Global
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The release of Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito, the fourth studio LP from the Latin music superstar, is already historic. The set earned 94,000 album equivalent units in the United States in the week ending March 2, according to Luminate, making it the Billboard 200 chart’s first all-Spanish language No. 1 by a female artist.
Globally, the set’s 17 songs drew 438.2 million official streams, with 13 of its tracks hitting the March 11-dated Billboard Global 200. Nine of those appear on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. ranking, including four songs whose releases pre-date the album. All nine rank higher on the Global 200 than on Global Excl. U.S.
It’s rare to see a Colombian artist who performs exclusively in Spanish do better on the Global 200 than the Global Excl. U.S. chart, where the primarily English-language American market is the only difference in methodology.
But based on Karol G’s global chart history, and that of many other major hitmakers of the last few years, the balance between her ranking on Billboard’s global surveys may even out in the weeks to come. Over the 30 months since the global charts launched, a pattern has emerged where an album’s first-week streams will lean much heavier toward domestic activity, before steadying in the weeks that follow.
In the case of Karol G, the spike in U.S. activity is sharp. One week ago, three advance singles from Bonito were on both charts and averaged more than 80% of their streams from outside the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 23 (ahead of the album’s Feb. 24 release), all ranking higher on Global Excl. U.S. than the Global 200.
In the album’s debut week, her 13 new tracks averaged 66% non-U.S. streams, while a couple songs dipped as low as 59% and 57%. Even though her international stream total remains above 50%, the drop from 80% international to 66% in the album’s first week reflects a common listening pattern in America.
Based on streaming activity for practically all major global albums in the charts’ history, the U.S. versus non-U.S. splits will likely return to Karol G’s “normal.”
Drake, Billboard’s top artist of the 2010s, released his long-teased Certified Lover Boy in September 2021. All 21 songs debuted on both lists but averaged at No. 16 on the Global 200 and No. 44 on Global Excl. U.S. in the set’s debut week. Of its combined 1.1 billion streams, just 32% came from outside the U.S., less than half of that week’s average.
Three weeks later, the album’s international streams climbed — though barely — to 34%. Three months after that, they settled at 37%. These changes aren’t drastic, but similar patterns exist for recent hit albums by J. Cole, Future, and Kendrick Lamar.
Those higher-U.S. and lower-international splits are common for hip-hop albums, but their rising trajectory applies to pop artists as well. Taylor Swift’s Midnights averaged 53% of its 973 million first-week streams (for the set’s 13 standard-edition tracks) from outside the U.S. Three weeks later, that share bumped to 56%, and three months later, to 61%.
Even among artists from outside the U.S., first-week streams spike in America. Harry Styles’ Grammy-winning Harry’s House was released last year and scored 620 million streams in its first seven days. Of those, 60% came from outside the U.S., far lower than the 75% of his own years-old hit “Watermelon Sugar.” The opening 60% grew to 66% by week four, and to 69% by month four. The same goes for recent releases by fellow Brits Adele and Ed Sheeran.
These examples, all of which debuted their entire track listings on the Global 200, suggest an urgency from American listeners for first-week listens, while international fans, broadly speaking, are slower to discover new releases. But while the artists mentioned above all follow this pattern, the closest comparison to Karol G’s glass-ceiling moment is the other artist to score major American success with all-Spanish albums.
Bad Bunny dominated 2022 with Un Verano Sin Ti, the album that spawned his biggest U.S. hits to date. The 23-song set debuted with 1.1 billion streams worldwide, 66% of which were from outside the U.S. That number is much closer to that week’s average than the opening week splits for Drake and Swift, but the fact that Bad Bunny was below the average at all, just as Karol G is on her debut week, was surprising. One week prior, he had six globally charting songs, averaging 75%. While the release of his new album generated huge numbers everywhere, the bigger immediate spike in consumption was in America, despite his all-Spanish-language material.
Less than a month after the album’s release, the pendulum moved closer to the center, up from 66% to 71% non-U.S. streams. That number remained relatively steady as the album continued to rule various charts. The happy medium between the album’s first week numbers and Bad Bunny’s pre-Verano figures also indicate that while he experienced the same U.S.-heavy first-week spike as virtually every other major pop act, the album may have done some heavy lifting in making him an even bigger star in the U.S. than he had been when he scored the first-ever all-Spanish No. 1 album.
Time will tell how consumption for Mañana Será Bonito will settle in the coming weeks and months, but Bad Bunny’s 2022 may be indicative of her future global prospects. Like Bad Bunny, Karol G scored her biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit yet upon impact, with “TGQ,” with Shakira, debuting at No. 7, leading a heap of debuts further down the U.S.-based chart and a giant domestic streaming total. We can expect international listeners, specifically those in South and Latin America, to close the gap somewhat, although her global star power could continue to rise in all directions.
Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” returns to No. 1 after six weeks on the latest Billboard Japan Hot 100, released Wednesday (March 8).
