genre dance
Page: 8
2025 BRIT Awards winner Charli XCX was gorgeously draped in a Dilara Findikoglu dress, a garment of sheer layers that mostly concealed the singer’s bust, at Saturday night’s show — but the look must’ve nearly been deemed risqué by British network ITV.
“I heard that ITV were complaining about my nipples,” Charli commented at the podium on March 1 at London’s O2 Arena, while accepting the artist of the year award. “I feel like we’re in the era of free the nipple though, right?”
“Thanks for being on my side,” she added after the crowd cheered.
Styled by Chris Shoran, Charli wore look nine from Dilara Findikoglu‘s autumn/winter 2025 collection. The black dress, with a calf-skimming, pencil skirt silhouette layered over a minimalist, bikini-shaped bottom, was paired with classic pumps by Christian Louboutin.
Charli XCX attends the BRIT Awards at The O2 on March 1, 2025 in London.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
“I’ve gotta say, I feel like I’ve always been an artist but it really takes a whole team, and they’re all like sat at that table. I just want to say thank you so much to the people who helped me make this record,” said the Brat singer as she accepted her third of four award wins at the 2025 BRITs. She’d already collected the awards for song of the year and dance act.
Charli gave a special shout out her fiancé in her artist of the year speech: “George Daniel, love you, baby.” (Daniel is a notable musician and producer, and a founding member of the band The 1975. For Charli he produced “Apple” and “Club Classics” on Brat, and also worked on “I Might Say Something Stupid,” which also features Jon Hopkins and Daniel’s 1975 bandmate Matty Healy, for the companion release Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat).
George Daniel and Charli XCX post during the BRIT Awards at The O2 Arena on March 1, 2025 in London, England.
JMEnternational/Getty Images
“Thank you to all the artists out there who feel like they don’t fit in but are brave enough to try and be rejected a million times. I share this with you,” Charli said, candidly.
“Keep partying,” she told the audience. It was a pastime she was likely talking part in; host Jack Whitehall joked at the start of the ceremony that Charli had asked to not perform so she could get drunk Saturday night.
The mind behind Brat won the awards for artist of the year, album of the year, song of the year (for “Guess,” featuring Billie Eilish) and dance act at the 2025 BRITs, and the night’s honorary songwriter of the year prize also went to her. Brat executive producer A.G. Cook won producer of the year.
What should fans expect from Charli’s next album? “I’ll probably do something completely different,” she said at the BRIT Awards.
“I used to tell myself that things like this weren’t important,” Charli admitted when returning to the stage to accept the album of the year award. “This kind of recognition, awards in general, weren’t important. That was really easy for me to do because until last year I was literally never nominated for anything … Now it’s cool to not be in that position.”
“I guess this time around the culture caught up with us and wanted to be on the journey with us,” she said.
Charli XCX gave the BRIT Awards a Brat makeover on Saturday night (Mar. 1) by scooping the biggest prizes of the night, including the coveted album of the year prize.
She won four awards at the ceremony: song of the year, dance act, artist of the year and album of the year. She also collected the honorary songwriter of the year prize, while Brat‘s executive producer A.G. Cook won producer of the year.
Speaking when she collected the album of the year prize, Charli said: “I used to tell myself things like this weren’t important and that was easy for me to do because until last year I wasn’t nominated for anything. I always felt like an outsider in the British music industry, so it feels nice to be recognized on this album when I actually haven’t made any sacrifices.”
Brat was one of 2024’s defining records, landing at No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Album Charts and at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. It was named the Billboard staff’s album of the year.
The awards took place at The O2 Arena in London, and were hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall for a fifth time.
Elsewhere it was a big night for Chappell Roan, who triumphed in the international artist and international song categories, beating off competition from Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Beyoncé.
Sabrina Carpenter opened the show with a two-song medley of “Espresso” and “Bed Chem” and collected the honorary global success award.
Sam Fender had a big night , winning rock/alternative act and performing the title song from People Watching. On Friday, the North Shields-born musician’s third album went to No. 1 and clocked the biggest opening week for a British act in three years, topping over 100,000 units.
Ezra Collective collected group of the year and shouted out youth clubs and the musical opportunities they offer, while Myles Smith challenged the U.K. government to do more for grassroots venues in his speech while collecting BRITs Rising Star.
