Executive of the Week
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Today (Nov. 11), the highly-anticipated sequel to the 2018 blockbuster film Black Panther, called Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, reaches theaters in the United States. But already, its soundtrack — released today through Roc Nation/Def Jam/Hollywood Records — is making waves: its lead single, “Lift Me Up” by Rihanna, debuted at No. 2 on the Hot 100 this week, the elusive singer’s 32nd top 10 record and first since 2017, and became just the fourth song this century to debut in the top 10 of the all-format Radio Songs chart.
It’s a considerable success, not just for Rihanna but for the Wakanda soundtrack as a whole, which is full of artists from Nigeria, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S. and blends local language music and artists with the cultural connectivity of the film — and helps Def Jam’s executive vp/chief creative officer and one of the producers of the project, Archie Davis, earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
“There’s a spiritual connection with this song and the conviction in Rihanna’s delivery that engages listeners,” Davis says about “Lift Me Up.” “I think once audiences see the film, they’ll feel that energy even more.”
Here, Davis tells Billboard about putting the soundtrack together, the impact of Rihanna’s involvement, as well as that of filmmaker Ryan Coogler, composer and producer Ludwig Göransson, and late Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman, and the strategies behind marketing soundtrack albums as opposed to an artist’s album. “A great soundtrack reminds you of a film, but a great album feels so vivid that you can almost see it play out in your head,” he says. “We try to do both.”
This week, the lead single from the Wakanda Forever soundtrack, Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up,” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became just the fourth song this century to debut in the top 10 of the Radio Songs chart. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
It was a team effort, one thousand percent. It was important we set up the release properly on such a short timeline. A key component was carrying this record on tour around the world to make sure the right people heard it before it was released. Shout out to our radio teams at both Def Jam and Roc Nation for working tirelessly, leaving no stone unturned. All the records that our radio teams broke helped pave the way for us to debut in the fashion we did. The music video was also an integral component, which we shot on the Monday of release week and had out by that Friday. It was a complete effort by everyone to help us debut “Lift Me Up” with real impact.
This is Rihanna’s first song as a lead artist since 2016. How did you get her involved in this project?
I give all credit to the filmmaker for connecting with her when she saw the film. I think that helped move her emotionally to even want to be part of this project. Kudos to Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson, and a million praises to Tems, Rihanna, Tunji, Wale, Davies, Jay Brown, Omar Grant, Shari Bryant, and the whole Roc Nation team for pulling it together. I also think, in a way, a lot of this came from Chad.
What was it about this song that you felt resonated so well, not just for the film but also among music fans?
Its relatability. The lyrics “Lift me up / hold me down, keep me close / safe and sound.” There are so many people we wish we could say that to. Those are words we tell our children, wish our ancestors could say to us, maybe even pray at times. There’s a spiritual connection with this song and the conviction in Rihanna’s delivery that engages listeners. I think once audiences see the film, they’ll feel that energy even more.
What did you want to get across with this soundtrack?
We wanted this project to be an immersive audio experience. I see the music existing as an invisible character, an extension of Wakandan culture that can be heard sonically and felt emotionally. These songs are all tied to emotions in a way I’ve never seen done before in a film. There’s an intentionality behind all the music, and my hope is audiences will be equally submersed in the music as they are experiencing the film. The two entities work hand in hand. There are a few different languages on the soundtrack, but those willing to research will find easter eggs through the music.
This album features a slew of Nigerian and Mexican artists, as well as American and British hip-hop artists. How did you choose who was involved and how did you make sure that it all fit together?
I think we chose by prioritizing authenticity to the story and understanding the nature of our platform. For example, while exploring Mayan Mexican culture it was important to choose artists that could relay such a precious identity. However, that’s not to say we couldn’t hear an artist like Rema shine the way he does on “Pantera” alongside Aleman. This is where Ludwig’s genius presents itself. He was learning how to construct these sounds with producers from their respective cultures while simultaneously experimenting. Authenticity was paramount. We also wanted to make sure the voices of many, even some that are lesser known, were represented. To think this movie and music would only resonate in the U.S. would’ve been a disservice.
Soundtracks can be hit or miss on the charts — some come and go, but some become massive hits. What goes into making a great film soundtrack that also translates to chart success?
In my opinion I believe it’s a great story, amazing narrative, and a host of incredible artists that care about the art being created. None of this can be done without amazing artists. If everyone understands the weight of the message we’re trying to convey it helps tremendously. My job is to make sure I help that message resonate within culture and the world. A massive amount of research goes into these projects, and direction from the composer and director helps as well. We’re ultimately trying to create a world that’s portrayed visually with music and there’s a great level of care that goes into each project. Those are general pillars, but each project is different from the last. Being able to learn, adapt and react is important. Sometimes there’s momentum or energy that comes from the least expected places that you must follow. It may lead to a dead end, but there’s something to learn in that process. Being able to harness those experiences and channel it holistically with a clear vision in mind all combines to make a great soundtrack.
