Dance
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The scene will be immediately familiar to anyone who has attended a music festival: a DJ riling up a crowd, playing a hit but ratcheting up the anticipation by toying with the melody before the drums charge to the rescue. Only this time, the hit hadn’t come out yet — the South Korean producer Peggy Gou was teasing an unreleased single titled “(It Goes Like) Nanana.”
Attendees at the Lost Nomads festival outside of Marrakesh hardly seemed to mind; a TikTok video capturing Gou’s set shows listeners throwing their hands in the air with abandon. One onlooker, standing behind the DJ’s right shoulder, removes the cigarette hanging unlit from his lips to unleash a hoot just as the percussion hits.
That sunset TikTok clip helped kickstart a viral chain of events that has turned “(It Goes Like) Nanana” into Gou’s mainstream breakthrough. The single is her first to scale the Billboard charts, climbing inside the top 40 on the Global 200, and it’s earned 24.5 million on-demand streams in the U.S. since its release, according to Luminate. For a time it was the lead track on Spotify’s flagship playlist Today’s Top Hits, a spot usually taken up by major-label superstars, not dance producers on the independent label XL.
No one is more surprised than Gou. She didn’t have TikTok when “(It Goes Like) Nanana” started to go like viral; she found out about that success from her friends. She also doesn’t watch the charts. “I really did not expect this reaction,” Gou says. “My song was never on a chart before. In the beginning I wasn’t sure what [charting] meant exactly.”
But the excursion into new commercial territory is welcome — a relief, in fact. After her rubbery 2019 single “Starry Night” became popular on dancefloors, Gou felt pressured to top it. “Sometimes pressure is a good thing,” she says. “It always kind of pushes me.”
“(It Goes Like) Nanana” was born during the pandemic, while Gou was binging dance music and hip-hop from the 1990s. The simplicity of the house music she absorbed from that decade stood out: “A lot of the hooks are repetitive, but it’s still catchy, you don’t get bored.” She cites SNAP!’s chugging hit “Rhythm Is a Dancer” and the German producer ATB as touchstones.
Musical train-spotters on TikTok have thrown out a handful of other references in video comments: Kylie Minogue! (Presumably because she knows her way around a “la-la-la,” which isn’t too far from a “na-na-na.”) “I Like To Move It”! (Maybe in the progression of the bass line?) A Touch of Class’s “Around the World;” Gala’s “Freed From Desire” — take a fistful of Ultimate Dance Party CDs from the second half of the ’90s, throw them in a blender, and you might get something along the lines of “(It Goes Like) Nanana.”
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Gou’s biggest tracks to date — “Starry Night” and “It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)” — are sung predominantly in Korean. But when she tried that approach on “(It Goes Like) Nanana,” “it didn’t really work,” so she ended up singing it all in English instead. Gou also subbed in an entirely new bass line at the last minute before she started playing it out at festivals like Lost Nomads.
Badr Bounailat, who shot the popular video of Gou near Marrakesh on June 3rd and posted it June 5th, has two theories about why it amassed over 7 million views. First, he says, “I’m a photographer, and that’s a good frame.” (The top comment on his post: “Can we talk about that zoom quality ouffff.”) Second: “People were in it, they were responding well to the song.”
The scenic locale may have helped as well. Harmony Soleil, music director for KNHC, a dance radio station in Seattle, was excited to find the video of Gou in her feed. “I’m a tiny bit obsessed with her, in a not weird way,” Soleil jokes. “She’s always in amazing places. What do you mean, you’re in Morocco and you’re in Spain and you’re in Japan?” (Soleil has been playing Gou on KNHC, jumping at the chance “to support an artist who hasn’t had a lot of U.S. radio airplay otherwise.”)
Thanks to all the online attention, by the time “(It Goes Like) Nanana” was officially released on June 15th, Gou felt like the track “was already out.” She was quickly inundated with requests from DJs — from “EDM to jungle to soul to hardcore techno” — asking for stems to make their own remixes.
The biggest re-work has come from Ian Asher, a DJ and producer with a large following who has a knack for making mash-ups that drive TikTokers wild. Asher, who calls “Starry Night” “a classic,” decided to fuse Gou’s single with CamelPhat’s “Cola,” a skipping but hard-nosed dance track that became an international hit in 2017. “What I love about it is that you have two party songs,” Asher explains, “but one is very bright and summery, and the other is like you’re going into a nightclub.”
His mash-up from July went bananas on both TikTok and Instagram, appearing in more than 780,000 user created videos. The “Cola x Nanana” meld is not officially available, which in practice means there are bootleg versions on Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud as of this week. “It keeps getting taken down, but people keep re-finding it and uploading it on every platform,” Asher notes. “It’s a whole mini-drama.” (It gets taken down because the remix is technically unauthorized; Gou only gave stems to the German DJ-producer Boys Noize.)
The social media fervor around “(It Goes Like) Nanana” in its various forms propelled the track out of the world of independent-label dance music. “I first became aware of Peggy about three years ago on more of an underground level,” says Jonathan Geronimo, vp of electronic/dance programming for SiriusXM. He found out about “(It Goes Like) Nanana” from his colleagues overseeing TikTok Radio, saw that it was “exploding globally,” and put it into rotation a few days after its official release. SiriusXM has played the track more than 700 times since, and Geronimo believes it has “a shot” to make the jump over to pop radio, “especially with the format really keeping a close eye on what’s happening on TikTok.”
