Dance
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In early 2021, Wasserman Music’s Tom Schoeder met with a rising electronic producer at the artist’s London studio. There was buzz around the producer, who had pivoted to making his own music after working the boards for artists like Ed Sheeran, but he wasn’t famous yet, and Schroeder was cautious.
“There was an assumption from the industry and other agents that this was going to be a runaway success,” Schroeder recalls. “I said to [some of these people], ‘You’re thinking the wrong way. No one really cares what producers do, you’ve got to work out what your story is.’”
Luckily, the nascent artist – the now globally-famous Fred again.. – had already figured out the narrative. In the studio, he showed Schroeder short videos of mundane scenes on his phone – the cleaning crew at a stadium, friends with their children – that he had scored with his music, giving the visuals a poignancy they wouldn’t have had on their own. The videos, he explained, would be the basis for the intimate feel and life-as-seen-through-a-phone-screen look of his shows. He also laid out his plan for using social media to engage with fans in a casual, conversational way and then leverage this connection to create momentum around live events.
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“It was like, ‘Wow, this guy isn’t just an incredible musical genius, he’s thinking way beyond that,” says Schroeder, the executive vp/managing executive of Wasserman Music U.K., who signed Fred again.. in August 2021. “You could see the ambition. The confidence was something like I’d never seen before.”
In the three years since, this plan – leveraging an ongoing discourse with fans into excitement around new music and mold-breaking live shows – has led to one of the most innovative and successful touring strategies in electronic music and the broader live music ecosystem. Amid his rise, Fred again.. has played increasingly large festival sets – including headlining slots at Coachella 2023, Glastonbury 2023 and Bonnaroo 2024 – along with historically long residencies at key venues and increasingly big and culturally resonant “pop up” shows that Fred himself announces just days before they happen.
His last pop up – a June 14 show at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum – was announced with just four days notice. It went on to sell 65,100 tickets and gross $6.4 million, according to numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore. The Rolling Stones are the only act with a bigger reported gross at the venue.
“He’s completely changed the game, and the scale only comes later. It’s almost secondary,” says Schroeder of these pop-up performances. “Now he’s changed the game with stadiums, but he changed the game from the start.”
Pent-Up Demand
It was a kind of kismet that Fred again..’s music – emotive, hooky and extremely current sounding electronic productions – gained traction during the pandemic, when live shows were impossible. When audiences could finally see Fred in concert, the pent-up energy created demand. Fred’s first U.S. performances were a pair of buzzy, sold-out shows at 500-capacity Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles in December 2021. That same week in L.A., he played his first U.S. pop-up at a Mid-City Chinese restaurant.
“It was 75 people in a restaurant, but everyone in Los Angeles was talking about it the next day,” says Wasserman senior vp Evan Hancock, who along with Schroeder and senior vp Ben Shprits make up the Fred again.. team at Wasserman. “We just tried to do that again and again.”
The interest around these early shows culminated in a pair of packed, sweaty sets at Coachella 2022, where the earnest sentimentality of the music and relatable iPhone bric-a-brac visuals whipped up big feelings for a crowd that was gathering for the first time since the pandemic. Things leveled up again in July 2022, when Fred’s euphoric set for online streaming platform Boiler Room went viral.
At this point, many artists would announce a major tour. That wasn’t Fred’s plan. “Do I think he’s ever going to put up a predictable tour nine months in advance?” says Schroeder. “No. I can’t see it. Why would he? What he wants to do is things that have never been done before.”
The team leaned into their pre-existing model, playing festival sets in Europe and the U.S. along with sold-out, multi-night runs at venues including Los Angeles’ Hollywood Forever Cemetery in September 2022 and three nights at New York City’s Terminal 5 that October. In early 2023, Fred, alongside friends and fellow producers and performers Skrillex and Four Tet (both also Wasserman clients) created an electronic scene frenzy when they played three pop-up shows in London and a few in New York ahead of a February 15 announcement that they’d be playing a headlining set at Madison Square Garden three days later. That show sold out in two minutes.
“Everyone in London, everyone in Sydney, everyone in Tokyo knew what had happened in New York,” says Schroeder. “We realized we could create these iconic moments and if we executed them at 10 out of 10, we didn’t have to replicate them, because they resonated everywhere.”
“Creating Moments In The Now”
The team agrees that the most crucial element of these pop-ups is less their size and more their immediacy. To wit, on Oct. 27, 2022, Fred announced he was riding a bike through London’s Hyde Park while playing his new album on portable speakers and that fans were welcome to ride with him. Hundreds of people turned up.
“What Fred’s doing is creating moments in the now,” says Schroeder. “He’s not having this ten-month delay [between putting shows on sale and playing them] where people can split up with their girlfriend or change their musical taste. He is living in the moment at a time when society is living in the moment much more than it used to, because the world is more uncertain than it was pre-pandemic. The world has moved to, ‘What are we doing next week?’, not ‘What are we doing next year?’, and Fred’s the best example of it.”
