genre pop
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The guys of Big Time Rush are bringing their Nickelodeon show on the road, with Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, Logan Henderson and Carlos PenaVega unveiling plans to perform every song from every episode of their 2010s TV series on a world tour announced Thursday (Feb. 20).
Four years after reuniting in 2021, the In Real Life World Tour will kick off July 9 in Birmingham, Alabama, and see BTR traveling throughout the United States — stopping in Florida, New York, Texas, California and more — through the end of August. In November, the quartet will then take the trek overseas for a month in Europe, setting up shop in Germany, Italy, Spain, France and more before closing out Dec. 14 in Athens.
Also joining the guys as support are Katelyn Tarver and Stephen Kramer Glickman, who played Jo and Gustavo on Big Time Rush during the show’s run from 2009 to 2013. More international dates will be announced at a later date.
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“We truly have the best fans in the world, and when we sat down to plot this tour we wanted to give them everything they have always asked us for and dreamed of,” Big Time Rush said of the trek in a joint statement. “That’s the reason we are so excited to be going on the road all over the world to play every song from every episode of the TV show. We know how many of our fans hold these songs close to their hearts having first heard so many of them watching our show.”
“We couldn’t be more excited to also be bringing our dear friends from the TV show, Katelyn Tarver and Stephen Kramer Glickman, who we have never gotten the chance to tour with before,” the group added. “We have so many surprises in store for our Rushers for the In Real Life Worldwide tour and can’t wait to see everyone on the road very soon!”
And when Schmidt, Maslow, Henderson and PenaVega say every song from the series, they truly mean every song from the show’s four seasons. That includes deep cuts in addition to Billboard Hot 100 hits such as “Boyfriend” and “Halfway There.” During Big Time Rush‘s run, the foursome dropped three albums: BTR, Elevate and 24/7, all of which charted on the Billboard 200.
Shortly after the show ended, Big Time Rush went on hiatus before coming back together in 2021, taking over the band’s name from Nickelodeon and releasing music of their own. Most recently, the group dropped single “Only One” last summer.
See Big Time Rush’s announcement below.
Kendrick Lamar has reached a new milestone on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart. Keep watching to see how he’s dominated this week! Tetris Kelly: Kendrick Lamar dominates the chart this week, while a throwback becomes our only top 10 debut. “Not Like Us” not only returned to the top of the Hot 100, it […]
Lady Gaga and her dancers bring the magic on camera and off! Fans were blown away by the dance-heavy “Abracadabra” music video the pop superstar released earlier this month, and a new rehearsal video for the track shows just how hard the team worked on the choreography. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news […]
LISA may have delivered some serious drama for her “Born Again” music video featuring RAYE and Doja Cat, but a new behind-the-scenes clip released on Thursday (Feb. 19) shows a fun and smile-filled day of filming. In the two-minute clip, the 27-year-old K-pop superstar is glowing as she gets glam for the music video, visibly […]
Exactly three years after the death of Jane “Nightbirde” Marczewski, her music and legacy live on, with her family issuing the posthumous album Still Got Dreams on Thursday (Feb. 20).
Marczewski, who died of cancer at age 31 in 2022, rose to widespread fame in June of the previous year when she performed her original song “It’s OK” as part of the 16th season auditions for America’s Got Talent. The singer revealed during the audition that she had a 2% chance of survival from cancer that had spread to her lungs, spine and liver. The video garnered millions of views on YouTube and her performance warranted a standing ovation from all four judges.
She would exit the show just weeks later to focus on her ongoing cancer battle, with a virtual update in August seeing Judge Howie Mandel labeling her the “poster human for courage in the face of adversity.”
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Following her death in 2022, Marczewski’s family have continued to share her work, with a handful of singles arriving in recent months ahead of the release of her posthumous album, Still Got Dreams. The Geoff Duncan-produced release comprises tracks written by Marczewski, and interwoven with “nuggets of wisdom” from the late singer.