The smash hit ballad by the four-man band broke the record previously held by Gen Hoshino’s “Koi” for most weeks atop the Japan Hot 100 on the chart released Jan. 25, hitting the peak position for the 12th non-consecutive week. The track continued to coast along in the top 3 while other songs came and went above it, moving 2-2-2-3-2 and now rising again to rule the chart for the 13th time.
“Subtitle” has been consistently strong in streaming, and while this week’s count drops below the 10 million threshold, the track continues to dominate the metric for the 20th consecutive weeks with 9,471,511 streams.
Mukade & Inman’s “Kimi no mama” (“The way you are”) rises 13-7 this week, marking the first top ten hit for the young rapper duo. The mellow love song is the third release by the rapper duo consisting of the winner and contestant of Japan’s High School RAP Competition, a stepping stone for aspiring hip-hop artists. The track, which dropped in February, increased by 4.5 percent in streaming from the previous week with 6,886,852 weekly streams, moving 4-3 for the metric and looking like it could rise further up the charts.
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 Feb. 27 to Mar. 5, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
Billboard Japan launched its Women in Music initiative last year to celebrate today’s female achievers who continue to break new ground in Japan’s music industry, in the same spirit as Billboard’s Women in Music event that began in 2007. Billboard has recognized many influential women over the years — the highest honor being Woman of the Year, awarded to some of the industry’s top artists including Beyoncé, Madonna and, this year’s recipient, SZA.
Billboard Japan’s Women in Music consists of a string of projects including interviews, concerts, panel discussions and more. On Friday, March 3 — which also happens to be the traditional annual day celebrating girls in Japan — the inaugural Women in Music concerts took place simultaneously at the Billboard Live venues in Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama, headlined by three female artists who represent today’s music landscape in Japan. Each artist performed two shows on that day, with the second being livestreamed for fans who couldn’t attend in person.
Rapper and singer Chanmina took the stage at Billboard Live Tokyo in Roppongi, appearing onstage accompanied by four dancers to the striking refrain of her track “Lucy.” Leading an all-female team of performers including the DJ in keeping with the evening’s theme, the trilingual artist performed a hard-hitting set of songs with lyrics mixing Korean, English and Japanese. The WIM setlist included “I’m a Pop,” featuring intense rapping and deep, dynamic vocals, and “Harenchi,” a sultry number with an urban sound and whispery vocalization.
The 24-year-old artist took a moment during her set to address the packed Billboard Live crowd, briefly explaining why she does what she does. “You’re all so beautiful, more so than you probably think,” she said, “I want to keep telling you that no matter how old I get.” She also paused during her song “Angel” later on to express her deep gratitude for her fans’ support. “To tell you the truth,” she shared, “I wasn’t fine during the COVID-19 pandemic! I missed you all so much.”
The “Bijin” rapper closed her WIM set with a raw, passionate performance of “Dahlia.” She stopped mid-song to say earnestly, “Singing was the only thing I had. So I kept singing and waited. Thank you for finding me, everyone!” When she finished the number, Chanmina bowed deeply to the audience and left the stage with a smile.
UA
Shino Hamada/Billboard Japan
Headlining Billboard Live Osaka was UA, a veteran artist hailing from this city who has balanced her alternative music career and motherhood over the years. The 50-year-old songstress painted the venue with her signature sound, with dreamily melancholic numbers like “Kiokusoushitu” (“Amnesia”) and “Senkou” (“Blaze of Light”), and “JAPONESIA” with its effective combination of scat and harmonies. In particular, the audience was treated to the breadth of UA’s musicality through her breakout hit “Jounetsu” (“Passion”) and “AUWA~TIDA,” a track with a danceable groove developing with increasing intensity. After her main set, she returned to perform “Mizuiro” (“Light Blue”) for the encore — a song the mother of four said she wrote when she was pregnant with her first child — bringing her WIM show to a close with her beautifully unique vocals.
In between songs, the artist currently based in Canada looked back on her upbringing and shared anecdotes about the women she grew up around, making the 300-capacity venue feel even more intimate than usual. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could start each day thinking, ‘I want to start off by embracing and loving myself,’” she said, and added, “I’m happy to have been born a woman, and intend to continue moving forward without losing my passion and curiosity, and without being afraid of experiencing lots of things.”
eill
Junichi Itabashi/Billboard Japan
Singer-songwriter eill headlined the stage over at Billboard Live Yokohama. One of today’s hottest young music producers who gives voice to the honest feelings of the youth of her generation, eill delivered some of her popular numbers with her silky, soulful vocals, fronting a band of accomplished musicians (Katsushiro Sato on guitar, Shunsuke Ochi on bass, nabeLTD on keyboards, Yosuke Minowa handling computer manipulation, and Yukino Matsuura on drums). Appearing on stage dressed in all white, the 24-year-old artist kicked off her set with “Koko de iki wo shite” (“Breathe Here”), and went on to perform “FAKE LOVE/” and “((FULLMOON))” back-to-back, showcasing her signature mellow groove accented with delightful charm. The special WIM set also featured strings (Leina Ushiyama on violin, Yasuko Murata on viola and Kaori Imai on cello), adding a lush layer to her performance of “Finale,” which she explained she wrote “around this time last year while thinking about summer,” and on to “Hana no youni” (“Like a Flower”).
