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On Thursday (Oct. 17), Tencent Music Entertainment Group announced a strategic partnership with Galaxy Corporation, the agency representing the influential global musician G-Dragon, for his upcoming regional tour.
The collaboration marks a significant step forward in TME’s ambitions to expand its global presence and further solidify its position in the international music scene. As part of this agreement, TME will act as the proprietary tour partner for G-Dragon’s concerts across various markets, including most of Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, TC Pan, group vice president of Tencent Music Entertainment, highlighted the importance of this partnership. “Collaborating with a renowned global musician like G-Dragon aligns perfectly with TME’s vision of connecting international audiences with exceptional music experiences. This partnership not only strengthens our presence in the global market, but also underscores our commitment to empowering music partners and artists to reach their full potential on the world stage.”
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Yongho Choi, CEO of Galaxy Corporation, also shared his enthusiasm. “We are delighted to partner with Tencent Music Entertainment, a global entertainment-tech company listed on NYSE and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Building on this strategic partnership, we plan to integrate AI, AR, mixed reality, and robotics into entertainment to create a new kind of concert experience for global audiences.”
TME has been making efforts to broaden its international footprint through a range of initiatives like its Global Music Outreach program, which seeks to showcase Chinese music artists on international platforms and facilitate cross-border collaborations. It also operates the JOOX streaming service in Southeast Asia.
With this strategic partnership, TME aims to elevate G-Dragon’s overseas tour experience by expanding its reach and providing fans with new opportunities to connect with his music and brand, while reinforcing TME’s growing influence in the global music industry.
VivaOla, an R&B artist born in Korea and raised in Tokyo, released his second full album, APORIE VIVANT, in March. His progressive style, inspired by Bryson Tiller’s album Trapsoul, has generated a great deal of buzz, and he recently released a new song, “RIGHT/WRONG,” which features Jimmy Brown, a globally active R&B artist based in Korea. This is the second collaboration between the two, following Jimmy’s 2022 song “bag on you,” on which VivaOla appeared. The borderless style of “RIGHT/WRONG,” with lyrics switching between English, Japanese, and Korean, embodies today’s music environment, where music has global reach.
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Billboard Japan had the opportunity to talk to these two artists, whose roots lie in R&B but whose creativity crosses genre lines and national borders.
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To start off with, VivaOla, could you introduce Jimmy Brown?
VivaOla: Jimmy’s an artist based in Korea who releases songs in English, with an eye toward fan bases in North America and Europe. He’s been a part of the global R&B scene for a while now, so I’d known about him for a while, but a shared Korean acquaintance of ours put me in touch with him. In 2022, I was a featured vocalist on his song “bag on you,” which I recorded remotely, without ever meeting him in person. We finally met for the first time at Shibuya in August 2023, when he came to Japan on vacation. I grew up listening to R&B from the 2000s and the 2010s, and I could feel that same musical influence in his vocals and songs. His music really resonated with me, and when I found out later that the “Brown” in Jimmy Brown came from Chris Brown, one of his favorite R&B singers, it made perfect sense.
Jimmy Brown: Thank you. I think VivaOla’s appeal lies in his beautiful singing voice. When I was working on “bag on you,” I knew that it would be a great song if I could get his voice on it, so I asked him to be a featured artist. The song was positive to begin with, but his addition increased those vibes, and I love how the song came out.
VivaOla: I work a lot with Kenya Fujita from Bleecker Chrome, who appears as a featured artist on my new album, APORIE VIVANT, and he was also talking about how he had to “catch the vibes.” It made me realize, again, that it’s more important to catch that vibe rather than the sound or style of the song. In “bag on you,” money represents love. Money’s a sensitive topic that I handle in my own works, too. I used a lot of trial and error in writing “bag on you,” and I was able to tie it all together with the message of loving someone so much you want to give them everything, even if you don’t have any money. I’m glad that Jimmy and I were able to arrive at that same message.
Tell us how you went from collaborating on “bag on you” to, two years later, featuring Jimmy on your own song with your second collab, “RIGHT/WRONG.”
VivaOla: For me, 2022 was a year of collaborations, but out of the many I did that year, “bag on you” was my favorite, in terms of the mix, the lyrics, and the vibe. Following the release of APORIE VIVANT, I’ve written a lot of songs with producer Kota Matsukawa (founder of creative collective and label w.a.u). I knew one of the songs would be even better if we had a featuring artist, so I consulted with Kota about who we should go with, and we were like “Jimmy Brown would be great, wouldn’t he?” After releasing “bag on you,” I’d met Jimmy in person and gotten a feel for what a wonderful person he was, so I wanted him to collaborate with me on one of my own songs. My songs are about all kinds of topics, like our internal struggles, but the theme of this new song with Jimmy was straightforward: love. Kenya and I worked on the songwriting together, and we both talked about how we wanted to write a song that would excite Jimmy.
