Interview
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As tension continues in Venezuela following the presidential elections on Sunday (July 28), when the Venezuelan electoral authority declared Nicolás Maduro the winner and the opposition denounced irregularities in the count and claimed that their candidate Edmundo González had won with almost 70% of the votes, Venezuelan and foreign artists have spoken out about the difficult situation in the South American country.
Whether expressing solidarity with the Venezuelan people or sharing images of the demonstrations that have turned violent in the face of repression by the Armed Forces and the police, Venezuelan stars like Nacho, Lele Pons and Elena Rose, as well as foreigners like Juan Luis Guerra, Gloria Trevi and Don Omar, have shared messages of support with their millions of followers.
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One of those who has been most vocal from exile is Danny Ocean, who in recent days posted an emotional video on his Instagram account calling on the family members of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) and police forces to make them see reason to prevent further bloodshed.
The demonstrations in Venezuela have left “at least 20 dead, dozens injured, and hundreds detained,” reports Univision Noticias. While the government has refused to make public the voting records that would show Maduro has won, opposition leader María Corina Machado and her team published theirs on the internet, with election witnesses also showing them on social media. The U.S. government has recognized Edmundo González as the winner of the elections.
Danny Ocean, who left Venezuela in 2015, feels that the only way for this to end is with the support of the militia, and that is why he insists on his call. In this “as told to” narrative, the Venezuelan musician reflects on the situation in his country and invites his colleagues to unite in a single message.
I don’t even know where to start. What is happening in Venezuela hurts me a lot. It hurts to see the number of kids who are dying right now in the streets, and I feel that the only ones who can ease this and reduce this are the National Armed Forces and the police.
I know that they must not be having an easy time either, honestly. But, I don’t know, that’s how I feel. Everything I have been talking about from my side has been from the heart, trying to be as sensible as possible. And I also don’t want to interfere with the communication that is happening right now with Venezuela; I am trying to support all the people who are trying to talk to their children, helping to pass information about the people who are inside Venezuela.
From my side, I don’t want to be putting out information like this arbitrarily; I think it’s necessary to give space to digital media so they can communicate what they want to communicate. I just want to call on the relatives of the military to please talk to them, tell them that we are really tired. They know what is happening and what is really going on and what is right and what is wrong. They are the only ones who can help the people so that there is no massacre in the streets.
If we want to get out of this mess, because this is no longer a political issue of left, right, blue, red, yellow, none of that crap. No. This is now a situation of good against evil. And about people being tired. People are really tired.
And beyond that, there are almost 8 million Venezuelans who are abroad, as I said in my post, and the region is not prepared for another massive wave [of emigrants]. And we don’t want more broken families. Enough is enough! If that number is so high, it’s for a reason. If there’s smoke, there’s fire. This is something very important for the international community to understand, because we are really tired, and the military knows it.
The game right now is on their side. It really depends on them. And I, as a spokesperson, as an artist, am trying to simply carry my message on that side.
[I would like to see Venezuela] prosperous, with chances to grow, where people don’t have to worry about their future, don’t have to worry about having to leave to seek a better future. A place where there is room for everything. Venezuela has everything for everyone to do something incredible. That’s what I hope happens at the end of all this.
But now I’m trying to focus on the present, on what is happening. Right now I think we need to all get together, guys. People are dying in the streets.
I see artists throwing crap at each other [on social media]. That doesn’t work. The messages have to be positive. I know there is a lot of pain, I know there are many things stored inside, but it’s not the time to be throwing crap at each other. It’s very important that at least the community of artists among us Venezuelans are aligned with the messages we are giving.
If all the artists got on a wave of pleading with our militia and our police to help and collaborate — because they are the only ones who can reduce that number [of victims] — that would be great. I think it would be a spectacular movement if we all united with that message.
Telling her story in a documentary was not difficult for Mon Laferte. On the contrary, the Chilean-Mexican singer-songwriter tells Billboard Español, narrating part of her past in front of a camera provoked “a certain nostalgia,” mainly when remembering her pregnancy and the birth of her son.
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“I think how crazy I was, going singing when I was three months pregnant, with my belly all over the place — and then with my baby, three months after birth, and I was on stage!” the artist explains from Mexico City, with a chuckle.
Mon Laferte, Te Amo, which arrived on Netflix on Thursday (August 1), is an intimate portrait in which the singer of “El Beso” and “Tu Falta de Querer” reveals details of her professional and personal life, from her crude childhood and her start as a singer in her native Viña del Mar, to her arrival in Mexico in 2007, and how she managed to become a Latin music star. But it is, above all, “a story of strength, of resilience,” she says.
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Directed by Camila Grandi and Joanna Reposi Garibaldi, the documentary finds Laferte in the middle of an international tour, just weeks away from becoming a mother. In the back and forth between stages, dressing rooms and her home, Norma Monserrat Bustamante Laferte (her real name) recalls a complex childhood, marked by the abandonment of her father and economic struggles, as well as the differences that distanced her from her mother at a young age.
Then, a painful event caused an even greater estrangement with her mother, who was involved in a relationship with an alcoholic man who used domestic violence and abused Laferte sexually, the artist narrates in her biographical chronicle.
“Talking about my mother in a documentary was very healing,” she says. “I’ve had a difficult relationship with her, at times of much love, and at times of friction, of disagreements with her since I was a child. But over the years, I understand her much more, and today there is greater empathy.”
Motherhood is undoubtedly the common thread in Mon Laferte, Te Amo — where the figures of her grandmother, her mother and herself as a new mom are the protagonists.
