hip-hop/R&B
Lucky Daye sat down with Billboard News and executive director of R&B/hip-hop Gail Mitchell to talk about his latest album Algorithm. âMy mind-set was I kinda wanted to talk to myself as if God was talking to me,â the New Orleans singer said when asked what his approach was for this project. âSo, I was […]
ChlĂśe Bailey is getting the girls gassed up this summer with her new âBoy Byeâ single, which she officially announced on Monday (April 8). She also revealed the cover artwork for âBoy Bye,â which will arrive this Friday via Parkwood and Columbia Records, and it features the Grammy-nominated singer raising her arms in the air […]
Flo Milli finds her first top 10 on Billboardâs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as âNever Lose Meâ races 16-7 on the list dated Feb. 3. The single, released on RCA Records, has ridden a wave of TikTok virality that has triggered major gains across multiple streaming services as the tune also begins its radio campaign.
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To enter the top 10 on the multi-metric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, âNever Lose Meâ tallied 15.5 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week of Jan. 19 â 25, according to Luminate, a 28% increase compared with the prior week. The improvement sends the song 10-3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart with the Greatest Gainer award, given weekly to each song with the largest increase in stream count. Sales for the track, meanwhile, remain at a negligible amount and are essentially even with the previous weekâs total; the track has yet to appear on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales ranking.
In the radio world, âNever Lose Meâ registers its first appearances on airplay rankings with three simultaneous debuts: No. 25 on Rap Airplay, No. 35 on Rhythmic Airplay and No. 46 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. As is the case too, on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, âNever Lose Meâ gives the rapper her first visit to all the charts as a lead artist and second overall entry, following a featured role on Lah Patâs âRodeoâ (which also had a separate version featuring Big Jade) in 2023.
Elsewhere, âNever Lose Meâ rockets 15-5 on the Hot Rap Songs chart and 37-19 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. Notably, the singleâs sample of Babyface Ray and 42 Duggâs 2023 track, âRon Artest,â helps both artists gain chart credits through songwriting contributions.
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âNever Lose Meâ found huge reception on TikTok through a variety of trends that use the song as a soundtrack. Some clips that involve users displaying medals and trophies with captions that feature tongue-in-cheek reasons for the achievements (such as âworst exâ), while other videos center on flexing while using the songâs âânever had a bâh like meâ lyric. Thanks to the songâs popularity on the social media platform, âNever Lose Meâ leads the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart for a third consecutive week.
The new hit is likely to appear on Flo Milliâs forthcoming album, Fine Ho, Stay, for which the rapper shared the album art last October. The new set is the third and final installment in an album trilogy, following 2020âs Ho, Why Is You Here? and 2022âs You Still Here, Ho?
Nothing stops New Music Friday â not even Grammy nominations.
Although 2023 MVPs like Ice Spice, 21 Savage, Drake and Nicki Minaj racked up the rap field nominations for the upcoming 66th annual Grammy Awards, last Friday (Nov. 10) offered a litany of music beyond those four 2023 Billboard Music Awards finalists. Last week saw new albums from the likes of Brandy, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Kodak Black, but those werenât the only notable releases to update your weekly playlists with.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop â from BADBADNOTGOODâs gorgeous rework of an Elmiene standout to BJ the Chicago Kid and Chloe Baileyâs sultry, synthy link-up.
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Be sure to check out this weekâs Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Sinkane feat. Tru Osborne, âEverything is Everythingâ
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For his first new song since 2019âs DĂŠpaysĂŠ album, Sudanese-American singer Sinkane chose to ground his lyrics in the harsh realities of the Black living experience. Written and composed by bandleader Ahmed Gallab with vocal contributions from Harlem-bred artist Tru Osborne, âEverything Is Everythingâ is an amalgam of free jazz, Sudanese pop, gospel, funk and rock. A hearty choir provides a strong anchor for the arrangement, while Sinkane and Truâs harmonies add splotches of color throughout the track. âThe tides of change / Serve great purpose in our every day / My people, we will find our way,â Sinkane sings, with a hopefulness that consistently permeates the darker truths that the song explores.
Elmiene, âMarking My Time (BABDBADNOTGOOD Edit)â
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Elmiene dropped off his debut major label EP, Marking My Time, last month, and to continue his promotion of the project, heâs released a reworked version of the title track, helmed by Canadian experimental jazz collective BADBADNOTGOOD. Here, the group reimagines Elmieneâs original with heavy splashes of R&B and psychedelic, specifically of the â70s persuasion. Elmieneâs vocal is predicated on allegiance to subtle dynamism, and itâs that steady build that grounds the winning remix.
Rick Ross, Meek Mill & Cool & Dre feat. BEAM, âGo To Hellâ
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Hip-hop heavyweights Rick Ross and Meek Mill unleashed their highly anticipated Too Good To Be True joint album last week (Nov. 10), and this collaboration with BEAM and Cool & Dre is an immediate standout. Heavily nodding to Tears for Fearâs âShout,â âGo To Hellâ finds the two rappers deep in their braggadocio as they trade bars about their wealth, their escapes from the feds, and how much status and clout they have in whatever room they choose to walk into. âBitch boys run to social media / Rich nâa, name in Wikipedia / If I fâk her once, she wanna fâk me twice / All the real nâas clique up, letâs get rich tonight,â Rozay raps.
