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Throughout his six-plus decades in country music, Bill Anderson has been lauded for his considerable talents as both an artist and a songwriter, with more than 30 top 10 Billboard Country Songs hits to his credit as an artist, including seven chart-toppers. As a songwriter, he’s seen his songs recorded by artists including George Strait, Brad Paisley, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Dean Martin.
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But even as a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, the 85-year-old Anderson is still notching career firsts. Leading into Sunday’s (Feb. 5) Grammy Awards, Anderson is celebrating his first Grammy nomination as an artist, as “Someday It’ll All Make Sense (Bluegrass Version)” earned a nomination in the best American roots performance category.
The nomination is Anderson’s fifth overall Grammy nomination, with his four previous nominations stemming from his skill as a songwriter. He was the sole writer on Connie Smith’s 1964 hit “Once a Day” and Porter Wagoner’s “Cold Hard Facts of Life,” which were each nominated for a Grammy in the best country & western song category. His work as a co-writer on Steve Wariner’s “Two Teardrops” and George Strait’s “Give It Away” earned nominations in the same category, after it was renamed best country song.
“I knew I had Grammy nominations for writing. I have never won one. It’d probably be my last shot at it,” he says with an unassuming chuckle, seated at a table in his business office just outside of Nashville.
Anderson recalls playing the song for Sony Music Publishing Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston: “I didn’t even tell him I was going to play it, and he didn’t know Dolly was involved. He’s sitting there listening to it and of course, I sing the first verse of the song myself. When Dolly’s voice came on, he was like, ‘A Grammy!’ So he believed in it from the beginning.”
“Someday It’ll All Make Sense,” which Anderson wrote with Bobby Tomberlin and Ryan Larkins, is featured on Anderson’s most recent album, As Far as I Can See: The Best Of, which released in June on MCA Records/Ume.
As Far as I Can See is also the title of his current exhibit on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, detailing Anderson’s journey from being the 19-year-old disc jockey in Georgia who wrote “City Lights,” which would become a No. 1 hit for Ray Price in 1958. In 1960, Anderson earned his own first top 10 Country Songs hit with “Tips of My Fingers,” followed in 1962 by his first No. 1, the seven-week chart-topper “Mama Sang a Song.” He earned another seven-week chart-leader in “Still,” as well as later chart-toppers “I Get the Fever,” “For Loving You” (with Jan Howard) and “Sometimes” (with Mary Lou Turner).
By the 1980s, he parlayed his affable, humorous personality into work as a television game show host on The Better Sex and the now-defunct cable outlet Tennessee News Network’s country music-themed quiz show Fandango (he had previously hosted his own The Bill Anderson Show). However, in the 1990s, he began collaborating with Vince Gill, notably on the song “Which Bridge to Cross (Which Bridge to Burn).” That ushered in a renaissance for his songwriting career, leading to him writing with and for a new generation of artists and crafting fine-tuned hits including Kenny Chesney’s “A Lot of Things Different,” Strait’s “Give It Away,” and the Brad Paisley/Alison Krauss duet “Whiskey Lullaby” (which won the CMA’s song of the year honor in 2005).
Anderson talked with Billboard about his current Grammy nomination, working with his longtime friend and fellow singer-songwriter Dolly Parton, his thoughts on touring and songwriting and his memories from his decades in music.
How did Dolly come to be part of this song?
Her hairstylist is a girl named Cheryl Riddle, and we’ve been friends for many years. She’s had a lot to do with my career in some interesting ways. When I kind of quit songwriting for a while and backed away from it, she’s the one who encouraged me to do some co-writing. She was also doing Vince Gill’s hair at the time, and was trying to get me and Vince together to co-write. She finally succeeded, and that started my whole second songwriting career — and evolved into a wonderful friendship between me and Vince.
Bobby Tomberlin is also good friends with Cheryl, and he played some of it for her, with just me singing it. Cheryl said, “Oh my god, Dolly should be singing on that with him.” And asked for a copy. Dolly loved it, and next thing I know, they sent me a copy of her singing it with me. I told Dolly the day we filmed the video, I said, “This sounds like something you would’ve written,” and she said, “I wish I had! I love it,” which I took as a great compliment.
This is not the first musical collaboration you have had with Dolly. As Far as I Can See also features an early demo from around 1964 with Dolly, “If It Is All the Same to You,” a song you later recorded with Jan Howard.