In “bag on you,” Jimmy depicts love in a positive way, but “RIGHT/WRONG” feels more in line with your style, VivaOla, not necessarily depicting love as always positive.
VivaOla: Right, it’s a little bit dark. But even though there’s this dark part, as you point out, the verse section is ultra-positive. I was hoping Jimmy would use a Chris Brown-like vocal approach, and I was really happy to feel that Chris Brown feeling in his verse section, where the groove is in double-time.
On your latest album, APORIE VIVANT, which came out in March, you embodied the spirit of trap soul, inspired by Bryson Tiller. What sound approach did you use on your new song?
VivaOla: Stylistically, I carried on the feel of APORIE VIVANT, but while the actual sounds are trap, I wasn’t fixated on the music itself being trap. That’s why I didn’t use the rapid-fire rapping of trap, but instead tried for a more alternative rap feel, like Frank Ocean.
Jimmy, what do you think of VivaOla’s music?
Jimmy Brown: It’s got a very modern sound. If you listen to our verses, you’ll be able to hear the things we have in common and also our differences. For both of us, our roots lie in American R&B, but there are some major differences in how we stretch out our voices, the parts we stretch out, and how we use our vocal cords. Before I was exposed to R&B, I grew up in the Korean countryside, listening to [traditional] Korean ballads, which I think influenced me. Likewise, I think VivaOla was influenced by his experience with rock and jazz, before he got into R&B. But I don’t think these are things we’re consciously trying to bring out, they’re part of our respective characters, the products of our backgrounds.
VivaOla: In my case, I often overthink my singing approach, so I end up circling around to singing without thinking about it, but Jimmy doesn’t overthink things, he’s a very genuine artist. The two of us are alike in that neither of us is really all up in our own heads when we’re singing, but my approach is the exact opposite of Jimmy’s. I think that’s what draws us to each other, and our approaches harmonize within the same song.
So you’re more of a producer-style singer-songwriter, VivaOla, while you, Jimmy, are more of a natural-born singer-songwriter. And your contrasting styles resonate in “RIGHT/WRONG.”
Jimmy Brown: I’m a very simple man (laughs).
Can we look forward to hearing more collaborations between you two in the future?
VivaOla: “bag on you” and “RIGHT/WRONG” were positioned as one-offs, with each of us appearing as featured artists on each other’s songs. If we work together again, I think it would be fun for us to go into the studio together, creating music from the ground up and releasing it under both of our names.
—This interview by Yu Onoda first appeared on Billboard Japan. It was conducted in Japanese then translated into English
Ae! Group’s “Gotta Be” blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Oct. 16.
The title track of the quintet’s second single launched with 411,052 CDs in its first week to rule sales and also came in at No. 4 for radio airplay. Though the figure didn’t match the previous release, “A-Beginning” (782,835 copies in its first week), “Gotta Be” gives Ae! Group its first No. 1 on the tally.
NMB48’s “Ganbaranuwai” debuts at No. 2. The girl group’s 30th single sold 251,651 copies in its first week to hit No. 2 for sales.
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Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” follows at No. 3. The Oblivion Battery opener is still going strong in three metrics of the chart’s measurement: streaming (up 101%), downloads (up 112%), and karaoke (slight gain). The former No. 1 hit has coasted along in the top 3 for seven consecutive weeks and in the top 5 for 26 consecutive weeks. The three-man pop band recently launched its eight-day residency at K-Arena Yokohama, slated to run through Nov. 20.
Creepy Nuts’ “Otonoke” jumps 32-4. The opener for the anime series Dandadan dropped digitally on Oct. 4 and debuted at No. 32 last week. Streaming for the track increased by 337% compared to last week, downloads by 135%, and radio by 437%. The number of downloads has remained higher than that of the duo’s smash hit “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” in both the first and second weeks, so whether the pair’s latest release can also become a long-term hit is something to keep an eye on.
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Comparing the number of streams by country during the first week for each track, “BBBB” logged 33% of its plays from Japan and 16% from the U.S., while “Otonoke” accumulated 41% from Japan and 18% from the U.S., showing a slight increase in the U.S., according to Luminate. In other countries, “BBBB” was played more in Europe, such as in Germany and Spain, while “Otonoke” was played more in Southeast Asia and Latin America, including Mexico and Indonesia.
Official HIGE DANdism’s “Same Blue” rises 7-5. Streaming for the Blue Box opener gained 188% compared to the week before.