Baroque-pop group The Last Dinner Party performed “Nothing Matters” and picked up best new artist. Like Smith, they used their speech to champion the small venues in the U.K.
RAYE won best R&B act, and Stormzy shouted out his fellow nominee Central Cee when he triumphed in the best hip-hop/grime/rap.
Performances came from Carpenter, Teddy Swims, Ezra Collective, Fender, The Last Dinner Party, JADE and Lola Young.
In December, the BRITs announced Luton-born singer-songwriter Myles Smith as the recipient of the 2025 BRIT Rising Star award — a new music prize that is handed out to the British act that the voting academy believes will make the biggest impact on music in the coming year. He performed his breakout song “Stargazing” on the night.
It was not Dua Lipa’s night: She went 0-4. The Cure and Central Cee were also shut out, despite three nominations.
The nominees and winners were chosen by the BRIT Awards Voting Academy, its membership made up of musicians and industry figures; the public decided the winners of the genre categories, with voting taking place via a WhatsApp campaign.
Here’s the complete list of 2025 BRIT Awards winners.
Mastercard album of the year
WINNER: Charli XCX – Brat, Atlantic/Warner Music Ezra Collective – Dance, No One’s Watching, Partisan RecordsDua Lipa – Radical Optimism, Warner/Warner MusicThe Cure – Songs of a Lost World, Polydor/Universal MusicThe Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy, Island/Universal Music
Artist of the year
Beabadoobee, Dirty Hit Central Cee, Columbia/Sony MusicWINNER: Charli XCX, Atlantic/Warner Music Dua Lipa, Warner/Warner MusicFred Again.., Atlantic/Warner MusicJamie xx, Young/XL BeggarsMichael Kiwanuka, Polydor/Universal MusicNia Archives, Island/Universal MusicRachel Chinouriri, Parlophone/Universal MusicSam Fender, Polydor/Universal Music
Group of the year
Bring Me the Horizon, RCA/Sony MusicColdplay, Parlophone/Warner MusicWINNER: Ezra Collective, Partisan Records The Cure, Polydor/Universal MusicThe Last Dinner Party, Island/Universal Music
Best new artist
English Teacher, Island/Universal MusicEzra Collective, Partisan RecordsMyles Smith, RCA/Sony MusicRachel Chinouriri, Parlophone/Universal MusicWINNER: The Last Dinner Party, Island/Universal Music
Song of the year
“I Like the Way You Kiss Me,” Artemas, Parlophone/Warner Music“Kisses,” BI3SS x CamrinWatsin (ft. Bbyclose), Atlantic/Warner Music “BAND4BAND,” Central Cee (ft. Lil Baby), Columbia/Capitol/Motown/Sony MusicWINNER: “Guess,” Charli XCX (ft. Billie Eilish), Atlantic/Interscope/Warner Music“Backbone,” Chase & Status (ft. Stormzy), 0207 Records/EMI/Merky/Universal Music“Feelslikeimfallinginlove,” Coldplay, Parlophone/Warner Music“Training Season,” Dua Lipa, Warner/Warner Music “Alibi,” Ella Henderson (ft. Rudimental), Atlantic/Warner Music“Angel of My Dreams,” Jade, RCA/Sony Music “Kehlani,” Jordan Adetunji, Warner/Warner Music“Thick of It,” KSI (ft. Trippie Redd), Atlantic/Warner Music“Stargazing,” Myles Smith, RCA/Sony Music“You’re Christmas to Me,” Sam Ryder, East West/Rhino/Warner Music “Somedays,” Sonny Fedora/Jazzy/D.O.D, Solotoko/Ada Warner Music “Now and Then,” The Beatles, Apple/UMR
BRITs Rising Star
WINNER: Myles Smith, RCA/Sony Music Elmiene, Polydor/Universal MusicGood Neighbours, Polydor/Universal Music
International artist of the year
Adrianne Lenker, 4AD/XL BeggarsAsake, YBNL NationBenson Boone, Warner/Warner MusicBeyoncé, Columbia/Parkwood Entertainment/SonyBillie Eilish, Interscope/Universal MusicWINNER: Chappell Roan, Island/Universal Music Kendrick Lamar, Interscope/Universal MusicSabrina Carpenter, Island/Universal MusicTaylor Swift, EMI/Universal MusicTyler, the Creator, Columbia/Sony Music
International group of the year