Kevin Gates feat. B.G. & Sexyy Red, âYonce Freestyleâ
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In a way, Kevin Gates and Sexyy Red are perfect foils: two devil-may-care rappers who are unafraid to embody and celebrate the grimiest parts of sex and sexuality, with a healthy dash of humor to add some levity to the whole affair. On âYonce Freestyle,â the pairâs new collaboration which also features NOLA rapper B.G., the two maximize their similarities â even if the end result is a bit tamer than what some may expect. âYonce Freestyleâ is a well-crafted club banger, with a murky Southern hip-hop beat courtesy of ProdByJM, EJ Grimes and Juko, and a perfect laid-back ratchet tone from Sexyy.
BJ the Chicago Kid feat. ChlĂśe, âHoneyâ
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BJ the Chicago Kid also released an album last week (Gravy), and that project featured loads of collaborations for R&B lovers. Among those impressive duets is the Chloe Bailey-assisted âHoney.â Landing squarely in the disco-tinged pop that has dominated mainstream top 40 for most of the young decade, BJ and ChlĂśe deliver a sexy, synth-laden collaboration that balances come-hither euphemisms with some outstanding harmonic choices. Between a surprisingly smooth vocal blend and a bright, clean mix, this just might be ChlĂśeâs best release of the year.
Ben Hughes, âWhat Was It For?â
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For the opening track of his forthcoming Manha EP, UK musician Ben Hughes opts for a breezy guitar and drum-forward groove. âWhat Was It Forâ fits nicely in the landscape of contemporary British R&B, and Hughesâ careful vocal approach works alongside the instrumentation instead of towering over it. Itâs a very soft and lush number â an air that offers a smart counterbalance to the melodrama of the lyrics. âBring me peace / And heal my wounds / Iâm bleeding out / Just for you,â he croons.
Coco Jones could be enjoying a very special Friday once 2024 Grammy nominations are announced, but she and her fans can kick off their celebrations a little bit earlier: Billboard can exclusively reveal that Coco Jones will be MTVâs Global PUSH Artist for November.
The announcement comes less than a week after Jones marked the one-year anniversary of What I Didnât Tell You, her debut EP with Def Jam. That project and its accompanying North American headlining tour helped the powerhouse vocalist transition from Disney star to award-winning R&B dynamo. In the past year, Jones has picked up best new artist honors from both the BET Awards and the NAACP Image Awards, as well as a whopping six nominations at the upcoming Soul Train Music Awards (Nov. 26), including album, song and video of the year.
What I Didnât Tell You houses Jonesâ very first Billboard Hot 100 hit, âICU.â The DJ Camper-helmed ballad spent 20 weeks on the ranking, peaking at No. 62. The track, which also received a remix from fellow Disney alum Justin Timberlake, topped both Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and R&B Digital Song Sales.
ââICUâ really fell into my lap, I feel, because I was so surprised⌠what I ended up doing that day in the studio⌠I heard this track by Camper, and I could not skip it,â Jones says in a press release announcing the PUSH news. âThen I had to get really vulnerable and tell this story that I feel like people can relate to: when you love someone and they didnât do anything wrong to you but you guys are just wrong for each other.â
âICUâ marked a new frontier for Jonesâ career, becoming her first RIAA Platinum single and introducing her to scores of new listeners. The songâs success also gave way to the deluxe edition of What I Didnât Tell You, which arrived earlier this year (Jan. 20) and featured three new songs in addition to the previously released âSimpleâ (with Babyface).
âI think my favorite line is the first line âsomething about your hands on my bodyâ because I just feel like it snaps peopleâs attention⌠I feel like it gives me a southern twang,â Jones says. âIt reminds me where Iâm from and it surprised people that I could go that low. It is just a really good line to me. Itâs really solid.â
As MTVâs featured Global PUSH Artist for the month of November, Jones will partner with the entertainment iconoclast all month to discuss her roots, the stories and memories behind her music and the artists and eras that inspire her. For Jones, The Cheetah Girls were a formative part of her childhood, specifically the song âCinderella,â which she hails as a âgirl power anthem.â âI was the biggest Cheetah Girls fan,â she gushes. âThat was my first concert ever actually and I thought they asked me to come up on stage, but my mom said no.â
Jones is also set to debut two exclusive performance videos for âICUâ and âDouble Back,â the latter of which she credits to the âBrandys, Aaliyahs and Destinyâs Childsâ of the â90s and describes as âone of the best songs to get [her] makeup done to or to do [her] makeup to.â
The MTV PUSH initiative aims to connect fans across the globe with a new music artist every month through live performances, exclusive broadcast premieres of music videos, interviews and video content. Previous MTV PUSH artists include Lizzo, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, SZA, Chloe X Halle, H.E.R., Jack Harlow, Jorja Smith, BROCKHAMPTON and more.
Watch an exclusive clip of Coco Jones performing and talking about âICUâ above.
