Billboard Cover

17 Oct 2023

Manuel Turizo Shares the Stories Behind His Biggest Hits & More | Billboard Cover

Billboard cover star Manuel Turizo shares his greatest influences across several different Latin genres: pop, reggaeton, regional Mexican, bachata and merengue; the stories behind his biggest hits and collaborations, and more!

Manuel Turizo:
Hey there, this is Manuel Turizo …

… and this is the Different Tones of of Manuel Turizo.

I wasn’t a good sportsman or a smart kid or a good student in my classes at school, but I was good at music, so I gave it a try.

My goal, when creating music, is mainly to enjoy it, to challenge myself all the time. I’d say I feel
comfortable making music of any genre, and that’s something that also depends on the song.

You could make a reggaeton and say, “Hey, I love this,” or the next day you could make, I don’t know, a disco beat song, and say, “Wow, I’m loving this,” or other I don’t know … maybe just with a piano, and you like that as well.

I think that people are understanding a bit more the identity of Manuel Turizo. The fact that many years have passed already, I had the opportunity to show them that I made urban music, I made reggae, ballads, I made bachata, merengue, northern cumbia, I made reggaeton … so, OK, “This is what Manuel likes, and that’s Manuel’s identity.” Manuel’s identity isn’t just a genre.

My first approach to pop music, I’d say it was with Sin Banderas with Fonsi, with Alex Ubago. I remember that by the time we released “Una Lady Como Tú,” there was controversy, an argument over what sound it was, like, if that was pop, but it had a dembow, so, what was it?

Watch the full video above!

02 Oct 2023

Metro Boomin on Producing Hits, Working With Future, Migos, Post Malone & More | Billboard Cover

Metro Boomin:
I feel like what’s unique will forever for the end of time, be relevant, you know? No matter what category, what anything that’s in.

I have loved music my whole life so … You know growing up, I always wanted to be a rapper at first. In order to do that, I needed some beats so I had started to make my own beats. And at that time I was 13, like even seeing the success of, like, Soulja Boy and making his own beats it was like … it’s possible.
In 10th grade, I started to, you know, get some traction with people online and out of town, and started making trips to Atlanta, like this, that and the third. I worked with OJ da Juiceman, Don Cannon, and from that Juice introduced me to Gucci (Mane). I’m like in 12th grade, you know, I linked with Future before.

Metro Boomin on finding inspiration:
So basically to create a song, to create anything I just need to be comfortable. Ideas for songs and tracks and beats and everything, they hit me at all types of times, mostly when I’m outside of the studio, just living life, you know what I’m saying? I feel like as creatives, a lot of people put themselves so much in what they’re doing like at their art that at the same time we sometimes forget to live because that is what inspires what we do.

Watch the full video above!

02 Oct 2023

Metro Boomin: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot

“We all must make a choice — to be a hero or a villain.”

The familiarity of Morgan Freeman’s commanding voice couldn’t calm down the fans — 80,000 of them, reportedly — standing around Coachella’s Sahara Tent. The perilous tone of his monologue, paired with producer Mike Dean’s sinister synths, stressed the festival’s need for a hero. And comic book animations projected on either side of the stage illustrated there was only one man for the job.

Wearing a custom black Chrome Hearts suit, a masked Metro Boomin emerged from beneath the stage, his purple cross-embroidered cape fluttering in the desert wind. But regardless of the Academy Award-winning actor’s resounding introduction, it was the usually soft-spoken producer’s booming voice that caught festivalgoers — and one of his many guest performers — by surprise when he greeted the crowd.

“When we was done, Future kept telling me, ‘Bro, I ain’t know who the f–k was talking!’ ” Metro recalls. “ ‘I ain’t know you could do that! You be in a room and just be so quiet.’ ”

Read the full Billboard cover story on Metro Boomin here.

21 Sep 2023

Shakira’s Billboard Cover, Mariah’s Iconic BBMA Moment, MAMA Awards in Tokyo & More | Billboard News

Shakira is Billboard’s newest cover star! There’s a new No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart: FamousSally and YB’s “Wassup Gwayy.” We take a look back at the moment Mariah Carey received the Billboard Icon Award in 2019. The 2023 MAMA Awards are headed back to Tokyo and Billboard News has all the exclusive details. And more!

Tetris Kelly:
Shakira is our latest Billboard cover star. There’s a new leader on the Tiktok Billboard Top 50. We’ve got some exclusive MAMAs information. Billboard stops by a Save the Music LA event. And we look back at a major Mariah Carey moment.

I’m Tetris Kelly for Billboard News. It’s Thursday, September 21st. We’ve got a brand new cover star. It’s Shakira’s time and her hits don’t lie.