Amyl and The Sniffers, Rough Trade Records/XL BeggarsConfidence Man, Chaos/Universal MusicWINNER: Fontaines D.C., XL Recordings/XL Beggars Future & Metro Boomin, RCA/Sony MusicLinkin Park, Warner/Warner Music
International song of the year
“Beautiful Things,” Benson Boone, Warner/Warner Music “Texas Hold Em,” Beyoncé, Columbia/Parkwood Entertainment/Sony“Birds of a Feather,” Billie Eilish, Interscope/Universal MusicWINNER: “Good Luck, Babe!,” Chappell Roan, Island/Universal Music “End of Beginning,” Djo, AWAL/Djo/The Orchard “Houdini,” Eminem, Interscope/Universal Music “Too Sweet,” Hozier, Island/Universal Music“Lovin On Me,” Jack Harlow, Atlantic/Warner Music“Stick Season,” Noah Kahan, Republic Records/Universal Music“I Had Some Help,” Post Malone (ft. Morgan Wallen), Republic Records/Universal Music“Espresso,” Sabrina Carpenter, Island/Universal Music“A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Shaboozey, American Dogwood/Empire“Fortnight,” Taylor Swift (ft. Post Malone), EMI/Universal Music“Lose Control,” Teddy Swims, Atlantic/Warner Music“Million Dollar Baby,” Tommy Richman, ISO Supremacy/Pulse/Stem Disintermedia
Alternative/rock act
Beabadoobee, Dirty HitEzra Collective, Partisan RecordsWINNER: Sam Fender, Polydor/Universal Music The Cure, Polydor/Universal MusicThe Last Dinner Party, Island/Universal Music
Hip-hop/grime/rap act
Central Cee, Columbia/Sony MusicDave, Def Jam/Universal Music Ghetts, Warner/Warner Music Little Simz, AWAL/Sony MusicWINNER: Stormzy, 0207 Records/EMI/Merky/Universal Music
Dance act
Becky Hill, Polydor/Universal MusicWINNER: Charli XCX, Atlantic/Warner Music Chase & Status, 0207 Records/Universal MusicFred Again.., Atlantic/Warner MusicNia Archives, Island/Universal Music
Pop act
Charli XCX, Atlantic/Warner MusicDua Lipa, Warner/Warner MusicWINNER: Jade, RCA/Sony Music Lola Young, Island/Universal MusicMyles Smith, RCA/Sony Music
R&B act
Cleo Sol, AWAL/Sony MusicFlo, Island/Universal MusicJorja Smith, FAMM/The Orchard/SonyMichael Kiwanuka, Polydor/Universal MusicWINNER: Raye, Human Resources/The Orchard/Sony
Songwriter of the year
WINNER: Charli XCX
Producer of the year
WINNER: A.G. Cook
Global success award
WINNER: Sabrina Carpenter
This week in dance music: The Do Lab announced its Coachella 2025 lineups, Bonnaroo 2025 announced that its adding a new dance-focused stage, the team behind Breakaway Music Fetival announced a new label and management division called Breakaway Projects, we spoke with Anotr about their dazzling and recently released album On a Trip, and we spoke with Darkside about their new album Nothing.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
A judge ruled that Ultra Music Publishing must change its name following a lawsuit brought by Sony Music and its Ultra Records subsidiary, Anna Lunoe and Mel C. teamed up for a new track, we talked to our February Dance Rookie of the Month Stryv about his global hit “Move,” and we spoke with the legend Armin van Buuren about remixing Bon Jovi’s 1992 classic “Keep the Faith.” Meanwhile, Justice earned its first ever Radio No. 1 with the duo’s Grammy winning Tame Impala collab “Neverender.”
Trending on Billboard
That’s a lot, and there’s more. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
Anyma feat. Ellie Goulding, “Hypnotized” (John Summit Remix)
Ahead of his slot opening for Anyma at Sphere this weekend, John Summit drops his edit of “Hypnotized,” Anyma’s collab with Ellie Goulding released in January and a contender for one of the most major dance releases of the year thus far. It’s an apt meeting of the minds, with Summit leaving the track largely in tact but adding a siren-laden bridge and other smart flourishes that have his fingerprints all over them. The epic build that Summit layers in will without a doubt have ’em going wild in the seats tomorrow (March 1) when he plays in support of Anyma’s lauded audiovisual spectacular.