What goes into developing and marketing a soundtrack like this as opposed to an artist’s album?
Soundtracks are worked on by lots of people, with many influences and real deadlines. When it comes to marketing a soundtrack, I feel like you’re also marketing the community to ensure it’s surrounded by the culture being represented. I think a key difference with a soundtrack is I have a built-in story I’m moving off of, whereas an artist is a blank canvas. An artist’s album a lot of times is someone’s real life experience. It’s a different conversation when you have to put your face out there as an artist. With a soundtrack like this you get to play make believe, in a way. There’s more room for imagination and that’s where we can expound upon as much as possible for the audience. A great soundtrack reminds you of a film, but a great album feels so vivid that you can almost see it play out in your head. We try to do both.
Manuel Turizo is a Colombian with no Dominican roots and yet the 22-year old singer, known for catchy Latin pop songs that incorporate urban beats, has scored his biggest hit ever by dipping into bachata. The beloved Dominican genre known for its trademark syncopated rhythm, plucked guitar and guira carries Turizo’s latest single, “La Bachata” (La Industria/Sony Music Latin), which has been steadily rising up the charts since May.
The track, which replaces bachata’s traditional guitar with electronic riffs and R&B vocals, debuted at No. 44 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart June 18 and on Billboard’s Global 200 and Global Excl U.S. charts in July. Since then, it’s been slowly growing, reaching No. 6 on the Global 200 and No. 3 on the Global Excl. U.S. chart this week. On the U.S. Latin Airplay chart, “La Bachata” this week became Turizo’s fifth No. 1 but only his second solo track to reach the top spot since 2019’s “Sola.” And that success so far helps earn Turizo’s manager Juan Diego Medina the title of Billboard‘s Executive of the Week.
“It’s Manuel’s most important song, and it’s the song that’s placing him in the best and most decisive moment of his career,” says Medina — who also manages Nicky Jam and ChocQuibTown — noting that Turizo’s monthly listeners on Spotify went from 19 million to 32.7 million since releasing “La Bachata”.
While Medina built his company, La Industria Inc., to a large degree on the basis of data mining and savvy social media management, he attributes a big chunk of Turizo’s current success to international promotion and to his ability to connect with audiences at a ground level with his very personal take on a very distinctive genre. Now, “La Bachata” — written by Turizo, Edgar Barrera, Andrés Jael Correa Rios, Miguel Andrés Martinez and Medina himself — will kick off what’s likely to be his biggest album yet, 2000, slated for release in early 2023.
“With so many avenues open to promote music,” says Medina, “I’ve opted to go back to the streets, to the root of this business and touch people.”
Manuel has had big hits with pop/urban tracks like “Vaina Loca” with Ozuna and “La Nota” with Myke Towers. Why a bachata of all things?
Manuel is absurdly versatile at a musical level and he doesn’t get stuck on a genre. He wants to do everything. He hadn’t released a bachata before, but he’d recorded another bachata, which actually Romeo Santos produced [and will also be included in 2000]. This track was brought to us by Edgar Barrera, who wrote it with Rios [Andres Jael Correa Rios]. Then, Slo [one third of ChocQuibTown and the producer of most tracks on Turizo’s upcoming album] heard it and thought it would be perfect for Manuel with a bit of an urban touch. Manuel loved it. When they played it for me, I decided to go with it because it was different. It was a bachata, but not the kid of bachata Romeo or Prince Royce would do. It had an urban touch, a sort of hidden dembow. It was a gamble.
What were your expectations?
Truth, 50-50. It was 50% this will kinda work, and 50% this will break all rules. The song began with 400,000, 500,000 daily streams, and that’s a good start. Nowadays, to be on the top five, you have to do 5-6 million daily streams. We started slow, but once we saw that traction, I thought, we have to activate the Latin region. I called Afo [Afo Verde, Sony Latin Iberia’s president and chairman], who was in Croatia, and I said, “If we want this song to do what we want it to do, we need to activate Latin America.”
But before Latin America, you focused on Spain?
Manuel’s consumption in Spain has always been good, and we did our first big campaign there because that’s where the song first took off. Sony has an internal platform that details all consumption and we can see what countries things are working at. It first broke in Spain, then in Mexico. The U.S. is where we’ve had the hardest time. And, keep in mind, there are Spanish artists like C. Tangana and Rosalia who’ve released bachatas, but none had had Manuel’s repercussion, even though he’s neither Spanish nor Dominican. He’s Colombian.
Humbly, this was an organic success. Obviously, it comes with an investment and a strategy. But you don’t reach these levels only with investment and strategy. The song was received well when the algorithm proposed it.