Gou’s single hit the Global 200 in July and has since climbed to No. 33, giving her a strong tailwind as she finalizes her full-length debut, due out early in 2024. The album also draws on her recent dive into ’90s sounds. Once again, though, she is feeling the need to top herself. “I don’t think there’s any track on my album that’s as catchy as ‘Nanana,’” Gou says. “The second single that’s coming out is very different — close to pop.”
That said, predicting audience reactions is notoriously difficult — she didn’t know that millions of listeners would find “(It Goes Like) Nanana” so bewitching. Still, the pressure remains. “My mindset is always: I can do better,” Gou adds. “I can do better.”
Calvin Harris is a married man. The producer tied the knot with radio host Vick Hope on Saturday (Sept. 9), according to People. The couple, who has been engaged since last year, held their reception in a tent on the grounds of Hulne Priory, Alnwick, Northumberland, while the ceremony took place outside, according to the […]
Nigerian dance artist Kah-Lo released her debut album, Pain/Pleasure, on Sept. 8 via Epic Records. Here, she writes about the long journey that brought her to this achievement.
I always knew I would become a musician, before I even knew how to spell the word. I always wrote poetry and other bits, but didn’t start making music until I met a bunch of like-minded friends in secondary school in the mid-noughties.
Prior to meeting these friends – most of them rappers and boys – a lot of my dreams of becoming a musician seemed so wildly far-fetched that at 13, my teachers and classmates once sat me down and, out of genuine concern, tried to talk me out of chasing these dreams.
Growing up in Nigeria at the time, telling most people you wanted to make music for a living was like telling them you wanted to toss your life in the trash. Telling them you wanted to make globally accepted music was even worse. To be a successful musician – one who made a lucrative living, was so beyond anyone’s imagination, you started to sound crazier the older you got.
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It was a dream that was never validated until I met those friends. We wanted to make music Nigerians had never even thought to make, and we wanted it to be so good it would be heard, respected, and measured on the same plane as the musicians we idolized.
We started to see what could be possible when a label called Storm Records launched with a slew of rappers, musicians and producers fusing Nigerian instruments and slang with Western patterns and flow in a way we had never heard before. They had Naeto C and Ikechukwu, who came onto the rap scene fresh from New York. They also had Sasha P – a standout female MC who started out with one of the first rap collectives known as the Trybesmen. She came back on the scene with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it lyrical maturity I’m still decoding to this day.
It started to dawn on me that our dreams were, indeed, valid. These rappers weren’t making Afropop or Afro- anything. They were making rap. But this was 2007, and Afropop itself was barely even scratching the surface, let alone Nigerian artists making Western-adjacent music in Nigerian accents. However, I left Lagos for New York in 2009 — knowing at the very least, it was possible.
I eventually started cultivating a sound and posting my original music to SoundCloud. I started getting messages from DJs asking to use the monotone deadpan talk-rap sections of my reverb heavy alt-R&B over dance music. In that era, dance music was dubstep and Baauer’s “Harlem Shake,” so these requests confused me. How would it even work?
I eventually connected with electronic producer Riton via Twitter, and used what was then my last $20 to head to the studio in Brooklyn to record with him. We made two tracks. One of them was a carefully written alt-R&B number, and the other was “Rinse and Repeat.”
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At his insistence, I used the talk-rap style over a minimalist dance beat he had made. I had never made dance music before – at least not intentionally. I couldn’t fathom how a genre I mostly associated with looped vocals and sample-heavy hits from the early-2000s by the likes of Daft Punk, Fatboy Slim and Groove Armada could possibly command significant attention. The climate of dance music I knew at the time didn’t accommodate such stylings. I cried on the way home and decided to move back home to Lagos since it was clear music wouldn’t work out for me. Who would listen to that?
I was wrong. The song became a global hit.
Over the next few years, I would perform in places I had yet to even dream of. All over Europe, North America opening for Sofi Tukker, touring in Australia and a brief gig in Russia. Albeit incredible, it was also a bit uncomfortable. The bulk of the shows would be lineups full of white male DJs where I’d end up being the only Black person/woman on the stage. Sometimes, it would be entire towns where I seemed to be the only Black person there at all.
Once in a while, we’d do gigs where there would be other insanely talented Black artists in the green rooms – Raye, MNEK and Kelli-Leigh were frequent fixtures. However, I quickly started to notice, we weren’t on the lineups for our own merit. In most cases, we were there because we had collaborated on hit records with the white, male DJs who were booked for these gigs.
I dyed my wigs all sorts of bright colors to make sure I looked extra captivating on camera, because the recap videos and livestreams I asked my friends and family to watch almost always seemed to miss me. I figured perhaps I wasn’t dynamic enough on stage.
I didn’t start attracting my own attention until I debuted an electric green wig in Ibiza in the summer of 2018. I visually became hard to ignore with such a bright color against my dark skin, and that bled into the music and my persona as well. Things started to change, and I started to get booked on my own accord – much to the chagrin of my collaborators.
We – the Black artists who made up the bulk of the vocal prowess that was in dance music – weren’t supposed to be in the limelight. We were supposed to live in the shrouded mystery of samples, topline vocalists or even session musicians. In dance music, the DJ was king. To draw attention to yourself in that way was to overstep, and to even be credited as a primary artist on a record was something you had to fight for, and viewed as a “favor” you were to be grateful for.
