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30 Aug 2024

LE SSERAFIM’s ‘CRAZY’ Release & Special Jin Appearance | Billboard News

LE SSERAFIM released their new mini-album and music video titled ‘CRAZY.’ The girls also surprised fans with an appearance from Jin. Keep watching to see some behind the scenes footage!

Tetris Kelly:

A special appearance from Jin, brand-new music, and we have exclusive photos from the set of their music video. This is music you should know: LE SSERAFIM. We are going crazy for “CRAZY.” The song is featured on the group’s freshly released five-song mini-album of the same name. The LE SSERAFIM girls rock Y2K-inspired outfits and pose for the camera in our exclusive behind-the-scenes photos. We see the girls posing with each other, striking dance moves, and serving some serious looks on the set. But the serve we weren’t ready for was from Jin. Like the whole thing is so adorable and wholesome. Mr. Worldwide Handsome indeed. Check out LE SSERAFIM’s “CRAZY” out now. 

30 Aug 2024

Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Short n’ Sweet’ Receives Praise From Nicki Minaj & More | Billboard News

Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet has been out for a week now, and she’s receiving love from some of the biggest stars. Keep watching to see who said what about the singer’s latest album!

Tetris Kelly:
If you’re loving Sabrina Carpenter and her new album Short n’ Sweet, you’re not the only one. Some of the biggest names in music are gushing over the pop star and her latest project. When a fan asked Chappell Roan her favorite track off the album, she had this to say on IG Live. 

Chappell Roan:
I like … I want … “Juno.” Her project is so thought out and so, like, genuine and I just really love it. 

Tetris Kelly:
As for her boo, Barry Keogan, he shared his favorite track on IG along with a link to grab her album with a bonus track, like a good boyfriend. Everyone’s singing hits off the new record. Capitol FM even had Camila Cabello singing “Espresso” in the midst of love triangle fan theories between the two and Shawn Mendes. And legends are showing love, too. 

Nicki Minaj:
Shout-out to Sabrina Carpenter and shout-out to all the Sabrina Carpenter fans.

Tetris Kelly:
Nicki Minaj praised Sabrina and her fans after she tweeted, “This one’s for Nicki.” Lady Gaga got in on the praise train, too, commenting on an old video of Sabrina singing “Speechless” on TikTok, saying, “love this so much love her.”

Same, Gaga, same.

30 Aug 2024

El Alfa Talks Viral ‘ESTE’ Song & His ‘El Mejor del Planeta’ Tour | Billboard News

El Alfa has created several viral songs, including “4K” and his most recent, “ESTE.” The singer shares with Billboard how he creates his viral songs, what his fans can expect from his new “El Mejor del Planeta” tour, what it was like to work with Natti Natasha and more.

I want to know, Alfa, where the name for this tour came from.

Honestly, the name came from me and my team, but making Dembow, making people enjoy themselves and dance, we are the best at that. 

That’s true. The impact you’ve had, in fact, I saw that you have many No. 1 songs on the Billboard charts, more than 20 songs in the Hot Latin Songs chart, so no doubt about it. 

Right now, I have a song that’s very hot. Urban music is having a hard time finding success. You can have good placements on the charts, but making the public choose you and having your songs stick like before is hard. It has been 12 months since I had a song succeed as much as this one, but I am enjoying the process and seeing how the business continues to change. I am thrilled. I have just arrived from a tour in Europe which I started by opening for worldwide artists. My line up was for 7/7:30 PM and we finished closing the show at 11 PM. They thought I had to close it. El Alfa always does his best, so when things get a little uncomfortable on stage, I give everything I can because I always like to give my best.

Keep watching for more.

30 Aug 2024

Here’s Why Muni Long Thinks ‘Revenge’ Will Be the ‘R&B Album of the Year’ 

After earning a Grammy Award for best R&B performance with her 2022 R&B/pop breakthrough hit “Hrs and Hrs,” Muni Long is back with a new album, Revenge, today (Aug. 30) on The Muni Long Inc./Def Jam Recordings. The sophomore follow-up to Public Displays of Affection: The Album also arrives with two hits already in tow: “Made for Me” and “Make Me Forget.” The latter recently marked Long’s first No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay.

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The singer-songwriter describes the 14-track Revenge (listen HERE) in press materials as “one big diary entry.” Aside from its latest single, the soulful ballad “Ruined Me,” the project features more noteworthy songs like the introspective “30s” (“The first song I actually wrote for the album”), opening anthem “Superpowers” and uptempo BFF ode “Bessie.” 