It was lost for a long period of time. I’m almost positive that we did that session out at [Owen] Bradley’s barn. Dolly was new in town. Walter Haynes was working for the publishing company I was writing for at the time, and I said, “I need a girl singer to help me on this duet.” He said, “I know this girl from East Tennessee and she’s pretty good.” So she was hired and we sang the duet together. I think we recorded six or seven songs that night, and I went up there not long after to get a copy of the session, and someone had taken the duet and cut it out. There were seven songs on the demo but only six on the copy. Until recent years, I thought it had disappeared, until the Bear Family put out a box set of my music and uncovered it.
The two of you also filmed the video together for “Someday It’ll All Make Sense.” What do you recall about the day of filming?
She set aside from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., so we had three hours to do the video. When we finished filming all the scenes she would be involved, we got finished a little before one. There were all kinds of people coming to watch and Dolly stopped and said, “Okay, if anybody would like to get pictures or an autograph, we’ve got 15 minutes.” She stood there and took pictures with everybody in that room.
And then she turned to me and said, “Ok, I gotta go change clothes. I’m doing a video for the Queen of England” [for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, marking 70 years of service]. So she finished filming a video with Bill Anderson, changed clothes into something very prim and proper, a black dress with a set of pearls and did a video for the Queen of England, then changed again and did a video for NASCAR. She’s amazing.
In addition to being artists, writers and all-around entertainers, both you and Dolly were were part of impactful duos — Dolly and Porter were on the Porter Wagoner Show, and Jan Howard was part of your show and a frequent duet partner. Do you have any memories that stand out from that time?
There were occasions where promoters would book my show and Porter’s show together. There were some pretty big fairs up in the Northeast where Jan and my group, we’d do the first half of the show, and then there would be an intermission, and then Porter and Dolly would do their part of the show. One time, we did this cool thing where we decided to do a swap. Jan and I guested on the Porter Wagoner Show, and Dolly and Porter guested on the Bill Anderson Show, and we all sang songs together. I would love to have a copy of those shows.
You have several books here on your table, including a book about your Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit As Far as I Can See. What music or music business books have been some of your favorites?
I read all the time and have books stacked up. I’ve never thrown away a music book and an awful lot of ‘em are autographed. Probably the music book that got me the most, emotionally, was the Louvin Brothers book, Satan Is Real [written by Charlie Louvin with Benjamin Whitmer]. If I was a movie producer, I’d make a movie out of that book so quick. I knew Charlie [Louvin] quite well, and Ira as well as you could know Ira. They recorded quite a few of my songs. That book was just so brutally honest and it really moved me. But I’ve read Shania Twain’s book [From This Moment On], and Anne Murray [All of Me] and everything from Willie — Willie’s book of the month. I feel like I know Willie awfully well.
What Is ahead for you in terms of touring and recording?
I want to make some more records. [UMG Nashville president] Cindy Mabe has been a real champion for this whole project, and UMG re-released a lot of my older catalog digitally for the first time. So I’m just seeing what is ahead.
I’m not going out on the road right now. I haven’t been out on the road since [the] COVID [pandemic] started. Surprisingly, I haven’t missed it like I thought I probably would. I was on the road for over 50 years and I figured I couldn’t live without it. But I’ve kind of enjoyed just kicking back a little bit, writing a little bit more, taking time off and being with my kids and grandkids.
I’m not saying I’m never going back on the road — as soon as I say “Never,” something will change. I want to make more records and keep performing occasionally at the Opry. I’m not saying I’ll never work the road again, but it’s not on the top of my priority list.
You have had so much success, both as a solo writer and a co-writer. Who are some of your favorite rising songwriters?
I like Ryan Larkins, the third writer on “Someday.” And I like this kid, Drake Milligan. I’ve got two writing dates with him and one is going to be me and him and Vince. Ryan and Drake are two that I have connected with. They are young kids with old souls.
What are your thoughts on the nomination as we head into the Grammys?
I’ve been so blessed. I mean, I pinch myself sometimes that this has really all happened. If we do win a Grammy on Sunday, that’ll be the cherry on top of the sundae. And if we don’t, it’s still been a fun ride.
Artists, music executives, songwriters and more descended on Los Angeles’ Nightingale Plaza on Wednesday night for the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and Billboard Grammy Week Showcase.