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Meanwhile, Nigerian pop music was just starting to be recognized by mainstream media outlets as its own thing. My first few tracks had been referred to as having “Afrobeat elements” – I imagine due to my blended Nigerian accent. I had to constantly reiterate I was making house music, and not Afrohouse.
Regardless, it seemed like the very space I was taking up as an artist was defying odds, and it was wonderful, because it’s all I really ever wanted to prove. Being nominated for the Grammy for best dance recording in 2017, for “Rinse & Repeat,” was one of the best milestones of my career. One of the most respected musical bodies had recognized my art as it was, and not based it off of my cultural background.
I started getting collaboration requests on a larger scale from some of the biggest DJs in the world. Chances to release my own records were few and far between – and when I eventually did, I hardly got much support on the scale my features would.
It wasn’t until my dear friend and DJ/producer, Michael Brun, taught me how to DJ that I fully understood the power of my vocals. The delivery and global citizen feel of it made it a perfect fit for beat-matching, and it was malleable enough to go over any beat style. It started to make sense why – since my days on SoundCloud and even to this day – my a cappellas were always in high demand. It gave me a new perspective, and I began understanding the power of “no,” for instance, when the track wasn’t one I felt was a good fit for me and my brand.
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Understanding that power, and going from a scarcity mindset to one of abundance, opened me up to new opportunities. No longer would I be minimized to support DJs when I bring just as much to the track as they do. Some collaborators were not happy about this, and it led to a lot of friction, naturally so.
I moved back to New York and signed to Epic Records in 2020 at the peak of the global pandemic, and I released my debut EP in the summer of 2021, aptly called The Arrival.
For the first time in my career, I released a body of work that I had creative control over and truly represented me in every facet. It spawned a solo single on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart – a feat that was deemed unrealistic for a Nigerian and a Black woman making dance music.
“Drag Me Out,” a one-off single, followed the year after to the same acclaim. It wasn’t a fluke, and I could stand on my own. Black female “vocalists” – who are usually talented singer/songwriters in their own right – can stand on their own. I’m insanely proud of proving people wrong.
My debut album, Pain/Pleasure came out this past Friday, September 8th. The first half of it was written while I was going through a lot of these trials and tribulations, so I explore themes of anger on “fund$,” pain on the title track, and hurt on “Karma.”
The last half of it is a lot more triumphant, because through all of that and against all odds, I did it. I overcame, and there’s a lot to celebrate for it.
There were an unlimited number of ways the new Chemical Brothers album might have turned out.
Gathered in the studio, the duo — Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands — presided over a glut of music made during the pandemic. Unsure of what to do with it all, they considered assembling a triple LP, or a quadruple LP, or maybe something more loose and kitchen sink-ish that would highlight the nuances of their creative process.
“I was thinking, ‘Maybe that’ll be cool, to do something really different to how we’ve made our albums before,’” Rowlands tells Billboard over Zoom, “And then in listening to it, it was like, ‘Hm, that’s not so good.’”
So ultimately the pair, friends since their days at the University of Manchester and icons since the release of their groundbreaking 1995 debut Exit Planet Dust — did what they’ve done for the last 30 years and pared it all down to the 11-track collection For That Beautiful Feeling, their 10th studio LP, out Friday (Sept. 8) via Republic Records. With many options for how to Tetris the project together, the guys just let their moods dictate.
“We always want our music to not be a technical exercise, but to reflect how the two of us are feeling,” Simons says. “And I guess, you know, it has been a very strange four years.”
He’s not wrong. Much has gone down on a global scale since the Brothers released their last album, 2019’s No Geography. The world went into lockdown a few weeks after the LP won dance/electronic album of the year at the 2020 Grammys. Amid the pandemic, Rowlands tucked himself away in his Sussex studio and started banging out music, which Simons picked up when it was safe to do so. “It was the longest period we’ve spent apart for a while,” Simons says of that time.
As COVID eventually waned, the war in Ukraine began, living costs spiraled in the U.K. and elsewhere and the climate crisis became increasingly tangible and exponentially scarier. It was, is, a lot of psychic weight for them, and for everyone else. But there were, of course, moments of daily joy. That, altogether, was their mood, and thus that is the album.
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For That Beautiful Feeling catapults from ecstasy to dread (“we have no reason to live!” declares track two, “No Reason”), to sadness, to a sort of hectic waking dream state, to hope, to the transcendent title track that closes the LP. In total, the project reflects the anxieties and exhilarations of life on earth in 2023 through the same sort of tightly wound, acid-soaked, elegant, raucous, rock-ish, blissful and often subversive style that’s defined their discography.
This oeuvre contains many moments of grace and soaring beauty (“Swoon,” “The Sunshine Underground,” etc.), and it’s this same spirit of connection, love and hope that ultimately centers and steers the new project. Just listen to Beck assuring “When you feel like nothing really matters/ When you feel alone/ When you feel like all your life is shattered/ And you can’t go home/ I’ll come skipping like a stone” on the momentous “Skipping Like a Stone” and try not to feel at least a little uplifted.
“It can’t but affect what sort of music you want to put out,” Simons says of the global crises in play while the album was made. “But we didn’t necessarily want to dwell in that place. We feel like what we create is perhaps a way of having moments of release and escape. ‘Rousing’ became kind of a touchstone. Obviously there’s reflective music within the album, and there’s kind of quite sad bits, but generally we wanted the tone to be one of, not necessarily celebration, but — how can we get to the the part of people that wants to come alive and wants to not stay in this disenchanted, stagnant place?”
