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Billboard’s First Stream 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, Taylor Swift unveils some secret songs, Kx5 points toward the dance floor and Hozier makes a long-awaited return. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
Taylor Swift, “All of the Girls You Loved Before”
To celebrate the kickoff of her Eras stadium tour on Friday (Mar. 17), Taylor Swift has cracked her vault open and given fans a few unexpected goodies: the “Taylor’s Version” takes on previously released tracks “If This Was a Movie,” “Safe and Sound” and “Eyes Open,” as well as “All of the Girls You Loved Before,” an unreleased gem from her Lover era. Like the best moments on that 2019 album, “Girls” crackles with rhythm and romance, as Swift sings about how past mistakes have created a better reality and concludes on the swaying chorus, “Every dead-end street, led you straight to me.”
Kx5, Kx5
“It was literally a product of us saying, ‘F–k it,’” deadmau5 told Billboard of the formation of Kx5, his superstar team-up with Kaskade. “I’m not saying we don’t love it, but we don’t need it, financially speaking. It’s just something we want.” That carefree desire is imprinted across new album Kx5, as the duo of dance music titans use these 10 tracks try things out in the context of their respective styles, and more often than not — from the breathless groove of the AR/CO collaboration “Bright Lights” to the strobing, dance-siren emotion of “Escape” with Hayla — that process of saying “f–k it” pays dividends.
Hozier, Eat Your Young EP
Hozier has been able to transcend the success of breakthrough smash “Take Me To Church” due to his songwriting panache — it’s the reason why he’s headlining Madison Square Garden later this year instead of being relegated to one-hit wonder status. Eat Your Young, a new three-song EP that precedes his upcoming third album Unreal Unearth, references Dante’s Inferno and the sins of gluttony and heresy, but does in a way that draws in the listener without preening like a college paper: the title track, for instance, charms with a strings-laden, bluesy chorus, letting its message seep in slowly and effectively.
Melanie Martinez, “Death”
Melanie Martinez is the type of artist that does not drop by between album cycles for one-off singles and tossed-off collaborations: the avant-garde pop auteur instead creates bold, expansive worlds with each project, and when one is complete, she stows away for a few years to make another. “I’m back from the dead, back from the dead,” Martinez declares on the chorus of “Death,” the lead single to upcoming album Portals, and while the dramatic five-minute track can be connected to her artistic reawakening with every project, the kinetic drums and electronic elements will also make listeners feel reborn, too.
Avenged Sevenfold, “Nobody”
On their first new single since 2016, hard-rock veterans Avenged Sevenfold try to make up for lost time by seemingly deploying all of their finely crafted skills in six minutes — guitar chugs morph into searing solos, pummeling verses lead into sky-high hooks, and the groove conveys a nervousness before all of the tension is eventually released. “Nobody” evolves around M. Shadows’ philosophical prodding, his voice heavy with the weight of his life questions — but that man can howl like no other, and his vocals still take hold of the listener after a long layoff.
Jimin’s solo career rumbles along with the new release, “Set Me Free Pt.2”.
After teasing it earlier in the week, the BTS star’s fresh song dropped at the stroke of midnight, via HYBE LABELS, marking the first cut lifted from his forthcoming debut solo album FACE.
Loaded with snapping hip-hop beats and Auto-Tuned vocals, “Set Me Free Pt.2” is accompanied with an appropriately flashy music video.
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Helmed by Oui Kim, Jimin is the center of the attention, and at the heart of the action, as dozens of dancers glide their way through gloriously choreographed drama.
“First, we tried to focus on the performance and express the really intense vibe of the song,” explains Jimin in an interview with Consequence on the new song and forthcoming album.
“The key point was freedom — and actually, we were drinking at the time. This is the last track on the album; the last of the emotions. It’s very intense, so I wanted to announce a ‘Jimin solo’ in an impactful way.”
FACE is due out March 24. On the same day, Jimin will also share the music video for second single “Like Crazy,” which was co-written by his BTS bandmate RM.
Most recently, Jimin scored his first solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100 by joining Taeyang for the BIGBANG member’s new single “Vibe.” Earlier this month, the K-pop idol gave ARMY an early present by uploading his solo tracks “Promise” and “Christmas Love” to streaming services for the very first time. (The two songs had previously only been available to stream on the official BTS Soundcloud or YouTube accounts.)
Watch “Set Me Free Pt.2” in full below.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Live Nation Australia has secured a multi-year lease to operate Festival Hall, the iconic Melbourne live music and sports venue.
Through the arrangement, confirmed late Friday (March 17), LN is expected to invest in several upgrades on the versatile space, which was built during WW1 and currently boasts a capacity of 5,405.
