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Lana Del Rey drives straight to No. 1 on the Australian chart with Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (via Interscope/Universal), her ninth studio album.
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With its fast start, Ocean Blvd becomes the U.S. alternative pop singer’s eighth top 10 LP in these parts, and fifth leader following Born To Die (from 2012), Ultraviolence (2014), Honeymoon (2015) and Lust For Life (2017).
It’s one of four new releases impacting the top 10 on the latest ARIA Albums Chart, published Friday, March 31.
Coming in at No. 2 is Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old (Columbia/Sony). It’s the U.S. country star’s fourth album and fourth top 10 in Australia, following This One’s For You (No. 7 peak in 2017), What You See Is What You Get (No. 1 in 2019) and Growin’ Up (No. 2 in 2022).
Further down the list, Fall Out Boy’s So Much (For) Stardust (Atlantic/Warner) starts at No. 4, for the reunited U.S. alt-rock veterans’ sixth top 10 effort in Australia. The band’s peak performance to date came a decade ago, when 2013’s Save Rock and Roll hit No. 2.
Also, Australian singer-songwriter Matt Corby blasts into the top 10 with Everything’s Fine (Island/Universal), his third album. It’s new at No. 8. Everything’s Fine is the followup to Corby’s 2018’s LP Rainbow Valley (which peaked at No. 4), and his chart-leading debut from 2016, Telluric.
As it celebrates its 50th anniversary with a reissue project, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon (Columbia/Sony) roars back into the chart. The 14-times platinum album vaults 220-12, to notch its 103rd week on the chart.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” (Columbia/Sony) flourishes for an 11th consecutive week at No. 1, while Ed Sheeran returns to the top tier with “Eyes Closed” (Atlantic/Warner), new at No. 6. Produced with Max Martin and Shellback, and lifted from his forthcoming album Subtract, “Eyes Closed” is Sheeran’s 28th top 10 appearance in Australia, a feat that includes two tracks as a featured artist, ARIA reports.
Jisoo is having some ME time.
The BLACKPINK bandmember steps out for her solo debut with not one, but two songs — “Flower” and “All Eyes On Me.”
Both numbers appear on the single ME, which dropped at the stroke of midnight through YG Entertainment / Interscope Records, and amassed more than 500,000 global pre-orders within two days, according to reps.
Jisoo’s clip blossoms with an official music video stacked with choreographed dancing, fancy hotels, flowers and one luxurious cat.
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With ME, Jisoo becomes the last member of the all-conquering BLACKPINK to release solo music. And she does so in the midst of their Born Pink World Tour, which has reportedly sold 1.5 million tickets, a record for a K-pop girl group.
The superstars are currently in Asia, having completed 14 shows in North America and 10 shows in Europe. Coming soon — a record-setting headline performance at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, which will see Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa and Rosé collectively become the first all-female K-pop group to perform at the famous fest, followed by a date with the Hyde Park British Summer Time Festival in July.
BLACKPINK was one of the biggest acts on the planet last year. Their album Born Pink, which included the hit single “Pink Venom,” debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 and Official U.K Albums Charts and came in at No. 8 on the IFPI’s year-end global albums chart.
Watch the video for “Flower” below.
Today (March 31), Quavo is back with another track dedicated to his late nephew and Migos bandmate, TakeOff, titled “Honey Bun.”
Previously teased earlier this week on Instagram, “Honey Bun” marks the third track released by Quavo since the November 2022 passing of TakeOff. First, he dropped his heartfelt tribute, “Without You,” in early January, commemorating his partner-in-rhyme. Later that month, Quavo teamed with The Maverick City choir to perform the melancholy record at the 2023 Grammy Awards. “I wish I had a time machine/ Just so you take a ride with me/ I miss just how you smile at me/ Unc & Phew until infinity,” sang Quavo onstage.
Then, Quavo continued his output when he dropped “Greatness” last month. The wholesome video spoke on a myriad of topics, most notably the status of Migos, in which the frontman debunked any possibility of a reunion.
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“Came in, swept the game like a storm with the motherf–kin’ flow, ni–a Take’ did that (On God) / So don’t ask about the group, he gone, we gone,” raps Quavo.
Despite still mourning the passing of TakeOff, Quavo found time this month to engage in some lighter activities, including his appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s new show That’s My Jam. The hour-long music and comedy variety games show found Quavo singing a “nonsense karaoke” version of Lil Jon and The Eastside Boyz’s 2002 single “Get Low.” Other stars to appear on That’s My Jam include Chance The Rapper, French Montana, Saweetie, Keke Palmer, will.i.am and more.