On June 1, Fred again.. and Skrillex sold 25,000 tickets for a show at the San Francisco Civic Center Plaza that was announced four days before it happened and was the first music event to take place at the government run space in years. At one point during the day they went on sale, 65,000 people were in the digital queue trying to buy them. When Fred landed in Australia this past February, 125,000 people attempted to buy tickets for his pop-up at the Sydney Opera House, which holds 2,250. Another seven pop-ups around the country created a sort of national hysteria akin to Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket lottery. “I mean obviouslyyyy we didnt come all this way for one show….” Fred wrote on Instagram when announcing the events, which all sold out in minutes.
The team and most any fan who’s been part of it will attest that the last-minute aspect is part of the thrill. “There’s an excitement in making yourself available, changing your plans for Friday, hunting a ticket down, refreshing Fred’s socials to see what the clues are,” says Schroeder. “What we have with Fred is what I call active engagement, where fans are trying to find from out from Fred what’s about to happen, versus him presenting what’s about to happen.”
But the shows are planned well in advance. Another Planet Entertainment, the team’s partner on the June 1 San Francisco event, applied for the permit in February after Fred’s team reached out about doing an outdoor event in the city. Another Planet‘s president of concerts & festivals Allen Scott says that while producing the show was “definitely a workout” – given that the stage had to be built late at night so as not to not disrupt business at City Hall – the fact that tickets would sell out immediately “was the most known variable in the equation” based on Fred’s touring history and the “pent up demand” for the artist in the Bay Area. He says Mayor London Breed even had a watch party for the show on her balcony at city hall.
Meanwhile, while fans were only given four days notice for the L.A. Coliseum show (though Fred teased it by having “Los Angeles, June 14” printed in the liner notes of the vinyl for his Tiny Desk Concert, released a week prior to the event), it was on the calendar a year out. With these tentpole events in place to work around, the team was able to arrange unannounced Fred sets at EDC Las Vegas in May and Glastonbury in June.
All of this hype also helps feed the model’s residency element. In the fall of 2023, Fred played five shows at London’s Alexandra Palace, three at Forrest Hills Stadium in New York and nine at Los Angeles’ Shrine Expo Hall – the most consecutive shows a single artist has ever performed at the latter two venues.
“I think we originally proposed five or six Shrines,” says Hancock, “and Fred came back and said eight, then 20 minutes later came back and said nine.” Fred announced the shows on his Instagram, and all of them sold out within days. (The final Shrine show was announced the day of.) The Forrest Hils run grossed $2.9 million and sold 42,300 tickets, while the Shrine shows grossed $2.2 million and sold 45,000 tickets, according to numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore.
Still, says Hancock. “I’m not going to say that in the weeks and months leading up I wasn’t like, “What the f— are we doing?”
“Absolutely Huge Risk”
After all, Fred’s rapid growth appears to violate one of the key rules of agenting – when it comes to developing new talent, don’t skip steps. Most agents agree it’s not wise to go from night clubs to stadiums; long-term careers are built with the help of audiences who invest in artists. While hype tends to fade quickly, building a long-term fan base is a slow burn, and most of live music’s largest players are used to moving at a slower pace.
“I’ve been an agent a long time, and we’re used to doing things in a particular way, and the infrastructure around us is used to doing things in a particular way,” says Schroeder, “and at the front of it you’ve had Fred going, ‘I don’t care that that’s how it’s done. I want to do it differently.’”
A crucial element has thus been finding partners who are willing to take, says Schroeder, the “absolutely huge risk” inherent in announcing very big shows at the very last minute and many shows at the same venue all at once with no traditional marketing – “because your marketing means absolutely nothing, because it’s all him,” Schroeder adds. “And you’re going to have to cut a really tough deal, because he’s the hottest act in the world.”
The Wasserman teams also credits the “hive mind” of the entire Fred again.. team, which they say works more collaboratively than many artists they’ve seen. This all-hands-on deck mentality has involved Fred himself speaking with the mayor of Perth, the head of the NYPD and the San Francisco mayor’s office to help coax certain permissions for shows, like taking over control of the lights on San Francisco City Hall for the show. “He’s so confident in his vision for what he wants to do that he’s positive that if he can explain what he wants to do, ultimately they will let him,” says Shprits. “And ultimately that’s what happens.”
“Fred is changing how people see touring and how agents and promoters approach touring, and he’s unsettling a system that’s been in place for 50 or 60 years and turning it on its head,” Schroeder continues. “It’s a complete game changer that the industry isn’t talking about, because they can’t talk about it, because it’s so challenging to them and the status quo.”