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“I mean, but it all starts with the desire of uplifting myself,” adds Rowlands. “That’s also what the title of our album is about… For that moment when you hear something, and it affects you and you just kind of get overwhelmed and overtaken. That moment is always the thing being in the studio or playing live is chasing.”
Anyone who’s seen The Chemical Brothers live knows their efficacy in achieving such a feeling in the live setting, with shows bringing audiences to heavy, cathartic, deliriously joyful and yes, ultimately beautiful places.
For U.S. audiences, though, the opportunity to partake has been fewer and farther between than many of us would prefer, with the Brothers playing only roughly a few U.S. shows over the last several years. This includes a primetime slot at Coachella’s Outdoor Stage this past April, a headlining gig at Portola in San Francisco last fall (“It felt really like a real post-EDM festival,” Rowlands says of the event. “We didn’t naturally feel at home in that EDM world”), along with dates in Santa Barbara, New York, Seattle and the Denver area. While they’re touring heavily in the U.K. this fall, they don’t currently have any U.S. shows on the schedule.
“The costs have gone up so much,” Simons says of touring in the States post-pandemic. “It’s just not really viable at the moment… I’m apologetic to the people who do want to see us that it is increasingly difficult for us to get to America, because we have had the times of our lives playing there.”
While the guys and their team have discussed paring down their show to make touring the U.S. more affordable — “a debate that has raged over Zoom,” says Simons — they don’t necessarily want to risk disappointing people who’ve seen social media clips of their current production, which involves a wall of equipment, a strange and captivating visual show and a pair of giant marching robots.
“[The production] originally came from the fact that we didn’t want to inflict [audiences with] just the two of us awkwardly standing with the synthesizers,” says Simons, “so we wanted a big back job, but it’s just grown and grown, and now we’ve got these 40-foot clowns voicing the words.”
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But if U.S. audiences can’t catch the guys live in the near future, access is available through Paused in Cosmic Reflection, a Chemical Brothers biography coming Oct. 26. Written with author and old friend Robin Turner, the book includes interviews with Simons and Rowlands, along with pals including Beck, Wayne Coyne and Noel Gallagher. The book tracks the Brothers since their earliest days, when they carried their own gear to sets and woke up the morning after to finish essays on Chaucer.
“I guess there’s no end date,” Simons says of this retrospective, “but we are nearer to the end of The Chemical Brothers than we are the beginning… It has been good to reflect and remember some history. I guess you’ve got to do it before you start forgetting everything, and I’ve got a really good memory.”
“He remembers, like, every small gig above a barber shop we ever did,” says Rowlands. “Then someone would produce a photograph of it and I’d be like, ‘Oh, gotcha. Maybe we did do that.’ … But one of the things about our band is, we don’t like stopping and reflecting. I always want to move on to the next thing. This book really felt like stopping and reflecting.”
They agree their biggest takeaway from all this contemplation is that, Rowlands says, “Our friendship is at the heart of it. That’s the thing that has enabled us.”
“Without being too trite, there’s a chemistry between us,” adds Simons. “We’ve just grown up together. We know what makes each other tick, what makes each other upset… We like each other, it’s as simple as that.”
In terms of legacy, neither sees an expiration date for what they do. Rowlands, who assures that he’ll always be in the studio making music, is pragmatic: “When no one shows up to your concert or your DJ gig, no one listens to your record, then it’s time.”
Simons says the legacy is simply the body of work they’ve created and continue adding to. Then he thinks about it a bit more and tells me a story about an all-ages gig they recently played in the English countryside.
“After, lots of our friends bought their teenage kids backstage, and they were all wearing Chemical Brothers T-shirts. And then there were little kids, and they had little Chemical Brothers baseball caps.
“Usually,” he continues, “when people come back it’s like ‘Do you want a beer?’ And this time it was like ‘Do you want some chocolate?’ Just seeing 10 or 15 kids who are all children of our friends, and they loved the gig. They lasted till the end. It was cool. That’s the legacy.”
He agrees that it was even, in fact, a beautiful feeling.
“I know this sounds weird, but this album was easy to make,” says artist, producer and DJ James Blake about his sixth studio album Playing Robots Into Heaven, out today (Sept. 8). “It’s like I’m picking up where I left off years ago.”
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The album is indeed a return to Blake’s roots, back when he was the prodigious polymath of London’s dance scene in the late aughts and early ’10s. Known then for crafting music that amalgamated early dubstep, soul samples and snippets of his own eerie vibrato, Blake quickly ascended as an underground sensation. “That was probably the last time I was DJing in one place regularly,” says Blake, who soon enough was touring Europe.
All the while, he was honing his skills as a songwriter, looking to the greats like Joni Mitchell as a North Star for writing songs with clearer hooks and more conventional structures, but still in-keeping with his signature style. From his first album James Blake (2011) to his fifth Friends That Break Your Heart (2021), Blake slid further away from the avant-garde sound that he once made in his bedroom to songs that drew more inspiration from pop and rap music. His later records — accompanied by collaborations with Beyonce, Travis Scott and Frank Ocean — made Blake a more mainstream star.