The artist compares her experience to that of Beyoncé, whose documentary Homecoming (2019) records the days leading up to her highly anticipated performance at the 2018 Coachella Festival and the emotional path the American superstar and also mother went through, from creative concept to the concert’s moment.
“I remember in the documentary, she was rehearsing all day, she was with her baby, and in my ignorance I thought, ‘She should go home to rest, and then come back,’” Laferte says. “But when I became a mom, I understood her a lot because there is something about needing to feel again like yourself before pregnancy and giving birth.”
Other passages in Mon Laferte, Te Amo talk about her life after leaving school, her beginnings as a singer in local bars in Chile and her relationship with a man 21 years older than her who soon became her first manager, and she the victim of emotional and economic abuse.
It also tells of her time on Rojo, the Chilean National Television show that made her known, and her arrival in Mexico, where she had to start over again years later to conquer the most important music market in the Hispanic world.
“Many women can see themselves reflected in this documentary, we go through the same things,” says the four-time Latin Grammy winner. “Not all of them are singers, but it is like the daily life of a woman — facing the challenges that society demands of us, and that we demand of ourselves.
“I demand a lot from myself to be a great artist, but also to be the best mother in the world,” she adds with a smile.
Mon Laferte’s documentary arrives as the Chilean star — and naturalized Mexican, as of November 2022 — continues her Autopoiética Tour in support of her 2023 album of the same name.
Mon Laferte was also just confirmed to participate at the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Week, which will be held Oct. 14-18 at The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason in Miami Beach, Florida.
After successful editions in countries like the U.S., Japan, Switzerland and Brazil, Netflix is launching dating reality show Love is Blind: Mexico on Thursday (Aug. 1), featuring a theme song by Joss Favela.
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That song is “Cosas Mágicas,” a romantic single released on July 19 under Sony Latin, in which the Sinaloa singer-songwriter experiments with country music for the first time. “They say magical things never warn us when they arrive/ Love is blind and the truth is/ Today I was able to confirm it,” he sings in Spanish over beautiful electric guitar riffs and trombone.
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“I’m truly happy to have written a song for such a significant series,” he tells Billboard Español, explaining that the opportunity came through Seitrack, his management agency. “The lyrics are completely romantic, something I haven’t written in a long time,” he adds.
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He recalls that the closest he had come to country music before was “Pienso en Ti” with Becky G, released in October 2018, where the guitar sounds evoke classic Nashville rhythms without being entirely country. Now, he hopes to reach new markets beyond regional Mexican music.
“It’s definitely a great opportunity for my music to reach beyond where it’s currently known,” says the 33-year-old artist. “Many people will watch the series and if they don’t know who Joss Favela is, they will now. Ultimately, what an artist wants is to be heard, and this is a great showcase.”
Favela has had a busy 2024. In May, he released the six-song EP, Mis Compas, Vol. 1, which includes duets with Banda MS, Codiciado, Los Plebes del Rancho, Luis R. Conríquez, Gera MX and Yuridia. Last Thursday, July 25th, he performed at the Premios Juventud in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
He has also returned to the top of the Billboard charts as the songwriter of Grupo Firme’s hit “El Beneficio de la Duda,” which reached No. 1 on Latin Airplay and Regional Mexican Airplay this month.
“I had been holding onto the song for a while; it’s from a time in my life when I felt very vulnerable,” Favela says about the top-charting song. “[Grupo Firme’s vocalist] Eduin [Caz] connected with the song from the moment he heard it. We recorded it in my studio, which allowed me to get to know him better, and he’s a great guy. Today, I can say he’s my friend, and honestly, working that way is much easier.”
He confesses that he initially “had fears because it isn’t a song in the style of what Grupo Firme usually does,” but now he is “as proud as a peacock” with the outcome and its success. “What has happened with the song has been wonderful for them, for me, and for everyone involved,” he says.
Favela is planning to release Vol. 2 of Mis Compas. Fans have to wait and see if Caz is among the guests.
Rakim has been your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper since he and Eric B dropped Paid in Full in 1987. Credited with shifting the way rappers rap, he is often recognized as the inventor of “flow,” as those who came before him rapped with a more flat-footed rhyming cadence. Rakim attacked tracks like Usain Bolt, and his flow has been compared to the way Thelonious Monk played the piano or how John Coltrane manipulated the saxophone.
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However, not too many fans are aware that Rakim is also a producer. For G.O.D’s Network (REB7RTH), his first album since 2009’s The Seventh Seal, the God MC crafted every beat for every song. “This is the first time I’m really showcasing myself as a producer,” he says over the phone. “I always produced tracks. I did a lot of the Eric B & Rakim music, but never really let that be known.”
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Having grown up in a musical family (his aunt was legendary actress and singer Ruth Brown), Rakim always dug for samples — and most notably produced “Juice (Know the Ledge)” from the Juice soundtrack. That’s him playing the live drums on there, and it was him who looped the bassline from Nat Adderley’s “Rise, Sally Rise.”
His new seven-track album is packed with features from rappers new and old, alive and gone. There are verses from the late Nipsey Hussle and Fred the Godson. He has Chino XL and Canibus on the same song. Planet Asia and B.G. make appearances. East Coast underground mainstays Hus Kingpin and 38 Spesh contributed a few bars — as did Wu-Tang Killa Bees Masta Killa, Method Man and La the Darkman.
Rakim talked with Billboard about how this all came together, why he wanted to feature his production skills, the current state of the rap game, and much more. Check out our interview below.
This is your first album since 2009. What inspired you to make this album?