Growing Influence – and Future Plans
But conversations on how other artists can replicate the model are currently happening, Schroeder says, “in every single planning meeting that you ever have about every artist.” It’s not a model most artists can pull off, although one can see the appeal, given that it cultivates incredible hype while also offering a solution to the longtime dilemma of artists, and particularly electronic artists, burning out with nonstop touring. “Fred wants a life,” says Schroeder. “He’s never going to do 250 shows a year, so it’s about making very, very special moments… This isn’t a model that’s appropriate for many artists, but it has completely shifted the game.”
But despite the success, the team still sees huge room for growth. Thus far Fred hasn’t played in Asia, has only done a handful of shows in South America, has done just two short runs through Europe and has focused his U.S. touring largely on the coasts. The latter is about to change; on Monday (August 5), he announced the Places We’ve Never Been Tour, which will follow the Sept. 6 release of his fourth studio album, ten days, and take him to stadiums and amphitheaters in the Midwest, northwest and southern U.S. and into Canada this September and October. (The run includes two-night stints in Denver, Seattle, East Troy, Wisconsin and Toronto.) On Instagram, Fred noted that additional dates will be added to this run – and given his track record, it also seems likely that pop-up shows will be incorporated into this and future runs as the touring footprints continues expanding.
“I think Fred is enormously underplayed,” says Schroeder. “Are we going to be able to go to all these countries we haven’t been to? A million percent, and I can’t wait to do it.”
Expanding on their track record of throwing dance-music events in singular spaces around Los Angeles, dance music event promoter Stranger Than has announced it will soon host a series of shows in a repurposed supermarket.
The space will serve as a temporary venue for a four-month run of shows happening September through December, with the lineup thus far featuring parties by Boiler, Carl Craig and Moodymann performing as Detroit Love, Floating Points, Orbital, Luciano, Nico Moreno, Adam Ten and Mita Gami, an afterparty for the Mayan Warrior crew’s Oct. 26 show, a Daytime Warriors party and an event from the Pizzaslime collective. Additional programming will be announced in the coming weeks.
The space, a former California Market in Koreatown, can hold between 1,200 to 3,200 attendees and has also hosted traveling exhibitions. Called The Supermrkt, the venue was soft-launched as a dance space this past May with a 14-hour set from Gordo that started at 6 a.m. and ended at 8 p.m., with organizers planning to continue these daytime hours for some of its upcoming shows. Daytime shows will capitalize on the building’s unique architecture and natural lighting effects courtesy of the sun, while also offering a workaround to the city’s often truncated club hours.
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Gordo plays Supermarkt in May
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“With L.A.’s time restrictions, it’s really become the city of daytime parties,” Stranger Than founder Tal Ohana tells Billboard. “In the dance music world especially, we find it’s hard for attendees, DJs and ourselves to keep up with the rest of the world’s electronic music scenes where clubs stay open until the morning hours.
“While we can still have eight-plus hour daytime parties in open air parks and outdoor spaces with large dance floors,” he continues, “permitting and neighborhood compliances make it difficult to really tap into the early morning parties that are found in other electronic hotspots globally. With the new space, we wanted to introduce this element to L.A.’s party scene.”
Ohana adds that this flexible schedule will also allow multiple events to happen in the venue during a single day.
The Supermrkt follows Stranger Than shows that have happened at locations including Cabrillo Beach and downtown’s El Pueblo de Los Angeles, with the team focused on unique locations for one-off shows that have been almost entirely outdoors. That changes with The Supermrkt.
“Indoor locations for one-off events at large capacities are very difficult to come around in L.A.,” says Ohana. “There are many safety requirements and regulations that are hard to find for a property with one large room that is also available and empty for production of this type.
“The Supermrket provides a large indoor event space, unique architecture and most importantly a venue that is naturally beautiful for both day and night events,” he continues, adding the venue “will provide a space that is thoughtfully curated towards our house and techno music scene, more specifically aiming to provide elements not typically found in L.A. for fans in the lane.
And after years of producing one-off around town, Ohana says The Supermrkt is “absolutely is a precursor to a permanent venue by Stranger Than.”
The Supermrkt
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This article was created in partnership with White Claw.
Christian Karlsson, better known as “Bloodshy,” has been producing for almost two and a half decades. What started as producing and songwriting in Sweden quickly evolved into working with high-profile pop stars around the world. After landing on Galantis as his mainstay project, Karlsson has amassed over 6.6 billion worldwide streams and a No. 1 album on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart with Pharmacy.Galantis has been busy over the years since its inception, playing venues and festivals across the globe and releasing four albums— most recently, Rx in May 2024, featuring collaborations with 5 Seconds of Summer, JVKE, Little MIX, MNEK and more. Ahead of his festival appearance in Chicago, Galantis delighted fans with a performance and intimate Q&A at the White Claw Shore Club Sessions Powered by Billboard. Get a glimpse into the international producer/DJ’s life and latest album Rx below.