Check out “Honey Bun” below.
After releasing two entrancing visuals for “DOGTOOTH” and “SORRY NOT SORRY,” Tyler, the Creator, gifts his fans Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale.
The Billboard 200 chart-topper had a splashy debut in June 2021, as Tyler enlisted DJ Drama to narrate his newest concept. Under the guise of “Tyler Bauderlade,” the Odd Future frontman offers his ruminations on love and relationships. The 16-track effort includes top-tier features from Pharrell, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Brent Faiyaz, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Wayne, and more. Upon release, Call Me If You Get Lost earned 169,000 album-equivalent units, marking his second No. 1 effort, with his first dating back to 2019 (Igor). Last April, CMIFGL dashed back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after landing the largest week for a hip-hop on vinyl in the modern era.
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After winning the best rap album for Igor in 2020, two years after, Tyler notched his second gold trophy for the same category for CMIUGL. Tyler bested Drake, Kanye West, J. Cole, and Nas. “First off, I’m hyped,” he said on his Instagram story last year. “Thank you to DJ Drama. You are fu–ing so important to rap music. Thank you to all of my friends for being my cheerleaders.” He also praised his team, which allowed him to “make an album where [he] can just flex all goddamn day.”
Tyler, The Creator, is also part of Hulu’s new docuseries Rapcaviar Presents, and there, spoke about why he enjoys his profession as a rapper. “We’re good with words. We’re good with rhythm. We know pockets. We hear a collection of sounds and one thing and say, ‘Ahh, I know what could go over this,’ that takes skill,” he said.
Stream Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale below.
Kx5, the superstar DJ pairing of Kaskade and Deadmau5, commands a No. 6 start on Billboard‘s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart (dated April 1) with its self-titled debut set.
Kx5 starts with 4,200 equivalent album units in the March 17-23 tracking week, according to Luminate.
Seven of the album’s 10 cuts have hit the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, with “Bright Lights” featuring AR/CO leading the way at No. 17 with 864,000 U.S. streams. It’s Kx5’s second-highest-charting track yet, after last year’s “Escape” featuring Hayla (No. 11).
Kx5 also rises with “Sacrifice” featuring Sofi Tukker (48-27; one spot short of its No. 26 high in March) and re-enters with both “Alive” featuring The Moth & The Flame (No. 30) and “When I Talk” with Elderbrook (No. 50). Both tracks peaked at No. 26 earlier this year. Rounding out Kx5‘s charted Hot Dance/Electronic Songs hits are “Take Me High” (No. 38 in October 2022) and “Avalanche,” featuring James French (No. 48 in November).
Additionally on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Fred again.., Skrillex and Four Tet bow with “Baby again..” at No. 11. The team-up makes for Fred again..’s highest debut among 15 charted titles; Skrillex’s fourth-highest of his 56; and Four Tet’s top arrival. Skrillex is now tied with Marshmello for the third-most appearances, after only David Guetta (75) and Kygo (61).
“Baby” earned 1.5 million streams and sold 900 downloads, the latter also good for a No. 5 start on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart.
On the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, Cash Cash collects its ninth top 10 with “Anyway,” featuring RuthAnne, who achieves her first (12-3). The track is drawing core-dance airplay on Music Choice’s Dance/EDM Channel, WCPY (Dance Factory FM) Chicago and iHeartRadio’s Evolution, among other outlets.
Also on the survey, Metro Boomin notches his first top 10, The Weeknd adds his 14th and 21 Savage scores his second with “Creepin’” (11-8). The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.
Grammy Award winners Flume and Rufus Du Sol are among the artists and songwriters scoring multiple nominations for the 2023 APRA Music Awards, set for April 27 at ICC Sydney.
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Also twice nominated for circular trophies are Spacey Jane, King Stingray, Sarah Aarons, Vincent Goodyer, Ruel, M-Phazes, Vance Joy and others, according to APRA, which published its roll call in full on Thursday (March 30).
This year, the most performed international work category will be contested by songs by Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles and Lil Nas X, as well as Adele and GAYLE.
The top prize, the peer-voted song of the year, features works recorded by Daniel Johns (“I Feel Electric”), King Stingray (“Lupa”), Julia Jacklin (“Lydia Wears a Cross”), Flume (“Say Nothing” featuring MAY-A) and the late Archie Roach “One Song”.