Throughout the star-studded night, Demi Lovato, Sabrina Carpenter and Jimmie Allen each performed an intimate set, highlighting the work of a particular songwriter who helped each craft the sound of their latest studio set. Carpenter, the rising star behind Emails I Can’t Send, put a spotlight on Amy Allen, with whom she duetted on their co-written single “Vicious.”
Later in the evening, Allen performed a brand-new track titled “Small Town Anthem” as well as his 2022 hit “Down Home” before posing alongside Nashville powerhouse Liz Rose, who sits on the NMPA board of directors and was awarded song of the year during the party for co-writing “All Too Well” hand-in-hand with a certain superstar by the name of Taylor Swift back in 2012.
Lovato eventually closed out the musical festivities with back-to-back performances of “Feed” and “4 Ever 4 Me” from their 2022 album Holy Fvck — both of which were penned by Laura Veltz along with 11 more of the album’s 16 pop-punk-infused tracks.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. and NMPA president David Israelite were both on hand for the soiree, as well as songwriters from Makia, Nija Charles and Alex Raphael to Amber Mark and Patty Smyth. Heading into the 2023 Grammys on Sunday, Charles, Veltz and Allen are all among the inaugural pack of nominees for the first-ever award for songwriter of the year, non-classical.
Check out Billboard‘s exclusive gallery of the NMPA and Billboard Grammy Week Showcase below.
Linda Ronstadt’s illustrious voice is back in the spotlight, thanks to her 1970 song “Long, Long Time” being featured in the HBO series The Last of Us.
Ronstadt first rose to prominence during the folk-rock scene of the 1960s and later became a blazing country-folk musical force throughout the 1970s, putting her stamp on the musical landscape as a formidable vocal stylist and interpreter possessing a supple voice capable of enviable musical diversity. Over the course of more than two dozen albums, Ronstadt traversed genres including rock, folk, country, jazz, Mexican folk, the Great American Songbook and opera. Several of her songs reached the upper echelon of the Billboard’s Hot 100, and in 1975, she crowned the chart with her hit “You’re No Good.” In total, she placed 34 entries on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
She also notched hits on the Billboard Latin chart (“Frenesi,” “Perfidia”) and country charts (1975’s “When Will I Be Loved,” and the Dolly Parton/Emmylou Harris collaboration “To Know Him is to Love Him”).
Ronstadt has 11 Grammy wins to her credit, in a diverse spectrum of categories including best musical album for children, best country vocal performance, best Mexican-American album, best pop vocal performance, and the all-genre record of the year category. Further demonstrating her versatility, Ronstadt also earned a Primetime Emmy Award in 1989 for outstanding individual performance in a variety of music program, for Canciones de Mi Padre (Great Performances), and was nominated for a Tony Award for best performance by a leading actress in a musical, for her role as Mabel Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance.
Ronstadt earned a lifetime achievement award from the Latin Grammys in 2014, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 and was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 2019.
Here, we look at 15 songs that highlight Ronstadt’s stylistic range.
The Voice could have had a very different vibe if producers had gotten their first choice of judges to fill one of the iconic red spinning chairs. In an interview with ET Online country legend Reba McEntire was asked who she thought would make a good replacement for soon-to-depart OG coach Blake Shelton, revealing that it could have been her they were looking to re-cast.
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McEntire reminded ET that she was originally offered a role on the reality singing series before it debuted in 2011, with producers then offering the gig to Shelton, who will end his 12-year-run with the show after Season 23, which premieres on NBC on March 6. “Who could fill Blake’s shoes?” McEntire asked with a smile according to ET.
“I got [a look at] the Holland version of The Voice. They sent it to me and I said, ‘I can’t see me doing that,’” she said of her feelings after seeing the original version of the show that has spawned a global franchise. “Because, you know, I’m a gypsy at heart,” McEntire, 67, said, noting that she’s not sure she could be committed to one project for so long and stay in one place.
Whoever does permanently fill Blake’s shoes has their work cut out for them, McEntire said. “To fill Blake’s chair? Wow. That’s gonna be tough,” she predicted. “He did a great job and kudos to him.” McEntire didn’t totally blow producers off, though, agreeing to serve as a mentor to Team Blake during the show’s premiere 2011 season and returning again in 2015.
The upcoming season of The Voice will feature new coaches Niall Horan and Chance the Rapper joining Shelton and returning cast member Kelly Clarkson.
For now,
With the Jan. 27 release of Elle King’s Come Get Your Wife, the expansiveness of modern country is firmly on display.