2hollis, “Style”
It seems everything Los Angeles-based artist 2hollis touches turns to gold, with his latest single “style” already racking up tens of thousands of views across platforms. The song is slight in length (one minute and 39 seconds) but absolutely goes, with a twisted, wind-up production paired with distorted beats and the artist breathily declaring “I like your style.” (Please also see the simple but effective accompanying video.) 2hollis currently on tour in Asia and Europe, with the run set to conclude with performances at Coachella in April and an appearance at Bonnaroo in June.
Carlita & Andre Zimmer, “Raf”
Carlita joins the esteemed crew of producers who’ve assembled one of fabric’s mix compilations, with the lead single from fabric presents: Carlita out today. A collaboration with Toronto producer Andre Zimmer, “Raf” is all out gospel house bliss with muscle and a BPM sure to make ’em sweat. fabric presents: Carlita is out on April 11.
Tesh, “Wants & Needs”
Hitting with the same zest and effervescence of your favorite flavor of La Croix, “Wants & Needs” is the newest from rising producer, Tesh. The richly textured song is laced with U.K. garage and manages to emote a certain amount of love and longing (with the vocals doing a lot of the heavy lifting here) even while also bouncing merrily along. “Wants & Needs” is the second single from Tesh’ forthcoming Cycles + Repetitions EP, coming April 25 via San Holo’s bitbird label. (And don’t sleep on the project’s lead single “Fingertips,” released in January.)
Rusko, “1 Man Army”
The British master is back with his first new solo work in two years with “One Man Army,” a track that delivers the same hectic D&B + bass that’s made Rusko a longtime hero. Out on Monstercat, the song is the title track from a five-song, no skips EP. “Creating this EP was a mission that began with a simple desire to explore more areas of my love for drum and bass,” the producer says. “Over the past 19 years, I’ve been experimenting with new sounds, genres, and emotions — and this collection is a reflection of the vibes and feelings of this past year as Rusko.”
Justice and Tame Impala’s collaboration “Neverender” lands both acts their first No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, leaping three places to top the March 8-dated tally.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
For electronic duo Justice, “Neverender” is its first No. 1 on any airplay-based chart. The tune previously became its first entry on any radio ranking since “D.A.N.C.E.,” which peaked at No. 25 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay in 2007.
Meanwhile, “Neverender” marks the first Alternative Airplay ruler for Tame Impala, the project of Kevin Parker, in his eighth appearance. Parker, who first made the list with the No. 8-peaking “Elephant” in 2013, has two previous No. 2s in “Lost in Yesterday” (2020) and as featured, alongside Bootie Brown, on Gorillaz’s “New Gold” (2023).
Trending on Billboard
Tame Impala boasts two No. 1s on Adult Alternative Airplay: “Lost in Yesterday” and “Is It True,” both in 2020.
“Neverender” gives Alternative Airplay its second and third newcomers to the top spot on the chart in 2025. Almost Monday snagged its first leader in early February with “Can’t Slow Down.”
“Neverender” reigns in its 25th week on the ranking and just over 10 months after its April 25, 2024, release.
Concurrently, the song bounds 22-11 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.9 million audience impressions, up 37%, in the week ending Feb. 27, according to Luminate.
On the most recent Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated March 1, reflecting data Feb. 14-20), “Neverender” appeared at No. 9 for a sixth total week; it reached No. 8 in May 2024. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 826,000 official U.S. streams last week.
“Neverender” is on Hyperdrama, Justice’s fourth studio album and first since 2016’s Woman. The former bowed at No. 1 on the Top Dance Albums chart in May 2024 and has earned 84,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated March 8 will update Tuesday, March 4, on Billboard.com.
As might be expected from a project titled Nothing with a two-part “Hell Suite,” the third album from revered psych-dance outfit Darkside deals with some heavy themes. But, as guitarist Dave Harrington explains, “you can at once have the feeling of ‘we’re living in hell’ – and the funky catharsis of music.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Such is the dichotomy that drives Darkside’s first album in four years, a record that mirrors the uneasy state of the world today, while responding to it with some of the most vibrant material of the group’s decade-plus career.
Four years ago, Darkside returned with Spiral, its second album, and first since its seminal 2013 debut, Psychic. Now, propelled by the expansion from duo to trio with the addition of drummer Tlacael Esparza, the group is back again, in just half the time – and will embark on its first North American tour in a decade this March.