Festival Hall slots into the concerts giant’s existing portfolio of venues, which includes The Palais Theatre in Melbourne, the Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane, the Hindley Street Music Hall in Adelaide, and Anita’s Theatre, a historic venue in Thirroul, a northern seaside suburb of Wollongong, which last year became LN’s first push into regional Australia.
“We are extremely excited to be delivering the next chapter of Festival Hall’s life,” comments Roger Field, president LN APAC, “not only because it will help support the growing demand of shows that are coming down the pipeline across the industry, but also to put the iconic venue firmly back on the global live entertainment map.”
LN’s vision for Festival Hall, Field continues, is to ensure that the venue “remains a cornerstone of the State’s live music scene for artists, industry, and fans alike.”
The launch of this new project will support 200 full-time equivalent jobs on event days, sources say.
Festival Hall has a storied history. The multi-purpose space at 300 Dudley Street, in West Melbourne, was originally built back in 1915 by John Wren, chairman of Stadiums Pty Ltd. Fire ripped through the room in 1955, but a rebuild was completed in time for the 1956 Olympics Games, where hosted gymnastics and wrestling.
Over time, the likes of the Beatles, Bill Haley, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Shirley Bassey, Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran and Lorde have played to packed houses at Festival Hall.
In October 2020, the venue was purchased by Hillsong Church with the intention to create a community hub to support live music, entertainment, and other events. At the time Hillsong stated, “it’s a way to give back to Melbourne and continue the venue’s legacy.”
It’s understood the church will continue to use the venue for weekend services and other events.
There’s no end in sight for Miley Cyrus’ chart reign in Australia as the pop star snags a rare chart double.
Cyrus’ “Flowers” (via Columbia/Sony) enters a ninth week at the singles chart summit, published Friday (March 17), and its parent Endless Summer Vacation debuts at No. 1 on the national albums survey.
With Endless Summer Vacation topping the ARIA Chart, Cyrus earns a sixth top five title, and her third No. 1 — her first in a decade.
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Miley previously led the tally with Breakout (2008) and Bangerz (2013), which both spent one week in the top spot, ARIA Reports.
If Endless Summer Vacation hangs around for another week in the penthouse, Miley will equal a family record. Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All logged two weeks at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in 1992, though he hasn’t tasted life at the top ever since.
As “Flowers” extends its unbroken streak, “River,” the second single from her eighth and latest LP, starts at No. 22 on the ARIA Chart and two other tracks from it appear in the Top 100.
“Flowers” leads an unchanged ARIA top four ahead of cuts by PinkPantheress (“Boy’s a liar” via Parlophone/Warner), The Weekend (“Die For You” via Universal) and SZA (“Kill Bill” via RCA/Sony), respectively, while Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” (Republic/Universal), from the U.S. country star’s latest, 36-track set One Thing At a Time, improves 6-5.
With the exception of Miley, no new releases debut on the top 50 of either main chart.
ARIA’s weekly charts are based on wholesale data collected from a combination of physical and digital retailers, and music-streaming services.
Two years after the release of their last new music, The Chemical Brothers are back.
The U.K. duo have today (March 17) released their latest single, “No Reason.” Their first song since 2021’s “The Darkness That You Fear,” the new output is classic Chemical Brothers — a textured and inventive (but never fussy) jam built around funk, bass, waves of percussion, and a precisely used voice shouting “whoo!” Jubilant and danceable, the song still maintains the hard edges the pair is known for. Watch the Smith & Lyall-created video for the track below.
The single comes ahead of the U.K.’s duo’s performances next month at Coachella, with The Chemical Brothers also playing shows in Santa Barbara, Calif. and Seattle, WA next month, along with festival sets throughout Europe for the remainder of the summer.
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The pair — Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, have also been at work on a new album, which will be the followup to 2019’s No Geography. The album hit No. 3 on Dance/Electronic Albums and won the 2020 Grammy for best dance/electronic album. The guys have won seven Grammys in total during their nearly 30 year career, which launched with the 1995 release of their now classic Exit Planet Dust.
No Reason has also been mastered in Dolby ATMOS at Abbey Road Studios by Giles Martin, who has also previously overseen the remastering of The Beatles back catalogue. “No Reason” will also be available on April 28 as a limited edition red vinyl 12 inch with a previously unreleased b-side track, “All Of A Sudden.
The first collaborative single from dance music’s new favorite supergroup — Fred again.., Skrillex and Four Tet — is out. Released today (March 17) via Atlantic Records, “Baby, again..” was first heard during Fred again..’s Boiler Room set last July, a performance that has since been streamed 16 million times.
