, it’s never too late to learn more about where we come from. For me, ser latina es más que hablar el idioma (to be Latina is more than to speak the language). I am so pocha (Mexican-American), and probably forever will be, but I’m going to own my pocha power. The fact that I can think in hybrid is really cool.
The fourth edition of Jacob Collier’s musically ambitious and Grammy-decorated Djesse project will be released on Feb. 29, 2024, through Hajanga / Decca / Interscope.
Collier won a Grammy for a track from each of the first three volumes in this franchise. If his goal is to keep that streak going, he could hardly have picked a better duet partner for his newly released single from the album: Grammy favorite Brandi Carlile, who joins him on the hypnotic ballad “Little Blue.”
“‘Little Blue’ is such a gorgeous song and Jacob is a generational talent,” Carlile said in a statement. “I spend an embarrassing amount of time following him and studying his mind-bendingly beautiful music. Getting to climb inside of it and be a part of his creation is a wonderful twist of fate.”
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The new album already contains a Grammy-nominated track — “Never Gonna Be Alone” (featuring Lizzy McAlpine and John Mayer), which was nominated two years ago (when it was a stand-alone single) for best arrangement, instruments and vocals. Collier and McAlpine co-wrote the song. The album will also contain Collier’s recent single “WELLLL,” a pop/rock track which he co-wrote with Remi Wolf.
Collier won best arrangement, instruments and vocals for a remake of Lionel Richie’s 1983 smash “All Night Long (All Night)” (featuring Take 6) from Djesse Vol. 1; best arrangement, instrumental or acapella for a remake of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer’s Oscar- and Grammy-winning “Moon River” from Djesse Vol. 2; and best arrangement, instruments and vocals for “He Won’t Hold You” (featuring Rapsody), an original song from Djesse Vol 3.
Collier’s Grammy winning streak pre-dates his Djesse project. He won two Grammys for tracks from his 2016 debut album In My Room. A remake of Stevie Wonder’s “You and I” (which was a highlight of Wonder’s 1972 album Talking Book) won best arrangement, instrumental or acapella. A remake of The Flintstones TV theme (which was introduced in 1962) brought Collier the award for best arrangement, instruments and vocals.
Collier, who was born in London, is the first British artist to win a Grammy for each of his first four albums.
Collier, 29, first gained widespread notice three years ago when Djesse, Vol. 3 was nominated for album of the year. (It lost to Taylor Swift’s Folklore.)
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The first three Djesse volumes featured a diverse roster of nearly 25 guest artists, also including JoJo, Steve Vai, Jessie Reyez, T-Pain, Kimbra, Tank and the Bangas, Daniel Caesar, Ty Dolla Sign and Tori Kelly — plus Collier’s mom, Suzie Collier.
In the midst of working on Djesse, Collier started turning each of his concert audiences – from rock clubs to Lincoln Center, and even festivals like Bonnaroo and Glastonbury – into sprawling, improvised choirs. Having recorded each of his 80+ audience choirs, roughly 150,000 different voices play a role in the story and creation of Djesse Vol. 4.
In a statement, Collier reflected on the life-changing Djesse project: “Five years ago, in the wake of a musical journey that had begun in solitude, I set out on an epic adventure with a big dream – a collaborative quadruple album, and by way of that – to learn music, and life, from the greatest teachers of all – my heroes.
“In many ways, Djesse Vol. 4 is an album that’s taken me 30 years to make. It is, to me, a celebration of humankind – the way that I see it and hear it, built with musicians from every corner of the world. To be culminating this collaborative experiment with a 100,000 voice audience-choir, a sound that permeates the heart of this album, feels like I’ve found the heart of it. My voice is only ever as full as the voices around me. Everyone is welcome, and part of the tapestry. And most of all, creating this album has reminded me that life is full of magic, if only we can remember to look for it in each other.”
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Collier has collaborated extensively with Coldplay, appearing on their 2021 album Music of the Spheres, performing with them as a featured guest at their Wembley Stadium shows last summer and on Saturday Night Live in February. Collier co-wrote, co-produced and was featured on “Human Heart” (which also featured We Are King). Collier received a Grammy nod as a songwriter, producer and featured artist on Music of the Spheres, an album of the year nominee last year.