On his biggest hit “Runaway (U & I)”being a decade oldI still love to perform it and I still love working on it and changing it in terms of, like, doing mashups and stuff. I’m in a good position being an artist that could still change the song because in DJ culture, that’s something you’re supposed to do. So to me, I can always keep it fresh by just changing it for every night the way I want to perform it.
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On sharing his ADHD diagnosis with the worldIt’s scary, you know – I never talked about it with even family before, but other people came to me and helped me out by telling their stories. I thought I owed it to whoever, even if it’s one person, you know, I owe it to tell my story.
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On why Galantis has longevity in the music industryI think sticking to my guns, just doing music that I like, doing music that inspires me and taking risks and not listening to what anyone else is doing, you know? Not caring about if your stock is up or down, not following trends, whatever. I just go to the studio the same way I went to the studio when I was 14. It’s about that kick in the snare, and it’s about that chord, and it’s about that melody, and then that’s it.
See more from the White Claw Shore Club Sessions Powered by Billboard with Galantis here.
On the occasion of their recently released fourth studio album, Ask That God, Empire of the Sun‘s Nick Littlemore and Luke Steele recently came through the Billboard News studio to talk about the new music and the past, present and future of their longstanding project.
“We had to turn all of the computers off, we had to shut everything down, and even though the pandemic was horrible, for the band I thought it was a bit of a blessing because we got to step away,” says the group’s frontman Steele of the eight years between the new LP and the band’s last album. “For 20 years we’ve built this castle, and it was time for us to kind of abandon the dream and let it all get covered in reeds, to then come back again and realize what we loved so much about it in the first place.”
“I think what brings us back is what Edgar Cayce said,” adds Littlemore, referencing the late American clairvoyant, “is that sound is the medicine of the future, and I think we’re seeing that now, and I think that’s what’s always binded us together, is to make things that would live in the hearts.”
This elevated thinking applied to all areas of the album, including its title, with Littlemore saying that “everyone has their own person Jesus, or Allah or Buddha or whoever it is for that person. And I think music can be that for you too, and it’s certainly been that for us. And that is often the intention when we’re creating music, to create something that can be a beacon of hope and can be a signal of light and levity.”
To bring the album to life visually, the duo trekked to Thailand to film a series of characteristically cinematic, fantastical high-concept videos, many of them shot during long days in 100-degree heat.
But the pair says the sweat was effort was worth it for how the vibrant, layered clips — a few of which feature cameos from Steele’s son — expand the Empire of the Sun mythology “into a new dimension,” says Littlemore. “We’ve always been about something a little larger than the other bands. That’s the reason we started in the first place … we looked at the landscape and saw shoegazing, and we wanted to see Bowie.”
During the conversation, the pair also discuss Ask That God track “AEIOU,” the first collaboration between the band and Littlemore’s longstanding Pnau project, along with their upcoming tour, which includes a headlining show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in November.
Watch the complete interview above.
Charli XCX leaned fully into Brat summer over the weekend, when she celebrated her 32nd birthday on Saturday night (Aug. 3) with a star-studded bash in Los Angeles. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Among the A-list attendees was Tove Lo, who took to Instagram to share a […]
Fred Again.. is taking his show on the road across the U.S. and Canada this fall for the Places We’ve Never Been Tour.
As the name indicates, the run bring the London-based producer to markets he’s not yet played across North America, with stops in Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle and locations throughout the Midwest, northeast and southern United States, as well as Toronto, Canada.
The tour launches Sept. 11 at the Ball Arena in Denver. Four stops on this tour — Denver, Seattle, Toronto and East Troy, Wisc. — will feature two nights of shows. General tickets go on sale Friday, Aug. 9, with a pre-sale happening on Aug. 8.
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On Instagram, the artist born Fred Gibson indicated that additional shows will be added to the tour, writing that “obviously this poster isn’t evvvvvery show! It’s jus every one that we’ve confirmed.”
The tour announcement comes after Fred Again..’s announcement last week that he’s got a new album, Ten Days, coming on Sept. 6. The project, Fred Again..’s fourth studio LP, will feature collaborations with Sampha, Skrillex and Four Tet, Jozzy, Joy Anonymous and Emmylou Harris and more, including his previously released Anderson .Paak collab “Places to Be.”
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“It’s ten songs about 10 days,” Gibson wrote on Instagram of the album. “There’s been a lot of biggg mad crazy moments in the last year but basically all of these are about really very small quiet intimate moments.”
The tour announcements follows a recent string of splashy Fred Again.. performances, including a headlining set at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in June, a headlining slot at Bonnaroo and a sold-out b2b performance with Skrillex at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza in early June.