Singles such as “Gold,” the Konata Small-featuring “Empire,” and the record’s title track (which features uplifting vocals from the Mzansi Youth Choir) showcase the songwriting talent of Marczewski, while the lyrics offer a powerful insight into the singer’s enduring wisdom.
Notably, the songs featured on the album were unable to be recorded before Marczewski’s untimely death. Determined to bring her musical vision to life, the Nightbirde Estate, Nashville Unsigned and Duncan turned to the use of “ethical AI” vocal production to complete the project.
Per a press release, the team trained an AI voice model on her tone, style and emotional delivery to craft a 360-degree mapping of her voice, resulting in the late artist being given a chance to realize the music she was unable to record herself. The release also notes that only “specific pieces of AI vocal production” were utilized for the record, with the remainder of the project being “built entirely from the ground up” by Duncan.
The album also sees Marczewski’s estate positioned as the only artist estate to have used AI vocal production in a way that is legal, ethical and undertaken with full authorization.
All proceeds from the record (alongside Nightbirde’s art, books, merchandise and licensing) benefit the Nightbirde Foundation, which aims to uplift and support women battling breast cancer.
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Being an innovator can often mean traveling a lonely road. Singer/songwriter Laufey knows that better than most. The 25-year-old Berklee College of Music grad who has spent the past four-plus years plumbing the tricky confluence of jazz, classical and pop is lauded as a Gen Z innovator in TIME magazine’s Women of the Year feature.
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Taking her place on this year’s list alongside the indefatigable Nicole Kidman, trans-rights activist Raquel Willis, Emmy-winning Shogun star Anna Sawai and abortion rights activist Amanda Zurawski, among others, the Reykjavík-born performer is hailed as the “only singer in the world who has their jazz scat solos sung back to them note-for-note by arenas filled with adoring fans.”
With a wide range of inspirations stretching from Schubert’s series of eight solo piano Impromptus to Ella Fitzgerald’s signature scatting and Taylor Swift-like pop bridges, the piece notes that Laufey is as comfortable playing heady pieces alongside symphony orchestras as she is making one of her signature lighthearted TikTok videos.
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“I used to think that was such a scary thing: that nobody had walked that trail before me,” she told the magazine during a break from recording her third album in New York. “But I now realize that when you’re the one determining which steps to take next and which branches to pull to the side, that’s when you know you have something good on your hands.”
The songs on her romantic 2022 debut, Everything I Know About Love, and it’s 2023 follow-up, Bewitched, are comprised of mostly original lovesick ballads inspired by what she calls her “bible,” the Great American Songbook. “I want people to enjoy the music without feeling like they have to be super educated on its history,” said the singer who learned to play classical piano and cello as a child. “Like any other kind of music, it can be something that lifts you up or accompanies you on a sad day.”
And though she rose to prominence in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic by posting videos of herself singing some of those midcentury standards, Laufey decided to take a right turn from honing her chops on the jazz circuit performing already-established favorites in favor of writing original songs TIME described as “in the style of those old standards, but imbued with modern slang and conveying big, relatable feelings.”
That unique mix of beloved old reliables and TikTok videos in which she models outfits and lip synchs to Sabrina Carpenter songs — as well as having her dance moves ported into Fortnite — has led to fast friendships with fellow twentysomething pop starlets such as Olivia Rodrigo and Beabadoobee. “There are a lot of young women who connect with each other — and me — through this feeling of being the outcast,” she said.
The one-of-a-kind mash-up has already paid off in a major way, with Laufey taking home her first Grammy last year for best traditional pop vocal album for Bewitched. Not willing to be a media-appointed “savior of jazz,” though, Laufey said her upcoming as-yet-untitled album will be more “daring” and feature a more diverse mixing of genres.
“I want to see if I can keep the integrity of my music but also allow myself to try out a bit of what modern technology allows,” she said, seemingly unbothered by critics, and fans, who are sometimes eager to ding her for wanting to stray from her perceived lane. “The fact that the jazz and classical worlds seem to struggle with the idea of an artist being both commercially successful and musically interesting — it breaks my heart a little. Why can’t I be both?”