Collier received a Grammy nod for best R&B song two years ago for co-writing SZA’s “Good Days.” The song is featured on her album SOS, which topped the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks and is considered a sure thing to receive a Grammy nod for album of the year. But because of a Grammy rule change this year, where the Academy instituted a baseline requirement of 20% of playing time for a participant to receive an album of the year nod, Collier will not be in line for a Grammy nod for that contribution to the album.
His other Grammy nods, not already mentioned (he has received 11) are for best R&B performance for “All I Need” (featuring Mahalia and Ty Dolla Sign), a track from Djesse Vol. 3 and best arrangement, instruments and vocals for a remake of the 1946 Nat King Cole Trio classic “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), which was a stand-alone single for Collier.
Collier also co-wrote and performed on seven tracks of Stormzy’s 2022 album This Is What I Mean.
For the bulk of his career, acclaimed artist, writer and producer David Hodges has found success in the collective work of helping collaborators to shape ideas and messages into songs — as part of the 2000s hitmaking rock outfit Evanescence, as a hitmaking songwriter and with co-writers on more than a dozen of his own solo projects.
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As an early member of Evanescence, David Hodges co-wrote many of the songs on the group’s 2003 debut album Fallen, including the top five Billboard Hot 100 smash “Bring Me to Life.” After leaving the group before Fallen was released, the two-time Grammy winner has spent the better part of the past two decades cementing himself as a key element in the creation of numerous hits, writing on Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You,” Ed Sheeran’s “2 Step” and “Afterglow,” Carrie Underwood’s “See You Again” and “There’s a Place for Us” and Kelsea Ballerini’s “Miss Me More.” He’s also worked with Celine Dion, the Backstreet Boys, Daughtry, Jason Mraz, Avril Lavigne and more.
But on his upcoming, 23-song, two-part double album, The Unattainable/The Unavoidable (out Friday, Sept. 15), Hodges tenders frank vulnerability as he unveils more than ever of his own recent journey.
With The Unattainable/The Unavoidable, Hodges unflinchingly traces his love-loss-love story, excavating every turn of emotions along the way. On the album’s first half, The Unattainable, songs such as “Waves” and “The Man Who Makes Mistakes” chronicle Hodges’ divorce, while The Unavoidable features songs including “Still Be You” and “You Go First” that focus on the early embers of healing and embracing new love.
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“When I’m working with artists to develop a whole album, I’m always thinking of sister songs on a record,” says Hodges, who is managed by Lucas Keller’s Milk & Honey and published by Kobalt. “They may not have the same instrumentation or be next to each other on a record, but there’s something that links these two songs together in a broader perspective. So as this album was coming together, it kind of naturally fell into these buckets of going into a valley and coming up from a valley.”
The project’s fulcrum and title track, which Hodges wrote with Drew Kennedy, serves as a musical bridge connecting the two sides of the project. Kennedy presented the idea of writing and positioning lyrics that tell one story when read straight through but tell the opposite story when read in reverse. “At the end, we had this finished piece of art, and you look at those lines differently when you see them in the context of how what comes before, what comes after it,” Hodges says.
He wrote “I’m Around” with Donovan Woods, about the willingness to still support an ex-lover, as he sings, “I might have left your life/ But I didn’t leave town.”
“There’s so much detail about a specific moment,” Hodges says. “That’s what I love about this project — it’s not just about a breakup. This song is about six months after the breakup, you’re still healing from the wounds, but there is also still a real love and care for each other that supersedes current feelings.”
“When it comes to you, emotions flow in twos/ Yellows to saddest blue,” he sings in “Emily,” one of Hodges’ seven solo writes on the album, and a track inspired in part by the Pixar movie Inside Out.
“In Inside Out, Joy is yellow and Sadness is blue and one of the lessons in the movie is that as you grow up, your memories are rarely just one emotion. This song is about thinking back on the relationship, and it’s not all blue and not all yellow. I felt like that song captured a sense of feeling like, ‘We can still look back fondly on some of that stuff, but all of it’s gonna have a bit of a blue tint to it.’”