In between songs, eill emphasized the importance of being true to yourself, telling the audience to “love yourself and embrace yourself even when you’re not your best self.” Reassuring fans that “whenever you’re having a hard time, I’ll always give you a little push from behind. I’ll be your light at any time,” she launched into a groovy performance of “Spotlight.”
True to her words, she uplifted the crowd and created a sense of unity in the venue through numbers including “20,” which she accompanied herself on the piano, and the last song “Odorasenaide” (“Don’t Make Me Dance”). During the encore, she announced the release of a new song called “WE ARE.” “We’re all alone, but we’re all not alone. We can use our loneliness as our shields. We’re not alone, everyone,” she said, and after treating the WIM audience to the premiere live performance of the brand-new track, eill left the stage with a big smile on her face.
Japan-based rapper and singer Chanmina is the next featured guest in Billboard Japan’s Women In Music interview series. Billboard Japan launched its WIM initiative last year, highlighting various trailblazing women in the music industry in a string of projects including this series. The initiative follows the established example of Billboard’s Women in Music event that has honored artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to the music industry and empowered women through their work since 2007.
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Chanmina, who performed at Billboard Japan’s Women In Music vol. 0 event at Billboard Live Tokyo on March 3, is a trilingual artist who first came into the spotlight through a rap competition for high school students. Seven years since being lauded as a “high school girl rapper,” she has long cast off that label and continues to grow as a global artist transcending the boundaries of J-pop music. Here, she talks about the subtleties of being fluent in three languages, standing on the shoulders of her predecessors and more.
You started learning piano, ballet, dancing, and singing at an early age. Were there any women you looked up to growing up?
My mother, who was a professional ballet dancer, was my ideal when I was little. I admired the way she would do her hair up and wear stage makeup when she left for work, and the jewelry she bought with her own earnings. My father was also work-minded, but my mother didn’t rely on him [for income]. She found what she was good at, drew out her own strengths, and connected them to her work with conviction. I think I was impressed by that attitude even as a child. When I was a little older, I discovered Avril Lavigne and became a fan; I still love her and listen to her music a lot when I need to gather up some courage. I’m inspired by the way she shines doing what she wants to do, and it’s the same feeling I had for my mother.
So you’ve been able to maintain your own style and beliefs based on respect for women like your mother and Avril Lavigne.
I’ve always been the type of person who can’t listen to what my mind is trying to tell me. I’d push myself too hard when I needed a break, and end up damaging my health. But through music, when I’m writing poetry in a notebook, I try to face the prickly parts of my mind by asking myself things like, “What am I feeling right now?” and “What do I want and what don’t I need?” Writing poetry might be close to therapy for me.
I’ve been writing poetry since I was seven or eight years old. I couldn’t concentrate on my classes at school and began writing down what I was feeling. It become a habit, and when I made my debut and many people heard my songs, some said they could relate. When that happened, although I’d never given it much thought before, I realized that there were people who empathized with me, even though all I was doing was expressing how I felt. That made me want to write about what I really feel even more, rather than accommodate what people wanted me to write. So from there I made a conscious effort to think about the act of writing poetry, which I’d been doing without much thought until then, and realized once again that for me this was a daily routine, a form of therapy, and something like life itself.
You use three different languages, Japanese, English, and Korean. If writing lyrics is therapeutic for you, do you find that your thoughts also change depending on the language you use?
I’m sort of lacking in each of those languages, and feel that I become just barely whole when I use all three. Each language has its own nuances, and I wish I could speak using all three. That finally gets me up to full power. When I talk in my sleep or think in my head, I always mix up the three languages. The Japanese I learned from my father is a masculine way of speaking, the Korean I learned from my mother is feminine, and the English I learned from television and dramas is a frank way of speaking. The way I’m thinking is probably slightly different in each, but they all exist within me.
That’s really interesting, and it shows how subtle and important words are to you. Freestyle rapping is a field where you battle it out with your vocabulary, and you were often referred to as a high school girl rapper because you first attracted attention for your skill as a teen. How did you feel about that at the time?
I strongly resented being called a high school girl rapper and being compared to my opponents, other female rappers, in areas other than rapping. We were insulted by being compared to each other for our looks, like who’s cuter or sexier, and our accomplishments were considered irrelevant. But I made it a rule not to argue with those voices on social media, and to respond with my music. That’s how songs like “Bijin” (“Beautiful Woman”), “Princess,” and “Doctor” were created. If I hadn’t been able to sublimate my resentment and hang-ups into music like that, I think I would have given up on more things in my life.
You must have been in the minority just for being a woman in the Japanese hip-hop community. Did you ever feel inconvenienced in that respect?
Fortunately, other than what I just mentioned, there weren’t any situations where I felt negatively about being a woman. I was never ignored in the scene, and I think I got a lot of attention because I was a minority in the hip-hop community, so I think I was lucky in some ways. And if I get married or get pregnant and have children in the future, the content of my lyrics and what I can express may expand.
