Billboard

16 Oct 2023

Myke Towers Plays Fishing for Answers | Billboard

Myke Towers plays Fishing for Answers with Billboard backstage at Latin Music Week 2023.

Myke Towers:
Hey, this is Myke Towers, baby, and this is Fishing for Answers with Billboard.

Who’s your style icon, and why? An icon in terms of fashion … Well, I really like Jimmy Hendrix and Michael Jackson. They never looked ordinary. They always stood out, but if I had to choose between the two, well … Michael Jackson had a lot of flow, many eras and he has my name, so I’ll go with Michael.

Here comes the next one: Who was the first celebrity you fell in love with? I can’t say I fell in love, but there are a lot, maybe I won’t remember their names. Those soap operas, when I was little, I used to watch a lot of soap operas at my grandma’s house. I always liked them. Someday, an actress will be in love with me.

This video is going to be heavy.

What’s the craziest thing that has happened to you on stage? You have to be wide awake on stage now because they throw things, but also, sometimes, while performing, women lift their shirts and all that. You have to stay alert.

What’s your favorite dance move? Well, to be honest, I’m not much of a dancer. Singing is my thing, but when the time comes to dance, I’ll hold my own.

How many more to go? Let’s go to the last one. This is a good one …

Watch the full video above!

14 Oct 2023

Israeli Festival Organizers Release First Statement After Event Massacre: ‘Unspeakable Tragedy’

The producers of Israel’s Supernova Sukkot Gathering have released their first statement following the massacre of roughly 260 attendees at the festival in Re’im, Israel, last Saturday (Oct. 7).

The festival was hosting approximately 3,000 attendees, with the lineup focused on the electronic psytrance subgenre. At around 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists entered the site by truck, motorcycle, ATV and paraglider and immediately began killing festival attendees with machine guns and RPGs. A number of attendees were also taken hostage by Hamas. (While the exact number of hostages is unknown, two people close the festival put the number at around 150.)

Today (Oct. 14), Supernova Sukkot Gathering producer Tribe of Nova posted a statement (published in both Hebrew and English) to its Facebook page. In it, organizers state that they are “working hand in hand with security forces and authorities to help find answers and bring back all that those who can return to their families and friends.”

The statement also notes that members of the Nova Tribe team have been at the site of the attack over the past week, “searching for those located in the disaster area, or other locations, recovering equipment from the site and its surroundings and, above all, ensuring the security of Israel.”

The statement continues to say that “at this moment, our production team is focused on providing the right and extensive emotional and mental support to everyone involved. This is the most important thing in this moment.”

Read the complete statement below.

Supernova Sukkot Gathering was the Israeli offshoot of the Paralello Universo festival, a psytrance festival launched in Brazil roughly 20 years ago.

Hamas attacked others areas in the region of the festival site, located near the Gaza border, on Oct. 7. Israeli has since retaliated with days of heavy bombing of Gaza, with the death toll of Palestinians rising.

Complete Statement From Nova Tribe:

“Our dear tribe of Nova, first and foremost, we want to convey our sincere and heartfelt condolences to all the families, friends, partners and couples who have lost their loved ones or have been affected by the tragic events that unfolded, following that magic night and that turned into an exceedingly heavy morning.

What was planned to be the happiest and largest electronic music festival of the Nova Tribe has turned into a scene of unspeakable tragedy, an inhumane war crime, an unprecedented violation of the most basic human values.

This is the epitome of pure and unbridled evil, the horrifying and senseless murder of countless innocent angels, whose only ‘crime’ was being Jewish and living in Israel.

It’s no wonder that these agents of darkness targets this joyous gathering of children of light, for their sole and singular purpose is to bring darkness upon the world. But we won’t let them do that!

We will keep fighting until we reach our objective adorned on our tribe’s flag: to spread light throughout the world, with the help of the holy people of Israel and the Nova Tribe.

Last Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, we were brutally attacked by hundreds of terrorists, heartless, ruthless and lacking any mercy. They murdered in cold blood hundreds of women and men, our beloved Tribe of Nova members, as well as numerous innocent Israeli civilians.