KID PHENOMENON’s “Unstoppable” debuts at No. 6, selling 66,499 copies and coming in at No. 3 for sales.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Oct. 7 to 13, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
Fresh off releasing new album Spill the Feels led by the DJ Khaled-featuring single “LOVE, MONEY, FAME,” SEVENTEEN’s ongoing global takeover steps into the Big Apple as the K-pop powerhouses partner with Spotify for an exclusive pop-up experience made for their most loyal fans, affectionately known as Carats.
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Billboard can exclusively reveal details for Spotify x SEVENTEEN Present: Carat Station NYC, for Oct. 26 in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood offering fans an in-person experience through their own whimsical, SEVENTEEN-themed world.
Like the band’s recent pop-up with Spotify in Seoul, the immersive experience will let local Carats explore a fantastical train station in the clouds with special, fan-centric details inside. Attendees can explore interactive kiosks and photo ops, including personalizing your light stick at the Charms Customization Station, indulging in Korean delicacies at the Dining Concourse, and exploring the Carat Street Flower Market that will be exclusive to the NY location.
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“K-pop is now a major global and growing genre on Spotify and our Carat Station pop-ups represent that,” Lucy Davidson, Lead Label Partnerships at Spotify, tells Billboard. “By bringing the activation to New York City, we’re showing SEVENTEEN’s fans around the world that we see them too…Spotify’s Music teams in Korea, the U.S. and Japan worked in lockstep to create unique events in each city that feel both authentic to that particular place and connected to the larger Carat fandom. That’s why you’ll see common threads throughout each experience, but unique elements as well — like the Flower Market kiosk in New York City.”
Spotify will send personal invitations to SEVENTEEN’s top listeners in the NYC area starting today (Oct. 16), and the event will be open to the public at a soon-to-be announced location. Fans can also make reservations which will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. RSVP at this link here.
SEVENTEEN also shared an exclusive message with their fans reading on Billboard, saying, “Hi Carats! Thanks for stopping by Carat Station in Seoul this past week. We hope you had so much fun! New York, don’t worry! We have a surprise coming your way too. October 26. See you soon!”
“The Carat Station concept was inspired by the idea that the fan journey starts long before the concert begins,” Davidson adds. “Fandoms are built in the hours leading up to the ‘big moment,’ whether through streaming the music, exploring the artist’s stories, watching videos, or connecting with other fans. Every genre has a unique fandom and K-pop is no different. We know New York’s Carats will be looking for insider details in every corner and so we’ve done our best to deliver SEVENTEEN-specific references for them to discover throughout the experience.”
Carat Station NYC runs parallel to the upcoming U.S. leg of SEVENTEEN’s RIGHT HERE world tour that kicks off its U.S. leg with two shows at Chicago’s Allstate Arena on Oct. 22 before two dates at the UBS Arena in New York.
Get ready for Spotify x SEVENTEEN Present: Carat Station NYC with images from the recent Seoul experience below and check out Spotify’s SEVENTEEN WORLD TOUR [RIGHT HERE] playlist.
SEVENTEEN x Spotify Seoul
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SEVENTEEN x Spotify Seoul
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SEVENTEEN x Spotify Seoul
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SEVENTEEN x Spotify Seoul
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SEVENTEEN x Spotify NYC
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In a rare moment of emotional candidness for the K-pop industry, NewJeans member Hanni took to the floor of South Korea’s National Assembly on Tuesday (Oct. 15) to address the issue of workplace harassment and bullying. Testifying before the Labour Committee of South Korea’s National Assembly, the 20-year-old spoke about her and NewJeans’ experiences working under ADOR, the group’s sub-label that’s part of HYBE that also houses the labels supporting BTS, SEVENTEEN, LE SSERAFIM and more.
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Arriving at the Seoul court midday on Tuesday to a media frenzy of eager reporters and photographers, Hanni, who is Vietnamese-Australian, shared in her testimony that she felt undermined and ignored by her company’s management. Recalling the incident she had previously shared during NewJeans’ guerrilla livestream last month, Hanni described how a manager overseeing another K-pop act had instructed the artists to “ignore” the NewJeans singer.
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“We have a floor in our building where we do hair and makeup and, at that time, I was waiting in the hallway because my hair and makeup was done first,” Hanni shared, per the BBC, during the televised parliamentary audit. “I said hello to all of them, and then they came back about five or 10 minutes later. On her way out, [the manager] made eye contact with me, turned to the rest of the group, and said, ‘Ignore her like you didn’t see her.’ I don’t understand why she would say something like that in the work environment.”
Hanni says these incidents were not isolated but part of a broader pattern that left her and her bandmates feeling disrespected. She detailed additional instances where senior HYBE executives failed to acknowledge her.