Shakira:
Latin music wasn’t really at its peak like it is right now. And in the U.S., in many radio [stations] at first, really didn’t want to play “Hips Don’t Lie” because it sounded too Latin for them. It’s understandable because it had Colombian cumbia in the middle of a song. There’s nothing pop about it, the rest of the song was. I had so much faith in this song. My album Oral Fixation was already out, it had already been published, but I really believed that the song was gonna make it big. And against all odds, I called the head of the label I remember, Donny Ienner I think was in charge back in the day, and I convinced him to recall the physical copies and collect them all and include the song in the album.

“Loba,” “She Wolf” was me flirting with EDM. It did a lot of things for me in the U.K. and the U.S. It was the first single of my eighth studio album, and I recorded it in the Bahamas.

I remember that actually, I wasn’t too sure about me writing the lyrics in English and I reached out to Sia and I asked her to write the lyrics in English for me. And I also reached out to Seth MacFarlane.

Watch the full video above!

21 Sep 2023

Shakira Looks Back on Her Career, Talks No. 1 Songs, Collaborations & More | My Chart History | Billboard Cover

Global superstar Shakira takes a look back at her chart history and talks through some of her most iconic musical moments, from No. 1 songs to her most memorable collaborations in her Billboard cover video.

Shakira:

Hey everyone, I’m Shakira and this is my Billboard Chart History.

“Donde Estás Corazón” was my international hit. It brought me to many different countries other than my own country and I was only 18 so that was a very exciting moment of my life.

“Ciega, Sordomuda,” I think it was my homage to Mexican music. I came up with the horn line and the lyrics and I co-wrote the music with Estéfano. It was super exciting at the time because not too long after the song was published, we did the MTV Unplugged, and we brought in a mariachi group, so I got to sing that song in its purest form, Mexican style.

“Whenever, Wherever” is definitely one of my most beloved songs and personally represents a big deal because it was the first single off Laundry Service. It was the album that allowed me to cross over to general markets in the U.S. It was like my biggest hit until that date in the U.S. and still to this day it’s one of the highlights of my shows when I’m on tour.

On “Underneath Your Clothes”:

It was my first ballad in English. It was a very personal song that I wrote when I was very much in love. Yeah, it’s one of those very iconic songs that when I perform it live, people sing along from beginning to end. Never gets old and never fails. It’s one of those songs that puts a big smile on my face when I perform.

Watch the full video above.

21 Sep 2023

Shakira: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot

Shakira walks into a luxurious upstairs suite at Miami Beach’s Versace mansion wearing high-waisted jeans, a loose T-shirt and a baseball cap pushed low over her forehead, her hair pulled back in a tangle of dirty-blonde braids. Far from cameras, her face is practically devoid of makeup save for mascara, and her eyes are wide over prominent cheekbones. Clear-skinned, barely over 5 feet tall in her sneakers, she looks young and almost fragile — a far cry from the powerful, wrathful woman she has played in her recent, hugely successful songs and music videos.

“I’m still in a reflective period,” she says pensively. “I’m still exorcising some demons. The last I have left,” she adds with a hearty laugh.

One of the most recognizable and celebrated stars on the planet, Shakira is also notoriously meticulous, a perfectionist known for leaving little to chance. But in the past 14 months, the 46-year-old has thrown convention, expectations and her own personal brand of allure-driven celebrity to the wind following her infamous split from Spanish soccer star Gerard Piqué, her partner of over a decade and the father of her two children, Milán, 10, and Sasha, 8. Covered ruthlessly by Spanish tabloids, the separation amid allegations of infidelity on Piqué’s part was immortalized when Shakira recorded “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” with Argentine DJ Bizarrap, an incendiary track in which she made a proclamation that became a global feminist mantra: “Women don’t cry; we make money.” The song hit No. 2 on the Billboard Global 200.

Read Leila Cobo’s full Billboard cover story on Shakira here.

13 Sep 2023

Diddy Talks About ‘The Love Album: Off the Grid,’ New Record Label & More | Billboard Cover

Diddy talks with Billboard‘s Executive Director of Hip-Hop and R&B, Gail Mitchell, about his first album in 13 years, The Love Album: Off the Grid, his new record label, love of R&B, the loss he’s experienced in his life, the next chapter of his career and more.

Diddy
So you know, in this world as I say, in The Sopranos, “you only need three bad m–herfckers” you know what I’m saying and we them three bad m–herfuckers.

Gail Mitchell
Hey there, it’s Gail Mitchell, Executive Director of R&B and Hip-Hop for Billboard. And I’m sitting here with the one and only Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Diddy
Hello,

Gail Mitchell
Thank you for being here.