Trending on Billboard
Harrington and Jaar formed Darkside in the early ’10s, and have known Esparza for about that long: For years, Esparza played around Brooklyn in various bands led by Harrington, and in 2014, he toured Mexico with Jaar. But it was a series of gigs in Amsterdam, years later in October 2019, that catalyzed Darkside’s eventual growth into a trio. Harrington, Jaar, Esparza and the saxophonist Will Epstein had convened in the Netherlands for an all-improv residency as Bladerunner and, Esparza says, “every night, we would talk about shapes and sounds and colors and ideas, and then we’d go and play something.”
While Spiral wouldn’t be released until summer 2021, it was already mostly completed by those Dutch shows – but when Harrington and Jaar began contemplating what came after for Darkside, in the studio or on the road, it was natural to give Esparza a call. In September 2022, almost exactly eight years since Darkside had played a gig, it returned to the stage, now with Esparza in tow, with two L.A. shows — which it followed with a 2023 European tour. To introduce its new lineup to fans who hadn’t caught those concerts, Darkside released Live in Spiral House, a collection culled from summer 2022 rehearsal sessions, in 2023.
“Tlacael joining Darkside changed the band’s DNA completely,” Jaar tells Billboard by email. “Playing with him was incredibly inspiring and exciting, and we almost immediately got the idea to make the next record by applying what we learned at Spiral House in L.A. and during the first tour we did as a trio in Europe in 2023.”
With “Tlacael in the mix, we just hit a stride,” Harrington says. “We just started working on [Nothing] because we were on tour and we had some days off, and rather than sit around or go to the museum or something, we set up camp in a recording studio. We love making music together, and when we had the opportunity for the three of us to be in the same place at the same time, we jumped at the opportunity to keep making music.”
But with its members spread across the globe – Harrington in L.A., Esparza in New York, and Jaar overseas in London – those fortuitous alignments of time and place weren’t particularly common. Nothing‘s sessions totaled about three weeks, but took place over about a year, in Paris and Los Angeles. But it’s the band’s “unconventional ways,” Harrington says, that drive it creatively.
While other groups might hole up at a studio for weeks or months at a time when making an album, Darkside’s process is “one of always having this time to go back to our own musical worlds, develop things, get curious about new things and then show up again as a band,” says Harrington, calling that “certainly the story of this record, and maybe the story of all three records.”
With Nothing, Jaar and Harrington both applied the extra-Darkside projects they pursued after Spiral. In 2023, Jaar released Intiha, an abstract collaboration with the composer Ali Sethi, and last year, the Chilean-American producer released Piedras 1 & 2, two ambitious LPs tackling Chilean history and Palestinian erasure. Meanwhile, in 2021, Harrington – who begins our Zoom call noodling on a trumpet in his studio, before revealing his “SCARLET > FIRE” sweatshirt, a reference to a famed Grateful Dead song pairing – formed the mildly meta jam band Taper’s Choice with bassist Alex Bleeker (Real Estate), drummer Chris Tomson (Vampire Weekend) and keyboardist Zach Tenorio (Arc Iris). Taper’s Choice has toured regularly since, and jam luminaries like Phish’s Mike Gordon and ’60s Dead member Tom Constanten have sat in with them.
It follows, then, that on Nothing, Darkside has increased both its lyrical depth and jam quotient. At one point in our conversation, Esparza praises a particularly sunny moment in album standout “Are You Tired? (Keep On Singing)” as “the most Jerry [Garcia] part of the record,” and when previewing Darkside’s upcoming shows, Harrington says its 2013 track “Freak, Go Home” has become “almost our ‘Dark Star,’” referencing the song the Grateful Dead would often expand well over the half-hour mark. “Sometimes, when we’re really on one, it’ll turn into a 30- or 40-minute excursion,” he says with excitement. “When we play it live, it barely sounds like the riff – I mean, just barely.”
The deep history between Darkside’s three members, not to mention some of their musical inspirations – Harrington cites his and Esparza’s shared affinity for the jazz drummer Brian Blade and legendary kraut-rockers Can – made its turn toward jamming more or less inevitable. Knowing each other for so long, “you’re used to talking, you’re used to hanging out, you know what they like to eat – and then you go to play music and that’s all kind of in there,” Harrington says. (The philosophy extends to Darkside’s lighting director, who Esparza says “is an improviser as well” and responds to the band in real-time.)