Travis Scott, Drake, Lizzo⌠and Jean Dawson. The list of artists that R&B superstar SZA has collaborated with in 2023 is stacked with some of the music industryâs biggest names, but a Gen Z genre-non-conforming auteur from San Diego gifted the âKill Billâ singer her most poignant duet of the year just in time for fall (Sept. 22).
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âNO SZNS,â a breezy reflection on the all-consuming stupor of California heat, combines both artistsâ penchant for introspective songwriting, unflinching examinations of the most incomprehensible of human emotions, and instrumental arrangements that pull from indie rock as readily as they pull from hip-hop and soul. Its music video, a cinematic take on childhood laced with arguments and discord, finds Dawson stepping behind the camera, bringing SZA into his intimate and idiosyncratic visual world.
The new track follows a slew of projects (âside quests,â as Dawson describes them) that are filling the void between 2022âs Chaos Now* â a grungy, ambitious set that featured collaborations with Earl Sweatshirt and production contributions from Isaiah Rashad â and the Mexican-American artistâs forthcoming LP. While he is still unsure of the timeline for his next studio effort, Dawson is certain the album will be âbeautiful,â mostly because he has completely rejected the compartmentalization circus that has consumed much of the music business.
âI want to build music without having to focus on everything that I am,â he says. âI want to fractalize myself.â
In paying special care to each facet of his being that makes him an artist who has enraptured a sprawling ever-growing audience across races, ages, and genres, Dawson continues to follow Princeâs uncompromising, do-it-himself blueprint. Whether itâs incorporating his native Spanish tongue into his music at his own pace or touring alongside acts as disparate as Interpol and Lil Yachty, Jean Dawson is currently undergoing yet another metamorphosis â and heâs particularly excited about what lies ahead and how he can continue to subvert everyoneâs expectations. âI want you to guess,â he teases.
In an intimate conversation with Billboard, Jean Dawson opens up about his upcoming European headlining tour, his thoughts on the utility of record labels, trying to figure out âwhat James Blake would sound like if he was Mexicanâ with his upcoming project, nostalgia and iPad kids.
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Walk me through how âNo SZNSâ (with SZA) came to be.Â
In the DMs. Thatâs how we started talking. She liked the music a whole lot. I think it was maybe a day after she had DMed me â she was working on her album [SOS] at the time â we hung out for several hours and just talked. It was sick. I didnât realize how alike we were in a lot of different ways, and we worked on some other stuff.Â
[âNo SZNSâ] I had been working on prior, just like arrangements and stuff like that. Thereâs a lot of instrumentation on it, so I think I hit a wall at some point with the song â and then I met SZA. I was like, âOh, maybe she can finish my sentence.â I showed it to her, and she was like, âYeah, Iâm super down. This is awesome!â So, she wrote her verse, recorded it, and workshopped it for a little bit. Itâs not the most intense story of all time, but itâs definitely like, âYou had to be there.â
What was your favorite moment shooting the âNO SZNSâ music video?Â
My favorite moment in that video had to be when the two parents were arguing. In the video, SZAâs played by a little girl named Bliss, and Iâm played by a little boy named Brave â thatâs their actual government names. Theyâre sitting and coloring and their parents are behind them arguing. Like many peopleâs childhoods, my childhood was a lot like that. [I went to] the two actors that we had hired and talked to them about their intentionality, how theyâre arguing, and what they should argue about. It was really real. Theyâre arguing about the father needing to be there, and the momâs, like, âI just need you here.â And the dadâs like, âIâm working, Iâm here. Iâm here right now, but I need to work to provide.âÂ
I almost cried. I was like Oh, sât. It got too real for me. Bliss and Braveâs mom and dad are our family friends, so theyâre sitting by, and Iâm just watching [the kids] be like, Damn, our parents are not like that. That made me really happy. That was one of my favorite moments of shooting it and as being a director on that.Â
SZA is far from your first high-profile collaborator. How important is it for you to truly understand and know your collaborators on a personal level?Â
I never collaborate with somebody I donât know. I have a rule of thumb in music. Thereâs a lot of people that come from a lot of different traumas and environmental factors that cause them to be a certain kind of way. Sometimes, you get people that have been treated like sât their entire life, and now theyâre in a position of power, so they get their lick back on people who donât necessarily need it. Sometimes, Iâll look at artists and be like, âDamn, I really donât like you. I like the music, but I really donât like you.âÂ
So, spending time with SZA only verified that I was a fan of her as a human being. And the same thing goes for anybody that I work with. I have the capacity to live on my own terms, so I just donât spend time in places I donât want to be in. If I already like spending time with you, then making music will probably be automatic. Itâs like breathing, you donât even have to think about it.Â
But thereâs a lot of times where itâs not bad where Iâm just like, âYouâre cool to me, I never have to see you again.â SZA was not one of those people.Â
Her career arc has been incredible to watch. Do you want something like that for your career? Or are there bits of it that youâd like to make fit your vision for yourself?Â