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Indeed, the hype around this one is major, with both Fred and Four Tet appearing on Skrillex’s new album, Quest For Fire, released last month after a week’s worth of buzzy New York pop up shows from the trio that climaxed with a sold out show at Madison Square Garden on February 18. “Baby again..” was, in fact, the song playing during the climactic moment when the house lights at MSG finally went off midway through the five-hour show.
The five-plus minute song heavily samples Lil Baby and Da Baby’s 2019 track “Baby,” accelerating the BPM and adding layers of ravey production in line with the trio’s other recent output, with the track elevating to new plane of dancefloor headiness around the 4:30 mark.
“Baby again..” is already steeped in dance-world mythology, have been created during an impromptu studio session in Pangbourne, England where Fred, Skrillex and Four Tet came together to make music in the remote English countryside. (The backstory has earned the now apparently inseparable trio the nickname Pangbourne House Mafia among fans.) The song has since been a staple of all three artists’ sets. Listen to it below.
Meanwhile, Skrillex’s Quest For Fire (which, naturally, features Four Tet and Fred) is currently at No. 8 on Dance/Electronic albums, where it previously peaked at No. 2. Five Quest For Fire singles (including its lead single “Rumble” featuring Fred) are currently on Dance/Electronic albums, where Fred also currently has a pair of other singles “Mike (Desert Island Duvet)” and “Delilah (Pull Me Out Of This).”
Stream “Baby again…” below.
Robert Smith’s furious tweet spree on Ticketmaster’s fees “debacle” for the Cure‘s forthcoming North American tour has had the desired effect — a “gesture of goodwill” from the ticketing giant and the promise of some money returned.
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Earlier in the week, Smith unloaded on Ticketmaster when the band’s fans complained that fees attached to the Lost World North American tour were most costly than the price of a ticket.
The problems emerged Wednesday (March 15) when tickets were made available to those who had registered for Ticketmaster’s “verified fan” sale.
Smith went on the attack when, in some cases, the added-on service fees, facility charges and order processing fees added up to more than the cost of entry, all despite the band offering reasonably-priced tickets for the trek and ensuring the tickets will be non-transferable to minimize resale and keep prices at face value.
“I AM AS SICKENED AS YOU ALL ARE BY TODAY’S TICKETMASTER ‘FEES’ DEBACLE,” Smith blasted in one all-caps broadside against Live Nation sister company. “TO BE VERY CLEAR: THE ARTIST HAS NO WAY TO LIMIT THEM. I HAVE BEEN ASKING HOW THEY ARE JUSTIFIED. IF I GET ANYTHING COHERENT BY WAY OF AN ANSWER I WILL LET YOU ALL KNOW.”
He got an answer, and he let them know.
“AFTER FURTHER CONVERSATION, TICKETMASTER HAVE AGREED WITH US THAT MANY OF THE FEES BEING CHARGED ARE UNDULY HIGH, AND AS A GESTURE OF GOODWILL HAVE OFFERED A $10 PER TICKET REFUND TO ALL VERIFIED FAN ACCOUNTS FOR LOWEST TICKET PRICE (‘LTP’) TRANSACTIONS,” writes Smith in the first of a new batch of tweets.
“AND A $5 PER TICKET REFUND TO ALL VERIFIED FAN ACCOUNTS FOR ALL OTHER TICKET PRICE TRANSACTIONS, FOR ALL CURE SHOWS AT ALL VENUES;” he continues. “IF YOU ALREADY BOUGHT A TICKET YOU WILL GET AN AUTOMATIC REFUND; ALL TICKETS ON SALE TOMORROW WILL INCUR LOWER FEES.”
In a separate tweet, Smith confirmed that “Verified Fan” ticket sales have now ended.
The legendary British goth-rock band’s Shows of a Lost World North American tour will span 30 dates, kicking off May 10 at New Orleans’ Smoothie King Arena.
The Cure took their place in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, with Trent Reznor on hand to induct the group.
See Smith’s tweets latest below.