From start to finish, Revenge brims with frank, raw emotion and relatable scenarios. That’s thanks to Long’s insightful penmanship, like this line from “Superpowers”: “How come my superpowers don’t work on you and me.” There’s also Long’s appealing voice, for which she shouts out vocal producer Kuk Harrell: “We just mesh; he knows how to pull it out of me.” Additional Revenge collaborators include hitmakers Christopher “Tricky” Stewart (“Make Me Forget,” which includes an interpolation of D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”), Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman (“Ruined Me”) and Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox (“Made for Me”).

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Long had recently ended her opening act stint on Chris Brown’s 11:11 Tour, which wrapped in early August, when Billboard caught up with her during an airport layover. At one point in the phone interview, she said Revenge is going to be “the R&B album of the year.

“First of all, you have to be a bit deluded to do this [music],” she continued with a laugh. “But I have to believe that even before the album is finished. I had to know that’s what I wanted to do as I’m doing it because that energy and that frequency have to be infused into the music. That’s something a lot of music is missing on the energetic and confidence level — before anyone else validates you. You can tell that I didn’t just throw these tracks together. This project was well thought out and well-intentioned. People are going to appreciate that, and resonate with the music on a deeper level.”

What lessons did you learn as an opening act on your first arena tour?  

It was like a big singalong every night. I’ve done three shows on my own since Chris’ tour ended and these crowds came with the expectation of hearing great songs. They want to hear R&B music. I understand it’s not normal for a new artist to be on their first tour doing arenas, right? So I don’t take that for granted. I learned a lot: how to work the crowd; how to coexist with the audience and not be up there like I’m separate from them. It felt like a masterclass working with Chris because he’s such an incredible live performer. I only had 30 minutes. So I don’t know how he was doing it for two-and-a-half hours at the energy level he was giving, dancing and full-out singing. It was a crazy, amazing experience.

What was it like working with Mariah Carey on the “Made for Me” remix?

The fact that she even said yes was just like, wow. I grew up listening to her, Whitney [Houston] and Celine [Dion]. So not only was it an honor but I got to have my name next to hers [laughs]. Mariah is also an excellent vocal producer, producer and songwriter. I don’t think she gets the credit she deserves. Working with her as an artist and, prior to that a songwriter, was probably one of the most memorable, precious experiences that I’ve had in music. But working with her, she never made you feel like she’s this big personality. It was always, “I have you here because I want your essence, your vibe. I want you to do what you do.”

Now you’re in promotion mode for Revenge. What sparked the creative direction behind this album?

Sometimes I’ll get the itch that I just need to write. Or I’ll hear a conversation or a piece of music that will inspire a lyric. I didn’t really have a specific theme as to what this album was going to be about. It was, “I like this song. It’s really good and I want to keep it.” From there it was about narrowing them down. I had like 18 songs when I first got with Tricky. So I let him shape the album and the track listing — something I normally would have done. But I kind of stepped back, allowing myself to make the art and let somebody else help me form the picture. This is the first time I’ve done that.

How did the title track come about?

We were in the studio, and The-Dream came by just to visit. I remember looking around the room, and there’s Tricky, Kuk Harrell, Theron Thomas, The-Dream and me. There’s no way I’m about to have all these powerful people in this room and not get a song [laughs]. And if you’ve ever been around The-Dream, you know he loves to go back and forth. So we get to arguing about relationships, men and women and how we treat each other … what’s the angle? Somehow we get to where, at a certain point, all the tit for tat isn’t necessary: It’s I don’t even want revenge. I just want you to go on somewhere. That’s when we started writing the lyric. Actually, Dream texted what I said, went into a booth and freestyled the entire melody for the verse and chorus. He’s like, “OK, I’m done.” Then Theron and I took that and just basically wrote my story; like, this is what I’m going through right now. Because it’s so close to home I was like, “This is the title.” The best revenge is success.

In your press materials, you note the journey to this career moment took 17 years. Did you ever lose faith while pivoting from songwriter to singer-songwriter?

If I’d known that it was going to take this long, I’d have probably done something else [laughs].  I got super impatient. I was ready to quit many times. But I think there’s something to be said about listening to your gut. Every time I wanted to walk away, I was like, “No, what else am I going to do?” This is where my heart is and that really kept me going. I spent a lot of time writing songs for other people [Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson]. But I don’t regret that because I learned so much. That’s why I’m able to write songs the way that I do. So everything happens exactly how it should.

29 Aug 2024

Foster the People Land Third Top 10 on Billboard’s Album Sales Chart With ‘Paradise State of Mind’

Foster the People score their third top 10-charting set on Billboard’s Top Album Sales ranking as the act’s latest studio effort, Paradise State of Mind, debuts at No. 8.