I think the time was just right. The stars finally aligned for me, and I took advantage. There were a couple of label situations that I was trying to get done. Just a deal that I felt was worth my worth. Sometimes things don’t happen the way they should, and I’m not the one to settle. I’ve been in the game for a long time, so my deal isn’t gonna be like an up-and-coming new artist’s deal would be. Artists that have been here for a while, we have to understand our worth, otherwise, everybody else’s goes down. Our art reflects who we are. I was actually working on a project before I started the one I’m putting out now. Me and Jazzy Jeff were doing an album, and I had a song on it called “Reborn.”
So, I feel like now it’s a little easier for artists such as yourself to do things independently because you have the legacy and the fanbase already.
It’s a blessing. You don’t have to conform to what’s going on. If you’ve got a fanbase, do what you’re supposed to do, and they’ll support you.
Someone that was a big proponent of that and helped shift things into where we’re at now is Nipsey Hussle. I noticed that you got a verse from him. How did that come together? Is that a verse that the family let you use in the stash? Or was that something that you and him were working on before he passed? You got Fred the Godson on there, too.
Fred, DMX. I’ve got a Prodigy on there as well. It was an honor to be able to salute those brothers and showcase their work again. My man, Matt Markoff (who served as A&R/executive producer) has so much passion for the project. He went around to the right people and let them put their ear to the project, and was able to get some verses from some of these heavyweight legends.
It’s funny, man — he was going out, making moves and would send me the track back with the verse on it and surprise me. The whole project put a lot of things in perspective for me. The love that I was gettin’ from the artists really let me know who I am. I’m a humble person.
Come on, man, come on. I get it, but it’s like, if Rakim wants a verse from you… I can’t imagine anybody giving you a hard time.
[Laughs.] That’s that love, man, word. When they came back with the finished project, not only did they do their thing, but a lot of them saluted me in a verse — which was humblin’ again. I’m so glad that we did it and got it out, and it’s also a chance for me to showcase my production skills and my DJ skills. I’m kind of enjoying this from a different point of view by being able to produce and mold the project together.
I was gonna ask — I noticed on one of the tracks you say, “Hold up, let me see if I get the scratch right.” So, that’s you scratching on the record?
Yeah, I did all the scratching on the whole project… I DJ’d when I started rhyming when I was young. I used to DJ too. I always loved that element as well. So, it was fun to showcase all of that on this project.
Were those the Kid Wizard days?
Yeah [Laughs.]
I know your thing with Dre didn’t really work out, but the song “Now Is the Time” has a West Coast sound to it. Did you pick up any production tips from working with him?
There were so many lessons and different angles to the game that I learned from Dre. I had a front-row seat to watch the process of producing a track. His energy and passion is unmatched. It made me get back on my grind after seeing his process. I was like, ‘”eah, I’m not applying myself the way I should.” Big up to the Doc, though. Yeah, Dre, I ain’t say nothin’, man. Imma holla at you. I ain’t tell ’em about what we’re working on.
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With you and Eric changing everything with Paid in Full, how do you feel about the way rap has evolved?
I remember when I told my mother that I’ve been going to the studio and that they asked me to sign out of school to go on tour — which was bizarre. I’m sitting there explaining this to my moms and she says, “So, you giving up football? How do you know if this rap thing is gonna last?” Football was my dream, but that stuck in my head.
Mom’s word is golden, but I had that passion. It was something that scared me, but it also kept me focused. I come from that era when not only my mom, but a lot of people didn’t think that hip-hop would last. So, to see it come from where it came from and to see where it’s at now is a blessing. Hip-hop is the biggest genre in music right now. Incredible.
People ask you how you came up with your style because you changed how people rap. You incorporated jazz elements into your rhyme pattern. How does Rakim feel listening to Future, listening to a Young Thug, listening to some of these cats where they talk street sh—t, but it’s not in the traditional 16 bars, they’re singing it, almost like using their voices as instruments?
It’s more R&B/hip-hop, than what I’m used to hip-hop being. But we watched it go from being lyrical to it being what they call “a vibe.” As long as it’s a vibe, they rock to it. It’s a tough situation, when the powers that be morphed it into it being the way it is. There’s no reason Future shouldn’t be able to put out the music that he loves doing and there’s no reason underground artists that love making that grimy boom-bap shouldn’t be able to make what they love. We let the powers that be separate hip-hop and made us work against each other.
We gotta break the limitations down. We have to stop letting them separate hip-hop, and we gotta govern ourselves and take control of our genre. We can’t be where we are now and have no kind of structure, or no kind of understanding about what this is — because it’ll fall to the bottom just as quick as it got to the top.
That’s why the Internet is important because all of this can co-exist now. The major label system isn’t as necessary as before. You can put this album on Bandcamp and there’s going to be a market for it.
And that’s what’s beautiful. We can stick to our guns and make the music that we love making. If you have a fanbase, cater to your fanbase, otherwise, you gonna drift off and you won’t be looking for fans that aren’t gonna know who you are, what you are, or what you do because you changed up on them. It’s important that we take advantage of the platform now. There aren’t any parameters that we have to follow or no cookie cutter that we got to use to get radio play to be relevant.
Make what you love. That’ll help the scale — because right now, the majority rules, and the majority seems to be closer to the R&B/hip-hop side. We need more people to stick to their guns to even that scale out.
How closely have you paid attention to the Drake and Kendrick thing? Because Drake is one of those artists that gets a knock for being an R&B dude, even though he’s battle-tested. He represents the mainstream and Kendrick represents the genre in a more traditional sense to most rap fans.
I think that it was important, because these brothers are at the top of the game, and revered hip-hop. You know, a lot of people in that position won’t accept no challenge, because they got too much to lose. So, it was dope that these brothers put the mainstream success down and said, “Yeah, let’s do it.”