With 2021’s Friends That Break Your Heart, Blake says that he reached “the pinnacle of my songwriting” on standout track “Say What You Will.” “Once I wrote that song I said to myself, ‘I’m done. I don’t have to do this anymore.’ I felt like I’d written a song that finally filtered my influences and created my own version of what an ideal song would be.” It was one of the last tracks written for the project, and one that allowed him the space to make Playing Robots Into Heaven as the atypical follow-up album it was shaping out to be.
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Blake says much of Playing Robots was written at the same time as his last album. But at the start, the songs that would become the new album’s linchpins, like “Fall Back” and “Big Hammer,” were just “modular jams” he says — ideas he would mess around with when playing his impressive collection of synthesizers. “Because this wasn’t my main focus at the time, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever put any of it out. It felt like this was definitely a left turn,” he adds.
He credits his longtime partner — actress, host and musical collaborator Jameela Jamil — as one of the main reasons why he decided to take the more eclectic, dance-based works he was toying with more seriously. “When she came to my shows, she always would tell me her favorite moments were songs like ‘Voyeur’ [from 2013’s Overgrown] or ‘Stop What You’re Doing’ [a 2009 one-off],” he says, both of which veer more electronic. “She encouraged me to let loose a little, saying that a lot of my longtime fans might like to hear that side of me again.”
And yet, he was well aware that this so-called left turn — even if it is a return to what launched his career in the first place — could be jarring for his newer fans who discovered him from more recent hits like the Grammy-winning “King’s Dead” with Kendrick Lamar, Future and Jay Rock or “Forward” with Beyonce. “I don’t know when it became a risk for me [to make a dance record,] but I guess it is sort of a risk,” he says.
But more importantly, his new album allowed him to just have fun. “I spent so much time trying to learn how to write songs over the years, but here I didn’t need to do that,” he says. “I didn’t need to learn anything. I just went out and made music I knew would be cool in a club.”
One defining distinction of Playing Robots Into Heaven is the sparing deployment of Blake’s trademark voice, which is less of a focal point and more of an instrument for him to tinker with as a producer. He says that his “minimal approach to lyrics” and voice on the record is a part of the way the project is distinguished as a true dance music. “I think the way vocals are used in dance music is different from how they are used in pop, but the intersection of those styles is repetition,” he says. “The more cerebral the lyrics are, the further from dance music it gets. When you’re actually on the dance floor, you don’t want to have to unpack something. You want one refrain that feels good.”
Still, listeners can find profound lyrical moments in Playing Robots Into Heaven. Take “Loading,” the album’s second single, which repeats the phrase “wherever I go / I’m only as good as my mind / which is only good if you’re mine.” It’s then chopped and reassembled throughout the track, making it feel akin to a Buddhist meditation as much as it is a dance floor anthem.
For months, Blake has been testing his new material through a series of small club shows hosted in Los Angeles called CMYK (a call back to his 2011 track of the same name) at which Blake recreates the atmosphere of his early days — and sheds the stardom he has earned in the years since. “This album was mostly A&Red by the crowds at CMYK,” he says. “I really road tested this material.” It’s something he hasn’t done before, but a process he felt would befit his first true dance album in about a decade.
“When you’re part of a regular scene, it is very easy to visualize where and who you are making music for,” says Blake. “That’s what CMYK is about, bringing that spirit of dance floor from all of my influences back in the day to crowds now.”
“I don’t think the rules have changed that much when it comes to dance music,” he continues. “It’s pretty universal: what makes people move? That’s what I want to make.”
Bebe Rexha scores a first on Billboard’s charts, becoming the only artist to have notched milestone 50-week No. 1s on both Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and Hot Country Songs.
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The versatile artist and David Guetta’s “I’m Good (Blue)” logs a 50th week atop Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (dated Sept. 9). (Dating to the chart’s launch in 2013, it’s just the second song to post at least 50 weeks at No. 1, after Marshmello and Bastille’s “Happier” dominated for 69 weeks in 2018-20.)
Rexha first spent a record 50 weeks at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs with “Meant to Be” with Florida Georgia Line in 2017-18. Rexha also co-wrote both that song and “I’m Good.”
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“Songwriting is my passion, no matter the style of music,” Rexha told Billboard earlier this year. “I’ve been blessed to have hit songs in different genres throughout my career. Finding this kind of success within both the dance/electronic and country charts is something I’m really proud of. To have my music resonate with so many people and top charts across multiple genres is amazing and means a lot to me, as I’ve never wanted to be put in a box.”
“I’m Good,” released on What a DJ/Warner Records, holds at No. 1 with 26.8 million radio airplay audience impressions, 5.3 million U.S. streams and 1,000 downloads sold in the Aug. 25-31 tracking week, according to Luminate. The collab has controlled Hot Dance/Electronic Songs every week since Oct. 1, 2022.
Among other longevity accolades for “I’m Good” on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, it tallies a 53rd week in the top five (encompassing its entire chart run), tying Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s “Rain on Me” and Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s “Lean On” featuring MØ, for the sixth most. “Happier” rang up a record 91 weeks in the top five.
Guetta and Rexha have both now spent a combined 61 total weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in their careers, thanks to “I’m Good” and their previous team-up, “Hey Mama,” also with Nicki Minaj and Afrojack (11 weeks at No. 1 in 2015). Only The Chainsmokers (82 weeks), Marshmello (81) and Bastille (69) have spent more time on top.
“I’m Good” became a crossover smash upon its release. It spent one week at No. 1 on the all-format Radio Songs chart and topped Dance/Mix Show Airplay for 14 weeks and Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay for two each. On the Billboard Hot 100, the single even outperformed the song it interpolates: It reached No. 4 in January, while Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” peaked at No. 6 in 2000.