Established in 1982, the Australasian Performing Right Association’s annual songwriters’ ceremony is one of the Australian music industry’s most treasured events, a worthy counterpart to Britain’s Ivor Novello Awards.
The special moments in the APRAs program includes the performance of those song of the year nominees, often completely reimagined, by another star from Australia’s scene.
Celia Pacquola, Fred Leone and Henry Wagons are co-hosts on the night, and François Tétaz is musical director.
For more information visit the APRA website.
See the full list of 2023 APRA Awards nominees below.
Peer-Voted APRA Song of the Year Title: I Feel ElectricArtist: Daniel JohnsWriters: Daniel Johns / Laura Raia / Maxwell Bidstrup^ / Mark Landon+Publishers: BMG^ / Concord Music Publishing+Title: LupaArtist: King StingrayWriter: Yirrŋa Gotjiringu Yunupingu Publisher: Sony Music PublishingTitle: Lydia Wears a CrossArtist: Julia JacklinWriter: Julia JacklinPublisher: Mushroom MusicTitle: One SongArtist: Archie RoachWriter: Archie Roach Publisher: Mushroom Music Title: Say Nothing (feat. MAY-A)Artist: FlumeWriters: Flume* / Sarah Aarons Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Future Classic* / Sony Music PublishingBreakthrough Songwriter of the Year Writer: 18YOMAN (Vincent Goodyer)Publisher: Universal/MCA Music PublishingWriters: Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu, Caleb Harper, Kieran Lama & Peppa Lane (Spacey Jane)Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Dew ProcessWriter: Budjerah Publisher: Mushroom MusicWriters: Roy Kellaway & Yirrŋa Gotjiringu Yunupingu (King Stingray)Publisher: Sony Music PublishingWriter: Sampa the Great Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Most Performed Australian Work Title: ClarityArtist: Vance JoyWriters: Vance Joy / Joel Little*Publishers: Mushroom Music obo UNIFIED / Sony Music Publishing*Title: Growing Up Is ___Artist: RuelWriters: Ruel Van Dijk / Mark Landon* / Julian Bunetta^Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing* / Mushroom Music obo Hipgnosis^Title: HurtlessArtist: Dean LewisWriters: Dean Lewis / Jon Hume*Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing*Title: On My KneesArtist: RÜFÜS DU SOLWriters: Jonathon George / James Hunt / Tyrone Lindqvist / Jason Evigan* Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Sony Music Publishing*Title: STAYArtist: The Kid LAROI & Justin BieberWriters: The Kid LAROI / Justin Bieber* / Isaac De Boni# / Omer Fedi* / Magnus Hoiberg^ / Michael Mule# / Charlie Puth+ / Subhaan Rahman^ / Blake Slatkin*Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Universal/MCA Music Publishing* / Warner Chappell Music^ / Kobalt Music Publishing+ / Concord Music Publishing# Most Performed Alternative Work Title: Apple CrumbleArtist: Lime Cordiale and Idris ElbaWriters: Louis Leimbach* / Oli Leimbach* / Dave Hammer^ / Idris Elba*Publishers: Universal Music Publishing* / Kobalt Music Publishing^Title: HurtlessArtist: Dean LewisWriters: Dean Lewis / Jon Hume*Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing*Title: The Man HimselfArtist: Gang of YouthsWriters: Dominik Borzestowski / Maxwell Dunn / Thomas Hobden / Jung Kim / David Le’aupepe* Publisher: Universal Music Publishing* Title: SuperstarArtist: SyccoWriter: Sasha McLeod pka SyccoPublisher: Sony Music Publishing Title: Touch Back DownArtist: Ocean AlleyWriters: Nicholas Blom / Baden Donegal / Lachlan Galbraith / Mitchell Galbraith / Angus Goodwin / Tom O’BrienPublisher: Warner Chappell MusicTitle: Waste A DayArtist: The RubensWriters: Scott Baldwin / Elliott Margin / Sam Margin / Zaac Margin / William Zeglis Publishers: Mushroom Music obo Ivy League Music Most Performed Blues & Roots Work Title: I BelieveArtist: Ziggy AlbertsWriter: Ziggy AlbertsPublisher: Kobalt Music PublishingTitle: I Want You To KnowArtist: Ash GrunwaldWriters: Ash Grunwald / Fergus JamesPublisher: Mushroom MusicTitle: Livin’ Like KingsArtist: The Black SorrowsWriters: Joe Camilleri / Nicholas Smith*Publishers: Mushroom Music / Jesharo Music*Title: My Heart Is In The Wrong PlaceArtist: Vika & LindaWriter: Ben SalterPublisher: Universal