See the Places We’ve Never Been Tour dates below:
Fred Again.. places we’ve never been tour
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Charli XCX‘s big Brat summer marches on. The singer whose album title attitude and color scheme have been eagerly adopted by Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign — and plenty of others — celebrated her 32nd birthday in style on Saturday night (August 3) in Los Angeles. According to reports, Charli’s A-list crew for the […]
This week in dance music: We spoke with members of the U.S. breakdancing team ahead of the summer Olympics, we caught up with Empire of the Sun in the wake of their new album, we tracked Charli XCX from her Boiler Room set in Ibiza to the wildly successful ticket sales for her upcoming Sweat tour with Troye Sivan to her panties-forward edit of “Guess” with Billie Eilish. Meanwhile, PinkPantheress announced that she’s cancelling the rest of her 2024 tour to focus on her health, and we chatted with Channel Tres about his new album, his upcoming tour with Kaytranada and a lot more.
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Speaking of a lot more, these are the best new dance tracks of the week.
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Isoknock feat. Cade Clair, “4evr”
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The emo-meets-trance-meets-bass track that you neither knew you needed (nor were aware that anyone was capable of making) arrives via the title track of 4EVR, the surprise album from Isoknock — the collaborative project from San Diego wunderkinds IsoXo and Knock2. The ravey song comes with a stylish video that gives shades of “November Rain,” but with a more opaque ending which is more fully fleshed out in the nine-minute short film, Isoknock: 4evr. The film comes in tandem with the eight-track album, which blends trap, bass and a lot of wild sounds into a hard, loose, very fresh-sounding 27-minute thrill ride that features the previously released RL Grime collab “Smack Talk.”
The Blessed Madonna feat. DJ E-Clips, “Godspeed”
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The Blessed Madonna announces her long-awaited debut album, Godspeed, with the release of the album’s title track, a collaboration with the always excellent DJ E-Clyps that functions as nothing less than the warm welcome to and thesis statement for the entire project. “So sing your song and do your dance; godspeed the boogie, this is your chance,” E-Clyps commands while listing all the good and mysterious things god does over a funky, squelchy beat. This song comes comes alongside the news that Godspeed — out October 11 via Warner Records — will include the Kylie Minogue collab “Another Saturday Night.”
“Godspeed: the word marks the beginning of a journey and sometimes the end of one,” the Blessed Madonna says. “After nearly a year in lockdown, when I signed the paperwork and knew that I was going to be allowed to make this album, I called my dad in Kentucky to tell him the good news. He could not contain his pride and in a way his relief. I was going to be ok. He says it better than I do at the beginning of the record. I lost him suddenly just weeks before the first session, but his voice will live in Godspeed forever and make a million more journeys to everyone who hears it.”
Jamie xx feat. The Avalanches, “All You Children”
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Amid a very big month that’s finding Jamie xx play nearly a dozen clubs nights in New York City and Los Angeles as part of his the pop-up club party, The Floor, the producer has dropped the latest track from his forthcoming In Waves. A collaboration with legends The Avalanches, the song is a sort of call to arms for the album and the dancefloor, with lyrics that encourage that “all you children gather round, we will dance… together ” over warm ’80s synths and a sort of chant reminiscent of Bicep’s 2021 essential “Apricots.” In Waves is out via Jamie xx’s own Young label on September 20. In the meantime, he continues The Floor tonight in L.A.
“The Avalanches have always been an inspiration for me,” the producer says. “Their sample technique and how they piece together different sounds is incredible, and collaborating on a track with them has showed me new ways of making music.”
Caribou, “Volume”
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Caribou takes a sample from M|A|R|R|S’ 1987 all-time jock jam “Pump Up The Volume” and places it within a deep house, near-ambient-at-times production that ramps up with such subtlety that by the end you might be surprised to find yourself dancing with your eyes closed. The track comes ahead of an expansive 27-date fall and winter tour that will take Caribou mastermind Dan Snaith and crew across the U.S. and into Europe and Canada.
“‘Pump Up the Volume’ was the first time in my life I heard electronic music,” Snaith says, “sitting in front of the family stereo system listening to the top 40 countdown on the radio when I was a kid. It completely blew my mind – it sounded like something from another world. It’s stuck with me ever since – I always wanted to rework it in some way. I didn’t consciously think about it when I started working on my track, but I think there’s something really special about having gone right back to the very beginning in making this.”
Carlita feat. SG Lewis, “The Moment”
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Given how prolific SG Lewis has been as a producer lately (check his A+ work with Tove Lo on their recent collaborative EP Body Heat), one could be forgiven for forgetting that he’s also a really good singer. His silky vocals are at the fore of “The Moment,” a lush collab with Turkish-Italian scene star Carlita and the third single from her forthcoming debut album, Sentimental, coming this November on Ninja Tune.
Nicole Moudaber with House of Molly, “Slap Back”
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Techno titan Nicole Moudaber takes a right turn into tech house via her Higher Ground debut, “Slap Back,” an extremely club-ready jam built around a bouncy synth and earworm vocals from London duo House of Molly. Moudaber will likely drop it this weekend during her set at France’s Family Piknik, where she’s appearing alongside Sven Vath, LP Giobbi, Josh Wink and many more.