The battle put a lot of things in perspective — because it showed the difference between real hip-hop and mainstream hip-hop. Younger artists now know that there’s a difference. A lot of them didn’t even understand that. They just listened to the majority, not knowing that a lot of people don’t categorize what they were hearing as real hip-hop. The battle was very needed for the genre. I tip my hat to them brothers. Let’s just hope that it stays to the music.
To the younger artists out there, do a little history, man, just like anything else. You want to learn about your family history, or your nationality’s history? Research it. Researching hip-hop is one of the illest things you can do. If you find out that your family came from great people and did great things, you’re gonna look at life a little differently. And when you look back at hip-hop and see where it came from and what this thing is about, it’ll give you a better understanding of what these brothers did. It’ll also make you feel a little better about what you represent.
A lot of hit rap records toe the line of pop and R&B these days, and fans are more forgiving about ghostwriters when it comes to some of those songs. I wanted to broach that subject with you because ghostwriting was considered a cardinal sin during your era.
It’s funny. Back early in the game around ’87-’88, people started asking me to write. The first person that asked me, I was so offended by that sh—t. That’s almost like being at practice and this kid is crossing you over like f–king crazy, man. You know what I mean? You’re not gonna go over there and be like, “My man, show me how to do that crossover.” I’m not giving him the golden pen. Like really, man? “Nah. I’m not writing this for you. You crazy?” Not the thought of having a ghostwriter but even me ghostwrite for someone else, you kiddin’?
So, to have a ghostwriter — from where I come from — that’s not acceptable. With singing it’s more complicated, it’s a little different. The singer still has to hit them notes and make it theirs, It’s much different for a singer because if you take a dope song from back in the day that was a hit and you give it to somebody else, it may not be a hit, because they can’t sing it right.
But for MCs, we salute them because of what they say. So, if your words aren’t from you, then how am I supposed to know what you wrote and what you didn’t write? And now, am I still supposed to respect you as an emcee knowing that you didn’t write everything? That’s complicated.
But, if the younger generation accepts that, then, you know, that’s on them. Where I come from, we don’t really respect that. I don’t respect that. Everything I ever said that was a verse, I wrote. I might have let somebody write a hook, or somebody might have sent me a song with a hook on it, but I pride myself on what I do and how I did it. I can’t see somebody else writing my rhymes and feeling like I’m that dude. My man helped me be that dude. I can’t even do that; I wouldn’t even feel right. I can’t even say thank you if somebody came up and was like, “Yo, that last song you did? Bananas.” I’ll feel funny as hell standing there. I would have to say, “You know what, bruh? I didn’t write that.” I can’t front.
I peeped that you have Hus Kingpin and 38 Spesh on the album. How did that come about? Were you fans of theirs? I know Hus is from Long Island. I felt like that was ill because it’s like you’re bridging the gap.
That’s what’s so dope about being able to do this project. We got MCs from every part of the United States. I always keep my ear to the street. From Smack URL to the underground scene, that’s what keeps hip-hop alive and well. I feel good when I see emcees spittin’ like that. I salute them young brothers that’s really wantin’ to be lyrical, pushin’ the envelope and refusing to say, ‘Aight, I’m just gonna make a quick radio song, so I can get out there.’ A lot of these brothers could’ve been tried to do that, but that ain’t where their heart is. They know real MCing and real hip-hop exists and anything outside the line is unacceptable.
Yeah, man, and it’s funny because this has kind of been the theme throughout this interview is just how everything has changed. Before, if you made this album, you would more than likely have had to chase radio play. You don’t have to chase the radio anymore.
I think we made a statement with the project. Straight hip-hop orientated and wasn’t looking to make radio-friendly songs or follow any kind of mold. Everybody did what they love. From watching the underground scene to the URL circuit with cats like Charlie Clips, Goodz — we need to break the walls down and merge all this together. It can’t do nothing but make the genre better. It’s gonna make rappers get in they bag and take their craft seriously.
You gotta show them that underbelly. It’s like when you pick up a log in the woods, and there’s like a whole universe under there.
We talkin’ on a hip-hop level. I won’t even say “street.” You gotta go to the trenches to really understand. I laugh when they try to discover things on Earth, there’s just a few places they don’t go. For one, they don’t go deep in the water and two, they don’t go to the swamps; it’s too dirty for them. It’s the same thing with the hood, they don’t wanna go to the hood; it’s too dirty for ’em. But you ain’t gonna know about too many things on the planet and how things work if you don’t go to the swamps, or you don’t go underwater. You’re on the surface thinking you know what’s going on. You go deep underwater, and you see something swim over and it turns into the thing it just landed on. It ain’t regular down there. There’s some different s—t going on down there.
You said that you’re humble, but you’re also aware that you’re on top of everybody’s “Best Rapper” list. What keeps you motivated to make music?
I think that alone. The expectations that I not only give myself, but what the people give me. I use that as fuel. I would rather people expect me to succeed than to expect me to fail. I gotta keep doing it at a higher rate because that’s what they expect from me. I just try to use it to help me rather than stagnate me.
So, we can expect more from you. You’re going to do more self-produced stuff, I’m assuming.
Yes, sir. I’m getting confident with my tracks. I gotta a lot of tracks over here. I just been storing the right time. I’m working on a solo Rakim joint and working on a couple other projects as well. So, I’m just looking forward to just staying in the studio. I took the year off from touring just so I could get studio work done. Hopefully, you hear a lot of new music from Rakim.