Music PublishingTitle: We Deserve To DreamArtist: Xavier RuddWriter: Xavier RuddPublisher: Sony Music Publishing Most Performed Country Work Title: Get It GirlArtist: Taylor MossWriters: Taylor Moss / Michael Delorenzis* / Michael Paynter* / Alys EdwardsPublisher: Mushroom Music*Title: God Took His Time On YouArtist: Casey BarnesWriters: Casey Barnes / Kaci Brown* / Samuel Gray*Publishers: Mushroom Music / Kobalt Music Publishing*Title: Good BeerArtist: SeaforthWriters: Jordan Dozzi / Thomas Jordan / Mitchell Thompson / Rocky BlockPublisher: Warner Chappell MusicTitle: Love Is RealArtist: Morgan EvansWriters: Morgan Evans / Parker Nohe / Jordan Reynolds Publisher: Warner Chappell MusicTitle: Raised Like ThatArtist: James JohnstonWriter: James JohnstonMost Performed Dance/Electronic Work Title: Heavy Artist: Flight Facilities feat. Your SmithWriters: Hugo Gruzman* / James Lyell* / Jono Ma / Caroline Smith^Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Future Classic* / Concord Music Publishing^Title: Honest (feat. Slayyyter)Artist: Peking DukWriters: Adam Hyde* / Reuben Styles-Richards* / Kristy Lee Peters* / Slayyyter Publisher: BMG*Title: On My KneesArtist: RÜFÜS DU SOLWriters: Jonathon George / James Hunt / Tyrone Lindqvist / Jason Evigan* Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Sony Music Publishing*Title: Running AwayArtist: RumorWriters: Mitchell Curley / Len Pearce Title: Say Nothing (feat. MAY-A)Artist: FlumeWriters: Flume* / Sarah Aarons Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Future Classic* / Sony Music PublishingMost Performed Hip Hop / Rap Work Title: LET’S TROT!Artist: Brothers & Joel FletcherWriters: Bassam Ahmad / Issam Ahmad / Joel Fletcher* Publisher: 120 Publishing*Title: Not SoberArtist: The Kid LAROI feat. Polo G & Stunna GambinoWriters: The Kid LAROI* / Khaled Rohaim^ / Stunna Gambino / Polo G* / Subhaan Rahman+Publishers: Sony Music Publishing* / Universal/MCA Music Publishing^ / Warner Chappell+Title: Show BusinessArtist: Hilltop Hoods feat. EamonWriters: Barry Francis (DJ Debris)* / Matthew Lambert (Suffa)* / Daniel Smith (MC Pressure)* / Andrew BurfordPublishers: Sony Music Publishing* / Universal Music Publishing Title: WickedArtist: Say True God?Writer: Nixon JacksonTitle: Wish You WellArtist: Baker Boy feat. Bernard FanningWriters: Baker Boy / Bernard Fanning* / Pip Norman^Publishers: Universal Music Publishing* / Mushroom Music^ Most Performed Pop Work Title: ClarityArtist: Vance JoyWriters: Vance Joy / Joel Little*Publishers: Mushroom Music obo UNIFIED / Sony Music Publishing*Title: Complete Mess Artist: 5 Seconds of SummerWriters: Michael Clifford / Luke Hemmings / Calum Hood / Ashton IrwinPublisher: Sony Music PublishingTitle: Glow Artist: Jessica MauboyWriters: Jessica Mauboy / Jessica Higgs* / Cosmo Liney* / Patrick Liney*Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Kobalt Music Publishing*Title: Growing Up Is ___Artist: RuelWriters: Ruel Van Dijk / Mark Landon* / Julian Bunetta^Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing* / Mushroom Music obo Hipgnosis^Title: STAYArtist: The Kid LAROI & Justin BieberWriters: The Kid LAROI / Justin Bieber* / Isaac De Boni# / Omer Fedi* / Magnus Hoiberg^ / Michael Mule# / Charlie Puth+ / Subhaan Rahman^ / Blake Slatkin*Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Universal/MCA Music Publishing* / Warner Chappell Music^ / Kobalt Music Publishing+ / Concord Music Publishing# Most Performed R&B / Soul Work Title: Bang My LineArtist: Cosmo’s Midnight feat. Tkay MaidzaWriters: Cosmo Liney / Patrick Liney / Tkay Maidza / Brett Ramson* Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / BMG*Title: SafetyArtist: Becca HatchWriters: Becca Hatch / Hau Latukefu / Jamie Muscat / Willie Tafa / Solo Tohi* Publisher: Sony Music Publishing*Title: Send My LoveArtist: Jordan RakeiWriters: Jordan Rakei* / Imraan Paleker / Jonathan Harvey / Christopher Hyson / James MacraePublisher: Sony Music Publishing*Title: Still DreamArtist: MiieshaWriters: Miiesha* / Lucy Blomkamp* / Stephen Collins Publisher: Sony Music Publishing* Title: Tuesday Artist: KYE feat. Jerome FarahWriters: Kylie