Armin van Buuren, “Es Vedrà”
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Dutch titan van Buuren has done a casual 16 Ibiza residencies during his inimitable career, so it’s simply correct to say that he understands the vibe of the island and is channeling that sweat, saltwater and sunsets vibe on his latest, “Es Vedrà.” Out via Armada and named for the giant rock that juts out of the water on the island’s west coast (which many party people say has mystical powers), the song is immersive and high energy, lush and tight and really just plainly catchy. Van Buuren returns to Ibiza for a four Sunday run at Ushuaïa this September.
After 14 years of making a name for himself as Carnage and helping define the EDM, trap and bass music genres during the U.S. dance music boom of the early 2010s — while bridging it with hip-hop — the artist born Diamanté Blackmon rebranded as GORDO.
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In 2022, he announced his retirement from the Carnage project — one that landed him on various Billboard charts, including Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and the Billboard 200 — and introduced his new full-time house and techno project.
“What I want people to understand is that this isn’t me having a new hobby and being like, ‘Oh I want to do this too because it’s fun,’” Blackmon previously said to Billboard. “Honestly, I can’t do the Carnage stuff anymore. I wasn’t happy.”
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Now, the Nicaraguan-American artist and producer has launched his debut album as GORDO named after his real name, DIAMANTE. The album that took four years to create, and is home to 16 bilingual tracks — including notable collaborators such as Drake, T-Pain, Feid, Maluma, and Fuerza Regida.
“I wouldn’t change a thing. I guess that’s why it took me four years, to make sure that I can review it and know it’s perfect,” he said in a press statement. “This album is dedicated to my grandma, my family, friends, and loved ones. I hope everyone enjoys what I believe is the best music I’ve created.”
Below, read Billboard‘s discussion with GORDO about his new album, his collaborators and more.
Congrats on your debut album as GORDO! Can you take us back to the creative process of DIAMANTE?
It was four years of coming up with these songs and trying to get to where I’m at with it. I’m really happy, and it’s been one hell of a ride to get to where I’m at musically, and also mentally. It’s been amazing. I’m super happy with the album, super happy with the turnout, and ready for the next one.
It’s been a ride mentally. Can you describe the state of mind you were in when you would hit the studio?
You know what? I wasn’t in a certain state — because for me, really, I was just making songs whenever I had time or felt creative. Finally when I made the songs, to get to the other song it would take me about a month or two. I wasn’t in a certain state, I think. I was just trying to make the best music possible.
The starpower in the track list is crazy. Two songs with Drake, but also Maluma, Feid, Nicki Nicole, Fuerza Regida, Sech… you recruited some big Latin names.
The album is the album. I’m so happy that I was able to make a dance album that has people like Drake, T-Pain — and at the same time, you have Feid and Maluma. You’re not going to see that type of track listing [anywhere else]. Even if you do something with a Latin producer, it’s going to be way more Latin, but my Latin collabs add a little spice to it [the album].
As for Drake, he’s a great guy. He really cares about me and I care about him. He looked out for me for this album, and knew how important it was for me. He’s a big fan of this album — and yeah, I mean, that’s my boy.
Is there any other Latin artist you had your eye on for this project but the opportunity didn’t happen?
I have a crazy song with Jhayco that’s really good, but he just went ghost on me. So, Jhay, you missed out bud! There are so many artists that didn’t happen, and that’s just how it is, but everything happens for a reason.
In addition to the Fuerza track, you also had the chance to produce some of the songs on their new album Pero No Te Enamores. How did you establish that connection with the group?
JOP is like my brother. We’re mad cool. Any person that I work with, I know them personally and we have that connection that’s like friends making music with friends. It happened so smoothly. Those guys are crazy, they’re so much fun. They’re the sweetest guys, but they’re also very focused on music, work, marketing, and how we’re going to roll out the project. Everything works out in itself.
What came first: Fuerza’s collab on your album or Gordo’s collab on Fuerza’s album?
The song I have with them on the album was actually finished the day before my album came out. When I finished the album, JOP asked me “how come I’m not on your album?” and I said, “Well, because we’re working on yours.” But he sent me his vocals and I created the song literally on the plane the night before.
Now that we’re on the topic, what’s your take on the electro-corrido movement?
I mean, it’s dope. I don’t really care about what you can or can’t do, and the politics of that. Just do it. A lot of people do care about that stuff, and how things are perceived of certain collaborations and certain mixes of genres, but I think as an artist, just do whatever the fuck you want!
What do you think Latin music — whether its regional, urban, tropical, pop — brings into the EDM space?
Spanish vocals. I think that’s the most prominent thing. Right now there’s an influx of Latin vocals on dance records. Obviously, we’re getting to the point where for the longest time all you heard were English words on dance records. Now that there are superstars in different regions and countries, people want to hear that type of artist. In Argentina, you want to hear Emilia, Nicki or TINI, they don’t have to wait and listen to someone like Katy Perry or Taylor Swift. They can listen to their own hometown girls, and the music will be just as impactful or even bigger. It’s great.