Last week Ricardo Montaner released Ricardo Montaner 2 (Versión Montaner), a re-recording of his 1988 album that included classics like “Tan Enamorados” and “A Dónde Va el Amor.” The new set comes less than a month after Ricardo Montaner (Versión Montaner), and is part of a broader project in which the acclaimed Latin pop singer-songwriter aims to give his old music a more contemporary sound.
“I think it has a lot to do with responsibility,” Montaner tells Billboard Español about this initial six-album project, all under his own independent label Hecho a Mano. “The sound of my music from that era does not match the technical advances available today. […] I want fans from that time to enjoy my music today and to do so under exactly the same conditions as the music people make today.”
But that is not the only motivation for the Argentine-Venezuelan musician. A contract he signed at the beginning of his career with Love Records, part of then-Venezuelan record company Sono-Rodven, did not include rights to his masters, which he says are now in the hands of Universal Music Group. (In 1995, Sono-Rodven transferred its operations to PolyGram, which was later acquired by the multinational).
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“I need my artistic legacy to pass into the hands of my children,” Montaner explains. “I never earned a penny in royalties from any of my first six albums. To this day, with more than 40 years of career, I have not received a single penny from the sales of ‘Yo Que Te Amé,’ ‘Tan Enamorados,’ ‘La Cima del Cielo,’ the album Los Hijos del Sol, the album En El Último Lugar del Mundo.“
“The contracts at that time were predatory and totally disadvantageous for the artist, so that is a very, very strong motivation. If I didn’t earn a single penny for my music at the beginning of my career and at the time when I was most successful, today I am looking to record independently so that my children will have, at least from now on, the peace of mind that the music of their father — especially the most important, the most emblematic or iconic music of his career — will pass into their hands,” he continues. “I am also complaining to the people who have the original masters, the first masters of my career, considering they have been recorded already 40 years ago. I am asking that they return them to me.”
Neither Montaner nor his team has specified whether there is a formal complaint or lawsuit, “beyond the fact that Ricardo is trying to get his masters back,” a person from his team told Billboard Español. Universal Music Latin had not replied a request for comment sent on Monday (July 22) by the time of publication.
Montaner’s re-recording of his albums — something reminiscent of Taylor Swift‘s successful “Taylor’s Version” series — is a meticulous project with “exactly the same” musical arrangements as the originals, and the art cover from the era reproduced with great detail (from set design and wardrobe to the pose of the singer) in a fun and exciting nostalgia trip.
Montaner’s voice remains practically entirely intact. The only change, besides the better sound quality, is in the freedom that comes with age and maturity.
“I recognize that today I sing ‘Me Va a Extrañar,’ ‘Tan Enamorados’, ‘La Cima del Cielo’ or ‘Yo Que Te Amé’ differently than I sang them at that time,” he admits. “But today, sitting from another angle of my life, seeing that I have nothing else to prove in the sense that these songs do not have a risk as they did at that time […] it gives me a lot more freedom to sing them.”
The next releases from the project will arrive Sept. 6 with the album Un Toque de Misterio (Versión Montaner) and the single “La Cima del Cielo (Montaner Version),” followed by En El Último Lugar del Mundo (Versión Montaner), with “Será (Versión Montaner)” as the focus single, on Nov. 1. The re-recordings of Los Hijos del Sol and Una Mañana Y Un Camino would arrive by early 2025.
After these, three more versions of later albums in Montaner’s career will come, this time only for pure pleasure: “I felt like repeating the albums Con La London Metropolitan Orchestra, which were two unforgettable projects for me,” he says excitedly, without revealing what the third one would be. “We already have Abbey Road studios booked for the beginning of November of this year to record the three versions in a single session.”
Retired from the stage at least for a while, Montaner is now enjoying going in and out of the studio while making the most of his time with his family, which includes his wife Marlene, his children Alejandro, Héctor, Mau y Ricky, and Evaluna (all musicians), as well as six grandchildren who will soon become seven with the imminent arrival of Evaluna and Camilo‘s second baby.
“I want to have time to live this,” Montaner says from Medellín, Colombia, where his wife was releasing a new book, El Libro del Corazón. He also traveled recently to Spain and to Argentina to watch his children perform. For many years, he “missed many things of Marlene and my loved ones, because I was doing my own thing, so […] I don’t want it to be once in a while and because time allowed it. Today I want to own my time and be everywhere with them.”
Rita Ora is fresh off the release of her latest single, “Ask & You Shall Receive,” and to celebrate, the pop star sat down with Billboard‘s Rania Aniftos to discuss her next musical era.
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“The song I got it sent to me in my email from RAYE, who was a great friend of mine,” she explained. “She’s also another British pop sensation, and I love her. I’ve known her for a very long time as a songwriter and as an artist, and she came on tour with me back in 2017 sent me the song, and I loved it. Sometimes it’s not that deep. My third record, You & I was very deep and emotional. It was about my personal life changing, I got married and really wanted to share a story with the world. Well, with this one, I was like, you know what? Let’s just put out great things that feel good, you know? The sun is out. I’m always about the sunshine. Everything with my music has been super positive. If you’ve followed me for a decade-plus, I’ve always tried to integrate a community and my fan base, and everyone comes the show and just has a good time.”
She continued, “This record is really just about my girls, my vibes, everyone feeling good. So, with the music video and all the visuals, I really wanted to create a world that felt a bit sort of uncomfortably comfortable. […] I just wanted to try and challenge myself and do things a bit more experimental with the music and the beats and everything.”