Chirunga* / Jerome Farah^ / Jacob Farah^ / Vincent Goodyer+Publishers: Sentric Music Publishing* / Mushroom Music^ / Universal/MCA Music Publishing+ Most Performed Rock Work Title: Around in CirclesArtist: Jimmy BarnesWriters: Jimmy Barnes / Jane Barnes* / Mark Lizotte*Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Mushroom Music*Title: LunchtimeArtist: Spacey JaneWriters: Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu / Caleb Harper / Kieran Lama / Peppa LanePublishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Dew Process Title: MilkumanaArtist: King StingrayWriters: Roy Kellaway / Yirrŋa Gotjiringu Yunupingu Publisher: Sony Music PublishingTitle: Rising SeasArtist: Midnight OilWriter: Jim MoginiePublisher: Sony Music PublishingTitle: Struck By LightningArtist: The ChatsWriters: Matthew Boggis / Joshua Hardy / Eamon SandwithPublisher: Universal Music PublishingMost Performed International Work Title: abcdefuArtist: GAYLEWriters: Taylor Rutherfurd / Sara Davis* / David Pittenger^Publishers: Universal/MCA Music Publishing / Peermusic* / Downtown Music^Title: As It WasArtist: Harry StylesWriters: Harry Styles / Thomas Hull / Tyler Johnson*Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing*Title: Easy On MeArtist: AdeleWriters: Adele / Greg Kurstin*Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Sony Music Publishing*Title: ShiversArtist: Ed SheeranWriters: Ed Sheeran* / Kal Lavelle* / Steve Mac^ / Johnny McDaid*Publishers: Sony Music Publishing* / Universal Music Publishing^Title: That’s What I WantArtist: Lil Nas XWriters: Lil Nas X / Keegan Bach* / Omer Fedi^ / Blake Slatkin^ / Ryan Tedder+Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Kobalt Music Publishing* / Universal/MCA Music Publishing^ / Downtown Music+
The fast-flying, all-world success of Stray Kids truly is oddinary.
The K-pop stars were one of the biggest acts on the planet in 2022, proof of which was confirmed in recent weeks by the IFPI, which ranked the singers at No. 7 in its top 10 chart for recording artists, ahead of Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran.
After blasting to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with Maxident (via JYP/Imperial/Republic Records), the group’s second leader, Stray Kids’ hit album went on to crack the year-end global top 10, ahead of LPs by BlackPink and Olivia Rodrigo.
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The eight-strong South Korean group — Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. — is hot, and they’re here.
The lads are currently stateside to make up the previously-postponed dates in Atlanta and Fort Worth as part of their Maniac World Tour, and hold their first-ever stadium concerts in the United States for a pair of shows at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium on March 31 and April 2.
But first, a late-night TV warmup. Stray Kids stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday night (March 29) for a tightly-choreographed performance of “Maniac,” lifted from the 2022 mini album ODDINARY, the band’s first leader on the all-genres Billboard 200.
Check it out below.
The ‘80s are back, baby, at least on Wednesday night’s (March 29) edition of The Masked Singer, where three contestants took a trip back to a time when muscles ruled Hollywood, and big hair was how it got done.
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Off the bat, Dolly performed Simple Minds’ Breakfast Club hit “Don’t You Forget About Me,” Scorpio tackled Cyndi Lauper’s signature song “Girls just Want Have Fun,” and Moose hit “The Power of Love,” Huey Lewis and The News’ hit soundtrack from Back to the Future.
Sadly for Moose, the big guy got the chop.
Under the antlers was George Wendt, the Emmy-nominated actor and funnyman, better known to millions as Norm from Cheers.
What made him want to try-on the Moose helmet? “Well, you know, I thought maybe I’d win,” he told host Nick Cannon. And how did it fit? “It was profoundly ridiculous.”
With Moose out of the picture, Scorpio and Doll went at it for a Battle Royale, in a face-off to Duran Duran’s early masterpiece “Hungry Like The Wolf.”