The thing is, though, the reason I’m able to feel this way is because women have fought (to achieve it) in the past. So I’m grateful for that, and we also have to keep fighting, while also being careful not to rest on our laurels and discriminate against men.
When did you realize that you’re now standing where women of the past fought and paved the way?
I think going to different countries and meeting different people were a big part of it. Living in Japan, there’s still a sense that women are supposed to do the housework, and there are people who say stuff like, “You make money by showing some skin and pandering to people,” so there’s no way I can say discrimination against women doesn’t exist here, but there are countries in the world where the situation is much worse. I’m sort of surrounded by open-minded people who don’t have biased views about gender, and I’ve been able to come this far without thinking much about matters of gender imbalance. That’s the result of women facing those problems in the past in Japan, and men and women gradually coming to terms with each other. I just want everyone to be equal, so I want to continue tackling problems while also recognizing the improvements that have been made. As an artist, I want to keep my feet on the ground and make music about what I’m feeling as a 24-year-old woman living today.
—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan
King & Prince’s “Life goes on” comes in at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated March 1, marking the highest sales week of this year with over a million CDs sold in its first week.
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“Life goes on” sold 1,051,909 copies this week to rule physical sales and also comes in at No. 4 for video views and No. 12 for radio airplay. The million threshold for first-week CD sales hadn’t been surpassed since AKB48’s “Shitsuren, Arigato” (1,414,077 copies) and Nogizaka46’s “Shiawase no Hogoshoku” (1,049,667 copies) from March 2020, so the five-man boy band has achieved a major feat this week.
“Life goes on” was released as a double A-sided single with “We are young,” written by two of J-pop’s leading hitmakers with music by Koji Tamaki and lyrics by Junji Ishiwatari, which also garnered attention and came in at No. 11 for video. The Johnny’s group’s previously released songs are also performing well in the sales and video metrics, indicating that the ardent support of the group’s core fanbase is influencing the so-called gray-layer listeners and resulting in King & Prince’s dominance on this week’s charts.
Two other songs debuted on the Japan Hot 100 this week powered by sales. =LOVE’s “Kono Sora ga Trigger” came in at No. 2 for the metric with 216,215 copies, and Tsubaki Factory’s “Machigai janai, Naitari shinai” at No. 3 with 99,816 copies. But the latter hit No. 16 for downloads and No. 44 for radio, which added additional points to give the track a slim lead over “Kono Sora ga Trigger” — “Machigai janai, Naitari shinai”” debuts at No. 3 on the Japan Hot 100, while “Trigger” bows at No. 4.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, YouTube and GYAO! video views and karaoke data.
Check out the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Feb. 20 to Feb. 26, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
From West Hunan to Beijing, and from Beijing to New York, Tia Ray has been singing soul music for more than a decade. For 10 years, Ray has been on the path to international fame, while working to bring Chinese music to the world. In her latest album, The Moon Cannot Sleep, Ray showcases Chinese soul music.
Ray hopes to introduce more music from around the world to China over the next decade. In an interview with Billboard China, she talked about her decade in the industry, how she became the first soul musician in mainland China and her future plans for music.
Born and raised in Huaihua, West Hunan, about an hour’s drive from the ancient city of Fenghuang (phoenix), Ray inherited the musical gene from her great-grandmother, who was Hmong. She likes singing, and was a bold child who loudly sang the Cantonese theme song of Great Hero Huo Yuanjia on the streets. She is also a romantic girl who likes Hmong folk songs. The Hmong people express their love through songs. The unrestrained, cheerful and sweet music was her first impression of music.
At age 16, Ray came to Beijing to study and saw her classmate’s DVD of Michael Jackson’s world tour. That was her first contact with Western music, and she was shocked by how cool pop music could be. That night, she sat on the field and watched the DVD countless times. As she looked at the stars, a seed was planted in her heart. She wanted to learn about other music styles and explore the world to see the places that had nurtured such music.
That exploration eventually led her to soul music. It was love at first “beat,” and her soul resonated with it. She fell in love with the music instinctively and it became her most important music style. At the end of 2022, the story came full-circle. Ray gave a performance at the New York MetaMoon Music Festival. She had not only come to Michael Jackson’s country, but had, as the soul diva, also let the world hear her voice.
Hmong folk songs and soul music, homeland and the world — they may seem like polar opposites. However, in Ray’s view, they are rooted in life, passionate and unrestrained, free like the wind, and have a lot in common.
Music has no national boundaries, but musicians have a nationality. It was from her fourth album, Once Upon a Moon, that she began to combine her own experiences, feelings and thoughts with Chinese features and Western singing style. She finally created a unique Chinese soul style and brought its impact to the world stage.
Deciding on a Style and Freeing the Mind
When I first met Tia at a tea house near the China World Trade Center in Beijing, she was dressed like a cool girl. She wore a glossy black short-down jacket and her hair was tied up in a high ponytail. Her black eyeliner and earrings were especially eye-catching. The blue cartoon sweater under her jacket, her bright smile and her passionate answers revealed her relaxed and confident nature.