“Since my debut, we ran into a person in a high-up position many times, but they never greeted me when I greeted them,” she said, sometimes through tears, in her testimony. “I understood from living in Korea that I have to be polite to older people and that’s part of the culture — but I think it’s just disrespectful as a human being to not greet us, regardless of our professional status. There was a certain vibe [of disrespect] that I felt within the company.” Adding that the incidents had her come “to the realization that this wasn’t just a feeling. I was honestly convinced that the company hated us.”
Representing HYBE during the hour-long hearing, current ADOR CEO Ju Young Kim (who replaced NewJeans creator Min Hee-jin as CEO after HYBE’s multiple requests to step down) said she would “listen more closely” to the artists. “I believe I did everything I could,” Kim responded. “But seeing that Hanni felt this way and that the situation escalated to this point, I wonder if there was more I could have done.”
“I was told that because there wasn’t any evidence, there was nothing that could be done,” Hanni explained, per The New York Times. The outlet added that Kim cited her decision based on differing accounts of what happened.
With the K-pop industry infamous for tightly controlled and high-pressure narratives between artists, companies and the media, Hanni’s direct testimony is a unique insight into an artist’s daily experiences beyond the spotlight that can signal hope toward more open conversations about accountability. South Korea’s Environment and Labor Committee of the National Assembly is currently investigating working conditions in the entertainment sector, where labor laws do not cover many performers. During the hearing, An Ho-young, the head of the panel, emphasized the need for lawmakers to safeguard the rights of entertainers.
According to the Korea JooAng Daily, Ju Young Kim, previously in a leadership position in HYBE’s human resources department, expanded on the complexity of handling artists and employees.
“My understanding is that artists are not defined as employees by the law,” she said when asked about anti-harassment regulations for company employees and artists, per Korea JooAng Daily. “We have an internal guidance policy where we explain how constituents, regardless of whether they are employees or not, should respect each other. We are holding regular training programs and using a lot of effort to form our corporate culture.” Kim added that artists cannot use HYBE’s company hotline to report workplace harassment but instead adhere to “an internal guidance policy where we explain how constituents, regardless of whether they are employees or not, should respect each other.”
While NewJeans have actively sided with Min Hee-jin in the executive’s ongoing power struggle with HYBE, Hanni expressed a more universal hope regarding the future of working in K-pop.
“I hope trainees don’t suffer these incidents and that’s why I decided to appear,” Hanni said, according to Reuters. “I know it’s not going to solve all the problems in the world, but if we just respect each other, at least there will be no problems with bullying and harassment in the workplace.”
Coldplay have become the first British band to simultaneously top the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic since 2016.
The band’s 10th studio album Moon Music landed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and the Official Album Charts in the U.K. following its release on October 4.
By doing so, they are the first band to reach the summit since The 1975’s second album I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It did the same in February 2016.
It is the fifth time that Coldplay have achieved the feat, having done so in 2005 with X&Y, Viva La Vida (2008), Mylo Xyloto (2011) and Ghost Stories (2014). Moon Music makes them the British artist – solo or group – with the most No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 this century.
Since 2000, a handful of other British groups have done the same including Radiohead, The Beatles, One Direction, Mumford & Sons, Muse and Florence + The Machine.
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British solo acts have had more success, with Adele, Ed Sheeran, Paul McCartney, Harry Styles, Zayn, David Bowie and Susan Boyle all having done so since 2000.
In a statement, Coldplay’s manager Phil Harvey said: “In Moon Music, the band has made one of their very best albums and I’m really happy that it resonated with fans all around the world. Even after 26 years, Chris, Guy, Jonny and Will never cease to amaze me with their outstanding artistry and unceasing hard work. To achieve this success in the middle of a record-breaking stadium tour makes it all the more impressive.
“As well as my fantastic co-managers Mandi Frost and Arlene Moon and the band’s incredible team, I’d like to offer sincere thanks to Max Lousada, Julie Greenwald and her team at Atlantic, everyone at Parlophone, as well as our touring family at Live Nation, WME and SJM. We’re looking forward to a long album campaign – not least in the U.S., where the band will return next year for their third summer of sold-out stadium shows and where we look forward to working with Elliot Grainge and his new team.”
On the Billboard 200, dated Oct. 19, the band achieved 120,000 equivalent album units, 106,000 of which are in traditional album sales. It was the first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 for the band in over 10 years, and became their 10th effort to reach the top 10.
The British act shifted 237,000 units in the U.K. to gain No. 1 on the Official Album Charts. Their opening week would prove the biggest opening week for a British act since Adele’s 30 was released in 2021.