The first day of the Electric Zoo Festival on New York’s Randall’s Island was abruptly canceled hours before it was set to start, organizers announced Friday (Sept. 1) on X (formerly Twitter).
In the statement, organizers cited “global supply chain issues” as the cause of the cancellation and promised to reopen Saturday. Acts scheduled to play Friday include Kx5, Galantis, The Chainsmokers, Excision and many more.
“Despite our tireless efforts and round-the-clock commitment, we have made the painful decision to cancel the first day of Electric Zoo,” organizers wrote. “This year has presented unparalleled challenges for everyone. The global supply chain disruptions have impacted industries worldwide, and, sadly, our beloved festival has not been immune. These unexpected delays have prevented us from completing the construction of the main stage in time for Day 1.”
Fans who bought tickets for Friday will receive a refund. Fans with multiday tickets “will receive credit for one of the days” to be applied to a future event. The festival will now open at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and “we look forward to uniting with all of you to celebrate life and music, and dance through the sunset with the iconic backdrop of the New York skyline, right in the heart of New York City,” organizers wrote.
“While words cannot fully express the depth of our remorse about Day 1, please know that this decision was not made lightly,” organizers wrote. “We ask for your forgiveness and understanding during this challenging time. We are profoundly sorry for all the inconvenience and disappointment this will cause.”
Dear Electric Zoo Family,It is with a broken heart that we deeply regret to inform you that, despite our tireless efforts and round-the-clock commitment, we have made the painful decision to cancel the first day of Electric Zoo.This year has presented unparalleled challenges… pic.twitter.com/m5tunuANZY— Electric Zoo Festival (@ElectricZooNY) September 1, 2023
The festival’s social media pages announced the news just after 11:30 a.m. ET Friday, hours before doors for the event were set to open at 3 p.m.
Made Events, launched by Long Island City husband-wife team Mike Bindra and Laura De Palm and creators of the long-running Electric Zoo festival, was sold to an investment group that owns the Avant Gardner nightclub and venue in Brooklyn in July 2022 for $15 million.
In 2014, Made Event was acquired by Bob Sillerman‘s electronic dance music conglomerate SFX, which filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and eventually landed in the hands of senior creditor Andrew Axelrod. SFX was rebranded as LiveStyle by former chief executive Randy Phillips, who managed the festival properties for Axelrod and led efforts to sell off SFX’s assets to new buyers. Made Event was the last U.S. festival property held by LiveStyle to be sold.
Karol G and Tiësto are facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over their song “Don’t Be Shy,” filed by a Cuban-American songwriter who says their track features elements that are “practically identical” to his earlier tune.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Puerto Rico federal court, lawyers for songwriter Rene Lorente claim that Karol G and Tiësto’s 2021 dance-pop hit infringed his 2000 song “Algo Diferente” by using a melody that “sounds identical.”
“It doesn’t take an expert or musician, to carefully listen to the melody/sounds of each, to recognize that one was copied from the other,” Lorente’s lawyers wrote in their complaint. “In this case, defendants’ ‘Don’t be Shy’ is a blatant violation of plaintiff’s copyrighted ‘Algo Diferente’.”
Karol G, who is currently sitting atop Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart with her “Qlona,” teamed up with Tiësto to release “Don’t Be Shy” in August 2021. The song, which hit No. 4 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, was the Columbian star’s first released in English.
But in his lawsuit, Lorente claims Karol G and Tiësto’s song “misappropriated his beloved copyrighted work” – a tune released in May 2000 that currently has 3,647 total streams on Spotify. A version of “Algo Diferente” on YouTube, uploaded just nine days ago by CD Baby, has been streamed 6,423 times.
According to Lorente’s lawyers, a comparison of the two songs shows that they are “substantially similar” – the requirement to prove copyright infringement.
“Expert analysis of musical arrangement fragment of the copyrighted and infringing works, show exact rhythm, note arrangement, same intervals, harmony, with the only change being limited perhaps to the pitch, within 8 musical bars, repeated throughout infringing work,” Lorente’s lawyers wrote in his lawsuit. “However, for a lay listener and a jury, this combination of musical notes sounds identical.”
The lawsuit is seeking a whopping $52 million dollars, but attorneys who file lawsuits can claim any damages total they want. Even if Lorente’s lawsuit was successful – and that is not a given – such demands are typically not good indicators for what a judge or jury might ultimately award.
Reps for Karol G and Tiësto did not return requests for comment on Thursday.
Listen to the two songs below and compare for yourself:
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American singer, songwriter and dance producer Porter Robinson, from North Carolina, is a huge fan of Galileo Galilei, a rock band that hails from Japan’s Hokkaido region, and the tremendous influence they’ve had on his own expressive approach is well-known. Porter recently performed at Tokyo’s Toyosu PIT, one of the shows of his first Japanese tour in five years, and as soon as the curtain fell, he was finally able to meet Galileo Galilei and play with them for the very first time. The atmosphere in the studio, as they bounced ideas off each other, was intense, brimming with mutual affection and respect.