She still remembers her first encounter with soul music. In a live house in Chaoyang Park, Cui Jian, the first rock star in mainland China, was drinking downstairs. Tia ordered a glass of orange juice at the door when she suddenly heard a loud voice coming from upstairs. A black woman with a wireless microphone walked up to the stage while singing, and the musicians improvised the performance.
After the performance, Ray and a guitarist ran to the Hi-Fi shop in Dongsi Alley in Beijing to find relevant CDs. There, they saw the albums of popular Western female singers such as Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. They also found many imported CDs in the warehouse. Ray scrimped on food and bought a CD player. Every weekend, she would go to Dongsi to buy CDs, and this lasted for several years. She broke three CD players and listened to a lot of music by musicians like Stevie Wonder and India.Arie who were not well-known in China at that time. She still has a collection of more than 200 CDs.
“I was very lucky to have come into contact with these things and experience what feels like true love,” she says. The Western music led her to embark on the path of soul music.
“I am a sentimental person. I am a girl from West Hunan who grew up eating chili peppers,” Ray says. “I yearn for freedom, and I pursue passion and things that allow me to imagine. The flexibility, openness, tension and diversity of soul music make me feel free.”
Ray formed a band with her friends immediately, just like how she could not wait to get to a hairdresser and cut her hair when she wanted a haircut. At the end of 2007, she set up the first original composition band, Soul Side. The band brought together many professionals. The drummer was Cui Jian’s drummer; famous musician Chang Shilei was the second keyboard player; Zhao Zhao, the music director of Sister Who Make Waves, was the main keyboard player; and Han Yang, the bass player of Radio Mars, was the bass player. They have been teachers and friends on the road of music and became Ray’s soulmates as she explored music. During those years, Ray learned from her bandmates, absorbing knowledge like a sponge.
Later, Ray joined a second original composition band ThaKnutZ, and she grew to have a deeper understanding of music without borders. The drummer of ThaKnutZ had studied abroad in London, the bassist was from the Dominican Republic, and the keyboard player was from Atlanta. In 2010, the band released a CD. The experience trained Ray in many skills. She bought her first computer and designed the CD’s cover in Photoshop.
She still remembers a show at Jiangjinjiu. She had designed the poster and the tickets were RMB 50 (about $7 U.S.) each. In the end, they only sold 12 tickets. She remembers clearly that she was wearing a black-and-white striped long-sleeve shirt, navy high-waisted jeans and a pair of sneakers. She sang with her hair loose behind her shoulders. The whole band felt that they owned the world.
In 2012, a bigger opportunity came her way. Ray became a sensation on The Voice of China and came under the spotlight. She gained a wider audience and a larger market. Two years later, she released her first solo album T.I.A and positioned herself as a neo-soul singer. From then on, she became known as a soul music singer-songwriter.
Soul music is rare in the Chinese pop music market. It is indeed difficult to become popular singing in the Western style. Zhang Yadong, a famous producer, once said that Ray was too aggressive. Many people expect her to continue singing fresh and quiet folk songs like “A-Chu.”
Ray wavered once. In 2017, on her first appearance on Singer, she sang “A-Chu” and was eliminated immediately.Fortunately, she had a chance to return onstage. She no longer tried to please the audience, but chose what she was best at — soul music. The song “Golden” won the highest score given by the audience in the history of the show.
“Don’t think about which is more popular, and don’t think about whether the audience will like it,” she says. “Instead, do what you love. We only have one lifetime. I want to be myself.”
Create Chinese Soul Music
Her second album TIARA was recorded in the U.S. Ray traveled to the U.S. twice to invite producers of the Grammy Awards to produce her third album 1212. They liked her music as soon as they heard it. Feeling accepted by the local culture, she grew even more confident.
At the same time, there were some male R&B and soul musicians in China, such as David Tao, Wang Leehom, Taiwanese singer Jay Chou and Fang Datong. But Ray was the only female soul musician at that time. This gave her a sense of mission, and she started to think about how to create soul music that truly belonged to her.
“I hope to bring Chinese soul music to the world, and show other countries that Chinese musicians can create soul music with Chinese characteristics,” Ray says.
This sense of mission has grown stronger since 2018. At the invitation of the Berklee College of Music, Ray performed abroad and realized the impact of her overseas influence for the first time. In the auditorium, one third of the audience was Chinese, and they sang along with her. When she stepped off the stage, many people told her that almost all the Chinese students auditioning to get into the school sang Love Can Fly. Ray was moved, and also became aware of the great responsibility she had.
This responsibility also seemed to have affected her music creation. She integrated the Chinese flute, guzheng, and folk music into her compositions. Music critic Er Di commented that the soft music of the guzheng, the style of the tune, and the distinct Chinese quality in the lyrics “Vermilion street, the Bell Tower, the blue dragon and the white tiger…” in the song “On the Clouds” in Tia’s third album 1212 was the soul music of China.
In 2019, Ray brought Chinese soul music to the international stage.