Itâs funny because a lot of people that have worked around us say our arcs are similar. I donât necessarily look at peopleâs success rate in terms of how popular they are, I look at how great they are because that will stand the test of time. Mad people get popular for a little bit of time, theyâre here and then theyâre gone. Iâve made it very, very clear to myself that having a job in music is the only thing I want to live for â so Iâve been doing it for 13 years, and now Iâm getting considered to be a ânew artist,â which is totally fine with me. That just means that my legs are very long.Â
I got asked yesterday, âHow do you feel about possibly becoming very, very famous?â And I donât feel anything about it â as much as it sounds like a cool answer. Me being dismissive isnât something for aesthetic. As long as I can make music for the rest of my life, Iâm not really worried about much. I think that [SZAâs] getting the praises she deserves â and sheâs been deserving of for a long time â and Iâm just happy to stand with somebody that believes in me so much. Sheâs definitely stuck her neck out very, very long for me. If I have the success of SZA, awesome. If I have the success of somebody you never know, awesome too. Itâs one and the same for me.Â
On your Wikipedia page, they describe you as an âexperimental popâ artist. What do you make of that phrase?Â
You know what? I donât mind. Experimental pop. I feel like that may be the closest thing to what I do. Me and DQ â my big sister, publicist â weâve talked about this for a long time. We talked about how people perceived me and she understands, and I understand, that I donât like being perceived. I donât like my music being perceived in any kind of way, but you can perceive me. I feel like âexperimental popâ is fine. I like hooks, and thatâs pop. I like songs that people want to sing. Â
The experimental part⌠I also donât want to be bound by any one construct. Early on I decided Iâm going to find all the rules and then pick ones not to follow. And thatâs kind of how I ended up making music in the first place. Thatâs why people were like, âBut itâs rock, but itâs not rock, but itâs this and itâs that.â One of my favorite artists, Prince âIâll never compare myself to that man, but what Prince was able to do was make music that was Prince: It wasnât necessarily rock or pop or R&B. It was Prince.Â
When people started trying to define me for the sake of utility, like, âOh, where do we place this?â â place it everywhere. Itâll work.Â
On the spectrum of visibility, thereâs a middle ground where people see one side of you, but not all of you. The concept of the multiplicity of the self⌠how does that inform the way you incorporate different languages in your music?Â
As a Black and Mexican person, Iâve learned my entire life how to code-switch, because some language is going to make some people uncomfortable. So, Iâm like, âOK, I canât go up to this white dude and be like, whatâs up, my nâa,â itâs not going to work. The reason why Iâll go from Spanish to English to quote-unquote Ebonics to whatever, itâs because the voice is an instrument. It just depends on what I need. Iâm not going to use an electric guitar for a part that needs an acoustic guitar, and Iâll rather use a, you know, a fâing baritone guitar. When I use my different languages, it makes it easier for me to understand myself because Iâm not just one thing. Â
Iâm trying to spend my time being more similar to everything than dissimilar. I think a lot of times creatives get in this place where theyâre like, âIâm so different,â and Iâm tired of being different. Not in the way that I want to assimilate to any idea â Iâm tired of being different because itâs not a choice. A lot of people spend their lives separating themselves, and I want to spend more of my life doing what I do in my music. Spanish and English go together because itâs one and the same. Some things I can say better in Spanish than I can in English and some things I can say better in English than I can in Spanish.Â
My dad was a thug, so a lot of my tongue comes from my father, and then my mother learned English through Black folk. Her English is also proper because Mexican people have the propensity to have to learn English a certain kind of way because they think that they have to. And here, especially when youâre first generation or second generation, you adhere to a status quo of language, or else youâre considered to be âcountryâ or something. And my mom could give two fâks, but she also was, like, âYâall going to read these books before you go to bed. A lot of them.âÂ
Yâall wasnât no iPad kids!Â
Bro, Iâm telling you! You seen iPad Dog?Â
What?!Â
Thereâs an iPad dog. Itâs fire. I played the game, and he jumps on the screen, and he taps the screen and sât.Â
This is not OK.Â
I try and spend less amount of time on technology as I possibly can and everybody said, âYou need to do this. You need to do that.â Iâm like, âYou know what? Iâm going to take a walk.â I feel like weâre just getting to that age, where weâre turning into old people â because remember how much we were outside?Â
Itâs impossible to talk about contemporary tech without also speaking about algorithms. Has the rise of algorithms in the music industry impacted your ability to create freely, either explicitly or subliminally? How does it impact the way you promote releasing and promoting your music?Â
In the â90s, people hated MTV, because if you didnât get on TV, you werenât going to go up. Same thing goes with even before that. In the â70s, â80s, if the disc jockey didnât fâk with you, you wasnât going nowhere. Youâre gonna end up another vinyl thatâs in the thrift store that people donât listen to.Â
Weâre in a time now where data collection is so important for people to optimize. Itâs all about optimization. That optimization has become so clear that you donât even have to pick your own music anymore. I think thereâs a lost love there. It can lead to you not having the sense of discovery. Â