The album melds a banjo-toting female artist who emerged in rock and adult alternative genres with a country format that is increasingly testing its boundaries. The project mixes a range of sounds and influences — Southern rock, blues, bluegrass, classic soul and folk/pop — in a manner that’s impressively cohesive, built around King’s gritty vocal and spacious, funky approach to the banjo.
Come Get Your Wife comes at a time when country artists are pushing the genre’s borders in multiple directions, taking risks but maintaining enough of its identity that the outlier material still holds a connection to country’s core.
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Chris Young’s current “Looking for You” utilizes a pitch-shifted version of an Emily Weisband vocal to create an other-worldly sonic hook. Jordan Davis’ “What My World Spins Around” incorporates a tremolo electric guitar effect that mirrors The Smiths’ 1984 new wave piece “How Soon Is Now?” Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor” and the HARDY collaboration with Lainey Wilson, “wait in the truck,” rely on haunting gospel choirs to bring home their drama. And Walker Hayes’ “Y’all Life” features a washed-out drum sound while employing loose gang vocals to carry the lead melody.
The developments aren’t exactly new, but the volume of outside sounds and techniques at work in country reflects changing attitudes among artists and fans, as well as a wider array of available tools and easier access to music through streaming platforms.
King, in fact, felt more freedom to combine her multiple influences while making a country album than in her previous recordings. That represents a major change from the past, when artists have at times complained that the format is too stifling.
“I realized that I could pull from each of [my influences] and make this sound, which is country music to me,” King says. “This album doesn’t sound that far off from anything that I would have [previously] made, but I felt like because I could have this, I don’t know, shell to put on it, I could bring in what I wanted from each place and each feeling.”
The cooperative marketing effort for Come Get Your Wife, involving Sony offices in New York and Nashville, is representative of a friendlier cross-genre atmosphere. Warner/Chappell and Big Machine similarly cross-pollinate between Nashville and Los Angeles, and Music City songwriters are increasingly meshing with composers from other industry centers.
“Nashville is lending to L.A., and L.A. is lending right back to Nashville,” notes Laura Veltz, a Nashvillian currently nominated in the Grammys’ new songwriter of the year category, recognizing her work with country artists Maren Morris and Ingrid Andress, as well as pop singer Demi Lovato.
Technology plays a major role in the development, as the rise of the internet changed the way music is both created and consumed. On the production side, musicians and producers have far more sounds available through a wider selection of sound-shaping pedals and computer plug-ins, particularly compared with previous eras, when studio pros were expected to churn out four songs in a three-hour session, usually applying the same instruments to each of the tracks.
“Harold Bradley might play guitar on one song and turn around and play a banjo on the next one,” says Bill Anderson. “So they did change instruments a little bit and sometimes played two instruments on the same song. But all the things they have available to them now, we didn’t have that. I don’t know if we’d have used it or not.”
On the consumer end of the equation, the ability to identify, locate and sample music online is extraordinarily fast, matched up against the pre-internet age, when less music was available and the music fans heard beyond the radio was mostly proportionate to their willingness to purchase albums.
Now consumers can speed through genres and catalogs, cross-reference studio work against live recordings and find artists and sounds that would have been obscure to their grandparents. Like the artists themselves, fans are thus more willing to hear Queen or Beach Boys influences in country, as happens in some Dan + Shay recordings.
“We’re very fortunate, I feel like, to live and breathe in a time in music where we aren’t so segregated and isolated,” says Joel Smallbone of contemporary Christian act For King + Country, appropriately nominated in the Grammys for a collaboration with Hillary Scott of the country trio Lady A.
One reason that country is arguably able to maintain its identity now that the walls are falling down is that many of its artists — such as Young, Tyler Hubbard or Thomas Rhett — retain their Southern accents no matter what non-country sonics surround them.
“Chris is a great example,” says Chris DeStefano, co-writer and co-producer of “Looking for You.” He has a very country voice. I think Morgan Wallen is another amazing example. He’s got the cheat code for country music. He could sing anything, you can put a [hip-hop] 808 beat under him; it still sounds country.”
King’s new album puts the trend in focus most clearly with two songs that appear back-to-back on the project: “Try Jesus” weaves a church organ and thick gospel choir into an otherwise-country production, while “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” her Grammy-nominated duet with Miranda Lambert, leans heavily on the interplay between tribal drums and an unusual two-note bass guitar riff. Country’s increasing openness was perfectly timed for her appearance in the format.