So, Spain was key. What else do you think made a major difference here? Because there are a lot of bachata songs out there, including Romeo Santos’ entire new album, but none are having this impact.
Another key factor is that three, four days after the song’s release, we went to the Dominican Republic and did a lot of press, but we also spent time with bachata and Dominican organizations. That gave a lot of credibility to the fans. There’s a lot of Dominican migration to Spain. So, spending time in the Dominican Republic was key. That came linked to Manuel’s “Bailando Bachata con Manuel Turizo” TikTok campaign. Everywhere he went, he’d get out of the car in the middle of the street — in Mexico, Dominican Republic, Spain, everywhere — and he’d ask a woman to dance bachata with him [filming the interaction and posting on TikTok]. We’ve forgotten to connect with people and to make the fans feel you’re human, like them. Today, there are so many avenues to promote your music, that we’re saturated. I’ve opted to go back to the people, to the root of this business and to feel the street. We went viral on the ground, and then we did the big actions with the big tools. It’s not often that we do both those things. We do the big things, but we forget the people.
You say the U.S. was your hardest market to penetrate. Why is that, especially considering Manuel is so close to the U.S. and you’re based here?
Once the song broke in Latin America, it went viral in Asia, and then Europe. The U.S. was last. I feel it’s a market where urban, street music is far stronger today. It’s not an easy market to penetrate when your product is more clean, more lyrical. It sounds contradictory because there are successful pop acts like Camilo. But Manuel’s music is made for adults, not kids, and adult ears are not always geared toward romantic fare. Conquering the U.S. market isn’t easy when you have to compete with acts like Maluma, Balvin, Camilo.
You’re No. 1 on Latin Airplay, which is radio. How important is radio to you?
We always try to work with radio stations. I’m faithful to radio and I think I’m not one of those who thinks it doesn’t matter anymore. Some people are not tech-savvy, they like their radio, they like to hear the DJs. I think radio is the biggest ally of people who want to listen to music free. YouTube is also still very important to us, especially in Latin America.
Manuel has had other major hits. How important is “La Bachata” to him?
It’s his most important song, and it’s placing him in the biggest and most decisive moment of his career. He’s at that stage where he’s poised to go to the next level, and this is the song that will make him a star, God willing.
Do you have more bachatas planned?
Not for the moment [aside from the Romeo-produced track]. I feel we can’t abuse [the genre]. It’s about proposing new things, not getting stuck on a single one.
The past two years have been a whirlwind of success for Doja Cat, who emerged from TikTok virality to become one of radio’s most beloved artists of the young decade so far. And she’s been on the type of hot streak that has her in rarefied territory: With five top five hits on Pop Airplay off her latest album, the RCA-released Planet Her, her album became just the seventh to ever accomplish that feat, a mark she set over the course of an entire calendar year — an impressive achievement in an era when attention spans are short and longevity is fleeting.
This week, Doja Cat adds to her run of success as her latest single “Vegas,” off the Elvis soundtrack (also out on RCA), became her sixth No. 1 single at Pop Airplay — replacing her collaboration with Post Malone, “I Like You (A Happier Song),” atop the list and making her the first artist to replace herself atop the chart since Ariana Grande nearly two years ago. And as “Vegas” also becomes Dojo’s sixth top 10 single on the Hot 100 — all since 2020 — her manager at SALXCO and newly-named executive vp of A&R and artist development at Capitol Music Group Gordan Dillard is Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Dillard tells Billboard about Dojo’s success at pop radio, how her team has kept the album alive and charting for so long and how they leverage TikTok to help work records at radio, as well as some of the transformations in the industry. “We approach albums with longevity in mind,” he says. “When the music is complete, we work months to build out strategic marketing plans, release schedules, promotional assets and much more. We are very strategic when it comes to how and when the records are released [and] we work very closely and far in advance with our partners to ensure maximize impact and longevity for every record.”
This week, Doja Cat’s “Vegas” reached No. 1 on the Pop Airplay chart, her sixth No. 1 on that chart, and became her sixth top 10 Hot 100 hit. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
There were a lot of decisions that went into the success of this record. We approached it the same as we would any solo Doja record, but also gave a ton of support to the director Baz Luhrmann, the film itself, and the release. We executed our marketing efforts in tandem with the film. “Vegas” was first premiered with Shonka [Dukureh] — rest in peace — at Coachella before the film or trailer featuring “Vegas” was released which laid a great deal of anticipation for the release. Along the way, the entire team, both RCA and management, played a key role in executing and staying consistent with the efforts to hit these record-breaking achievements.
“Vegas” replaced her collaboration with Post Malone, “I Like You (A Happier Song),” on the chart, making her the first artist to replace themselves there since Ariana Grande almost two years ago. Why has she had such success at that radio format?