When I was coming up, I would have to go on YouTube wormholes to try and find new stuff. Iâm like, âOh, thereâs this artist, and then thereâs this artist. Holy sât! What is this? This is crazy!â I think now itâs optimized to a point where so many of those steps are gone, which bottlenecks the industry. Thereâs, I donât know, 100,000 songs uploaded to Spotify and Apple Music daily. Thereâs only going to be a few that get past the threshold of playlisting to where more people will listen to them.Â
Since we have so many people making music, we have lottery winners, which Iâm never going to be mad at. We have people that win the TikTok lottery, or itâs like you had a single part of a song that people love, and itâs giving you a career hopefully. A lot of times, itâs probably a scary position, because you havenât built an infrastructure to support that growth â so youâre going to topple over and people are not going to know who you are in the next following year. I donât think thereâs a good or bad way to do it. I donât know if itâs necessarily going to decide sât for us. Itâll just make it easier for us not to have to ever make a decision.Â
Iâm pro-innovation, but Iâm also pro-tradition. If you want to go look for music and find a diamond in the rough, do that. I was 17 when I first got found on SoundCloud. I think whatâs conducive to me making music is Rick Rubin telling me, âTake your time,â and Jay-Z telling me in my face, âYouâre great.â Iâll take that over the algorithm telling me that my sât is popping.Â
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I think your attitude towards the power of algorithms plays out in how you structure your releases â youâre not one to tack standalone singles onto a project to play the streaming game, for example. So, walk me through two of your projects from this year: Xcape and Destruction for Dummies.Â
Itâs supposed to be a trilogy, thereâs two out now. Iâm trying to think when the next one will come out. The last installment is supposed to be called ArcoĂris â âRainbowâ in Spanish â but Iâve just been doing a bunch of other stuff.Â
On âXcape, Pt. 1â Jean Dawson as âPhoenix,â [Phoenix] is the more aggressive, I have something to say, loudmouth kid. On the next installment, âDestruction for Dummies, Pt. 2â Jean Dawson as âNightmare,â I had just got out of a relationship, and I was feeling it for real. It was the perfect excuse to find this Eeyore-type personality. Boohoo is the next person for ArcoĂris, and heâs the pity party guy, where itâs like: Feel bad for me, and not in the way where Iâm going to tell you why to feel bad for me.Â
I think my headspace when I was making those⌠I wanted side quests. I wanted to make a chapbook or an anthology series that wasnât canon. In anime, thereâs things that are non-canon events, and thatâs kind of what these side quests have been. Itâs not like a body of work where my idea from A-Z is complete. It allows you to work out your own ideas without being constrained to the sound of an album, but also not an EP.Â
So, in that case, what have you settled on as far as the next album is concerned?Â
Iâm trying to think when it will come because I have two plans. Either Iâm going to go away for three years and just disappear, or Iâm going to put an album out next year, I donât know. I believe weâll have a lot of Spanish. Iâm also trying to do music in Spanish that hasnât been done before because some stuff in Spanish â like trap music â has been done. The stuff thatâs supe- popular with regional music right now, itâs being done. Itâs being done very well. Iâm trying to find the space in my brain to figure out what James Blake sound like if he was Mexican. Iâm not saying that Iâm gonna do that, but Iâm just saying thatâs my line of thinking.Â
Thereâs going to be more Spanish involved, just cause my grandma was like, âWhy donât you make more music In Spanish?â And I was like, âFâk. She called me out.â Honestly, the only reason I hadnât is because some of the things I have to say, I canât say in Spanish. Which is kind of a lame reason, and now when she put me on the spot, Iâm like, âDamn, I really donât have that reason, because itâs my first language.â I need to actually do it because I want to do it now. Before, I felt like it was maybe forced or something, and I didnât want to use it as kudos or a pony trick. Itâs like, âNo, dude, itâs my language.âÂ
[People] hear me speak Spanish, or when they hear a song in Spanish, theyâre like, âNo, you donât understand what that makes me feel.â So, for that full-length project, Iâve been working with some legendary aâ people that Iâm super excited about. I canât name them yet, but just as a callback, theyâll know later. I think the next album is going to be beautiful, from what I know right now.Â
You have a couple of shows towards the end of the month. What can fans expect from those performances?Â
Yeah, I have a show with Interpol â the legendary band â and we play the Greek in L.A. I have some headline shows as well. Iâm excited. The West Coast is my region. Then, Iâm supporting Yachty in Europe, which is going to be awesome â Iâm a massive Yachty fan. The West Coast gets a lot of me because I live there, so the West Coast and Denver are the two places Iâve performed the most for some reason. I mean, Denver ⌠I love those mountain kids, theyâre sick.Â
Iâm approaching the music that I already made differently. The way that itâs structured, the way that itâs played, I have the band learning the songs again â but in a different format, just because I donât want the perception to be like âJean Dawson is rock and rollâ or Jean Dawson is this or that. No, I want you to guess. And I donât want it to be spoon-fed to you. Iâm just going to make them a little more interesting and just like⌠What the fâk is going on? I learned that from watching BjĂśrk live a few times, where Iâm like, âWhat the fâk is she doing? This is crazy!âÂ
Then when we head over to Europe â itâs my first time â so weâre going to do all of it, starting in Oslo and ending in Vienna. Growing up Mexican, travel is not something that is normalized, because our parents canât do it â a lot of [our] parents are undocumented. Iâm going to make a lot of music out there too. Iâm stoked. And I know my European audience and my U.K. audience is stoked because they were like, âJeanâs never gonna come here,â and now theyâre going to travel with us! Thereâs caravans of people that are going to Stockholm, Cologne, Paris, theyâre going to see it all.Â