“I’ve noticed a difference in wider-open sliding doors even since 2016, 2017, when I first met Dierks [Bentley],” she says. “I feel like country makes room for good music, a good song. I don’t want anyone to kick me out.”
The Country Music Association has revealed the honorees for the 13th CMA Triple Play Awards, which celebrate songwriters who have earned three No. 1 songs within a 12-month period based on the Billboard Country Airplay, Billboard Hot Country Songs, and Country Aircheck charts.
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This year’s 16 honorees are Rhett Akins, Kurt Allison, Luke Combs, Jesse Frasure, Nicolle Galyon, Ashley Gorley (who contributed to six chart-topping hits during the 12-month period), Charlie Handsome, Michael Hardy, Ben Johnson, Tully Kennedy, Shane McAnally, Chase McGill, Thomas Rhett, Ernest Keith Smith, Josh Thompson and Morgan Wallen.
All of this year’s honorees will be feted during a ceremony to be held Wednesday, March 1 at Saint Elle in Nashville, and hosted by CMA Board member Jim Beavers.
Gorley will receive his 19th and 20th CMA Triple Play awards during the upcoming ceremony, while first-time CMA Triple Play award recipients this year are Allison, Handsome, Johnson and Kennedy.
In addition to honoring songwriters for crafting some of the year’s most-popular compositions, the CMA Triple Play Awards ceremony will honor longtime songwriter champion and Jody Williams Songs founder Jody Williams with the CMA Songwriter Advocate award.
This accolade recognizes an individual who has dedicated their life to supporting and advancing the art of songwriting and the careers of songwriters. The honoree accepting this award must have positively impacted and contributed to the growth of songwriting in country music over the course of several years, and has proven their unprecedented historical impact on the songwriting community.
“Being honored by the CMA with this award is the cherry on top of the incredible experience I have had serving on the CMA board,” Williams said via a statement. “Nashville’s songwriters have blessed me with a fulfilling career. I’m extremely grateful.”
For more than four decades, Williams has supported, uplifted and aided numerous songwriters, both during his tenure as the head of creative at BMI, as well as his time spent with both major publishers and at his own companies. Just a few of the songwriters and writer-artists Williams has supported over the years are Liz Rose, Ashley McBryde, Eric Church, Vince Gill, Maren Morris, Jeffrey Steele, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood, Brooks & Dunn, Taylor Swift, Natalie Hemby and Alison Krauss.
See the honorees for this year’s CMA Triple Play Awards, as well as the songs they are being honored for, below:
Rhett Akins“To Be Loved By You,” recorded by Parker McCollum“Slow Down Summer,” recorded by Thomas Rhett“Half Of Me,” recorded by Thomas Rhett featuring Riley Green
Kurt Allison“Blame It On You,” recorded by Jason Aldean“If I Didn’t Love You,” recorded by Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood“Trouble With A Heartbreak,” recorded by Jason Aldean
Luke Combs“Cold As You,” recorded by Combs“Doin’ This,” recorded by Combs“The Kind Of Love We Make,” recorded by Combs
Jesse Frasure“Whiskey And Rain,” recorded by Michael Ray“One Mississippi,” recorded by Kane Brown“Slow Down Summer,” recorded by Thomas Rhett
Nicolle Galyon“Gone,” recorded by Dierks Bentley“half of my hometown,” recorded by Kelsea Ballerini“Thought You Should Know,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Ashley Gorley“Sand In My Boots,” recorded by Morgan Wallen“Beers On Me,” recorded by Dierks Bentley featuring BRELAND and HARDY“You Proof,” recorded by Morgan Wallen“Slow Down Summer,” recorded by Thomas Rhett“Take My Name,” recorded by Parmalee“New Truck,” recorded by Dylan Scott
Charlie Handsome“I Love My Country,” recorded by Florida Georgia Line“More Than My Hometown,” recorded by Morgan Wallen“Wasted On You,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Michael Hardy“Single Saturday Night,” recorded by Cole Swindell“Sand In My Boots,” recorded by Morgan Wallen“Beers On Me,” recorded by Dierks Bentley featuring BRELAND and HARDY
Ben Johnson“Take My Name,” recorded by Parmalee“Best Thing Since Backroads,” recorded by Jake Owen“New Truck,” recorded by Dylan Scott
Tully Kennedy“Blame It On You,” recorded by Jason Aldean“If I Didn’t Love You,” recorded by Jason Aldean“Trouble With A Heartbreak,” recorded by Jason Aldean
Shane McAnally“half of my hometown,” recorded by Kelsea Ballerini“23,” recorded by Sam Hunt“Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” recorded by Ashley McBryde and Carly Pearce