It was a heinous, terrifying, brutal massacre of innocent civilians from all over the country and the world, the best and most among us. This was [one of] the largest terrorist attack[s] in Israeli history. Taking the lives of 1,400 pure and innocent souls with over 150 remain [sic] missing, thousands left physically injured to varying degrees, and tens of thousands psychologically, emotionally and mentally broken. [Billboard editor’s note: While around 260 festival attendee deaths have been reported, CNN says that last weekend’s Hamas attacks overall killed more than 1,300 people.]

At this moment, our production team is focused on providing the right and extensive emotional and mental support to everyone involved. This is the most important thing in this moment.

We are working tirelessly, day and night, conducting search and rescue operations, helping identify the victims and updating their families. Searching for those located in the disaster area, or other locations, recovering equipment from the site and its surroundings and, above all, ensuring the security of Israel.

This is our sole goal, and we will stand behind it and fulfill it to the best of our abilities. We will not stop.

We are present at the disaster site and its vicinity day in and day out, working hand in hand with security forces and authorities to help find answers and bring back all that those who can return to their families and friends.

At the moment, this is our top priority. In the meantime, it’s essential for us to convey the following message: Our strength lies in our unity! We are in a war for our home, and it’s essential that we all come together, strengthen each other, and unite under one great, shining light to overcome this dark period as quickly as possible.

We send infinite love and a massive embrace to all Tribe of Nova members and all around Israeli civilians, the injured, the affected and the families of the deceased and the missing.

Wishing all of you to stay safe and that you take care of yourselves. We continue to pray that goodness and light will always prevail.

Wish wishes for a peaceful and safe week and good tidings for all of the people of Israel. Both in the land and across the world.”

14 Oct 2023

Wisin’s 5 Favorite Latin Things | Billboard

Wisin tells us all about his five favorite Latin things backstage at Billboard’s Latin Music Week 2023.

Wisin
Hello, my lovely people. This is W, and these are my 5 favorite Latin things

Wisin
My favorite Latin word…

Wisin
Wow. Sabroso, sabroso. [Tasty, tasty.]

Wisin
My favorite Latin dish is arroz, lechon y mofongo [rice, roast pork and mashed plantains].

Wisin
There are so many things in Puerto Rico, you eat well.

Wisin
My Latin vacations

Wisin
Well, in Puerto Rico, I’m always on vacation.

Wisin
I don’t need a vacation.

Wisin
Puerto Rico is an eternal vacation. 365 days a year.

Wisin
I have many favorite Latin songs

Wisin
I really love Ricky [Martin]’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca.”

Wisin
I think that song was big in that moment and it impacted all of us, so there are many favorites.

Wisin
And from great friends in the genre…and even those outside the genre who have impacted my life with music, so there are many favorites.

Wisin
My favorite Latin athlete

Wisin
Well he’s no longer active, but I really loved Félix “Tito” Trinidad. He’s a retired boxer, a great friend.

Wisin
I think he’s a true representative of the “Boricua.”

Wisin
I remember when he used to fight, and when he came to Puerto Rico, we had the day off.

Wisin
It was a celebration, so Félix “Tito” Trinidad.

14 Oct 2023

Nicky Jam Explains the Stories Behind These Photos | Billboard

Nicky Jam explains the stories behind these photos backstage at Billboard’s Latin Music Week 2023.

Nicky Jam:
Hi, I’m Nicky Jam and I’m taking you Behind the Photos with Billboard.

Okay, so this picture right here was taken on my way back from tour. I was touring for two months in Europe and finally, I was coming back to my house here in Miami so I was really happy. And it was two months so two months is crazy. So you could tell I was really tired here.

Now this picture is, it’s an epic moment because it’s me, Karol G, J Balvin, as you see, and we’re flying on Balvin’s plane in that moment. He bought, at that time, he doesn’t like talking or bragging so I’ll brag for him. He bought a global like one of the biggest private planes so we were all happy on his new plane and we were flying to do the remix video for “Poblado.” That’s that moment right here.