How does it feel knowing that youâve built all of this from the ground up?Â
Grateful above anything else. I got jaded to it a little bit at first, because I was never popular in school, and I was never deemed as cool. So, when it first starts to happen, I kind of have an [aversion] to it because it doesnât feel real⌠until I toured the first time. I saw the Black, the brown, the white kids â it felt like I came home from war every time they saw me. Theyâre like, âOh my God!â and Iâm like, âOh, sât!â I got to see their faces and⌠if itâs not for [them], I really canât do this.Â
Anything that they want from me, Iâll stop in the middle of my food and take photos. They find me at the airport now, and itâs fâing crazy. Yâall just need to relax, but anything you want, you got it. Iâll sit and talk for two hours with some kid thatâs telling me about how they want to start making music, and Iâm just like, âDo it!â I donât like giving advice because I donât know sât, but hereâs what I could tell you I did wrong, and maybe you can circumvent those wrongs. I feel very blessed above anything else and privileged to be able to have my job just be expressing myself and people relate to it. Itâs fâing crazy.Â
You mentioned that you werenât considered cool growing up, and now youâre kinda the epitome of cool for a lot of people. Who are your style icons? Who are your film icons?Â
I was never cool in high school, because the high school I went to wasnât hip on Tumblr and I was a Tumblr kid, so the sât that I knew, they had no idea. I was wearing like post-[A$AP] Rocky style â who is definitely an inspiration of mine, amongst a lot of different things, but style specifically.Â
Post-Rocky Tumblr was crazy as hell, and I was just showing up to school in San Diego, where nobody gave a fâk about what youâre wearing, in some crazy sât that I got on eBay. That made me a weirdo. Even when I was getting fits off that â if I was in New York, theyâre like, âOh, sât, he got that sât onâ â where I was from, it was like, âThatâs weird. He reads anime. He always has a girlfriend. He donât talk to nobody.â I smoked cigarettes in the parking lot like, I had no fâing cool points.Â
I go to college and itâs still kind of the same thing. Itâs like, frats and stuff like that, which is all fine. But Iâm not gonna wear no Sperrys. The Internet gave a place for whatever I am to be deemed as cool. Rocky, heâs the best-dressed person, period, I think ever. I donât have Rockyâs body, nor Rockyâs paycheck, so Iâm not necessarily doing what Rocky does, but he definitely is the most well-dressed person taste level-wise. Also, Kurt Cobain â â90s grunge is something that lets me be super lazy and people think that itâs tight. Â
Then in the film world, music for me is a visual language. If you listen to my songs, most of them are metaphorical. Most of the time Iâm talking about something that I can see, but Iâve never seen. Iâve been really, really inspired by movies my entire life. I spent a lot of time by myself, meaning that I spent a lot of time in front of the TV because when you donât have nobody around, the TVâs gonna keep you company. I guess that was my version of my iPad.Â
Letâs talk about hype. How does the concept of hype register in your mind? Whether itâs industry hype or hype from fans, how do you keep yourself from getting lost in all the different voices trying to define you?Â
Hype is important when people are excited about you. When people are excited about you, you should feel excited. I donât think thereâs anything wrong with feeling connected to a moment that feels more potent than most. I also idolized people like Earl Sweatshirt, who, in my opinion â heâs someone who since has become a friend and collaborator â Earl was always able to circumvent the current of something. In one of his albums, he said, âtrend-dodging,â and that stuck with me. Itâs like, âWhy do that when I can do the thing that I actually like?â But I also donât think thereâs anything wrong with trends. I feel like some people just need a sense of identity and they need a little help to get there.Â
I think the idea of hype or your audience being excited about things is cool. Industry hype â itâs hard to get. Itâs easy to get disillusioned by industry hype because everybody at one point is going to have their moment where everybody looks at them, and I feel like if you donât get caught there, you wonât get Medusaâd. And being Medusaâd, itâs like youâre gonna get turned into stone because youâre watching too hard how people are watching you. I think if you acknowledge it and move on, then youâll never get stuck trying to chase that high. Thatâs how you end up the oldest nâ-a trying to be cool with young kids. You want that same feeling you felt when you were 21 and brand new. It serves its purpose, but as long as you donât get caught in it, youâll be fine.Â
Youâve accomplished an incredible amount while being independent, where do you stand on the utility of record labels?Â
People have always asked me, âWhy donât you like labels?â Itâs not that I donât like labels, I just have never been signed because the business that Iâve been offered, Iâve never been aligned with. The things that they offer I donât necessarily need, and the things that I need, they didnât necessarily offer. So, Iâm not pro-label and Iâm not anti-label. Iâm anti-bad business. Iâve structured my career in a way where the utility of a label wasnât paramount. Itâs totally fine if you want to go buy your house in cash, but I donât think you should be mad at the bank for giving you a loan. Iâm not saying labels are just banks, but one of the biggest things that theyâre able to do is give you utility that you might not be able to get or have. Â