But despite Darkside’s increasingly improvisational bent, Nothing is also another step forward for Jaar’s singing and lyricism – although, he notes, “I’m not a singer. Nor a lyricist, strictly speaking. I’m first and foremost a music producer.” In Darkside sessions, “The vocal elements arrive as drum parts or guitar riffs do and they are often collaged and worked on like we work on percussion. That being said, sometimes, rarely, an inspiration comes and I’ll play the part of singer, but it always involves a lot of acting, it’s a character.”
On Nothing, where Jaar ends and this character begins is ambiguous – but the album’s bold declarations, from “I did it for the time of my life and the thrill! I did it for the money! I did it for the rush!” (“SNC”) to “Look at the window, it’s hell out there” (“Hell Suite (Part II)”) are more categorical.
“We live in hell,” Esparza says as he surveys the album’s themes, “but we can experience the joy and serenity and happiness of being with our loved ones and living life. I think that that’s felt throughout the record.”
“The U.S.A. is the single most dangerous country in the history of this planet, and it’s currently led by the head honcho of a global white supremacist terror ring,” Jaar warns. But, he adds, “this hellish landscape has been made by human hands, and so it can be unmade by human hands too. If I have optimism, it’s in that.”
Anotr were worried. The Dutch dance duo had gained a following with a fleet, flinty style — “that minimal tech-house sound, a little edgy, a little gritty,” says Abel Balder, a singer who has collaborated with the pair. But in the summer of 2022, Anotr were readying new music that veered in another direction: Bubbly and openhearted, with scraps of live guitar and hand-played bass lines.
“The first few months of having the music out, we didn’t put it on Beatport,” says Oguzhan Guney, one half of the duo. “And we didn’t send it out to people because we were afraid of getting judged. We were super concerned about it.”
The attempt at stealth wasn’t entirely successful: The songs, which eventually appeared on the album The Reset, were still judged — just not the way Anotr expected. They were braced for rejection; instead, “everybody started asking us to play the new stuff” during club gigs, says Jesse van der Heijden, Guney’s partner in the group. One track, “Relax My Eyes,” became a streaming hit, with more than 225 million plays on Spotify alone. As van der Heijden puts it happily, “it’s good to be proved wrong.”
Trending on Billboard
The genial duo stripped away even more of the armor on its latest album, On a Trip, released at the end of January. While there are still songs aimed at clubs, the album sees a duo known for making dance music sometimes abandon the form altogether: “We started making music that wasn’t necessarily four on the floor,” van der Heijden says.
Once again, listeners seem happy to follow Anotr on its adventures: “How You Feel,” a giddy, sensual nu-disco single, is nearing 50 million streams on Spotify. Balder has a theory about the duo’s success: “A lot of people who go to these more edgy club nights, deep down inside, want a hug,” he says. “Maybe they didn’t know they were looking for that. And then Anotr came, and they’re like, ‘You know what? The joy and the lightness, this is what you guys need.’”
Anotr debuted on Defected Records, a dance music institution, in 2015. For years it produced stern, unflagging rhythmic workouts, sometimes moistening the dry beats with fragments of vocal samples. During the pandemic, however, the two became conscious of a gulf between the songs they were playing at home and the tracks they were producing. “We were listening to jazz, funk, soul,” Guney remembers. “[We thought], why not try to bring those two cultures together?”
Anotr is not the first artist from the dance world to move from a programmed, sample-heavy approach to one that is heavier on live instrumentation. Daft Punk built its towering reputation as shrewd samplers before famously discarding that approach in favor of human players on Random Access Memories. Crazy P also started as a pair of sample-happy producers but later morphed: “We effectively wanted to be like a disco band,” co-founder Jim Baron told Billboard.
The inflection point for Anotr was a 2022 song titled “Vertigo.” The track was created with Balder, who had been doing sessions with the duo for years. They always got along well personally, but often landed far apart musically; Balder’s attempts to add “borderline-cheesy melodies” were always politely rebuffed. Until that year, when the duo was reenergized by its ambition to bring more funk, soul, and jazz into its productions.
The pair recorded a racing rhythm track punctured by keening electric guitar; feeling a little reckless, Balder offered to sing on the track, even though he had never cut vocals before. By way of explanation, he remembers that “it was around 3 a.m., and we were on the couch getting high.”