To finalize, is there anything — perhaps a certain business strategy or career advice — that you took from your Carnage era into your Gordo era?
Don’t listen to what other people say. Work hard. Save your money. Never let go of the gas, meaning, don’t ever stop. Keep going! I think the number one trait that Hispanic people have is that we’re the hardest working human beings on this planet. A lot of people get comfortable with music. Imagine you come out with an album like mine, someone else would drop the album and then go on vacation… but, this is when the real work starts. That’s what I mean with “don’t let go of the gas.” It depends how bad you want it. I’m addicted to this.
On a 95-degree day in late July, Channel Tres shows up on Zoom from his place is Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood wearing a tank top and intermittently drinking from a large water bottle.
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It’s been a few weeks since the artist released his debut album, Head Rush, 17 tracks that package myriad elements of Tres’ psyche — “my love life, dealing with loss, dealing with the transition when my dreams become reality” — into a sophisticated, swaggy amalgamation of hip-hop, R&B and electronic music that tracks his rise from his native Compton to big tours and big festival stages.
“Now I’m somebody people will recognize sometimes,” he says. “I’m not just a bedroom musician anymore. I’m doing things. It was like, ‘I have all these things going on, and I only have this one brain to process it. That was the meaning of the title, Head Rush. It was something that could be euphoric, but it’s also something that can be a headache.”
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This characteristic depth is balanced by a lot of output that’s just purely danceable. This fall, Tres will go on a 15-date tour with Kaytanada for shows he predicts will be “the biggest dance parties of the year.” He’s also currently working on dance music that he’s testing out at DJ sets and afterhours. And the reach is real: When he recently went back to Compton to hang out on the set of Kenrick Lamar’s “Not LIke Us” video, he says “a lot of people came up to me like, ‘Yo man, we love what you’re doing. We’ve gotten into house music.’ I would never think going back home that I’d hear this from people. Stuff like that inspires me.”
Ahead of his performance at HARD Summer in Los Angeles this weekend, Tres talks about what he’s done, what he still wants to achieve and the times he’s just been able to enjoy the moment.
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It’s been a month since your album came out. What has this time been like for you?
The first two weeks were like hell, because I was reading everything. I would search my name on Twitter and read everything; I was reading Reddit, just engulfing myself in the positive and negative feedback. It was a lot for me, but I felt like it was important to get both sides of criticism, just because I want to teach myself how to take whatever it is and be okay with it.
That sounds intense.
I didn’t want to feed into all the positive feedback and fill my head up with all positive things, thinking I’m the shit when I still have things to work on. Then I wanted to also look at the negatives so I could build strength to have thicker skin so it won’t affect me as much. Because the more you get into this, you realize it’s just going to be all types of comments coming at you. I always safeguarded myself from that, but this time, I was like, “No, I’m going to engage.”
Then after that two weeks, I stopped. I was like, “Okay, cool. I’m going to go back to therapy, and instead of bi-weekly make it once a week.” [Laughs.] Then I just got really excited about the future. I was like, “Wow, I really put a chapter of my life into 17 songs and released it, and it feels so good.” I’m excited to take what I learned from this process to inform the next body of work.
Were able to shake off the best and worst things you read about yourself?
Yeah. I learned how to be like, “This is how I feel. I know what I was saying right here. I know how I freaked the production right here and what that means to me as a producer.” After it was all said and done, I was like, “Oh, I’m only in competition with me.” I get to do something I’m passionate about, and it serves me, and it serves my creative juices and the the child in me, but it also pays the bills. So wow, look at the life that I get to live.
You mentioned being recognized and having your profile rise. The last time you spoke with Billboard, in 2023, you said were “ready for big s–t… ready for the big stage type of energy.” Do you feel like you’ve achieved that with this album?
No, I don’t feel like I’ve achieved that. But I feel like I achieved what this album was supposed to achieve for me. I didn’t get to where I want to go with this album, but I’m thankful I did it, because there’s more stories to be told, and I want to leave a trail of [output.] Whenever that moment comes, cool. I feel successful already, but I know there’s places I want to go.
What places are those?
I still want to play Glastonbury. I still want to headline Coachella. There are certain things that I want automatic, like I want to get Tonight Show automatically. I want more excitement behind things I’m doing, but I’m not in a rush for that. I know those things come with the more work I put in.
Have there been moments when you’ve felt like you were getting exactly what you wanted or dreamed of?
I had an album release party for my project and Thundercat showed up, Ty Dolla $ign showed up, Kaytranada showed up, Estelle, Ravyn Lenae. I was wondering if they’re all going to show up. I was like, “Let me just go for the fans and give this body of work the appreciation it needs.” Then everybody showed up. We all listened to the album, then afterwards, everybody I mentioned came on stage, and I was able to play my favorite songs with them and vibe with the crowd. I was so full of love. I was like, “This is what it is. It’s about community.”