Since I didnât need that â not because I came up rich, but because I figured out a business strategy early to circumvent the fact that I donât need to take out the highest-interest loan â I can get it to a place to where I go to a label and we can see eye to eye on what utilities I need and what numbers they want to see back as a return on investment. I wanted to become an artist with a high ROI, and in order to do that, itâs going to take time. Â
I havenât necessarily needed a label on my come-up because Iâve had such a strong foundational team from management. Weâve built a little army. Weâre small, but weâre scrappy and we get sât done, and I donât think itâs because weâre particularly talented. I think itâs because we care a lot. Now, at this point in my career, Iâm most likely going to sign this year to somewhere because I think the growing of our infrastructure is super important â just for the growth of our artist project. My entire team is Jean Dawson. Itâs not just me. Iâm the face and Iâm the word, but we need to grow and in order to do that, thereâs going to be some things that we need facilitated that are outside of our abilities. Â
In the beginning, I didnât want to do that because I wanted to not only own my albums â I own all my albums â I didnât want the constraints of âthis needs to be successful or else somebody loses their job.â And thatâs because I care about other human beings outside of myself. I think that doing it indie is noble and I think it serves its purpose, but at a certain point, youâre gonna hit a glass ceiling. And, also, starting off with the label, youâre gonna hit a glass ceiling. I think you need to get your career to a place where itâs stable enough to where you donât need a label. Then go to a label. Or get your career to a place where, with or without a label, youâre going to be fine, because then you can add fuel to the fire by having stronger arms. You need to know how to allocate your money.Â
I got offers from my first album to my last album. Offers have always been on the table, but Iâm like, âIâm not gonna waste your time and yâall money because Iâm not gonna waste my time, and Iâm not gonna waste my sanity trying to chase some money that I know I couldnât get back.â I guess the best advice I can give to anybody thatâs thinking about signing or not signing is to really know what you need. If you need money, go do shows, and if youâre not in a position where your shows pay you, then work more and get to a place where doing shows pays you. And then when you get to a place where you need money to expand, then you can go to a label and know why you need it. For anybody that wants to stay indie, do a lot of shows, sell merch, get really comfortable with direct-to-consumer, and having your audience be proud to pay for what you do.Â
Between a rare in-depth Jay-Z interview, a new Brent Faiyaz LP, and an announcement confirming new music from Megan Thee Stallion, the major players across R&B and hip-hop kept the scene busy the past week â but some left-of-center artists also had their own worthy contributions to the conversation. New Music Friday (Oct. 27) treated DSPs to a new tidal wave of bangers across hip-hop R&B to populate playlists ahead of Q4âs major holiday parties and celebrations.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop â from Destin Conrad and Masegoâs blistering duet to Azealia Banksâ long-teased drill anthem. Be sure to check out this weekâs Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: serpentwithfeet, Ty Dolla $ign & Yanga Yaya, âDamn Glovesâ
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For the lead single for his forthcoming Grip LP, experimental R&B auteur serpentwithfeet dips his toe into house music influences with âDam Gloves.â Assisted by frequent collaborator Ty Dolla $ign and South African artist Yanga YaYa, serpentwithfeet utilizes production reminiscent of Travis Scott and BeyoncĂŠâs âDelresto (Echoes)â for a dark, sensual paean to slow-grinding and wining. âI donât need no weed, I donât need no liquor/ I just wanna keep grind-grindinâ on my nâa / Whateverâs on his leg, good God, itâs gettinâ thicker,â he teases.
Shordie Shordie feat. Baby B, âFirst Kissâ
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Taken from the back half of his melodic Murda Beatz-helmed Memory Lane 2 project, âFirst Kissâ finds Baltimore rapper Shordie Shordie linking up with rising R&B singer Baby B for a tender guitar-inflected ode to the dream of your first kiss also being your last. Itâs a surprisingly warm and heartfelt duet that incorporated elements of A Boogie Wit da Hoodie and Juice WRLDâs sing-songy flow with Shordieâs intimate grasp of emotive hooks. âDo you remember your first kiss?/ Not the fake one, but the one with some purpose,â he questions.
Destin Conrad & Masego, âSuper Paradiseâ
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Last week (Oct. 27), R&B crooner Destin Conrad dropped off Submissive, his third full-length project. The sensual set finds its closer in the Masego-assisted âSuper Paradise,â a breezy, string-laden number that makes subtle nods to dembow as the pair trade verses about submitting to their lover out of desire, not desperation. Itâs a very carnal affair.
Skylar Blatt feat. Lola Brooke, âFâk Fame, Pt. 2â
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In the lead-up to her forthcoming Dennis Daughter project, Brooklyn rapper Lola Brooke has put out her fair share of pop-leaning radio-ready singles to keep her name on the mind of both consumers and radio programmers post-âDonât Play With It.â On this new collaboration with Cincinnati rapper Skylar Blatt, Lola doubles down on the menacing snarl that garnered her name recognition. The two female rappers trade punchline-packed bars about the frivolity of fame â a smart choice of topic given hip-hopâs currently tenuous relationship with the apex of the mainstream music scene. Lola effortlessly embodies the gruffness of Skylarâs chorus, resulting in the (unfortunately) rare collaboration in which both artists are genuinely informing the otherâs approach to the song.