She was the first Chinese singer to be invited to sing at the Warner global headquarters summit meeting in Los Angeles. She sang an English song first, so that the senior executives could understand what she was singing. Then she asked how many of them were from Los Angeles. A few people raised their hands. “You must miss your home and family when you leave home to pursue your dreams,” she said. “Next, I will tell you what my hometown looks like.” Then, she sang “A-Chu.” “This is a folk song, but it is my soul music. Chu means Hunan, which is where I was born.” Then, she sang another Chinese song, Love Can Fly, and was met with thunderous applause. The Warner Global CEO told her that he wanted to visit her hometown because of A-Chu.
Perhaps this is the charm of music. Through simple scales and notes, we can cross geographical, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, connect cultures in minutes, and create emotional resonance. Two years later, with her fourth album, The Moon Cannot Sleep, Ray ushered in a new era. Compared with the direct presentation of Chinese elements in 1212, she integrated Chinese elements and soul music more naturally, seamlessly stitching together ethereal singing and oriental features, and building an international attitude that transcends national boundaries and cultural differences between the East and the West.
The album was inspired by the moon. Ray used traditional oriental features such as the moon and butterflies to start her creation. Instead of relying on international musicians, she produced the album herself, and also did the copywriting, poster design, her own styling, and other fine details, to create soul music that belonged entirely to herself.
The singing style in the album matches the oriental charm of the moon and the butterfly. It is reserved, clear, and gentle. The melody of each song connects to the next, giving the album a sense of wholeness. As for the singing style, Ray spent a lot of time thinking about how to pronounce the words. After the age of 30, “I don’t like singing loudly. It’s like I practiced ‘Iron Fist’ at the beginning, but now I want to practice ‘18 Dragon Subduing Palms’ or ‘Lightness Skill.”
The market reaction exceeded her expectations. The album won her several nominations for the Golden Melody Awards, and received a high Douban (a Chinese culture online community) score of 8 points. People commented that she is “romantic, complicated, noble, languid, full of soul, and deadly attractive.”
The great success of the Chinese soul music album made Ray think, “What do I want to do, what can I do, and what can I bring.”
At this stage, all music fans, regardless of national boundaries, are also her soulmates. “Music belongs to everyone,” she says. “There is no national boundary. It is a common language.”
Greater Opportunities in the Next Decade
At the end of last year, at the New York MetaMoon Music Festival, Ray once again soared to even greater heights on the international stage.
This time she made adequate preparations. She told her agent from the beginning that she wanted to find musicians. Her agent told her that it was too expensive to bring musicians in from China. She thought of the music director of the Justin Bieber band she had worked with. She was a little worried before the call, “He is so busy. Would he answer my call? Would he be willing to join the show?”
It worked out. The music director remembered helping Ray to arrange music and agreed to form a band with her. He helped her to rent a temporary band, which included Bieber’s keyboard player. Even though there were only four of them, the four-man band performed as if it had 10 members.
On the stage, Ray found that there were many Chinese fans, but most of her audience was American. The first song she sang was her Chinese soul piece, “On the Clouds.” She taught the audience how to sing it and they sang the song together.
Tia was filled with emotions then and began to think about a bigger question. “What music do we Chinese musicians want to create, what kind of music should we create, and what should we bring back to China?”
The past decade marks Tia Ray’s self-recognition.
Looking back, “it seems like time has passed in a blink of an eye, but I feel like I have walked for a long time. There were many twists and turns, but the significance is far-reaching. This is the decade that laid the foundation for my understanding. It allowed me to understand who I am, and allowed me to believe more in myself, so it is precious to me.”
In the new decade, the artist hopes to introduce more overseas music to China.
“People have always asked me the question about popular and unconventional music,” she says. “I think the world is actually led by the minority, but embraced by the public. The minority is responsible for development, and the public for dissemination. If everyone follows the popular style, how can music develop? From music styles, singing styles to artistic presentations, I hope they can be personalized, and they must be individualized to stand out.”
Ray is willing to be the pathfinder who explores and opens up lesser known paths. She will also dig into her own growth experience and thoughts, explore more local music, and add it to her own music. At the same time, she hopes that music can include more topics that show a caring for the world, for example, environmental protection.
Aside from music, Ray hopes to do something different. “It is neither a brand, nor a production company,” she says. “It is definitely not a management company. I hope to build a ‘soulciety.’ It is a society with a soul, and I hope to build a larger world of music expression.”
She also plans to build a virtual partner TIVA in the metaverse. TIVA is not a singer, but a stylist. Ray and TIVA can collaboratebeyond the metaverse. “For example, when I sing, she can help me to design my outfit or the stage.”
The music environment is also changing. Short videos and AI have impacted it, but Ray is not worried. “On the contrary, heroes will emerge in troubled times. AI can compose, but I sing better,” she says. In fact, she has always embraced greater diversity in her compositions. Just like falling in love with soul music at the beginning, then having her own Chinese soul music, and now the blending of East and West, her music transcends national boundaries.
In the next 10 years, she also hopes to have more like-minded music partners, her music soulmates.