The band are currently in the midst of their Music Of The Spheres global world tour, which was recently named by Billboard Boxscore as the biggest rock tour of all time having passed $1 billion at the box office.
Japanese dance & vocal group BE:FIRST spoke with Billboard Japan for its Monthly Feature interview series highlighting today’s leading artists and works. The hugely popular boy band released their second album, 2:BE, on August 28.
Ever since its formation three years ago through an audition by BMSG, the record label headed by SKY-HI, the group has created countless hits and appeared on numerous music TV shows and festival stages. In 2024, they performed two solo shows at Tokyo Dome and two solo shows in Kyocera Dome Osaka. The seven members of SOTA, SHUNTO, MANATO, RYUHEI, JUNON, RYOKI, and LEO are shaping up to be an undeniable juggernaut of a group. Their fandom and the scope of their activities is constantly growing, but since their debut, they have shown a consistent dedication to their singing, rapping, and dancing, and they’ve been actively and enthusiastically involved in songwriting, lyric-crafting, and choreography.
Their musical journey is reflected in their second album, 2:BE. Billboard Japan spoke to all seven members of the group about what went into the creation of the new album.
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In the three years since your debut, what kind of group do you feel that BE:FIRST has become?
LEO: We’ve always been a group that really enjoys the music. We don’t think of music as work, it’s more like we’re just doing what we want. Personally, none of it has ever felt like a burden for me. I’ve never once thought “I don’t really feel like doing this now.” I think that’s because of the kind of team we are.
I feel like that’s one of the notable features of BE:FIRST, because all of you are actively involved in the group’s creative process. But that usually involves growing pains, right? I’m sure you’ve had slumps.
LEO: Of course, there are times when I’ve found myself butting up against an obstacle, or I’ve felt anxious. But those never made me dislike what we’re doing. After all, I’m here because I love music, and I want to become a better artist. No matter how scared I might feel, it’s fun to hold that mic up on stage, and I feel full of joy when I’m listening to music. That’s always true, no matter what the situation.
SOTA: Our agency also puts music first, so we’re never given work that would interfere with our ability to focus on music. We keep on doing what we want to do. Our work environment is stress-free, and the more songs we create, the more our musical appetite grows, so it’s a lot more common for us to find ourselves struggling to choose between lots of different options than for us to be hitting a wall. I think all of our struggles are positive struggles. I feel very grateful to be able to work in this kind of environment.
That’s truly one of BE:FIRST’s strengths.
SOTA: When we released “Mainstream,” there was a time when we were trying to figure out how to best showcase ourselves as a group. But our agency let us make the kind of music we wanted to make, and all seven of us are united in giving 100% to whatever we want to do. These will continue to be our strengths, and I truly feel that over the past three years we’ve become a group that’s completely focused on music.
MANATO: THE FIRST was an audition focused on each person’s abilities and individuality, so everyone came to the group with their own personal strengths. Over the past three years, we’ve evolved into a group where each of these strengths passes through the filters of our individuality to produce our group’s output. Initially, Hidaka (Mitsuhiro Hidaka/SKY-HI) defined our group’s approach, but from around 2023, we started to think about what we ourselves wanted to do. We became more involved in the creative side, and as soon as we finished a song, we were like “okay, now what should we do next?” I think that was a big transformation.
How do you think that you, as individual artists or as a group, have evolved since your last album, BE:1?
RYUHEI: Our new album, 2:BE, has a mixture of songs that Hidaka wanted BE:FIRST to perform and songs that we wanted to perform. We tried a lot of new things, and I think we’ve become a lot better at reproducing what’s in the recordings. I feel like, through the process of everyone working on their own singing, we’ve taken things to a higher level.
JUNON: Compared to our first album, on this second album, there’s a much smaller difference between the way we sound live and the way the album sounds. Also, we did a lot in the recording process to reflect aspects of our performances in the music, which you can hear even now (before we tour), so I think it’s the kind of album that will make people look forward to seeing our live shows. That’s one way we’ve evolved since our first album.
So you feel you’ve made solid progress.
RYOKI: We’ve already got songs done by sub-units of the group, there are lyrics that we’re finally in a position to write, and the album has a raw feel to it. That’s because BE:FIRST has always lived in the moment—we’re always in an environment where we can do what we want. I think 2:BE reaffirms that sense of freedom to live in the moment. “Blissful” personifies it. When we debuted, it was all we could do just to take care of whatever was right in front of us, but lately we’ve been able to relax a bit, in a good sense.
So you’ve been able to express yourselves more naturally?