Masego feat. Wale & ENNY, âYou Never Visit Me (Remix)â
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The original solo version of âYou Never Visit Meâ has been out for nearly a year, but that didnât stop Masego from calling in some reinforcements for the songâs new remix. Featuring Wale and English rapper ENNY, the songâs remix opens up the breadth of perspectives regarding abandoned relationships. Wale joins Masego in wallowing over a lover walking out on him, but ENNY flips the songâs hazy, jazz-informed arrangement to soundtrack the snarky apathy she feels towards her former partner. âBut, now I got you on a need to know bases/ If I keep it real/ I seen the truth and now I canât face it,â she coos.
42 Dugg, âGo Againâ
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For his first single post-prison release, Atlanta rapper 42 Dugg opts for a biting stream-of-consciousness flow that combines his natural knack for catchy hooks with a single gargantuan verse that finds him doubling down on his braggadocio in all areas of his life. âCatch you slippinâ, Iâm slidinâ, tell me Iâm good at rappinâ/ Yâall good at hidinâ, nâa, come out and get active/ My chopper shoot backwards (Bâch), my bâches gets pampered / You probably didnât have her, doggie, she callinâ me daddy,â he spits.
Azealia Banks, âDilemmaâ
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In typical Azealia fashion, the controversial New York rapper has finally unveiled an official version of âDilemmaâ after first teasing the song over four years ago. On the new track, the â212â rapper retreats from her trademark house and ballroom influences, and, instead, opts to dip her toe into another segment of New Yorkâs music scene: drill. While a large number of drill rappers tend to favor animatedly gruff growls, Banks plays with the dynamics of her timbre to retain a sense of individuality. This is most clear in the songâs final chorus â which arrives after one breathless and impressive rap verse â where she whispers the lyrics with a priceless sense of brooding humor.
The wait for City Girlsâ new album is almost over, and this new snippet is sure to carry us through the home stretch. On Wednesday (Oct. 18), the âAct Upâ rappers took to their official Instagram page to upload a video featuring a snippet of a new song. âFlashy Ft. @KimPetras FRIDAY 10/20 đ¸â¨đŠˇ #RAW,â […]
Since scoring a pair of left-field slow jam hits in duets with H.E.R. (âBest Partâ) and Kali Uchis (âGet Youâ) six years ago, Daniel Caesar has sidestepped the quest for the male R&B throne and has instead opted to focus on further developing his dedicated community of fans â one that has grown to the size of a sold-out Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night (Oct. 17).
The Grammy winner has come a long way since those controversial comments on race relations and the subsequent backlash, but a sobering, apologetic self-reflection and a string of major career moves kept the Caesar train chugging. In the time since âBest Partâ emerged as Freudianâs breakout hit, Caesar found Billboard Hot 100 success as a songwriter for fellow Canadians Justin Bieber (âPeaches,â No. 1 â also with Caesar as a featured artist) and Shawn Mendes (âMonster,â No. 8), launched another acclaimed Grammy-nominated studio effort in Case Study 01, and released collaborations with Common, Brandy, FKA twigs and Omar Apollo.
On Tuesday night, the acclaimed singer-songwriter took over one of the worldâs most iconic venues to perform the biggest show of his career thus far. His Superpowers World Tour â a global trek in support of his major label debut album, Never Enough, a stunningly introspective slice of R&B that peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 â is a terrific showcase of musical dexterity.
On the latest stop of his Superpowers Tour, Caesar tore through his lush discography, showcasing impressive vocal endurance and an intriguing yet entrancing approach to staging. Before he hit the stage, however, Grammy-nominated pop&B lothario Omar Apollo sparkled with an energetic set that dripped with sensuality and playfulness. Evoking Michael Jackson one second and Mick Jagger the next, Apollo swaggered through renditions of hits like âEvergreen,â âTamagotchiâ and â3 Boys.â Between a heartfelt tribute to Mexico (âEn El Olvidoâ) and a hilarious streak of frankness â after he flubbed a riff, he quipped, âOop, my fault!â before seamlessly executing an even harder falsetto riff â Apollo seemed incredibly comfortable in front of the packed arena.
Caesar began his set enclosed in translucent drapery, with a guest appearance from Mustafa the Poet â the pair performed their âToronto 2014â collaboration â adding to the enigmatic tone of the night. Once he hit âCyanide,â the drapes fell, revealing a close-up of a humbled Caesar, ready and excited to delight the crowd with a slew of songs off Never Enough, as well as some fan-favorites (âEntropyâ) and a cover of Radioheadâs âCreep.â Not one for much banter, Caesar instead channeled his appreciation into a series of moving vocal performances that cast his greatest love songs in the context of the love story between him and his fans.
Here are the five best moments of Daniel Caesarâs Superpowers World Tour at Madison Square Garden:
Caesar in the Shadows