Now this moment is just me going crazy. This is me trying to look like Feid when we came out with the song. No, actually we were going to Medellín to do a rally with a whole bunch of motorcycle people. The whole city came out and showed me love and I needed my beard again. So I drew my beard like I painted my beard. And if you see a picture you won’t notice but I did my beard again myself. So there you go, Nicky Jam. Boom. Feid Jam!

Watch the full video above!

13 Oct 2023

Friday Dance Music Guide: The Week’s Best New Tracks From Skrillex With Flowdan & Lil Baby, Fred again.., G Jones & More

The weekend’s in sight, and we’ve got the solace of the dancefloor on our minds. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.

Fred again.. & Jozzy, “ten”

The Label: Atlantic Records

The Spiel: Fred Gibson has established himself as a technician of music that’s simultaneously melancholy, peppy and entirely his own. The producer again flexes that ability on his latest, “ten.” Featuring shimmery vocals from Jozzy (a singer whose also got writing credits that include “Old Town Road”), the song is a tight, slightly somber affair about missing someone bad, with the percussion and tempo also imbuing it with a certain brightness, like that feeling of finally actually seeing them. The song — written by Fred, Jozzy and Jim Legxacy — comes in the midst of Fred’s three-night run at Forest Hills in New York this week, and ahead of a sold out eight-night residency at The Shrine in Los Angeles later this month.

The Artist Says: “This song is about missing home, which I have this year more than ever,” says Fred. “Jozzy and Jim are both f—in g’s and great friends from different sides of the world which I kinda love because it feels like one voice is coming from L.A. and another from London. But yeh foreal I wanna thank them for making this song wit me and also jus for bein my mates. Cos I guess that’s the thing that makes being away from home better? Its always the people innit.”

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Skrillex, Flowdan & Lil Baby, “Pepper”

The Label: OWSLA/Atlantic

The Spiel: Skrillex brings the same tough-as-nails vibe that he started the year with into the close of 2023, with the producer again linking with Flowdan on “Pepper.” Their duo’s third collaboration of the year — after January’s scene-shaking “Rumble” and August’s similarly heavy “Badders” — “Pepper” is a glitchy, darkly stuttering and ironically cold-as-ice track that could very well be the close of a trinity of songs thematically focused on dominance, strength and winning over adversaries. This new one features Lil Baby, whose shimmery, melodic vocals counterbalance Flowdan’s sucker-punch delivery.

The Artist Says: “It’s inspired by being an underdog, not taking no for an answer, overcoming all odds, making sure you get that win,” Flowdan says.

G Jones, Paths

The Label: Illusory Recordings

The Spiel: The producer returns with his much-anticipated sophomore album Paths, the follow-up to 2018’s The Ineffable Truth. A experimental bass pioneer in his own right, the artist born Greg Jones has worked with legends including DJ Shadow, Amon Tobin and Eprom, and on Paths, he once again demonstrates why they’ve all sought him out. The album synthesizes sharp, sometimes challenging, often spare and occasionally explosive bass music that deftly maintains the celestial, cerebral and frequently ambient tone that’s part of his signature. Jones has developed a new live show for the album that he’s debuting at Red Rocks Amphitheatre this Sunday (Oct. 15).

The Artist Says: “I’ve been working on the Paths Live show all year, remixing and reformatting songs from Paths as well as the rest of my catalog for live performance, and also doing multi-day IRL work sessions with my team of visual collaborators, building this new show from scratch,” says Jones. “I can hardly contain my excitement about it all. I’ve been discovering so many new ways to perform my songs in a live context, and really believe that the audiovisual aspect of the show will be far beyond anything we’ve done before.”

REZZ & deadmau5, “Infraliminal”

The Label: mau5trap

The Spiel: REZZ and deadmau5 mark another milestone in their history as pals and collaborators with “Infraliminal,” an dual edit of deadmau5′ “Superliminal,” the opening track of his 2012 classic >album title goes here<. This new “REZZmau5” version maintains the same call-to-arms quality as the original while shaving off about two minutes, spending a little more time in the ambient section and adding more of REZZ’s signature bass crunch.