There could be one winner, and that was Doll.
Scorpio, it would seem, wasn’t ready to remove the mask. In an awkward moment, the stinging singer struggled to get that helmet off and needed assistance form two men in black.
Underneath was Christine Quinn, star of the reality TV series Selling Sunset. “You gave it all,” said Robin Thicke, praising her losing efforts in the Battle Royale.
“If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna go out with a bang,” she said. And Quinn did just that — bang, and she’s out.
Why do the Masked Singer? “I’ve always loved this show and I was like, I want to be on that show. Girls just want to have fun,” was her response.
Quinn went on to describe herself as a “closet singer,” and dropped some truth bombs: “so the fact that I’m here on the stage singing in front of people, that just goes to show anything is possible if you put your mind to it and practice.”
Wendt and Quinn join a growing group of unmasked celebrities in this season nine of Fox’s wacky hit.
Others include Holly Robinson Peete (Fairy), Alexa Bliss (Axolotl) Malin Akerman (Squirrel), Lele Pons (Jackalope), Michael Bolton (Wolf), Grandmaster Flash (Polar Bear), Debbie Gibson (Night Owl), Howie Mandel (Rock Lobster), Sara Evans (Mustang) and Dick Van Dyke (Gnome).
Hulu wasn’t explicitly looking to develop a musical comedy when songwriters Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, writer Steven Levenson, and director Thomas Kail presented them with Up Here. The platform hadn’t ever done a musical TV show — which, despite well-received past series like Glee, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Schmigadoon remains a relative rarity in the current streaming world.
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But, as head of scripted content at Hulu Originals Jordan Helman remembers it, it was hard to resist this “who’s-who of the heavy hitters of Broadway in the past decade.” Kail is the Tony-winning director of Hamilton (and now Sweeney Todd); Levenson the Tony-winning playwright behind Dear Evan Hansen; and Lopez and Anderson-Lopez the Academy Award-, Emmy- and Grammy-winning married duo behind the music of Frozen, Frozen 2 and Coco (Bobby, who co-created The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q, is also a double EGOT winner).
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
Sarah Shatz/Hulu
Up Here is based on a musical of the same name by Anderson-Lopez and Lopez, produced in 2015 at the La Jolla Playhouse. The story of Miguel and Lindsay (portrayed by Carlos Valdes and Mae Whitman) finding themselves, and romance, in New York City in the 1990s — while battling the naysaying voices of their subconsciouses, personified onscreen — was, Helman says, an “irresistible” opportunity for Hulu to enter the musical landscape. Its audiences have responded positively to female-driven soaps and thrillers in the past, but “we had never really approached [a show] through a rom-com lens,” Helman continues. “This felt like a tailored opportunity to broaden the aperture of what we do, but still feeling deeply relevant to the viewers we have on platform.”
For Lopez and Anderson-Lopez, developing Up Here for TV was also an enticing opportunity to expand upon and rethink their original show — which dwelt on the male protagonist’s subconscious. It was freeing as well, allowing them to explore multiple genres in their songwriting. And with each episode functioning like a mini-musical — complete with elaborate singing and dance numbers — they were able to see a much larger than usual quantity of their compositions make it to the final product (those songs can also be heard on the show’s soundtrack, recently released on Hollywood Records).
“We’re from Broadway,” says Bobby. “And we wanted to bring what was great about Broadway musicals and see if we could do our version of it in a streaming series.” Below, he and Anderson-Lopez speak to Billboard about precisely how they did it.
After the production of Up Here at La Jolla, what did you hope its future would be?
Kristen Anderson-Lopez: La Jolla was a huge growth experience. We’d never done book, music and lyrics all together before … while raising two children out of town … and getting infested with bird mites. [Laughs.] That’s a thing that happened! We realized that where we are in our lives, we wanted to work with book writers [going forward]. You can’t address what you need to in production, on all three fronts, overnight, every day. So, we’d started to talk to talk to book writers and had actually identified Steven Levenson as someone with their finger on the pulse of what we wanted to do.
Then life took over: Frozen Broadway, Frozen 2, Coco. There was an Excel spreadsheet somewhere that said we could do nothing else for four years. [Laughs.] So it got put away. But there was always this intention of revisiting it with Steven at some date in the future. And then that date came in 2020 when Tommy Kail called us and said, “Hey, I’d like to do something with you guys on TV” — and we’d fallen in love with Fosse/Verdon [the FX series that Kail directed]. If there’s a president and vice president of the Fosse/Verdon fan club, it’s us.