Chase McGill“Waves,” recorded by Luke Bryan“Never Say Never,” recorded by Cole Swindell and Lainey Wilson“Don’t Think Jesus,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Thomas Rhett“Country Again,” recorded by Thomas Rhett“Slow Down Summer,” recorded by Thomas Rhett“She Had Me At Heads Carolina,” recorded by Cole Swindell
Ernest Keith Smith“Breaking Up Was Easy In The 90’s,” recorded by Sam Hunt“One Mississippi,” recorded by Kane Brown“Wasted On You,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Josh Thompson“Whiskey And Rain,” recorded by Michael Ray“Wasted On You,” recorded by Morgan Wallen“Half Of Me,” recorded by Thomas Rhett
Morgan Wallen“Wasted On You,” recorded by Wallen“Thought You Should Know,” recorded by Wallen“You Proof,” recorded by Wallen
After seeing viral success in the two weeks of its release, Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers” has received the country treatment. On Monday (Jan. 30), Lauren Alaina gave the song a spin while performing a vocal warm-up backstage before a concert and shared it to her Instagram.
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“We’re backstage at the Ryman [Auditorium], and Tico and I thought we would warm up by singing a little Miley Cyrus,” the country singer says with a wink before launching into a powerful, twang-filled rendition of the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping track. “Why acoustic when you can acousTICO?!” Alaina playfully captioned the post.
“I can buy myself flowers/ Write my name in the sand/ Talk to myself for hours/ Say things you don’t understand/ I can take myself dancing/ And I can hold my own hand/ Yeah, I can love me better than you can,” Alaina belts during her warm-up.
Released on Jan. 12, Cyrus’ “Flowers” debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100, and is currently holding the spot in its second week on the chart. The track marks Cyrus’ first track to ever debut at No. 1 over her 15-year career, and her second track to crown the Hot 100 behind 2013’s “Wrecking Ball.”
The pop star took to social media to thank fans for the song’s success in the first two weeks of its release. “Celebrating ‘Flowers’ being #1 around the world again this week,” she tweeted. “I love that this record is connecting in such a positive way & it’s a pleasure to continue creating music for you. These milestones are only made possible by the listeners & my incredible fans. Endlessly thankful.”
Listen to Alaina sing “Flowers” below.
Brad Pitt has a shelf full of awards and enough big screen highlights to spread across four careers. So when Shania Twain took away a tiny little bragging right embedded in her 1998 single “That Don’t Impress Me Much” during her performance at December’s 2022 People Choice Awards, well, that didn’t impact him much.
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One of the highlights of her performance — which included her breakthrough 1995 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Any Man of Mine,” her crossover late-’90s pop smashes “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” and “Impress,” as well as her latest single “Waking Up Dreaming” — was when the pink-haired singer swapped the famous spoken-word “Brad Pitt” line from “Impress” for a fellow Canadian star.
“OK, so you’re Ryan Reynolds!/ That don’t impress me much,” she said sassily as the cameras cut to the surprised Deadpool star, who was on hand to accept the People’s Icon award later in the evening. Reynolds mouthed, “Oh my God, me?!” from the audience.
During a new interview to promote his new film Babylon with the Movie Dweeb site, host Daniel Merrifield complimented director Damien Chazelle on the all-star film that tells the story of debauchery in the transition from silent to talkie films in the 1920s. He also jokingly said the only thing that would have made the soundtrack better is if it had featured Twain’s Pitt/Reynolds-hyping tune.
Pitt, 59, had a laugh about the celebrity crush swap during the chat when asked if he’d seen the moment and was then asked to look at a screenshot of Reynolds’ shocked reaction from the broadcast. “And I want you to tell him how you think he stole your thunder,” Merrifield said to Pitt.
“He didn’t steal it,” Pitt said confidently. “I think we can share the wealth there. Yeah, Ryan’s a good egg, too. He deserves some love.” In fact, Pitt helpfully suggested that next time Twain should update it again and swap in Golden Globe-winning Elvis star Austin Butler. “Maybe Leo [DiCaprio] in between, and then Austin Butler,” he added, shouting out his pal and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood co-star. Sadly, though, despite Merrifield’s suggestion, Pitt said the host and Chazelle aren’t likely to get in the mix anytime soon.