The Artist Says: “’Superliminal’ is my favorite deadmau5 track,” says REZZ. “That’s one of the key songs that stunned me and I immediately had to learn to produce music. I put my own lil spin on it, while Joel also did his own lil spin, and we combined it together for now called ‘Infraliminal.’” 

Azzecca, “Tell That Boy”

The Label: Higher Ground

The Spiel: Chicago producer Azzecca has released “Tell That Boy” via Diplo’s Higher Ground label, with the the house track encompassing moments of spareness, heaviness and general acid-ness over the course of three-and-a-half minutes, and further establishing why she’s one to watch. Azzecca plays in Amsterdam next week during ADE before returning to the States for sets at Phoenix’s Body Language Festival, Austin’s Seismic Dance Event and EDC Orlando.

The Artist Says: “Thank you all so much for the support on this cheeky little acidy thing,” Azzecca says.

13 Oct 2023

Joe Hisaishi’s ‘Symphonic Celebration’ Sets Modern-Era U.S. Vinyl Sales Record for a Classical Album

Joe Hisaishi and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s A Symphonic Celebration: Music From the Studio Ghibli Films of Hayao Miyazaki makes a splash on Billboard’s album charts, and sets a modern-era single-week U.S. sales record for a classical album on vinyl.

First released on June 30 via digital download, CD and through streaming services, the album was issued on vinyl on Sept. 29. In the week ending Oct. 5, the album sold a total of 12,500 copies in the U.S. according to data tracking firm Luminate, with 12,000 of that sum on vinyl. The latter figure marks the single biggest sales week for a classical album on vinyl since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991.

The Symphonic album’s vinyl sales were bolstered by its availability across five different vinyl variants. All were double-LP sets – a standard black vinyl, a picture disc set, and three color variants: clear, yellow and sky blue.

In total in the week ending Oct. 5, Symphonic earned 13,000 in equivalent album units*, of which 12,500 were in traditional album sales. That marks the second-largest week for a classical album released in 2023, in both units earned and pure album sales, following the debut frame of Def Leppard’s Drastic Symphonies (16,000 units; of which 15,000 were in album sales; June 3-dated charts).

The new Symphonic Celebration album surveys composer Hisaishi’s work with film director Hayao Miyazaki and his many animated films for Studio Ghibli. Hisaishi teamed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to present symphonic arrangements of familiar music he created for such films as Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke.  

A Symphonic Celebration returns for a second week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Classical Albums chart (jumping 11-1, with 13,000 equivalent album units earned; up 1,418%) after it debuted atop the list dated July 15 (following its initial digital download, CD and streaming release). On Traditional Classical Albums, it also bumps back to No. 1 for a second week (rising 2-1), after debuting at No. 1 (July 15). The two charts rank the week’s most popular overall classical albums (by equivalent album units) and traditional classical albums (by pure album sales), respectively.

A Symphonic Celebration also debuts in the top 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales (No. 4), Vinyl Albums (No. 2) and Tastemaker Albums (No. 9), and re-enters at No. 4 on Top Current Album Sales (a new peak). The four charts rank, respectively, the week’s top-selling albums overall, the top-selling vinyl releases, the top-selling albums at independent and small chain record stores, and the top-selling current albums (not catalog, or older titles).

Finally, on the overall, all-genre Billboard 200 chart, A Symphonic Celebration bows at No. 74. The Billboard 200 ranks the week’s most popular albums, overall, across all genres, by equivalent album units.

*Equivalent album units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

13 Oct 2023

Shakira Plays Fishing for Answers | Billboard

Shakira plays Fishing for Answers with Billboard backstage at Billboard’s Latin Music Week 2023.

Shakira:
Welcome! I’m Shakira, and I’ll be Fishing for Answers with Billboard.