Anotr has enjoyed a number of creative breakthroughs in this state. “Relax My Eyes” was made over the course of a couple days during which the two took “long walks, smoked a lot of weed, and took mushrooms.” (Such psychedelic mushrooms feature prominently in the press release announcing the album, almost as if they were a high-profile executive producer.) Van der Heijden believes the duo has “never been as high” as they were when recording “24 (Turn It Up)(+6).” “We took a lot of shrooms, smoked a lot of weed, and the instrumental already felt really right,” he remembers.
In February 2022, when Anotr debuted “Vertigo” during a boat party off the coast of Uruguay, Balder didn’t expect much. But the audience on the boat “exploded — people kept coming up to all of us saying, ‘Wow, that track is amazing.’”
“Vertigo” came out on The Reset, and several tracks from On a Trip giddily improve upon that template. “How You Feel” channels impassioned Euro-disco, with guitars that flicker like candlelight and come-hither vocals from Leven Kali. That one proved to be so effective ANOTR basically remade it as “Currency,” a deft bilingual collaboration with Cimafunk and Pame. “24 (Turn It Up)(+6)” evokes David Morales’ singles from 20 years ago like “Here I Am.”
At the same time, Guney says, “we wanted to do something more downtempo and more straight-from-the-heart, instead of only feel-good music.” “Care for You” and “Bad Trip” are both stuttering, loungey funk. “Don’t Understand” also gives a cold shoulder to the pounding beats that underpin most dance tracks, and “Can’t Let It Go” is a melancholy ballad. Mushrooms sometimes helped the duo write more candid lyrics: “You’re taking these psychedelics,” Guney explains, “and they basically enhance what you feel from the inside, so you can’t hide your emotions anymore.”
In January, Anotr were in a familiar place — nervous about putting out new music. “It’s a lot of fun trying new things until the moment where you actually know that you need to share it, and anxiety creeps up,” van der Heijden says. “But after we’ve released it, we can see people still f— with this.”
The duo has already embarked on a country-hopping tour that takes it from Australia to South America to the U.S. and then back to Europe, with upcoming U.S. dates including March shows at Brooklyn Storehouse in Chicago’s Radius. “Now,” van der Heijden adds, “we know we can actually do anything we want.”
Bonnaroo is building a brand new stage for its 2025 event.
Announced Tuesday (Feb. 25), the Infinity Stage will feature a collection of dance and electronic acts, including a b2b set from bass masters Of the Trees and Tape B, a DJ set from Big Gigantic, a DJ set from Rebecca Black, heavy hitter Mary Droppinz, indie dance producer Washed Out, Italian duo Parisi and a Friday stage takeover featuring artist’s from John Summit’s Experts Only label.
The Infinity Stage will be an open-air space composed of three domes, which together will form an immersive area being called “the world’s largest 360-degree spatial audio experience.” The stage is being produced in partnership with Polygon Live, which specializes in such immersive audio experiences, and which has previously hosted stages at festivals including Thailand’s Wonderfruit and MDLBEAST in Saudi Arabia.
“We want to keep it an intimate and truly engaging spatial experience for everybody, so we’re going the route of multiple circles moving forward,” Polygon Live’s David Lopez de Arenosa said at the Billboard Touring Summit in November, in terms of how the company’s multi-domed stage setups optimize sound.
Trending on Billboard
Elsewhere, the Bonnaroo 2025 lineup is heavy on dance acts, with headliners including Justice, Dom Dolla and John Summit, along with Sammy Virji, Green Velvet, RL Grime, Lszee, Barry Can’t Swim and many more. Outside of dance, 2025 headliners include Luke Combs, Tyler, the Creator, Olivia Rodrigo, Glass Animals, Avril Lavigne, Queens of the Stone Age, Hozier and Vampire Weekend.
Bonnaroo 2025 happens in Manchester, Tenn., June 12-15.
See the complete Infinity Stage lineup below.
Breakaway, the company behind the touring dance event Breakaway Music Festival, is launching a label and management division focused on emerging artists called Breakaway Projects. The first wave of signees to the label, which is partnered with The Orchard for distribution, includes a fresh collection of electronic producers such as Surf Mesa, Jaded, Evan Giia, […]
Grimes posted a pair of previously unreleased demos on Monday (Feb. 24) that the singer said are among her favorite unheard tracks. Both songs are somewhat of a departure for the singer, including the mostly acoustic “The Fool,” which finds her singing new lyrics over Mazzy Star’s beloved 1994 ballad “Fade Into You.”