HYBE is partnering with Grammy-winning producer and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder to form a new boy group, the company announced Thursday (Feb. 19). The project, to be led by Tedder alongside HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk and HYBE America CEO Scooter Braun, will kick off with a global talent search. Once the members of the group […]
This Valentine’s Day, Drake released his first new album since before his 2024 feud with Kendrick Lamar changed everything about his career outlook and overall narrative — the PartyNextDoor full-length team-up $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. While the final verdict on the album and what it might (or might not) do for Drake’s overall trajectory […]
What were some of the most notable trends on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart during 2024? Hit Songs Deconstructed, which provides compositional analytics for top 10 Hot 100 hits, has released its year-end 2024 State of the Hot 100 Top 10 report.
Here are three takeaways from Hit Songs Deconstructed’s latest in-depth research.
Hip-Hop Topped Pop, Country
Hip-hop/rap reigned as the most common primary genre in the Hot 100’s top 10 throughout 2024, contributing to 38% of all top 10 hits, and bounding from a 23% take in 2023.
Pop placed second with a 29% share in 2024, the same total as 2023, when it finished first.
“Hip-hop/rap was the only primary genre that increased in prominence when compared to 2023,” Hit Songs Deconstructed notes. “This is largely due to the success of artists who appeared on three or more of the year’s hip-hop/rap top 10s: Kendrick Lamar (eight), Future and Metro Boomin (five each) and Tyler, the Creator (three).”
Hip-hop/rap and pop have traded annual titles as the leading primary genre in the Hot 100’s top 10 since the former led in both 2017 and 2018:
2024: Hip-hop/rap, 38% — Pop, 29%
2023: Pop, 29% — Hip-hop/rap, 23%
2022: Hip-hop/rap, 38% — Pop, 35%
2021: Pop, 39% — Hip-hop/rap, 34%
2020: Hip-hop/rap, 41% — Pop, 40%
2019: Pop, 47% — Hip-hop/rap, 34%
2018: Hip-hop/rap, 59% — Pop, 24%
2017: Hip-hop/rap, 32% — Pop, 31%
Country has been the third-biggest primary genre the past two years, with a 15% share of Hot 100 top 10s in both 2023 and 2024. From 2017 to 2022, R&B/soul placed third each year, ranging from 8% to 17% takes of the top 10.
Women Vocals Vaulted
The gap nearly closed between male- and female-sung Hot 100 top 10s in 2024.
“Male-led songs continued to be most common in 2024, but have been in decline,” Hit Songs Deconstructed reports. “Conversely, female-led songs have been on the rise and reached their highest level in over a decade. This was largely thanks to Taylor Swift and her 10 top 10s, along with Sabrina Carpenter and Beyoncé, each scoring three.”
Billboard
Meanwhile, Hot 100 top 10s with a solo lead vocalist claimed their highest share in a decade: 70%, up from wins of 66% in 2023 and 62% in 2022. (In 2021, multiple lead vocalists edged out soloists, 51% to 49%, thanks to collaborations by the likes of Coldplay and BTS, Elton John and Dua Lipa, and The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber.)
Drumming Up New Interest
Looking at (or, listening to) instruments in Hot 100 top 10s, acoustic drums continued to surge in 2024.
“The use of primarily acoustic drums/percussion nearly quintupled since 2022, rising to 37% of songs in 2024, its highest level since 2014,” Hit Songs Deconstructed finds. “Representatives spanned an array of genres,” including country (Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen), hip-hop/rap (Tyler, the Creator’s “Noid”), pop (Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please”) and rock (Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things”).
Billboard
Plus, electric bass rose to 32% of Hot 100 top 10s in 2024, up from 17% in 2020, and electric piano rose to 18%, tying its highest level in over a decade, mostly via hip-hop/rap- and R&B/soul-influenced hits.
Conversely, and while still central in Hot 100 top 10s, synth usage dropped to a 71% share in 2024, its lowest since 2014. Similarly, electronic drums/percussion declined to a 42% take – down from 45% in 2023 and 64% in 2022 and likewise their lowest since 2014.