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The set sold nearly 7,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 22, according to Luminate. The new album was preceded by the top 20-charting Alternative Airplay hit “Lost In Space.”

Also new in the top 10 on Top Album Sales: Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion drives in at No. 1, Falling in Reverse scores its highest charting album and first top 10 with Popular Monster arriving at No. 2, KATSEYE’s debut project SIS (Soft Is Strong) bows at No. 6 and virtual YouTuber Mori Calliope visits the top 10 for the first time with Phantomime debuting at No. 9.

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Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units.

Of the 7,000 copies sold by Paradise State of Mind in its first week, physical album sales comprise 6,000 (about 3,000 each for CD and vinyl) and download album sales comprise 1,000. The set was supported by its availability across six vinyl editions.

Post Malone’s first country album F-1 Trillion starts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales with 80,000 sold in its first week – the second-largest sales week for a country album in 2023. (Only Beyoncé’s own debut country set, Cowboy Carter, roped a bigger week, when it arrived with 168,000 earlier this year.)

F-1 Trillion’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across four vinyl editions (a standard black vinyl and three color variants; which combined to sell 25,000 – Post Malone’s best week on vinyl), a cassette and a CD, in addition to explicit and clean digital download albums for the standard 18-song version and the 27-song “Long Bed” version.

Rock band Falling In Reverse debuts at No. 2 with Popular Monster, scoring the rock act its highest-charting effort and first top 10. The album sold nearly 18,000 copies in its first week – the act’s best sales week since 2015’s Just Like You debuted with 24,000 sold. The new set’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across eight vinyl variants, a signed CD, and a deluxe CD boxed set containing a branded T-shirt.

Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is a non-mover at No. 3 with 15,000 sold (up 5%), Stray Kids’ chart-topping ATE falls 2-4 with 14,000 (down 25%) and ENHYPEN’s former leader Romance: Untold dips 4-5 with 10,000 (down 3%).

SIS (Soft Is Strong), the debut project from girl group KATSEYE, arrives at No. 6 with 8,000 sold. The act was formed on the 2023 YouTube series The Debut: Dream Academy. SIS’ first-week sales were bolstered by eight collectible CD variants and two vinyl albums.

Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft falls 5-7 with nearly 8,000 sold (down 18%).

Mori Calliope, a virtual YouTuber with more than 2 million subscribers on that platform, debuts at No. 9 with Phantomime, selling 6,000 copies. It’s the artist’s first top 10 on the tally, and the set was supported by its availability across five collectible CD variants.

Falling from No. 1 to No. 10 is Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department with nearly 6,000 sold (down 79%).

29 Aug 2024

Is a New BTS x Megan Thee Stallion Collab Coming Soon? | Billboard News

Is Megan Thee Stallion teasing a possible BTS reunion or Jung Kook collab? Keep watching for the hints that have been put out!

Tetris Kelly:

Is Megan Thee Stallion collabing with BTS? Or is it Jung Kook? ARMY is speculating and we’re freaking out! Megan jumped on a remix of “Butter” back in 2021, and we are forever grateful for the 3J dance break. Iconic. Just today, she tweeted a horse emoji with a purple heart and some looking eyes. For those who don’t know, purple is a color that represents BTS, and their fans, known as ARMY, use the emoji often. While it could be a sign of her reuniting with the group, some suspect it could be a solo track with member Jung Kook. His documentary is heading to theaters next month and fans think new music could be included. Are you as excited as we are? Let us know what you think in the comments.

29 Aug 2024

Swifties Raise $144,000 for Kamala Harris | Billboard News

Taylor Swift fans have taken it upon themselves to raise money for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. Keep watching to see the impact of the “Swifties for Kamala” campaign.

Tetris Kelly:

Though Taylor Swift has yet to make a political endorsement, a group of her fans and some political heavyweights have organized and put money behind Kamala Harris. We’re talking about Swifties for Kamala. Senator Elizabeth Warren was just one of the speakers on the “Swifties for Kamala” call Tuesday on Zoom. The group, which has no official affiliation with Taylor or VP Harris, had raised over $144,000 as of Wednesday for the Democratic presidential nominee. Around 34,000 people joined the two-hour call. The group has over 73,000 followers on X and over 48,000 on Instagram and one of the organizers told NBC, “We’ve seen the good we can do as a fandom and what happens when we mobilize our community, so we don’t need to wait. We personally know what our values are. We also know what Taylor’s values are. She’s made them very clear to us.” Taylor has spoken out against Trump in the past, vowing to vote him out in November 2020. 