“Ok I always loved this one I just wrote a diff song over Mazzy Star but the files are forever lost on my laptop that a child poured liquid on,” she wrote on X. “It was just a rly beautiful jam on a poem I wrote I wish I didn’t get discouraged away from it.”
On the gentle track — which she first teased the day before the 2024 presidential election — she sings in her signature helium voice, “Oh you’re a fool, ’cause you tried to give me the moon/ And all I can give back is poetry/ So tell me what to do/ And I’ll convince the stars to love you.”
Trending on Billboard
The second song, “I Don’t Give a F–k, im Insane,” is more in line with the dance pop star’s typical vibe, with a bouncy bass line, ethereal vocals and spare drums. “I don’t give a f–k, I’m insane/ Everybody walk through my brain/ One day, you told me, I’ll fly away, safe,” she sings over the sparse, new wave-like beat.
Of that one she wrote, “Just for good vibes we put up a few ancient demos on SoundCloud 2day – 2019 demo I made. Obviously no time was spent on it but my old manager at would always pester me to finish it and make it a banger but i forgot I suppose… Def has a lot of potential tho I’ll probably make a better topline and produce it one day.”
Meanwhile, as her ex, Elon Musk, buzzsaws through the federal government in his role as an unelected cost-cutter, Grimes also answered some questions from TIME magazine about AI and her strong reaction to the world’s richest man parading their four-year-old son, X, on his shoulders during a recent White House visit.
“It was like, ‘Grimes slams,’ ‘Grimes speaks out.’ It’s like, OK, it was a reply. But I would really like people to stop posting images of my kid everywhere,” she said of the many headlines in which she criticized the “special government employee” for bringing their son to work. “I think fame is something you should consent to. Obviously, things will just be what they are. But I would really, really appreciate that. I can only ask, so I’m just asking,” added the artist who was honored at the TIME100 Impact Awards ceremony in Dubai earlier this month.
At the time, Grimes seemed surprised to see her son sticking his fingers in his dad’s ears as Musk stood over a seated Donald Trump while the president signed an executive order giving the DOGE office more power to continue its legally suspect firing spree of non-partisan public servants. “He should not be in public like this. I did not see this, thank u for alerting me,” Grimes wrote earlier this month of her surprise at seeing the preschooler accompanying his dad for the Oval Office photo op.
Several days later, Grimes tweeted directly at X owner Musk, saying in a since-deleted tweet, “plz respond about our child’s medical crisis. I am sorry to do this publicly but it is no longer acceptable to ignore this situation.”
Listen to “The Fool” and “I Don’t Give a F–k, im Insane” below.
The Do Lab has announced the lineups for its stage at Coachella 2025.
The electronic heavy bills, which are different for each weekend of the festival, feature artists including Tokimonsta, Anderson .Paak performing as DJ Pee .Wee, a DJ set from Confidence Man, a DJ set by Tycho, Nimino, Kaleena Zanders, Villager, Ladies of Leisure, Rudimental b2b Skepsis, Snakehips b2b What So Not, J. Phlip, Aqutie and many more.
The Do Lab has been hosting a stage at Coachella since 2005, with the area having been home to performances by big name artists including Billie Eilish, DJ Snake, Rüfüs Du Sol and many others. The Do Lab also produces its flagship festival Lightning In a Bottle, which is happing again this May near Bakersfield, Calif., with a lineup that includes John Summit, Jamie xx, Khruangbin, Four Tet, Subtronics and many more.
The Do Lab’s Coachella 2005 lineups increase the dance/electronic factor on the already dance/electronic heavy bill. Announced in November, the main lineup includes Above & Beyond, The Prodigy, Sara Landry, Keinemusic, Alok, Darkside, Zedd, Kraftwerk and many others.
Coachella has three stages dedicated exclusively to dance music: the massive Sahara Tent, the club-space Yuma and Quasar, a stage that debuted in 2024 and is dedicated to extended sets. Dance music also happens across nearly all of the festivals other stages.
Trending on Billboard
Coachella returns to Indio, Calif., over two weekends, on April 13-15 and 20-22; 2025 headliners are Green Day, Lady Gaga and Post Malone, with a special set from Travis Scott.