Her greatest reward over the past decade has been her teachers and friends. They are her fans, friends, and soulmates. Recently, 10 years after the debut of Amazing Timeless Vacation, a concert has been planned. Ray has prepared a surprise. She revealed there would be more than 10 musicians participating in the concert, and she would be singing over 20 rearranged tracks. They have chosen to hold the concert emulating a live house model, allowing them to get up close with their fans. The format of the concert would be based on a solo concert so that every fine detail would be taken care of. She hopes that everyone will have a good time and will leave behind the regrets they have about not meeting during the pandemic.
The ultimate meaning of music, Ray says, is a seed that allows people to feel beauty and energy. Music has allowed her to understand who she is and to feel more self-consistent. It has allowed her to find numerous soulmates, let her be herself and live in eternal romance. It has also allowed her to climb over mountains, travel the seas and cross national boundaries, giving her amazing power.
Her 2022 journey ended when she returned to Beijing from New York after performing, and then returned from Beijing to West Hunan for the New Year. She came back from the largest international stage to where music started for her. It was a journey across three completely different places, but there was no sense of boundary or distance.
Tia Ray
Billboard China
–Article by Xi Bu
Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” (via Columbia) remains the single to beat in the U.K., as it takes an early lead in the chart race.
“Flowers” powered to a seventh consecutive No. 1 when the Official U.K. Singles Chart was published last Friday (March 3), and it’s making ground on its bid for an eighth.
Based on sales and streaming data captured from the first 48 hours of the chart week, “Flowers” is out front, with PinkPantheress’ “Boy’s a liar” (Warner Records) less than 3,000 chart sales behind in second place, the Official Charts Company reports.
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“Boy’s a liar” has logged eleven weeks on the chart — and counting — but has never reached the summit.
Don’t expect “Flowers” to wilt anytime soon. A “demo” version dropped last Friday ahead its hotly anticipated parent album, Endless Summer Vacation, due out this Friday (March 10).
After flying 37-4 on the latest chart, the Weeknd’s 2016 number “Die For You” (Republic Records/XO) is on track for another peak position. Fueled by a new cut featuring Ariana Grande, the track lifts 4-3 on the First Look survey.
Further down the chart blast, Afrobeats stars Libianca could finally enter the top 10 with “People” (5K), up 11-10, while the title track from Pink’s chart-leading new album Trustfall (RCA) is on the rise, set for a boost 14-11. Trustfall album track “Never Gonna Not Dance Again” is hovering around the U.K. top 20, up 22-20 on the early tally.
Finally, two British singer-songwriters are chasing new chart highs. Mimi Webb’s “Red Flags” (Epic) is set to gain 17-13, while Mae Stephens “If We Ever Broke Up” (EMI) could improve 20-19.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Singles Chart is published Friday (March 10).
Emilia, Big One and Callejero Fino’s “En La Intimidad” ascends to No. 1, after two weeks in the top 10, on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart (dated Feb. 25). The song was released Feb. 1 through Fifty One. The song sends Luck Ra’s “Ya No Vuelvas,” featuring La K’Onga and Ke Personajes, to No. 4 after its one week on top.
It’s the first champ for Emilia, Big One and Callejero Fino, who have all reached the top 10 in the past before with at least one song. For Big One, the new leader arrives after he scored his first top 10 with first entry “Perfecta,” with Rusherking and Dread Mar (No. 6 high), last October.
Emilia, meanwhile, secured the No. 2-peaking “Cuatro Veinte” in April 2022. It became her only entry as a soloist, unaccompanied by another act, to reach the upper tier among her eight total top 10s.
As Callejero Fino claims his first No. 1 with “En La Intimidad,” it bests “Tu Turrito,” with Rei, which peaked at No. 3 last August.
Further, Bizarrap and Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53″ climbs 3-2, while TINI, La Joaqui and Steve Aoki’s “Muñecas” ascends 4-3. Plus, Bm’s “M.A (Mejores Amigos)” holds at No. 5 for a second week.
The week’s Greatest Gainer honors goes to Tini’s “Cupido,” which rockets up the chart 52-6, the biggest jump within the first two months of 2023. Plus, the Argentinian adds two new entries to her Billboard Argentina career count, a total of 30, as “Las Jordans” and “Te Pido” open at No. 53 and No. 58, respectively. Both songs stem from her latest Cupido album which debuts at No. 8 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Albums chart (dated March 11).
Elsewhere, Duki’s “Si Me Sobrara El Tiempo” scores the Hot Shot Debut of the week with a No. 27 start.
Lastly, three other songs debut this week, starting with Milo J’s “Rara Vez” at No. 61, following with Marama and Rodrigo Tapari’s “Dame un Besito” at No. 67, while Marc Anthony’s clocks his third chart entry as “La Fórmula,” with Maluma bows at No. 79.
No song debuts in the top 50 of the March 4-dated Billboard Global 200 or Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t significant new entries. Grupo Frontera, the regional Mexican group with a fast-growing roster of global hits, arrives on both rankings with “Di Que Si,” alongside Grupo Marca Registrada.