RYOKI: Yes, I think so. That’s true musically, and I think also in our day-to-day lives, we’ve now got some breathing space. Thanks to that, we can focus on our music, which I think has created a positive feedback loop. Being in an environment that provides us with freedom also creates responsibilities, but then all you need to do is make an environment in which living up to your responsibilities is itself also enjoyable. I think BE:FIRST can do that.
SHUNTO: A lot of the songs on the new album have a strong message. It’s an album in which these can also serve as our strengths. The new album is really packed with what it means to be BE:FIRST. I think it’s a well-balanced, highly listenable album.
“Hush-Hush” is a collaboration between yourselves and ATEEZ, right?
SOTA: A long time ago, Hidaka talked about how there was a K-pop group that he particularly liked. It was shortly after our debut, but he was saying “there’s an artist I’d like you to collaborate with one day.” There are certain ways in which we’re alike, so I guess he realized that we’d be a good match.
What did you feel like you had in common?
SOTA: How well we all get along, and the mood within our teams. We feel like hometown friends.
RYOKI: We both have a very down-to-earth feel. ATEEZ has a really warm vibe. That’s something that BE:FIRST also places a lot of importance on.
SOTA: Right. That focus sets ATEEZ apart from a lot of other K-pop groups. As far as music, another similarity is that we both write our own lyrics and take part in the creative process. I feel like there’s a lot of overlap in the core parts of what we focus on.
In closing, then, could you share your vision for the group in the future?
RYOKI: The musical direction we want to go in is always changing. But, no matter what, I want to keep this “Avengers” feel.
SHUNTO: But you can’t really produce that Avengers feeling on purpose. That variety in the way that we shine comes from us all combining our varied strengths.
RYOKI: Everyone’s so impressive. I love everyone in our group.
SOTA: But if we stopped enjoying creating music together, all seven of us working as one, then we wouldn’t need to keep that seven-person approach. Our strength isn’t really a group-focused approach in which, for example, we’re using synchronized choreography or we’re separating singing parts to give songs different feels. Instead, for us, it’s more important that we’re enjoying the vibes together. When we’re doing anything, whether it’s hip-hop or funk, it’s like all seven of us are jamming. One of the things that makes a group so fun—one of its qualities—is the feeling of bouncing the music off of each other. I think the best thing would keep on making the kind of music we want to make, all seven of us.
So it has to be the seven of you.
SOTA: That’s right. If we just did synchronized dancing, it wouldn’t make a difference if one person left.
Everyone: (Laughs)
SOTA: I think it’s when we’re having fun ourselves that it becomes fun for other people to watch. That’s our greatest point of appeal, the way we spread the enjoyment of our music.
—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan
The latest U.K. Official Singles Chart update sees a thrilling showdown brewing between pop heavyweights Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX, as they battle it out for the top spot.
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Sabrina’s infectious hit “Taste” (Island) holds strong at No. 1 for its eighth week, maintaining its grip on the chart. But Charli’s “Sympathy Is a Knife” (Atlantic) coming in as hot as a brat summer, surging to No. 2 after a remix featuring Ariana Grande gave it a major boost. With only 1,000 chart units separating the two, the competition is fierce, and Charli is well-positioned for a possible takeover.
Not only is Charli challenging Sabrina at the top, but she’s also making noise further down the chart. Her track “365” re-enters the Top 40 at No. 22, following the release of the Shygirl remix.
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Gracie Abrams continues her rise as well, with “I Love You, I’m Sorry” (Interscope) poised to vault eight spots to claim No. 3, which would mar her first-ever U.K. Top 3 single. The song’s emotional depth and strong streaming performance have propelled her into new chart territory.
Also climbing is KSI with his collaboration “Thick of It” featuring Trippie Redd (Atlantic), which looks to break into the Top 10 at No. 8, while Teddy Swims could see a new peak at No. 9 with “The Door” (Atlantic), after slowly climbing for 26 weeks. The track’s soulful vibe has clearly resonated with audiences, giving Swims his first Top 10 hit.
In another notable debut, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Bed Chem” enters the Top 10 at No. 10, giving her a second hit in the upper echelon this week.
Meanwhile, Chappell Roan’s infectious track “Pink Pony Club” is on track to reach a new peak at No. 11 on the U.K. Singles Chart according to the latest blast, while Billie Eilish’s ethereal “Birds of a Feather” (Interscope) is expected to rise to No. 13, continuing her strong presence.
BLACKPINK’s JENNIE is making a mark with her latest solo single “Mantra” (Columbia), which is poised to enter the U.K. Top 20 at No. 18, potentially marking her first major solo chart breakthrough in the region.
As the week progresses, the question remains: Will Charli XCX finally knock Sabrina Carpenter from the top spot, or will Sabrina hold on for another week of chart glory?