Bobby Lopez: The production in La Jolla was very different from what we ended up with on Hulu — in that it only really entered the guy’s head, and one of the takeaways was, “Gee, I wish we’d written it so you could see what she’s thinking, too.” We couldn’t imagine rewriting it for the stage in a way that would preserve any of what we had. So, we were a little frustrated.
But when the idea of television came into it — doing a half-hour comedy, where every week we had the structure to write a mini-musical in essence, and end up with 8 mini musicals adding up to a larger grand musical [over a season] — we got very excited. It just seemed like, “This is a new take on the idea, we’ll be able to tell a different story, we’ll be able to change the characters in exciting ways.”
‘Up Here’
Patrick Harbron/Hulu
Did you preserve anything from the original stage show?
Kristen: I’d say the thing that’s preserved is the concept and question of: Can you ever truly know someone? And what does it feel like when a relationship that you assume is, “This is my person” — they become a stranger? And how you realize you’re up against the bubble of your own consciousness.
Bobby: Some of the songs about that theme carried over. For instance, the idea of “I Can Never Know You” — that was a song in the original, and we transformed it into a different song called “Please Like Me” for the show.
Kristen: “Please Like Me” was originally kind of a “I’m Just a Girl Who Cain’t Say No” charm song — an introduction to the female lead — and now it’s about the huge problem she’s battling. I think it probably always was. And we were always curious to see if you could have a song that’s so clearly, “This person needs to grow from this.” But it’s also why you identify with her, because she’s so honest about it.
Even in the expanded streaming world, musical television shows still feel pretty few and far between. Why do you think that is?
Kristen: I can tell you, after doing it for the last three years — it’s very, very difficult to do. TV is always hard to do. It’s always about getting it ready as much as you can, then you have to get lightning in a bottle on the film day, then you have to piece it together. If you add the elements of learning music and choreography, producing music, to something already time-constrained… you’ve added weights to what’s already hard.
Bobby: I think we sold this show on the first pitch, to [co-chairman of Disney Entertaiment] Dana Walden. And they were very excited — we all were — and then we realized the process of developing a TV show. A lot of the writing is done during production, whereas musical theater is very iterative as a process: You write a draft of the whole thing, you have to see it in front of an audience to know whether it’s working. And it’s the same in animation, honestly – we screen the first version of the film, and then kind of throw it all out, and at the end of many iterations we have something we know works and we produce that.
TV is much more accelerated. It took a lot of time before we were greenlit, rethinking the concept of who these characters were. It was a high degree of difficulty to not only have these singing characters, but also the concept of being inside their minds.
What are the specific challenges inherent in making an episodic musical, as opposed to one in film or onstage that’s over in about two hours?
Kristen: Every musical has an architectural scaffold to it: You have your opening, your “I want” song, your charm song, your act break, your finale, your 11:00 number. [For a show] you really want to know what the whole is before you start making the parts.
We really had to think architecturally [with this show] as we were breaking the story – toggling between what it is to break a normal streaming comedy and to break a musical. There’s a little bit of a Russian doll aspect: In order to have the whole series, we needed to have a giant overview and know where the key songs were going to be before you could ever film. And then you need to record all those songs. Everything has to be pretty solid before a single actor has ever stood on a soundstage, because the songs get pre-recorded.
Bobby: Which is the opposite of how we usually work. In theater, the cast album is the last thing. In animation, you kind of record as you go. It’s never the very first thing — like, “Hi Mae, I’m Bobby, this is Kristen! Now, if you step inside the booth, let’s record the first song.”
Kristen: I will say, I have never been part of a TV writers’ room, and I absolutely loved it. It was kind of like eight hours of group therapy every day. It’s just really creative people pretending, basically.
You get to play with musical genre so much from episode to episode. Did that feel like a freeing new direction?
Kristen: It was liberating. We could jump all over – you could have a Fiona Apple[-type] song next to a Katrina and the Waves song next to a weird eight-bit mini opera.
Bobby: The original show was vast — it was meant to be like a British mega-musical, it had a big orchestra, it wanted to sound gigantic. This version, we really went small with it, trying to think of it all as one rock band playing the music. Getting to work with the same players every day, it felt like we were making an album, rather than hiring players to be in the orchestra pit. It felt unified by its small, intimate sound.
Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Sarah Shatz/Hulu
What was the casting process like? Both Mae and Carlos are great singers, but they’re not huge, over-the-top Broadway voices.