Diddy
It’s such an honor to be interviewed by you, and just especially, you know, celebrating 30 years of music, and the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. So I have a lot to talk about, in this my first interview, and I’m excited that it’s with you, the legendary one.

Gail Mitchell
Legend to legend.

Diddy
Yes, yes.

Gail Mitchell 0:47
First off, I’ve seen you, the different name iteration. Sean, Puffy, Diddy, Love aka.

Diddy
Yeah we in the Love era, and just Love is not brother Love now, it’s just Love. It’s like, you know, the evolution of Diddy. And so I’m just, I’m just really excited. 13 years after Last Train to Paris, you know, when I had did that album, I didn’t know if people understood where I was coming from it was a little bit before its time. And it kind of like broke my heart in this sense, because they didn’t understand right away. I think I was like, you know, I mean, I know, I was like I was in my ego.

Gail Mitchell
What is it you thought they missed?

Watch the full interview above.

31 Aug 2023

RBD Talks Reuniting, How They’ve Grown, What They’ve Learned & More | Billboard Cover

Mexican pop group RBD talks with Billboard Latin Chief Content Officer Leila Cobo about why they’ve decided now is the right time for them to reunite, reflect on their past and how they’ve grown, and what they’ve learned since they’ve been away.

Maite Perroni:
What’s different is that before, we met as the result of an audition, and this time it’s by choice.

Leila Cobo:
Welcome, RBD!

Actually, are you nervous, a little bit?

Dulce María:
Yes.

Christian:
We have gone through all the emotions. We have, since we started rehearsals, I think when we started rehearsals we went through the part where we said: “Oh no … I don’t think we can dance and sing at the same time.” We stopped doing it so long ago that it was complicated at the beginning, and the truth is that we each have completely different personalities. So this time we are doing it on our terms, based on things we like, which has also been more complicated because obviously for all of us to agree with each other has been complicated but I think it’s good because it is a beautiful way to return to this project that gave us all so much but from the maturity and well … “maturity” in what we try to be mature, but with much more life experience and more awareness of what we want to show the public and how we want to do it.

Leila Cobo:
Now, many people who are going to see you now saw you in RBD Part One. What is different this time, specifically, if you can give me an example?

Christopher:
On stage, the creative part is obviously an upgrade in all areas, as you said in the visuals, in all the creative parts that we all added to this new tour, the songs as well, we were part of the compositions.

Watch the full video above!

11 Aug 2023

Here Are 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Nas | Billboard Cover

Nas reveals five things you didn’t know about him.

Nas:
What’s up y’all? It’s your man, Nas, and here’s five things you don’t know about me.

I like flying. It for real feels like a break.

I started liking in holidays again. I love celebrating with people and family.

I liked Frank Sinatra’s music since I was a kid. “My Way” way was incredible. We sung the New York song at my sixth grade graduation.

I was like a big fan of Jim Kelly, karate dude — the black dude with the Afro in the ’70s. I used to, like, see him with Bruce Lee.

Every once in a while, once a year, I try to figure out who killed JFK.

Watch Nas share five things about him in the video above!

08 Aug 2023

Larry Jackson: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot

In February, TikTok’s billion-plus users received an unexpected gift for Valentine’s Day: exclusive access to the catalog of one of hip-hop’s most revered labels, Death Row Records. Snoop Dogg had purchased the catalog in 2022 and pulled it from streaming services. So the only place to hear tracks from Snoop’s classic Doggystyle or 2Pac’s 10-times-platinum All Eyez on Me was TikTok.

This partnership — as unusual as it was savvy — was the handiwork of veteran music executive Larry Jackson, 42, who seized the attention of the industry this year when he launched his new entertainment company, gamma. Backed by $1 billion in financing and focused on putting that capital to work “in particular and acutely on Black culture,” Jackson has created a deep-pocketed alternative to the major labels.

His TikTok gambit paid off, showing a younger generation that “knows Snoop only from Corona commercials” why the rapper — and gamma investor — is a “national treasure.” “‘Gin and Juice’ went viral; ‘Who Am I (What’s My Name?)’ went viral,” Jackson says. “We were able to have three hits on social this year — and the lucrative world of high-end brand deals (Jackson is the U.S. ambassador for Cartier).

“What LJ is doing is a new way of thinking about things,” says Travis Scott, who has known Jackson for around a decade. “I love that he is opening up ways for an artist to come in and really elevate, and it’s more than just music.”

Read the full cover story on Larry Jackson here.

Check out love letters to hip-hop culture from rappers and executives here.