In the studio, Porter and the four members of Galileo Galilei were deep in discussion in the control room. Going into the studio session, Galileo Galilei had prepared a track and sent it to Porter. Porter had put his own spin on the track, and brought the results with him. The five of them were listening to the music and talking about what direction to take the song. The theme of the session was “Circle Game,” one of Galileo Galilei’s most famous songs, released in 2013 as the theme song for the movie Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. Porter adores the song. His track uses elements of “Circle Game,” but mashes it up with the essence of another of Galileo Galilei’s famous songs, “Aoi Shiori” (which was also the opening theme for the Anohana television anime series). The choice of the song provides a taste of the esteem Porter has for Galileo Galilei.
The five musicians kept on talking about Porter’s track. Guitarist and vocalist Yuuki Ozaki was deeply stirred by what Porter had come up with. Ideas flew back and forth — “what about adding some piano in here?” “I think maybe we could get rid of the outro,” “what should we do about the bass line?” The song changed, little by little, with each suggestion, remaking the song in real time. The process wasn’t one of everyone coming together to cover a song, but more like Porter had become a member of the band, and they were all creating a new song together. To be honest, when I first heard they’d be working together, I imagined a more laid-back, easy session. An artist was coming to Japan for the first time in years, meeting a band of which he was a huge fan for the first time ever. He’d probably join them in playing some of their standout songs — and that alone would still be a tremendously fulfilling experience. But Porter and the band had developed a powerful friendship over the years, online and through their music. The bond between them was far too strong for a mundane jam session like that.
After careful preparation, they began to play. The full-band sound of Galileo Galilei overlapped with Porter’s piano intro, and the song progressively became more involved and colorful. Yuuki’s delicate vocals intertwined with Fumito’s chorus and were joined by Porter’s singing, altered with effects. While the original “Circle Game” had a somewhat innocent and straightforward feel, over time, Porter’s additions transformed it into something more dynamic and emotional. Perhaps “transformed” is the wrong word — it felt like it had been that way from the start. The “Aoi Shiori” phrases that could be heard toward the end of the song, and the vocal samples from Porter’s own “Something Comforting” and “Trying to Feel Alive” were a testament to the powerful bonds between Porter and Galileo Galilei, and to Galileo Galilei’s musical history.
After finishing their first take, the five talked about their performances. Porter, an embarrassed expression on his face, blurted “I messed up.” Finding himself finally together with this band of which he was such a fan, he shouted, “I’m so nervous!” The studio burst into laughter. According to Porter’s tour manager, this was Porter’s first time taking part in a studio session with a band. Although he has performed with a live band onstage, playing in the confined space of a studio puts you under a different kind of pressure.
After awhile, they started into their second take. The mood was more relaxed than the first take — you could even feel the change in mood through the control-room speakers. Perhaps it was Porter’s previous exclamation that had broken up the tension in the studio. Whatever the case, it was a wonderful performance. “Circle Game” was written over a decade ago, but this fresh, modern spin made it feel new again.
After the second take, Porter drew out his smartphone and started taking selfies. He says that the session felt like being in a dream, so he wanted to capture the scene for posterity. This experience, which Porter had long dreamed of, had become a reality, and as the musicians melded their parts, the mood in the room changed. The five were communicating in a way that only musicians can. They began their third take. With each take, the sound became more lively and relaxed. Although they were playing the same song, arranged in the same way, the way the musicians felt completely changed the tone of the song. Just as I was reflecting on this, the session came to an end. All five of them beamed with satisfaction.
On behalf of Billboard Japan, writer Tomohiro Ogawa spoke to Porter Robinson and the four members of Galileo Galilei following the session.
How did it feel performing together here today?
Porter: During the second take, there was a point where I was about to cry. Just looking at Yuuki, it brought back memories of when I saw the “Aoi Shiori” music video a decade ago. It was really like a dream come true.
Yuuki Ozaki: That makes me so happy to hear. For us, too, it was like being in a dream. I didn’t feel nervous, it was more like I was walking on air, my head in the clouds. I’m so happy to hear it felt the same for you, too.
Kazuki Ozaki: I’ve always been a fan of Porter’s, and since I first learned about him, I’ve been imitating him, buying all kinds of equipment (laughs). It was a really wonderful day for me.
Fumito Iwai: Today really reaffirmed the power of music for me. This was all new for Galileo Galilei — connecting with an artist from another country, on a song that spanned the years, and creating something so wonderful. It was like we’d opened a new door, or got a glimpse of a new world.
Yuuki: It was a really stimulating experience.
Iwai: I almost lost it. We’re currently working on new music, but I feel like we’ll be able to use this experience in our new music, and in our live performances, too. It was like I got a peek at uncharted territory, something that’s clearly going to have an influence on our future musical activities.
Masaki Okazaki: For me, too, it was walking on air (laughs). I’ve watched videos of Porter’s live performances, and I’ve been really influenced by his music. I never expected to have this opportunity, and it still doesn’t really feel real. But there’s no doubt that this is going to be a precious memory I carry with me throughout my life.
Watching your session, it felt like “Circle Game” was reborn — or like it was given new life. The addition of Porter made you feel like a different band. It was like the five of you had already been playing together for a decade.
Porter: I’m glad you think so. I’ve been listening to them for such a long time, but I never imagined that they were inspired by what I was doing. I had no idea until today.
Yuuki: Today, the way we were playing together and exchanging ideas — it didn’t feel like our first time playing together.
Iwai: Yeah, I felt like there were a lot of similarities between us.