Overall, the process reminded Hodges of his love for full-length projects, even in an era where streaming and social media places the focus on individual songs.
“I miss the focus on album-making, because the single is the driver for so much art. It’s a unique challenge to have such a finite space to work in. Especially in pop music, when you crack the code, it feels great to make something compelling within this small framework. But making this album reminded me again how much I like long attention spans. When Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” first released, a buddy of mine was asking me about it and I was like, ‘I’m going to try my best to wait until the album is out to hear anything beyond “Vampire,” because I want to know what each of these songs mean in the context of the bigger story she’s telling.’ I don’t know Olivia or if she is drawn to that long-form storytelling — but artists like Billie Eilish, Adele, Ed Sheeran, you can tell they are thinking in terms of this longer storytelling. I love to embrace a whole piece of art.”
Though Hodges is one in a lengthy line of hit songwriters to also issue their own albums — including recent offerings from country songcrafters Lori McKenna and Ross Copperman — he notes the new album is also a heartening prospect for his fellow songwriters.
“I love my job of songwriting, of helping artists tell their stories,” Hodges says. “But it’s also personally rewarding for me to have a body of work that I can say is really mine. I’ve been surprised by how many songwriter friends of mine have reached out to me and said, ‘I’ve been sitting on a collection of songs for years and watching you put out your own music reminded me that I should, too.’ I would love for every songwriter to put out their own music as well; it becomes a calling card for you as a writer, too.”
As any musician knows, it’s a tough task to score a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The feat requires some blend of the following key ingredients: a strong song; a charismatic artist; consistent promotion and marketing effort,; an engaged fan base; and maybe even a viral live performance, meme or other stroke […]
Doja Cat is working on a follow-up to her 2021 groundbreaking album, Planet Her, and over the past few months, she’s been teasing fans with snippets and hints about the upcoming project. However, one thing she keeps switching up is the album title. Back in March, the “Woman” singer suggested that the album would be […]
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Travis Scott is not taking any chances with his new project. His security guard has been spotted handcuffed to a briefcase containing his new album.
As per on HipHopDX the Houston, Texas rapper has been in the studio working on his new LP. On Thursday, May 18 TMZ spotted him leaving a vinyl record store in Hollywood, California. While walking to his car he is seen being protected by an unidentified man bearing a fair resemblance to wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin. The man’s wrist was noticeably handcuffed to a brown leather briefcase bearing the name of Cactus Jack’s upcoming album Utopia.
While it is uncertain if the security detail is really responsible for safekeeping of the album, Travis Scott was also wearing some never seen before Nike’s also featuring Utopia branding. Thus, many music insiders claim this is all a clever ploy to tease his forthcoming fourth album. Back in February Epic Records CEO Sylvia Rhone was interviewed by Billboard Magazine and revealed that Travis Scott’s new album is indeed slotted for a June 2023 release. Additionally, producer Mike Dean recently shared a screenshot of a mixing session for the album. He later removed the photo from his social handles.
Travis Scott fans have been waiting for new music for close to four years. La Flame’s last album Astroworld was released on August 3, 2018. This effort spawned multiple hit songs including “Butterfly Effect”, “SICKO MODE”, and “Star Gazing”. It has since sold over three million units.
Photo: Kevin Rawls
ONCE, the day has arrived. TWICE unveiled their 12th mini-album, Ready to Be, on Friday (March 10).
The group’s previously released second English single “Moonlight Sunrise” is included in the seven-track set, in addition to songs like “Got the Thrills,” “Blame It on Me,” “Wallflower,” “Crazy Stupid Love” and “Set Me Free.” “Set Me Free” is the only track on the record that will receive a version in both English and Korean. “I think it’s the songs of ours that carry TWICE’s color rather than the language in which the song is sung,” Jihyo previously told Billboard. “I don’t think the language is that relevant in carrying out TWICE’s [identity].”
The K-pop group’s last mini-album, Between 1&2, was on the Billboard 200 for eight weeks and peaked at No. 3.
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TWICE was honored with the Breakthrough Award at Billboard’s Women in Music event on March 1, where they chatted with Billboard on the red carpet about the album. “We are ready to show more of our beautiful inner side to the world and ready to show more of ourselves,” Tzuyu shared of Ready to Be.