Paul Heaton is on track to land his first solo No. 1 on the U.K. Official Albums Chart this week with The Mighty Several (EMI).
Known for his work with The Beautiful South and The Housemartins, Heaton has charted three No. 1 albums on the U.K. Official Albums Chart twice with former Beautiful South bandmate Jacqui Abbott, but never reached the top spot on his own—but all that could change come Friday.
With The Mighty Several making its debut, Heaton’s long-established fan base is giving the album strong momentum, positioning him for his first solo chart-topping album, according to the latest Chart blast.
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Standing in Heaton’s way, however, is none other than Charli XCX, who rockets up the charts this week with her remix album Brat, But Not Really Brat (Atlantic), moving from No. 16 to No. 2. The album, which features collaborations with Ariana Grande, The 1975, and Shygirl, is set to give Heaton some serious competition.
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With streaming numbers on the rise, Charli could challenge Heaton for the top spot as the week progresses.
Elsewhere in the chart, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet (Universal) sits tight at No. 3, while James Blunt’s 2004 debut album Back to Bedlam (Atlantic) returns to the top 10 at No. 4, celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special reissue. Lady Gaga also makes a notable return to the top 10 with Harlequin (Polydor), which re-enters at No. 5 following the release of physical formats. This week’s chart shows Gaga’s continued power in both streaming and physical sales.
In the lower half of the top 10, Skinny Living’s Day By Day makes a strong debut at No. 9. The Wakefield indie-rock trio earns their first top 10 album. Meanwhile, The Highlights by The Weeknd (Republic/XO) climbs back into the top 10, moving from No. 14 to No. 10 after spending an incredible 193 weeks on the chart.
The Last Dinner Party’s debut Prelude To Ecstasy (Island) could re-enter the Top 40 this week thanks to its deluxe edition, currently sitting at No. 12. Meanwhile, Ben Howard’s I Forget Where We Were (another win for Island), originally released in 2014, is re-entering the chart at No. 19, celebrating its 10th anniversary.
New entries to the Top 40 include Jelly Roll’s Beautifully Broken (EMI) debuting at No. 22, Myles Kennedy’s The Art of Letting Go (Napalm) at No. 26, and The Offspring’s Supercharged (Concord) at No. 30, marking a strong week for rock and indie releases.
This week’s chart is packed with exciting moves and potential shakeups, particularly with Heaton and Charli XCX neck-and-neck for the top spot. Tune in to see if Heaton’s first solo No. 1 will be secured, or if Charli’s Brat remix will steal the crown.
Utattemita is Japan’s online culture of uploading vocal covers of Vocaloid tracks or pop songs to video sharing sites, and the singers who post such covers are generally referred to as utaite. From Nov. 22, the country’s largest video platform, Nico Nico Douga, will be hosting Utattemita Collection (commonly referred to as Uta-Colle), a four-day event inviting utaite singers to submit such covers. Uta-Colle is the utattemita version of The VOCALOID Collection (aka Voca-Colle) submission project that began in 2020.
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At the Uta-Colle event held this spring, utaite Underbar (officially stylized as __) submitted an a cappella cover of “Igaku” by Sasuke Haraguchi. He reproduced all the notes using only his own voice without using any musical accompaniment, and ranked No. 5 among the top 100 submissions to the event. Underbar is a veteran utaite with 1.05 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, celebrating the 15th anniversary since his debut this year.
Sasuke Haraguchi began composing music at the age of five and made his major label debut in 2018 as track maker SASUKE when he was 15 years old. He submitted his representative track “Hito Mania” to the Voca-Colle Summer 2023 event, and this hit song went on to achieve 18 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard Japan‘s Nico Nico Vocaloid Songs Top 20 list.
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The two artists sat down together to chat about today’s utattemita culture ahead of the upcoming Uta-Colle Autumn 2024 event, sharing their views from the standpoints of utaite and track maker.
Underbar, you covered “Igaku” a cappella for the previous Uta-Colle event. Why did you choose that style to cover it?
Underbar: When listening to the way the sounds are put together (on the track), I got the impression that it was unusual and quite different from other Vocaloid producers (Vocalo-p). I really like the way it uses sound effects as accents and male voices, and thought, “I want to try doing this with my own voice.” I thought it would be interesting to be able to express a composition of unusual sounds with my mouth instead of using a normal guitar or bass. He’d officially released the stem data, so I also used that as a reference.
Haraguchi: I thought the stem data would be used for remixes or something, so I never imagined it would be used for utattemita (a vocal cover). [Laughs]
I’ve heard that when you create tracks using Vocaloid, you try to be aware of things that make people want to cover them. Could you elaborate on that?