29 Aug 2024

Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter & More Dominate TikTok Billboard Top 50 | Billboard News

“Die With a Smile” and “Taste” rapidly took over TikTok, but who is going to take No. 1 with their new hit? Keep watching to find out!

Tetris Kelly:
It’s a battle of the women in pop for the top spot, while three of them make a top 10 debut. 

Zara Larsson:
I watched a lot of your videos. You’re funny. You’re very funny. But stay in school and take your meds.

Tetris Kelly:
Zara Larsson’s 2017 hit with Clean Bandit, “Symphony,” debuts at No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 for the chart posting Aug. 29. 

Zara Larsson:
What do you mean my biggest digital footprint is going to be a picture of a dolphin? For everything I worked for? But thank you, I love it.

Tetris Kelly:
She lands on top thanks to a trend involving dolphins, which Zara’s fully embraced, and even incorporated into her live show.

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” lands at eight. Users are dancing, lip-synching and making Fortnite edits to the new hit.

And our final top 10 debut is Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste” at No. 9. Everyone is having a blast lip-synching to the song, and her behind-the-scenes video even has 40 million views.

Every Thursday, Billboard will bring you the verified list of the hottest songs on TikTok by monitoring music discovery and engagement on the platform in the United States. To find the TikTok Billboard Top 50 each week, users can simply go to any sound detail page and tap the top right button to access the charts page.

29 Aug 2024

A$AP Rocky’s Relationship With Rihanna, Expectations for His New Album & More | Billboard Unfiltered

In this episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Kyle Denis and Damien Scott discuss A$AP Rocky’s cover story, his one-on-one conversation with Damien and the industry’s expectations for the rapper’s new album. They also dive into Complex’s Best Atlanta Rappers of All Time, debate, who should have taken the No. 1 spot, explore Billboard’s greatest pop stars of the 21st century and more.

Damien Scott:
He sticks with his own vision, he sticks with his own ideas. I’m really excited to hear the rest of the album. What I heard sounds great. 

Carl Lamarre:
André 3000 No. 1 without a solo rap album. 

Kyle Denis:
If you can spit, you can spit. 

Damien Scott:
Can you rap? Or can you not rap?

Carl Lamarre:
50 Cent, Alicia Keys, Kendrick Lamar, Megan Thee Stallion, J. Lo, Missy Elliott, Nelly, Cardi B, Doja Cat, Future, Post Malone, SZA, Sean Paul, Chris Brown. These are the names that did not make the top 25.

Well, shout-out to this brother right here. 

Yes, sir.

Big-time Dame, big-time cover story. If you guys haven’t already, make sure you check it out right now on billboard.com with A$AP Rocky. Yes sir. Had a fire profile piece. Man, the album was supposed to come out this Friday, which is pushed and coming out this fall. But, bro, talk about your experience kicking it with Rocky and how that was.

Damien Scott:
It was great. You know, I’ve known Rocky — well not know him — but I’ve watched and had the pleasure of watching his career grow from the moment he released “Purple Swag” to now. I’ve worked at publications who’ve covered him. We’ve had him on the cover for various albums and I’ve been fortunate enough to be close enough to see a different match throughout his career, and I’ve always been a fan.

Keep watching for more!

28 Aug 2024

NCT’s Taeil Has Left the Group After a Sex Crime Accusation | Billboard News

Taeil from NCT has left the group after an accusation of an unspecified sex crime, label SM Entertainment said. Keep watching for the full story.

Tetris Kelly:
Taeil is leaving K-pop group NCT after being accused of an unspecified sexual crime. His exit has been confirmed by his label, SM, and we’re breaking down the shocking news.

NCT 127:
As you know, for obvious reasons, we’re not all together with nine members.

Tetris Kelly:
NCT 127 was just in our studio without Taeil, speaking on operating with fewer members and we learned today of a massive shakeup in the group’s lineup. SM Entertainment issued a statement saying that the NCT member will depart from the boy band after learning he has been “accused in a criminal case related to a sexual crime.” Adding, “We recognized the seriousness of the issue, and we have decided that Taeil could no longer continue team activities. We have discussed this matter with Tael and it has been decided he will leave the group.” The label added that he is fully cooperating with the police investigation.

Our interview came almost exactly a year after 30-year-old Taeil sustained injuries in a motorcycle accident that required him to have surgery and take a hiatus. Last October, SM Entertainment released an update saying that the performer still needed “sufficient treatment and stability” after the procedure. Taeil debuted as a member of NCT, having been active with the group since their pre-debut training team in 2015. We will keep you posted on any developments in the story.