Ora continued that “Ask & You Shall Receive” is indicative of an album that she’s currently working on. “This album is something I’m actually really excited about,” she shared. “I’m spending the rest of the year making it. I’m feeling super, super inspired creatively, just having that essence of feeling a bit like not everything is perfect, which was kind of my motive with this. Everything’s just a bit left like that. Sonically, feeling a bit darker, a bit more spicy, a bit more aggressive, just getting in my like, uncomfortable era.”
Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Rita Ora above.
Jade Thirlwall officially launched her solo career with “Angel of My Dreams,” which arrived on Friday (July 19), and to celebrate, the pop star sat down with Billboard‘s Meghan Mahar to discuss her next musical chapter.
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“‘Angel of My Dreams’ is about my love-hate relationship with the music industry, which I’ve been a part of for quite some time,” she explained of the single, which samples Sandie Shaw’s “Puppet on a String,” a song that represented United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967. “I have a lot to say about that, good and bad. ‘Angel of My Dreams’ is like a love letter to the Industry and how obsessed I am with it and how much I love it, but with that comes some trials and tribulations.”
She continued, “I’m a huge pop fan, and when I look at the pop girlies that I love, they’re the ones that are doing the absolute most. The looks, the choreo, the big songs, big choruses — give it to me! That’s what I want and that’s what I want to deliver.”
Thirlwall got her start as part of Little Mix alongside Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jesy Nelson. The now-trio — Nelson left the band in 2020 — announced their hiatus in 2021.
“I’m grateful I was so young when I was put in that band,” Thirlwall recalls. “I was only 18, and I think that naivety and innocence fared well for what I was put into because I was just so grateful to be there. Me and the girls worked so, so hard right until they end. It was rose-tinted glasses initially. It’s really important for me to surround myself with friends and family at all times to keep me grounded and understand what the bigger goal is. Obviously you have the blanket of the girls around you when you’re handling fame as a group, it tends to be easier. It comes with its troubles obviously — like the comparison thing. Not from each other, but I think when you’re in a girl band, everyone tries to compare you. It’s just natural. We had each other to support through everything.”
She continued, “This is essentially me starting again, so I don’t even know what it feels like fame-wise on my own. I’m really grateful I started this journey now at my age, because I’m just a lot more level-headed. I couldn’t be a solo artist 10 years ago. We’ll see what happens.”
Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Jade Thirlwall above.
On Friday (July 19), the music world received something it hasn’t gotten often over the last 10 years: a new “Weird Al” Yankovic song.
“Polkamania!” is not a new parody, but a polka medley, the type of which he would often include on his full-lengths — a mash-up of pop smashes performed by Yankovic, with his accordion coursing through the different melody snippets. Since he hasn’t released an album since 2014’s Mandatory Fun, which made history as the first comedy album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, Yankovic had a decade’s worth of pop hits to select from, and created a pastiche of Hot 100 chart-toppers from across the past 10 years.
That list ranges from Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” to Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” to the Encanto smash “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” — to, rather improbably, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP.” And the new song was also given an eye-popping music video, which sews together different styles of animation from some of Yankovic’s favorite filmmakers and collaborators.
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Yankovic — who has kept busy over the past decade by touring, releasing a handful of remixes and scattered tracks, and working on the 2022 fictionalized biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which he co-wrote and co-produced — hopes that “Polkamania!” scratches an itch for longtime listeners, who have been waiting years for his new takes on popular music. “For some, I suppose it will be nostalgic,” the 64-year-old tells Billboard, “because it sounds very much like every other polka medley I’ve done, and they haven’t heard that in a while. And for some people, this will be a time capsule — if you’ve been out of touch and not listened to pop radio in the last 10 years, this is a good four-minute refresher course!”
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Below, Yankovic discusses his new song, his decision to move away from the album format, and the artist who immediately OK’ed his latest parody. (Note: this interview has been edited for clarity.)
When did the idea for “Polkamania!” start coming together?
A while ago, maybe even a year ago. It’s been in the back of my mind for a while — I figured that I wanted to do something to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Mandatory Fun. I wanted to come up with something new, so I’d have some new material to play next time I went out on the road. And a lot of years went by where I hadn’t done any parodies or polka medleys, and I just figured I had to kind of catch up — I had to do at least some commentary on the last decade in music. So this is my version of that.
Why was the 10th anniversary of Mandatory Fun important for you to commemorate?
Mandatory Fun is probably my last traditional “Weird Al” album. We released a double LP, the soundtrack to Weird, last year, and I’m sure there will be other projects like that. But in terms of actual “Weird Al” albums, I think that’s the last one, for a number of reasons.
But obviously I’m still trying to put out new material — it’s just that the album format for me has always felt a little restrictive, and not the best way for me to get my music out into the world. And I know that sounds a little ironic, because it’s not like I’ve exactly been prolific in terms of my recorded output in the last 10 years! But I still just feel like, I like the freedom of not having to release 12 songs all at once.
You spoke about moving away from the album model 10 years ago, when Mandatory Fun was released. Looking back on the past decade, do you feel like you made the right call?
Yeah, I think so. I don’t know if it makes sense in terms of a career or staying relevant, but those aren’t driving forces on my life — at this point in my life and career, I basically just want to do what feels right for me, what I enjoy doing. And I’ve taken a little bit of a break from recording, and have been focused on TV and film projects, and obviously a lot of touring as well. Recording is something that I would like to think will always be a part of my life and my career — it’s just that, now, I’m not beholden to a record label, I don’t owe anybody anything, and I just kind of work at my own pace.
Did “Polkamania!” come together like your previous polka medleys, in terms of the composition and squeezing the different melodies together?