Listen to Ready to Be in full below.
At midnight on Friday (March 3), Morgan Wallen unleashed his massive, 36-track third studio album, One Thing at a Time, via Big Loud/Mercury/Republic.
The new album features a blend of Wallen’s country, alternative and hip-hop influences, and features collaborations with Eric Church on “Man Made a Bar,” HARDY on “In The Bible,” and ERNEST on “Cowgirls.” Elsewhere, he interpolates The Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider” on “Everything I Love,” and interpolates Young Thug’s “Lifestyle” on “180 (Lifestyle).”
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“This record represents the last few years of my life, the highs and the lows,” Wallen said via a press release. “It also brings together the musical influences that have shaped me as an artist – country, alternative and hip-hop. There are 36 songs on this album because we just kept exploring with fresh lyrics, music and production ideas and these are the songs that felt right to me. It was a blast to create, and I was so grateful to be back in the studio to lay this out for my fans.”
One Thing at a Time follows Wallen’s 2018 debut album If I Know Me, and seems poised to possibly dethrone the current No. 1 on the Billboard top country albums chart–Wallen’s own album, Dangerous: The Double Album, which has totaled 96 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s top country albums chart since its release in January 2021. Last year, the album broke the record for the most weeks spent in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 among albums by a solo artist. Meanwhile, two songs from One Thing at a Time are already atop the Billboard country charts: Wallen tops Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart with “Thought You Should Know” and the Hot Country Songs chart with “Last Night.”
Wallen added, “I just try to tell it how it is – the good, the bad, the love, the heartbreak. That’s all I know how to do,” says Wallen. “My hope is that this album makes my fans proud; makes ’em laugh, smirk, cry, and think – just like it did for me.”
To celebrate the album’s release, Wallen will headline a free show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Friday, March 3.
Stream One Thing at a Time below.
Prepare to take a trip with Lil Yachty on Let’s Start Here, his fifth studio album that dropped on Friday (Jan. 27) via Concrete Records, Motown Records and Quality Control Music.
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In an interview with Ice Box last year, the rapper revealed he was going in a different direction with the sound of his upcoming studio effort. “My new album is a non-rap album,” he declared. “It’s alternative, it’s sick… It’s like a psychedelic alternative project. It’s different. It’s all live instrumentation.”
This wouldn’t be Yachty’s first dip into the genre, as he collaborated with Tame Impala on a 2021 remix of “Breathe Deeper” from The Slow Rush B-Sides & Remixes, which peaked at No. 47 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs.
In the week leading up to the album’s release, he unveiled a nearly two-minute skit titled “Department of Mental Tranquility,” which shows Yachty walking into the video’s namesake and responding to a receptionist’s pestering, miscellaneous questions in a sweltering waiting room replete with erratic people before the performer carefully enters into the white light.
Yachty released his last full-length album, Lil Boat 3, on May 29, 2020. The 19-track set, which included lead single “Oprah’s Bank Account” featuring DaBaby and Drake, launched at No. 14 on the Billboard 200.
Stream Let’s Start Here below.
YoungBoy Never Broke Again released his new album I Rest My Case on Friday (Jan. 6) via Motown Records.
One day after the album’s announcement on Monday, the rapper released four tracks early: “Black,” “Groovy,” “I Love YB Skit” and “Top Girls.”
This marks Youngboy’s first release since he signed to Motown Records in October. The Baton Rouge, La., native broke out in 2015 and signed to Atlantic two years later, going on to become one of music’s top acts. Since then, he’s charted 24 albums on the Billboard 200 — 12 that were top 10, four of which hit No. 1.
Just last year, Youngboy (real name Kentrell DeSean Gaulden) debuted six projects on the chart — five solo endeavors and one collaborative set with DaBaby (Better Than You). He’s charted four solo top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 in 2022 — more top 10s than any other act this year — and has released four albums in the past two months: The Last Slimeto, Realer 2, 3800 Degrees and Ma I Got a Family.
His most recent studio effort, The Last Slimeto, topped Billboard‘s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
Stream I Rest My Case below.