Haraguchi: There are a few, but one is to keep the tracks short. People seem to think I do this to make them TikTok or (YouTube) Shorts-friendly, but that’s not the case. It’s to make recording vocals easier when covering them. I sometimes record temporary vocals for commercial productions so I know how singers feel, and I’m glad when (the tracks) are short. Some songs have the same lyrics in the chorus, so you could copy and paste if worse comes to worst.
Underbar: I really like your videos, as well as your music, of course. I think it’s amazing how you make such stylish videos at a low cost. Nowadays, it’s like a race to see how much money you can spend to come up with a good video, the utattemita community included.
Haraguchi: Yeah, there are music videos that make you go, “Is this an opening sequence for an anime series?”
Underbar: Right? So it’s amazing how you create that stylish collage feel using live-action footage. I’m like, “Wow, I never would have thought of that!”
Sasuke, could you share what creative aspect about Underbar that you respect?
Haraguchi: You were already well known when I was in elementary school, and I respect the fact that you’ve been consistent all this time. Rather than taking years to establish the way you do things, you had it all worked out from the start. That’s awesome, and at the same time, you’re expanding the scope of what you do.
Underbar: I’ve always liked festivities. This might be something common among people of my generation who post videos on Nico Nico Douga, but the main thing is that I wasn’t doing it for the money. This is the big difference between now and then. Now, many people start posting with the aim of earning ad revenue or becoming a major-label or professional artist, but back then there was no such thing as ad revenue, and just because you became famous didn’t mean you could be signed to a major label or appear on TV and stuff. At the base of why I got started was, “It’s popular and seems like fun.” That still hasn’t changed for me, and when I see a new fad that seems like fun, I get the urge to join in.
When did you start watching utattemita videos, Sasuke?
Haraguchi: Around 2015 or 2016, maybe?
You were probably already composing by that time. Did utattemita videos influence your own production?
Haraguchi: I did hope singers would cover my works like that someday. But I wasn’t making that kind of music at the time. If you want to make a song that people will want to cover without using Vocaloid software, it either has to go pretty viral or be tied to an anime series. I wasn’t doing either.
Underbar: When choosing a song to cover, it’s certainly easier to choose a Vocaloid track. Songs that use Vocaloid are open to a wide range of interpretation, so everyone can be “correct.” With the ones that have human vocals, both the cover artists and listeners tend to think that the original version is correct, so the singers will cover them in a way that’s closer to the original. I tend to prefer utaite singers putting their own spin on their covers.
Haraguchi: I know what you mean. Maybe because my songs are a little unusual, some people sing them in a way that’s similar to the original Vocaloid version, but I don’t think that’s necessary. I want people to just do whatever they want and mess with it.
Have you noticed any changes in the feedback you receive, or any differences in your fanbase since you started releasing Vocaloid tracks?
Haraguchi: Yes, very much so. With the music I’d been doing up until then, I never really had the chance to hear directly from listeners, so I didn’t really know how many people were listening to it. The culture in the Vocaloid community is that if you think something is good, you make sure to say so, whether you’re the listener or the creator. The comment section on video platforms are like that, and communication on X (formerly Twitter) is, too. I feel like I’ve suddenly been thrown into such a place and it worries me in an opposite way. Sometimes when I’m at home alone, I tell myself, “Don’t get carried away, you have to work hard.”
How do you feel about events such as Voca-Colle and Uta-Colle that Nico Nico Douga has primarily been organizing since 2020?
Haraguchi: There was a period when Vocaloid culture had cooled down, so I’m glad many people are making (tracks) and watching (the videos) again now. But I also think that it’d be scary if the mood became like, “We have to work hard at it.” I want to use the opportunity to expose myself to a lot of other people’s works to feel things like, “This trick is interesting” and “I want to do this too,” no matter how they’re ranked.
How about you, Underbar?
Underbar: I think projects like Uta-colle are great. The reason is that utaite have never really had a clear goal to aim for. Now it’s possible to be signed to a major label, but even if that happens, if you don’t make it big then it’s over. And a song you covered could become a hit, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you will become famous, because the original version is the main focus. After all, utattemita is derivative. So even if you suddenly decide to write your own lyrics and music, people might be like, “No, that’s not what I want to hear.” The hard thing about being an utaite is that just because you’re good at singing doesn’t mean you’ll make it big. I’d like to see a trend where utaite can dream and be like, “If I keep doing what I do on Nico Nico Douga, I can get this far,” and Nico Nico Douga actively promotes the winner of the Uta-Colle.
—This interview by Yuuka Higaki first appeared on Billboard Japan