These are people I’ve looked up to since like, 2010, and now some of them I can call friends and collaborators. And my mom was there, my aunt, my grandma came. Everything clicked. At that point, nothing mattered — like the successes I want, or my personal ambitions. For my cousins or other people from L.A. that knew me before to see where I’ve gotten to now, that brought a lot of gratitude.
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Maybe this is an unfair question since you just released your album, but are you working on music right now?
I’ve already been working on new music. I’ve been finding new sounds. With Head Rush, I needed to rap more and incorporate some of my hip-hop roots and R&B roots. It’s an electronic album, but it’s not the dance album I wanted to make. It’s more of a album of self -expression, but I put some dance songs in there that are going to be good to perform. But I still have a really crazy electronic dance project I want to make.
Ooh. Tell me more.
I’ve been making dance music again. I mean, I never stopped, but I have a re-love for it again. I’ve been practicing DJing again, and I’ve been finding sounds and new BPMs. I’ve been doing more after parties and underground club parties and testing out records in my DJ sets. I’m getting hungry again about how I relate to dance music. I feel like how I felt when I first fell in love with it again, but in a new way, because I have more skills.
What are the best business decisions that you’ve made so far in your career?
I would say firing the team I started off with. I was very loyal in that situation, and I wasn’t necessarily getting the best work. When I came into the music, I’m thinking I’m working for my team, when in reality, I’m Channel Tres. I created Channel Tres. I’m in the studio creating the songs; I’m putting my life on the line going on these tours. So the people around me need to be held to a standard, and we need to be working together. Nobody’s working for anybody. Being able to let a situation go based on business and not being so loyal because you have emotional connections has been a really great thing for me. Because, yes, I’m very loyal. But sometimes that doesn’t mean that that person is doing the best work for you.
How have things shifted for you since you made that decision?
I feel like I have business partners now. We can look at Channel Tres objectively and make the best decisions for what we’re trying to get to. Because I am a musician and a creative, but I’m also well invested into the business of Channel and how we can further that. I know that I’m gonna show up, and I’m going to put the work in, and when I have somebody that’s working with me, and they have the same energy, I can sleep at night with that.
You’re going on tour with Kaytranada this summer. What’s that show going to look like?
When the Kaytranada tour offer came it was just like, “Wow, this is exactly what I need right now.” I was excited to go on tour by myself, but then I was like, “Nah, Kaytranada and I together on a tour is just going to be the biggest dance party of the year.”
[My team and I] are so locked in to capitalize on the things I’ve already done. My routine is better. Me and creative partner, we’ve gotten better. I’m open to learning, but I’m also coming with fire. I’ve been rehearsing, and I’m honing in on things I haven’t before. Even if it’s just a dance move I want to add to my repertoire. I’ve been watching a lot of Broadway shows like The Wiz. Now I’m walking around in the house, but I’m doing it in a Broadway fashion.
There aren’t that many dance artists that incorporate actual dancing into their live show. Why is that a compelling thing for you to do?
I’ve been dancing since I was a kid. In high school I was in ballet. I’m just an art kid. If I wasn’t doing music, I’d probably be doing a play. I have to make things interesting for myself. Also my first tour I ever went on was with Robyn. I got to watch her every night. The way she worked the crowd, you could feel the love and energy. There’s no mistake that the universe put me on that tour. I want to bring people that type of energy.
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Have you always been so able to freely express yourself, or has it taken a long time to get to this place of just following the impulses?
Naturally as a kid I was like that. But then I did a talent show in seventh grade, and I got booed and made fun of for the rest of the year. It shut me down for a while and I was reserved, and like “I’m just gonna be a producer and be in the background.”
What changed?
Something happened when I was in college. I was a drama minor. I started learning how to act and then kind of felt the energy again. I don’t live where I grew up anymore. I’m not the person that all those people knew anymore.
I experienced house music and dance music and was like, “There’s no time to be precious about this. I’m going get a choreographer. I’m going start taking classes. I’m going to practice and start being the person I want to be. Fuck it. There’s just no time to be cool. If it falls through the floor, it falls through the floor, but I’m just going to put myself out there, because you only get one life.” And it worked.
What was the seventh grade talent show performance?
I grew up in church, that’s how I got good at instruments. I grew up with my great grandparents, so I was wearing loafers and slacks. So I just was like, “I’m gonna bring this energy to school, and it’s gonna be good.” Me and my friend wrote a gospel song. I sang it. I was dancing, and it was just a sea of laughter.
That’s tough.
Because it wasn’t cool to be like that. I’m going to school in Compton. Either you play sports, or you’re a gangbanger. That shit wasn’t cool.
Well, if they could see you now.
They do.