Yuuki: I really felt like we had the same feel, the same kind of tone, which came through in every little gesture and every musical expression. It was really moving, and it filled me with so much joy. Also, we all really love Porter’s music, and he’s been a constant influence on warbear, BBHF, and Galileo Galilei. To be honest, I imitate him a lot. Today’s session provided me with a better understanding of what draws me to Porter Robinson as a musician, and I think it was a wonderful chance to compare notes. When we started today, he asked us so many questions. He asked why Galileo Galilei broke up and why we’ve reformed. I think that’s because he wanted to get a proper sense of what the band feels like now. He makes music from the heart, and that really came across today. I found it very moving.
Porter: One of the things I truly believe is that in your life, every few years, you’ll come across something that changes your perspectives forever. It could be a movie, it could be a band, it could be travel, it could be a change of environment. For me, those moments are indescribably precious. That’s why I want to express my profound gratitude to them, for being such tremendous inspirations, providing me with such joy, and creating music that completely changed my perspectives. I hope that we can continue to work together in the future.
–This article by Tomohiro Ogawa first appeared on Billboard Japan
This week in dance music: The Chainsmokers broke the record for the highest ever attendance at a show (18,798 people) at the L.A. State Historic Park, we spoke with the Founder of Burning Man’s Mayan Warrior art car, which burned down this past April, Diplo announced the death of his mother and Alesso collab’d with BTS’ Jung Kook.
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See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
And of course, there’s new music too. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
ARTBAT, “Coming Home”
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The Label: Warner Music Group
The Spiel: John Martin (of “Don’t Your Worry Child” fame) lends the same intensely anthemic mood to the latest from Ukrainian duo ARTBAT. Released in conjunction with Independence Day Of Ukraine, which the country celebrated yesterday (August 24) — and which obviously takes on deep meaning given the country’s ongoing conflict with Russia — the song obliquely addresses the war, with lyrics about coming home to your mother, your brother, your sister and your lover. “We’ll walk in the streets like we used to do,” sings Martin, “there will be something new to believe in.” On the track the Kyiv-based duo expertly balance progressive and mainstage sounds, even adding a children’s choir for maximum poignancy.
The Artists Say: “This is a very personal record for both ourselves and John,” ARTBAT wrote on Instagram, “and we’ve written this with our homeland in the forefront of our minds, with a message of hope and positivity for all.”
The Vibe: Tearjerker.
John Summit With MKLA, “Fade Out”
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The Label: Off the Grid/Darkroom Records
The Spiel: The commercial trance resurgence launched earlier this year by Calvin Harris extends today with John Summit’s “Fade Out.” A collaboration with silky-voiced Toronto-based singer MKLA, the track is urgent, sophisticated and as earworm-ey (in a good way) as the rest of most recent Summit’s output — namely “Escape” with Hayla and his edit of Kaskade and deadmau5’s “I Remember.”
On Twitter, Summit’s label Off the Grid noted that “Fade Out” will be “our last single as off the grid records,” indicating a name change is coming after Summit and Off the Grid faced recent legal issues in regards to a California-based event promoter also called Off the Grid. It’s an apt way to fade out, indeed.
The Artist Says: “Been working on this one for a while.. it’s a trance inspired tune hope u guys like,” Summit wrote on Twitter.
The Vibe: 4 a.m. on the dance floor.
Mochakk, “Jealous”
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The Label: CircoLoco Records
The Spiel: Brazilian producer Mochakk has been steadily rising this year, an upswing that gets a major boost today with his latest, the wonderfully unhinged “Jealous.” The late Loleatta Holloway does a lot of the heavy lifting here, with the producer heavily sampling the singer’s 1977 song “Dreamin,” weaving her insanely powerful vocals with his bounce-ey, funky house production that’s fun, fresh and accessible and — as evidenced by this moment from his Coachella set this past April — simply just slaps.
The Artist Says: “If you asked Pedro from 2 years ago if he believed he would be announcing his very own release with [CircoLoco Records] and [Rockstar Games] in 2023, he would definitely tell you to cut the bulls–t! This track has probably been my most anticipated release so far, with the most support pre-release and I’m so stoked to say it’s finally coming out.”
The Vibe: No bulls–t.
ISOxo & Ninajirachi, “SHYPOP”
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The Label: 88Rising Records
The Spiel: Emerging San Diego producer ISOxo throws the kitchen sink at it on his latest, “SHYPOP,” melding drum & bass and hyperpop and hints of mainstage and hardstyle into a very high BPM production that’s simultaneously hectic and spare. Vocals come from Australian fav Ninajirachi, who sings, “I want to be smarter, but I don’t know where to start. I want to say things from the heart, but my words come out so wrong, I stumble.” While the sound is far out, the sentiment is widely relatable. The track comes from ISOxo’s forthcoming debut album, kidsgonemad!.
The Artist Says: “Creating SHYPOP came from a sentimental place that’s been driving the meaning behind some of my music. It touches on the insecurities I’ve felt both as an artist and in life, wanting to push myself to be better.”
The Vibe: Machinistic, deeply human, totally fun.
Nosaj Thing, Jacques Greene & Ouri, “Too Close”
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The Label: LUCKYME
The Spiel: L.A. favorite Nosaj Thing links with Toronto mainstay Jacques Greene and Montreal-based producer, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Ouri. Together they deliver something as sophisticated and vibey as you’d expect, with “Too Close,” melding D&B and deep house into a mood at once mellow and urgent.
The Vibe: Pretty, with a hint of heartbreak.