1 OF 2: AFTER FURTHER CONVERSATION, TICKETMASTER HAVE AGREED WITH US THAT MANY OF THE FEES BEING CHARGED ARE UNDULY HIGH, AND AS A GESTURE OF GOODWILL HAVE OFFERED A $10 PER TICKET REFUND TO ALL VERIFIED FAN ACCOUNTS FOR LOWEST TICKET PRICE (‘LTP’) TRANSACTIONS…— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 16, 2023
2 OF 2: …AND A $5 PER TICKET REFUND TO ALL VERIFIED FAN ACCOUNTS FOR ALL OTHER TICKET PRICE TRANSACTIONS, FOR ALL CURE SHOWS AT ALL VENUES; IF YOU ALREADY BOUGHT A TICKET YOU WILL GET AN AUTOMATIC REFUND; ALL TICKETS ON SALE TOMORROW WILL INCUR LOWER FEES— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 16, 2023
I WILL KNOW IN A BIT – AND LET YOU KNOW – WHAT SHOWS HAVE TICKETS LEFT FOR SALE TOMORROW… ONWARDS X— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 16, 2023
SO… ‘VERIFIED FAN’ SALES HAVE NOW ENDED – A NUMBER OF TICKETS FOR ALL CURE SHOWS (EXCEPT LA + DETROIT… A MISCOMMUNICATION? sigh… ) WERE HELD BACK FOR ‘GENERAL’ ON SALE FRIDAY 17TH AT 10AM LOCAL TIME – LINKS WILL BE POSTED IN A BIT… GOOD LUCK X— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 16, 2023
DJ/producer John Summit and singer Hayla jump onto Billboard‘s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated March 18) at No. 9 with “Where You Are.” The first top 10 for both acts, “Where” starts with 1.9 million streams and 1,000 in download sales in the United States March 3-9, according to Luminate.
The collab amounts to Summit’s eighth total appearance, a run that began with “Deep End” (No. 26 peak, December 2020). Until now, that song and “Human,” featuring Echoes (March 2022), were tied as Summit’s highest-peaking tracks.
“Where” brings the second appearance for Hayla, the featured vocalist on Kx5’s “Escape” (No. 11, last June).
Concurrently, “Where” enters at No. 4 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart, matching the high of “Escape” last year. Summit scores his second and top-charting top 10, following “La Danza” (No. 10, March 2022).
On Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, “Where” debuts between two other newly-arriving collabs: Marshmello and Manuel Turizo‘s “El Merengue” (No. 6) and Oliver Tree and David Guetta‘s “Here We Go Again” (No. 10). The former, as previously reported, marks Marshmello’s first entry on a Billboard Latin chart.
“Here” is Oliver Tree’s second top 10, following “Miss You,” with Robin Schulz (No. 4, November). “Here” is Guetta’s landmark 20th top 10, the fourth-most among all acts since the chart premiered in January 2013; Kygo leads with 24, followed by The Chainsmokers (22) and Calvin Harris (21).
The track also extends Guetta’s record for the most Hot Dance/Electronic Songs hits overall to 75 (ahead of Kygo, with 61). “Here” bows with 1.8 million U.S. streams.
Further on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, a fourth notable team-up, Martin Garrix and JVKE‘s “Hero,” leaps 33-17. The track earns top Streaming Gainer honors with 872,000 streams, up 48%, in the wake of the March 3 release of new remixes by DubVision and Space Ducks. The rank is the closest that “Hero” has been to its No. 13 best in two months.
Moneybagg Yo chats with our R&B / Hip-Hop reporter Neena Rouhani about his upcoming album ‘Hard to Love’, working with GloRilla on ‘On Wat U On’, leaning into social media, the perfect push-up form, his relationship with Ari Fletcher, and more!
Shinedown pulls ahead of Foo Fighters for sole possession of the most top 10s tallied on Billboard’s Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, as “Dead Don’t Die” leaps from No. 12 to No. 8 on the March 18-dated survey.
In the March 3-9 tracking week, “Die” earned 3 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. That’s a 19% boost over the previous period (2.5 million).
Shinedown adds its 15th top 10, breaking the band out of a tie with Foo Fighters for the most in the chart’s 14-year history. The Brent Smith-led Shinedown first hit the top 10 with “Sound of Madness,” which peaked at No. 2 in July 2009. The act has one No. 1: “The Crow & the Butterfly,” a four-week ruler in 2010.
Most Top 10s, Rock & Alternative Airplay:15, Shinedown14, Foo Fighters13, Cage the Elephant13, Imagine Dragons13, twenty one pilots11, The Black Keys11, Muse10, Weezer
“Die” makes three top 10s in a row for Shinedown, following “Daylight” (No. 4, last August) and “Planet Zero” (No. 5, March 2022).
“Die” concurrently rises 6-5 on Mainstream Rock Airplay, continuing Shinedown’s streak of sending every one of its entries to the top five – 30 in all, dating to 2003. Of those, a chart-record 18 have hit No. 1.
“Die” also jumps 25-19 on the multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs survey. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 323,000 official U.S. streams March 3-9.
The track is the third rock radio single from Planet Zero, Shinedown’s seventh studio album. The set bowed at No. 1 on the Top Hard Rock Albums tally last July and has earned 164,000 equivalent album units to date. A pop radio-only single from the LP, “A Symptom of Being Human,” concurrently starts at No. 36 on Adult Pop Airplay.