Very much. I hadn’t done it in a few years, but it was kind of like riding a bike. I think this is my 13th or 14th polka medley, so it’s second nature to me. So the arrangement came together pretty quickly, once I had an approved list of songs that I could use.
Was it always going to be a smattering of different hits released over the past decade?
Yeah, that was always the idea. I think I actually even limited it to songs that had hit No. 1 on [the Billboard Hot 100], to have it narrowed down a little bit while looking at a decade’s worth of music. Then I made a little chart — like, how many weeks was this No. 1? Based on that, and based on my general feeling about how important each song was in the zeitgeist, I submitted my list to my manager, who then had the job of going out to all the artists and agents and managers and publishers and reps to see if we could actually get them cleared.
Did it take a while to get all the songs cleared, compared to previous songs or medleys?
It’s always about the same. Some people get back to your right away — I think [“Bruno” songwriter] Lin-Manuel Miranda took about 30 seconds. And some took a while, and I had to be more aggressive and track people down, see if I had any friends of friends that knew the artists, that kind of thing.
Listening to the medley for the first time and not knowing which songs are going to appear, I immediately recognized when you launched into “Shake It Off” or “Old Town Road,” but it took me a few seconds for “WAP,” and then I went, “Wait… is this…”
I have to say, that’s my favorite! Once we got the Taylor Swift song, I thought, “Okay, we’ve got a medley now” — but “WAP” was the one I was really, really hoping we would get, just because I thought that would be my personal favorite.
Who was behind the concept of the animated video?
A lot of people that I’ve worked with before, like Bill Plympton and Augenblick Studios and Ghostbot, and some people that I’ve been fans of for a long time – li-ke Cyriak, who’s a British animator who does these amazing surrealistic pieces, and Vivienne Medrano, who does Hazbin Hotel. It’s really an amazing list of talented animators, and I’m just thrilled with what they’ve come up with.
What’s it been like to prep a traditional song and video release like this again?
It’s fun! I mean, I haven’t had this kind of deadline and anxiety, everything that comes with a new release — the suspense of “How’s it going to do?,” and this kind of media blitz. We did a bit of that with the movie, but it feels a bit more personal when it’s your recorded work. So I’m very excited to be doing this project, and hopefully it’ll lead to more.
So what’s next? You’re always working on different projects…
I have five or six things that are in current stages of development, and I can’t speak of them, because some of them will probably happen and some of them probably won’t. So I’ve learned my lesson not to talk too much about things that might happen because, this town being what it is, oftentimes, things never work out. But hopefully a few things well! That’s what I’m counting on.
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LL COOL J is back in album mode and hitting the press circuit as he preps for the release of his 14th full-length project, The FORCE. In a new interview with media personality Charlamagne Tha God, LL COOL J discusses his legacy along with his brief beef with JAY-Z and more in their chat.
LL COOL J, 56, was the first guest for Charlamagne Tha God’s new series, Out Of Context, and the pair launched into an easygoing conversation that centers on LL’s status as a GOAT of the culture with the celebrated rapper showing massive amounts of humility throughout.
At the start of the interview, LL challenges the idea of what legacy means in Hip-Hop culture, reminding viewers that at the very least, this is an art form open for interpretation and you can’t worry about the perception from the fans. LL is also aware that releasing music in the age of the Internet is different from his beginnings in 1985 when he was still a teenager.
Around the 50-minute mark, Charlamagne Tha God raised the point of how battling in Hip-Hop has taken a new turn with LL making mention of the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef while adding that in these types of contests, you can’t take it personally.
However, Charlamagne inquired about a long-running rumor that LL and JAY-Z battled in a parking lot in the 1990s with Sauce Money, then affiliated with Roc-A-Fella Records, attempting to challenge the Queens rapper as well. LL explains that JAY-Z also began rapping but shared that he ran out of rhymes but it didn’t appear that he was deeply affected by the moment.
Check out the full interview below with Charlamagne Tha God and LL COOL J.
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Photo: Julia Beverly / Getty
The story of Glass Animals’ 2020 slow-burning smash “Heat Waves” had a miraculous ending: The fourth single from the British band’s third album Dreamland landed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 2022, following a record-breaking 59-week rise on the charts.
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The sleeper hit ruled the charts for 5 weeks, and following its 91st week, “Heat Waves” became the longest-charting song on the Hot 100 of all time, dethroning The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights”; it currently sits at three billion streams on Spotify alone. Since the millennium, only two U.K. groups have reached the Hot 100 summit: Coldplay and Glass Animals. The song’s origins are equally engrossing, proof that doors can almost slide shut as quickly as they open.
“Heat Waves”, which features Glass Animals’ trademark fusion of indie-rock, R&B and pop, was written and produced solely by frontman Dave Bayley. Its lyrics reference the death of a close friend and the pain when the subject’s birthday rolls around: “Sometimes, all I think about is you/ Late nights in the middle of June/ Heat waves been fakin’ me out”.
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“Even before I released it, I felt that “Heat Waves” was a bit too personal and too sad,” Bayley tells Billboard on Zoom from London. He was in the process of selling the song to another artist, though picked it back up when he learned the potential buyer wasn’t going to record it. “It’s really easy to write something personal and to give it to someone else as you have a little bit of distance from it and you can be more honest.”
He continues: “When [the song’s success] started happening, it felt weird. It was like walking outside naked – I felt exposed. It’s a personal song and it has an optimism, but hearing it out and about… it was haunting me in a way.”