The new duet hits the Global 200 at No. 152 and the Global Excl. U.S. chart at No. 190. At first look, a Spanish-language title with primary impact on Billboard’s regional Mexican charts might be expected to debut higher on the Global Excl. U.S. ranking than on the Global 200. But all four of Grupo Frontera’s currently charting global hits are higher on the Global 200. “Bebe Dame,” with Fuerza Regida, is No. 28 on the latter chart and No. 34 on the former. “Que Vuelvas,” with Carin León, is Nos. 40 and 48, respectively. And “No Se Va” stands at Nos. 101 and 111.
While Grupo Frontera makes regional Mexican music, its members hail from McAllen, Texas, as second-or-third-generation Mexican-American immigrants. The band’s success is one example of many in the genre finding major success in America, specifically through Texas and other western states. Eslabon Armando, Gerardo Ortiz and Grupo Firme are some of the other U.S.-based acts topping the regional Mexican charts.
“Di Que Si” arrives with 14.5 million streams in the week ending Feb. 23, according to Luminate. That breaks down to 4.6 million in the U.S. and 9.9 million outside, or 32% and 68%, respectively. That is slightly above the band’s other chart hits, all between 26-30% of domestic streams. The group’s new debut climbs to No. 11 on the Mexico Songs chart, while its three other charting hits land at Nos. 3, 5 and 13 on the survey
Grupo Frontera’s growing global presence kicked off with the debut of “No Se Va” hitting both charts in October. “Que Vuelvas” and “Bebe Dame” arrived in January, ahead of “Di Que Si.” These songs are part of a larger profile of regional Mexican acts populating both lists, with Natanael Cano, Peso Pluma and Chino Pacas, among others, also scoring recent debuts.
On the March 4-dated global charts, 10 regional Mexican tracks appear on both rankings, marking a 5% share of all titles. Six months ago, on the Sept. 3, 2022-dated Global 200, there were five. A year ago (March 5), there was one.
BRISBANE, Australia — A brouhaha between Bluesfest and a touring party that includes the Soul Rebels and Big Freedia is entering legal territory after the groups — which also includes Talib Kweli and GZA — has jointly claimed they were canceled by the Australian event “in bad faith and in breach of contract.”
All of those acts were initially slated to perform at the festival this Easter in Byron Bay, in addition to several theater shows on Australia’s east coast promoted by Bluesfest Touring.
And then, they weren’t.
When the second artist announcement for Bluesfest dropped in October 2022, the growing lineup included The Soul Rebels & Friends with special guests Talib Kweli, GZA and Big Freedia.
The bill as it stands for Bluesfest 2023 no longer features the four acts.
A strongly worded statement from the tour’s reps, seen by Billboard, lays all the blame at Bluesfest and its director Peter Noble.
“The artists had fully executed signed contracts with Peter Noble and had already booked travel to Australia and were looking forward to returning to the country to perform for their fans,” the statement reads.
“Peter Noble removed the artists and the tour without further communication or reason from Bluesfest other than him stating his decision to not want to pay the artists.”
Furthermore, it continues, “these are all black artists, and Big Freedia is an LGBTQ icon.”
Bluesfest
Courtesy Bluesfest
The statement then points to the controversial Australian rock group Sticky Fingers, which, after a weeks-long backlash, has been removed from the lineup.
“It appears the tour may have been replaced by other artists including Sticky Fingers,” reads the statement, which was originally distributed to a handful of media outlets in late February, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Double J network. “We are uncertain about who else on Bluesfest may have also been cancelled.”
Noble’s “cancellation of the tour of the aforementioned artists and on Bluesfest has resulted in significant financial loss to the artist,” the statement continues. “Peter’s egregious treatment and disregard of his contractual and moral obligations and disrespect can be completely supported by his actions and written communications.”
Speaking with Billboard on Friday (March 3), Noble read from a prepared statement from Bluesfest’s lawyers.
“The termination of the Soul Rebels contract by Bluesfest has nothing to do with the announcement of Sticky Fingers playing at Bluesfest 2023,” the statement reads. “The Soul Rebels contract was terminated because they did not comply with the contractual terms. By that, we mean, Soul Rebels, Big Freedia, GZA and Talib Kweli.”
Noble declined to go off script.
The impresario and his long-running festival have rolled with many punches these past few years, from the pandemic to floods, to the border closures and public health orders which saw the 2021 edition nixed just hours before showtime.
In the new year, a new problem.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Sampa The Great recently bailed from the bill, a boycott to the booking of Sticky Fingers, whose frontman has a well-publicized and controversial past.
On Thursday of this week, after a weeks-long backlash on social media, Noble and Bluesfest announced that Sticky Fingers “is to step off the Bluesfest 2023 line-up.”
The 2023 edition of Bluesfest is set for April 6-10 at Byron Events Farm, with headliners including Gang of Youths, Paolo Nutini, Tash Sultana, Bonnie Raitt, the Doobie Brothers and more. Last year’s event reported more than 100,000 attendees.