Check out Merrifield’s TikTok below.
What could’ve been. Shania Twain opened up in a new interview with Apple Music on Tuesday (Feb. 1) about the time she almost worked with Prince before his death.
“I missed out on that because Prince called me when I got divorced,” the country icon tells Zane Lowe in a clip shared exclusively with Billboard. “We’re on the phone and he said, ‘Shania, why don’t you come to Paisley Park? I want to make the next Rumors album with you.’”
“And that was the weirdest thing he could have ever have said,” she continued, “because Mutt [Lange], his standard of what he thought, of what I could live as a standard was that album, Rumors album. And he said that to me. So when Prince said that to me, I’m like … ‘This is way too ironic what you’re saying.’ Right? And I’m such a major Prince fan.”
However, Twain admitted she found herself “too insecure to go and get with Prince in the studio” because she was still in the process of finding her voice after splitting from Lange, who was not only her husband of 15 years, but also her longtime producer and collaborator on smash albums such as 1997’s Come on Over and its 2002 follow-up, Up!
On their phone call, Prince also laid out some ground rules for his would-be studio time with Twain — namely that there was no swearing allowed at Paisley Park.
“So that was another strike,” Twain joked. “I’m like, ‘Oh no, I love you so much, but I don’t think I could get through writing and recording an album without swearing, somewhere along the way! What are you going to do to me if I swear? I might have to stand in the corner or something.’ I wasn’t sure about that. I don’t think I was ready for what all that was going to mean for me. I didn’t give up on it or anything, but then he died.”
This weekend, the singer — who just dropped her galloping new single “Giddy Up!” — is set to serve as a presenter at the 2023 Grammy Awards along with the likes of Cardi B, Viola Davis, Olivia Rodrigo, Dwayne Johnson and more.
Watch Twain recall her fortuitous missed connection with His Royal Badness below.
Two sets start atop Billboard’s rock album charts dated Feb. 4, as HARDY’s The Mockingbird & the Crow and Måneskin’s Rush! open atop the lists.
HARDY’s Crow, a hybrid between the country and rock genres, debuts at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums tallies with 55,000 equivalent album units earned Jan. 20-26, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 34,000 units are from streaming and 20,000 via album sales.
The former total is the best for any title on Top Hard Rock Albums since it adopted a consumption methodology in 2017, while Crow’s overall unit count is the biggest on the chart since Slipknot’s The End, So Far bowed with 59,000 units (Oct. 15, 2022).
Crow is HARDY’s first No. 1 on each chart, achieved in his first appearance on each (as his previous albums were more fully within the country genre). It’s also his first Top Country Albums ruler, surpassing the No. 4 debut and peak of A Rock in 2020.
On the all-format Billboard 200, Crow bows at No. 4, becoming HARDY’s first top 10. Its predecessor, A Rock, reached No. 24.
Meanwhile, Måneskin’s Rush! starts at No. 1 on the Top Alternative Albums chart with 18,000 units earned. It’s the Italian rockers’ first leader in their first appearance.
The set also begins at Nos. 2, 4 and 4 on the Top Hard Rock Albums, Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts, respectively.
It’s the band’s first top 20 title on the Billboard 200, beginning at No. 18.
Tracks from both new sets concurrently rank on the multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, paced by HARDY’s “Radio Song,” featuring A Day to Remember’s Jeremy McKinnon, at No. 25. In the latest tracking week, “Radio” earned 2.3 million official U.S. streams and sold 1,000 downloads.
Seven songs from HARDY’s Crow appear on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, with “Radio” followed by “Jack” at No. 27.
Måneskin’s Rush!, meanwhile, boasts an appearance in “The Loneliest,” which lifts 40-34 with 2.3 million radio audience impressions and 1.9 million streams. Prior to the album’s arrival, two cuts included on Rush! reached Hot Rock & Alternative Songs: “Supermodel” (No. 13 peak last July) and “Mammamia” (No. 21, October 2021).
“Loneliest” is the current radio single from Rush!, concurrently charting at its No. 6 best on Alternative Airplay. Crow’s current rock radio single, “Jack,” ranks at its No. 11 high on Mainstream Rock Airplay. The latter’s country single, “Wait in the Truck,” featuring Lainey Wilson, likewise holds the No. 11 spot, its top rank so far, on Country Airplay.