The campaign around Dreamland, their first album released in conjunction with Polydor after years on indie label Wolfe Tone, was equally disorientating. Bayley, who grew up in the U.S. until he was 12, built a nostalgic mood board inspired by his ‘90s childhood memories for the autobiographical songs: NBC’s hit sitcom Friends, early internet communities and the dominance of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. By the time Dreamland was released in August 2020, the world was deep in lockdown, the online and IRL worlds one blurry mess. We were back online and reliving Jordan’s prowess through ESPN’s documentary The Last Dance.
Glass Animals’ new record I Love You So F***ing Much, due July 19, is informed by this “head f–k” period. Bayley sought to juxtapose the personal songwriting with existential sonics, and sought inspiration in the cosmos. The LP’s artwork – a close-up of Bayley’s eyes surrounded by pitch-black nothingness – presents either an intimate message from the outer reaches of humanity, or, depending on your viewpoint, a detached, lost soul searching for salvation.
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The Oxford band – completed by Drew MacFarlane (guitar), Edmund Irwin-Singer (bass) and Joe Seaward (drums) – had flirted with commercial and critical success in the past. “Gooey,” from the group’s 2014 debut Zaba, was certified two-times platinum by the RIAA, and sophomore record How To Be A Human Being was nominated for the U.K.’s prestigious Mercury Prize in 2017. Along the way, the group collaborated with hip-hop heavyweights like Denzel Curry and Joey Bada$$, with the material charting globally in Australia, Canada and the U.S.
In 2018, the band cancelled a string of live dates when Seaward was hit by a lorry while cycling in Dublin; he suffered a broken leg, fractured skull and neurological injuries. Speaking to NME in 2020, Bayley said that Seaward returning to the stage “felt like a miracle”.
Months after its first shows back with Seaward, however, the band was pulled off the road due to the developing COVID pandemic. It eventually began booking shows again in 2021 – including a performance at the Billboard Music Awards – but the experience of success still felt at an arm’s reach. The band kept its own touring bubble and shunned parties to avoid scuppering any live dates with a positive test.
“It was a very strange time. We were watching everything happen from a distance and feeling quite detached from it,” Bayley says. “We would see Instagram stories of people dancing in the park to [“Heat Waves”], which was wonderful… but there was also a disconnect.”
In 2022, Glass Animals was nominated for best new artist at the Grammys (ultimately losing to Olivia Rodrigo) just as “Heat Waves” was peaking at No.1. In the days leading up to the April 4 event, though, Bayley returned a positive test and had to miss the ceremony, the biggest dip on the most bizarre of roller coasters.
“It might sound melodramatic, but I had a lot pinned on going to that and absorbing the moment,” Bayley says. “It felt like a unifying opportunity for our fans, and a chance to experience everything that had happened in the real world. It would have been a tangible thing, and it didn’t happen. That spun me out a bit.”
To counteract these missed opportunities, Bayley put himself into situations where he thought he ought to be: at parties, socialising and in the studio with external writers and producers. He gained writing and production credits on Florence + The Machine’s 2023 LP Dance Fever alongside Jack Antonoff, including on lead single “My Love”.
But it was due to another positive COVID test a year later that forced Bayley to quarantine for a fortnight in a rented AirBnB in Los Angeles. He turned to his pen, and the songs came fast in a fit of inspiration. “I was in this massive doom hole and feeling s–t about everything. I was trying to make sense of it all and the writing felt good,” he says. The uncertainty and unrealness of the era eventually became the motor: “That chaos is actually really exciting and beautiful – there’s sadness, hate, happiness and love, and you need all of them in your life.”
He paired the intimacy with the expanse of space, building a “retro futuristic” recording studio in London, kitting it out with gear from the 1950s and ‘60s to give the electronics an appropriate warmth. He gleefully reels of the disparate sonic inspirations on his personal “S–t I Like” playlist, including Throbbing Gristle, Suicide, My Bloody Valentine, Frankie Valli and British electronic pioneer Delia Derbyshire.
This grandeur and ambition collides with yearning confessions on their new album. “ICMYFILA” – short for “I Can’t Make You Fall In Love Again” – sings of someone who “walked out of my life” without a proper farewell, the chiming synths behind it reminiscent of Hans Zimmer’s score for Christopher Nolan’s space epic Interstellar. On “White Roses”, Bayley’s bouncing vocals meet the booming rap-inspired beat behind it: “I’ll just be the ghost on photos on your phone”, he warns.
It all makes for a fitting coda to a period of such confusion and chaos, a band caught up in the dizzying nature of success. “There was a huge sense of perspective and questions and it led to this existential theme to the record,” Bayley says. “It doesn’t have a whole lot of answers, other than that it’s OK to be lost and not really understanding what’s going on.”
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But could history be about to repeat itself? “Take a Slice”, an album track from 2016’s How To Be a Human Being, is currently surging up the Shazam charts and streams of the song are spiking on DSPs. The song has reached No. 22 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 after the app’s users connected it to a scene from Pixar’s Inside Out 2, pairing its squealing guitar breakdown with frenetic imagery. Fresh releases and catalogue releases are now at the mercy of unpredictable users and growth, but Bayley is familiar with and accepting of the terrain now.
“It’s really beautiful [to have these moments], but you have to be careful as the temptation is to stop releasing bodies of work,” he says. “I love cohesive bodies of work where the end result is greater than the sum of its parts, but that can get lost if you start thinking too much and chasing virality.”
As “Heat Waves” – a paean to a lost friend – proves, the conviction of the message is what remains.
“A lot of these platforms are great, but eventually there’ll be a new one and something different and what matters is the song,” he says as a smile spreads across his face. “The thing that’s proven itself over and over again is that if you write something that is meaningful and honest, it hopefully stands the test of time.”