Kristen: At its heart we wanted this to feel like an extraordinary story about ordinary people – so we didn’t want them to be larger than life. We wanted to find those people we’ve seen – or not seen – who really seem like you could see them on the street. They could [ordinarily] be the sidekick on a show, but this is a chance for the sidekicks to be the lead.
Mae brings with her such a beautiful humility; she does feel like, to me, your little sister. She’s so relatable and just lets you see all her emotions. And Carlos … we put poor Carlos through the wringer. He came in five times, because what he had to do was extraordinary. He had to be able to have these intimate scenes, but also dance up a storm and sing and really show us what’s underneath the toxic masculinity, and bare his soul. And he always rose to the occasion.
Bobby: We were 100% behind them vocally. They both have experience singing, and for what they needed to do in this, they really were rock stars. Not to mention the chemistry they have that just sparked.
Kristen: Mae likes to say she’s not a singer — but I spent years raising my kids on her Tinker Bell! She’s an amazing singer.
Bobby: One of my first gigs, I wrote a song on spec for The Jungle Book 2, and if it had gotten selected, Mae would have been the singer. I think she was 10.
Kristen: And Carlos was in Darren Criss’ band at University of Michigan. He went to this hardcore, triple-threat high school that was like the FAME high school of Atlanta — and then he got into Michigan for musical theater, which is like, where you go to become a Broadway star.
You also have big Broadway stars on the show, like Norm Lewis and Brian Stokes Mitchell — but it seems like you’re having fun casting them against type.
Bobby: There’s always a bunch of people we’re dying to work with and haven’t yet, and this was a great opportunity to. Scott Porter, we’d seen in Altar Boyz a long time ago and knew he was an amazing singer and dancer, so to get him onboard was incredible. Brian Stokes Mitchell and Norm Lewis are baritone titans of Broadway.
Kristen: To talk about Stokes for a second: To bring him in to do a hip-hop Dr. Seuss character, to show this side of him that’s so funny – we knew we needed a really charismatic, attractive silver fox. But then he just had this bead on this character that was so funny, and the ability to really commit that teeters on the absurd. And across the board, that’s what we got with all these Broadway performers. Nobody’s afraid of going toward the stylized, so everyone just committed hard to these big emotions in such wonderful, quirky ways.
Musicals, both on stage and in animated form, go through years of workshopping and development, and so much gets left on the cutting room floor. Up Here on the other hand seems to have a much higher quantity of songs – was that liberating?
Kristen: Yeah! Frozen, we wrote 26 songs and 7 got into the movie. Whereas here we wrote 25 songs and 21 are in the show. Although I will say, if you count La Jolla as part of that development process, the math falls apart there.
Bobby: Then it’s like 75 songs. [Laughs.] But yeah — we did toss a few numbers, but we didn’t have the luxury of doing a lot of cutting and rewriting. We killed ourselves making 21 brand new songs in a row, and having to mix and master and produce tracks that you love, it’s a great deal of work. Now, when we listen to the soundtrack, it does play like a cast recording – it feels like a Broadway show, and that’s what we wanted.
Skrillex is taking the rumble to the Rockies. On Wednesday (March 29) he announced a show at Colorado’s famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre that will happen next month.
The set, going down on Saturday, April 29, will feature Skrillex playing a five-hour set from 7 p.m. until midnight, local time. This format emulates his show last month at Madison Square Garden, where he — along with co-headliners Fred again.. and Four Tet — played for five hours, from 7 p.m. to midnight ET.
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Tickets for the Red Rocks show go on sale this Friday (March 31) at 12 p.m. ET.
This show announcement comes in the wake of the release of a pair of Skrillex albums, Quest For Fire on Feb. 17 and Don’t Get Too Close, which was surprise released the following day, Feb. 18. Skrillex has not announced a full tour behind these albums, instead opting to play prestige venues like MSG and Red Rocks, along with a hefty list of summer festivals: Something In The Water, Hangout, Movement and Elements, plus a series of European events including Primavera in Barcelona and EXIT in Serbia. This Euro run also includes a show at Ibiza’s influential techno mecca DC10.
Quest For Fire is currently sitting at No. 11 on Dance/Electronic albums, where it peaked at No. 2 upon release and is currently its fifth week on the chart. Album singles “Rumble” and RATATATA” are currently at No. 20 and No. 18 on the chart, respectively. Skrillex also appear on this same chart for “Baby again,” his recently released earworm single with Fred again.. and Four Tet.
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