Doja is a world-renowned musical artist and one of the biggest female pop stars of her generation. She has always put music first and with the incredibly hardworking promotional team at RCA, she has had and will continue to have radio success. Our radio partners are also amazing and supportive.
This song in particular didn’t make big waves immediately on its release, but after picking up steam on TikTok has grown into her latest major hit. How have you guys been able to use TikTok to help fuel Doja Cat’s songs and career in other areas?
The digital world is an ever-evolving machine. Breaking records and artists are much different than they were even just a few months ago. Doja and her music has always had a great following on TikTok and the TikTok team has always been great to work with while always being supportive of our marketing ideas. Social media has always been a key component to Doja’s organic communication with her fans and we’ll always keep it that way.
Planet Her had produced five top-five hits at pop radio, just the seventh album to do so, and stretching across more than a year. In an era when albums tend to come and go relatively quickly, what did you and your team do to keep the album so relevant and producing radio hits for such an extended period of time?
We approach albums with longevity in mind. When the music is complete, we work months to build out strategic marketing plans, release schedules, promotional assets and much more. We are very strategic when it comes to how and when the records are released [and] we work very closely and far in advance with our partners to ensure maximize impact and longevity for every record. Also, our team is very strong, smart and we strike together. Teamwork is key in our success.
This song is from the Elvis soundtrack. Do you work songs differently for a soundtrack song as opposed to something from one of her own projects?
No, this record specifically came at the perfect time. The process is still the same even if this song was from a soundtrack. We still approach it as if it’s a solely Doja Cat record.
You’ve been a manager for a decade, both with your own company and with SALXCO. How has management evolved in that time?
In my opinion, management is much more involved nowadays more than ever. Managers have become CEOs of the artist’s business. We are much more involved in the growth of the artist’s initiatives outside of just music. We are somewhat business partners with our artists.
You also have a new job at Capitol. How do you balance that job with managing an artist at another label?
I don’t think about it like that. They are separate and I don’t mix the two. Although the skill sets are transferable and help with both positions. I also have amazing teams on both sides that support and allow me to be instrumental in the individual successes. Without them neither would be possible.
Over the past several years, Burna Boy has grown into a legitimate international star, with each of his last three albums achieving higher and higher slots on the Billboard 200 and his 2021 album, Twice As Tall, winning a Grammy for best global music album. And as his music has grown in popularity in the U.S., he’s been able to reach new milestones like selling out Madison Square Garden, which he did earlier this year. But one aspect of stardom had until recently eluded him: U.S. radio airplay.
That has changed over the past few weeks, as his single “Last Last” from his latest album Love, Damini has begun climbing the Billboard radio charts. And this week, it has finally crowned one of them, having reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, a testament to the work put in by his label Atlantic Records. And it helps earn Atlantic’s executive vp of black music promotion Kevin Holiday the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Holiday explains the strategy that brought a song that was originally released in May to the top of the airplay charts in October. “Radio is a long game, and it takes time for records to organically connect with an audience,” he says.
This week, Burna Boy’s “Last Last” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
The key decision was to ask urban radio to collectively move in one direction at the same time. Another crucial decision was making sure we highlighted all the latest and greatest information on Burna Boy the week prior to achieving the No. 1. These decisions put us in position to attain our goal.
The song has not just reached the top of that chart, but it’s also climbing the all-format Radio Songs chart, reaching a new peak of No. 24 this week. How are you expanding its airplay audience?
The regions with the highest populations aid the growth in audience airplay. With that said, we are expanding Burna’s airplay audience by targeting the major markets, in hopes they play the record more.
The song has been out for five months now, since first being released in May. Why is it climbing and peaking at radio now?
It takes some time to get folks on the same page and increase airplay. Radio is a long game, and it takes time for records to organically connect with an audience.
Last year, Wizkid‘s “Essence” broke through on U.S. radio, opening up a lane for music by African artists that hadn’t really existed before. How has that changed what’s possible for Burna at radio?
Wizkid helped reshape the sound of traditional U.S. radio from just playing American hip-hop and R&B records. Burna Boy’s music has a grassroots structure of R&B mixed with a “feel good” vibe, which doesn’t completely break the boundaries of the music played within the formats. Ultimately, the possibilities are endless for Burna Boy.
Recently, we’ve seen songs make inroads at pop radio with a pop artist remix. Is that something you guys are exploring? What could that do for a song like “Last Last”?
Although “Last Last” is perfect as is, a pop remix can give a different twist and widen the audience. As of now, I believe there are no plans for such a remix… But never say never!
How can success at radio like this help boost Burna Boy’s career moving forward?
As U.S. radio continues to create global superstars, the sky is the limit for Burna Boy and his future endeavors. We are just getting started!