Let’s see … the first one. What’s the craziest thing that has ever happened to me live on the stage?
Everything has happened to me. I have fallen, I broke my tooth. I think that’s the craziest that has occurred to me.

Let’s see … What’s my guilty pleasure food? Brownies.

The other one. Do you like to record or go on tour the most? Tough one. Lately, the recording studio is one of my happy places. It brings me lots of peace — I don’t know, I love it. It’s where I feel free the most. But I really want to go on tour and to return on stages. I actually feel very happy when I’m on stage. So, I don’t know … everything has its own time. After being in the studio for a long time, I really want to be playing live. But after some time being on tour, well … I like to come back home and to enjoy making music. Also at my place. The recording studio is also my place.

Watch the full video above!

12 Oct 2023

Fuerza Regida’s JOP Explains the Stories Behind These Photos | Billboard

Fuerza Regida frontman Jesús Oritz Paz — also known as JOP — explains the stories behind these photos backstage at Billboard‘s Latin Music Week 2023.

Jesús Ortiz Paz:
All right, you got to put that one in. Hey, what’s up? I’m Jesús. I’m taking you behind the photos with Billboard.

Right here, I’m in Malibu working on my album Pa Las Baby’s Y Belikeada, which drops Oct. 20.

Right here, with Becky G after we finished our video shoot, I surprised her with some flowers. And I told her mom she was my [mother-in-law], you feel me, just f–king around, you know. It was a nice collab with Becky G right here. We got her, like, over … I don’t know how many roses, but she looks pretty excited.

And right here, we’re in my mom’s backyard en carne asada with Faze Rug, with the homie Faze Rug. And we wanted to show him the whole vibe we do, you know? So we brought the rooster out, we brought the goat, you know? Showed him the whole Mexican authentic vibe, you feel me? We made a gaban with our logo, you know, show him how when it gets cold what we wear, you feel me.

Watch the full video above!

12 Oct 2023

Here’s Five Things You Didn’t Know About Jessie James Decker | Billboard

Jessie James Decker reveals five things you didn’t know about her.

Jessie James Decker:

Alright, y’all! This is Jessie James Decker and these are five things you may not know about me.

Number one, I was a belly dancer for my senior job in high school. Yeah, belly dancer.

Number two, I was a peanut sweeper at Texas Roadhouse. I was a hostess, but I could never get the numbers straight of where I was supposed to bring people so they made me the peanut sweeper.

Number three, I can rock climb anything. We were locked out of our two-story house once and I climbed my way, it was made of rock, to the second floor, climbed over the balcony and got us into the house.

Number four, I’ve been with my husband for almost 13 years. We’ve got three kids and he refuses to get a vasectomy.

And number five, I kind of have a thing for airplane food. It’s so weird, but I get so excited about airplane food. I’m typically very let down but I got a weird thing about it.

All right, that was five things you may not know about me.

Watch the full video above.

11 Oct 2023

Pedro Capó’s 5 Favorite Latin Things | Billboard

Pedro Capó tells us all about his five favorite Latin things backstage at Billboard’s Latin Music Week 2023.

Pedro Capó
Hey, I’m Pedro Capó. And these are five of my favorite Latin things.

Pedro Capó
My favorite Latin word: bendición. It’s you know, it’s not just a blessing. It’s something that we say as an endearing term to our elders, to our moms, our grandmas, our aunties, Pedro bendición, to ask for the blessing. You don’t even think about it as asking for a blessing. It’s kind of like the hello, respectful and endearing hello, you give to your elders.

Pedro Capó
Favorite Latin dish. Ooh, that’s a tough one. I’m gonna have to go with you know, Puerto Rican rice and beans with horchata.

Pedro Capó
Favorite Latin vacation Culebra, Puerto Rico.

Pedro Capó
Favorite Latin song. That’s a tough one. I mean, it’s so much I’m gonna go with “Soñando Con Puerto Rico” by my father Bobby Capó.

Pedro Capó
Favorite Latin athlete Roberto Clemente.

Pedro Capó
Alright, I’m Pedro Capó , and those were five of my favorite Latin things.