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Rome Streetz and Daringer have been Griselda Records’ secret weapons.
Rome, who reps Brooklyn signed to Westside Gunn’s imprint back in July of 2021 and released the impressive album Kiss the Ring. On that project, is a song entitled “Tyson Beckford” where he and the label’s in-house producer Daringer first linked up. They then began working closely together because the Buffalo producer’s Queens studio is a hop, skip, and a jump from Rome’s Brooklyn apartment.
“When I ain’t doing s–t, I go to the studio,” Rome told me in a Billboard conference room. “I was literally there everyday for months just cookin’ up, just vibin’, listening to beats.” Daringer would already be working and he would play Rome beats until one of them caught his attention. “By the time he pulled up, I would have either something started or I would have part of a beat and then I would just be throwing records on until something something landed,” the Griselda beatmaker added.
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What resulted from those sessions is their first collab album Hatton Garden Holdup named after London’s diamond district. Rome spent some of his high school years across the pond and would come back to NYC during school breaks. But it wasn’t until they were out in London doing show’s with Griselda mainstay Conway the Machine that they got the idea for the short film which then turned into them naming the album, and interjecting London-based skits and samples into the final product to bring everything full circle. “It was easy to make that the theme once the movie was part of it,” Daringer said. “I felt like we had to even down to the name.”
The duo came by the Billboard office in midtown Manhattan to talk about the making of the album and the film which included some of Rome’s childhood London friends that he has continued to keep in touch with.
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Check out our talk below.
We might as well start with the short film you guys recently released. How did that idea come about? Like, what made you guys want to do a movie?Where in the process of the album. Did the in the did the idea come about to do it, to do a movie?
Rome Streetz: We were pretty much around 80 percent done with the album once we shot the movie. And it just hit me, like, ‘Yo, we should do a movie. Because [Coach] always wants the videos to be like little movies. Most of the videos Coach directs have kind of like a movie-esque vibe to them. We did “Chrome Magnum,” we did “Shake and Bake.” So, we’re like, ‘You know what? Let’s just do it, I’m saying. And because it’s not a Griselda album or something Westside Gunn is spearheading, we just wanted to do more than you would get from a Griselda album.
That’s what it really was: How can we just turn this sh—t up another level? How can we do something that most motherf—kers in this realm are not doing? Everybody drops the album, one or two music videos, do a couple interviews, drop a tape, CD, vinyl, and then it’s on to the next sh—t. Who’s actually doing a movie?
Hatton Garden is essentially London’s diamond district, there’s British samples from movies and interviews. When did the London theme come about?
R.S.: The London theme honestly, came from the movie. You know, I’m saying, like, once we did the movie. Then we started adding the London sh—t.Daringer: It was easy to make that the theme once the movie was part of it. I felt like we had to even down to the name.
Were you guys out there to perform or were you there specific all to shoot the movie?
R.S.: Earlier in the year, I was out there performing with Conway, and then it just kind of came about like that. And also because I used to live in London when I was a teenager for a couple years, so that was like a throwback to that time.
You were born in London, right?
R.S.: I was born in London, but I came to New York when I was like one. Then I went back to London from like 14 to like 17. It wasn’t for the whole year, I would go to school out there, and when school was done, I’d come back to New York.
You still have family and friends out there?
R.S.: Yeah, I got family, I got friends out there. A lot of my friends are into the same sh—t that we into. I communicate with them all the time: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp. So, I was like, how canI incorporate that into what I’m doing? How can we mix this London sh—t. A lot of my homeboys were in the movie. The part when we were in the alleyway talking? None of them were actors, they were all my homeboys.
Daringer, your name is synonymous when it comes to Griselda, so it was cool to see you, be more visible now. Is that something that you want to do moving forward?
D.: Absolutely, especially with me, just like, kind of flourishing more as an artist now too. It was always just me producing behind the scenes for all these years. Now is the time where I need to start moving as an artist. I feel like this was the perfect time to really start being outside and actually being seen. I felt like this was a perfect opportunity for that, for sure.
You guys have been working together since Rome has been with Griselda, but what made you want to do a tape together?
R.S.: We did that one song on Kiss the Ring, “Tyson Beckford.”D: Then he pulled up to my apartment.R.S.: The first song we did was the joint with Cormega.D: Right.R.S.: But Mega wasn’t on it at first. We did that joint, like, ‘This sh—t is hard.’ And what we gonna do? We just kept cooking up. His studio is right by my crib. We kept making stuff and was like, “We got a lot of songs we might is well do an album.”
And you live in Queens now. I guess it made it easier for you guys to kind of connect for this album. Or did that matter?
R.S.: His studio is on the border of Queens and Brooklyn and I live like 5-10 minutes away. When I ain’t doing s—t, I go to the studio, I was literally there everyday for months just cookin’ up, just vibin’, listening to beats.
So, you guys worked on most of the album together? Did you already have a pack of beats or were you making them on the spot as you guys were cookin’ up?
D: I made the majority of them on the spot. Maybe I’d have some drums started by the time he got there, or a sample idea, and I was kind of just trying to figure it out. By the time he pulled up, I would have either something started or I would have part of a beat, and then I would just be throwing records on until something something landed.
You living in Queens makes sense now because one of your first tapes outside of Griselda was with Meyhem Lauren.
D: Yeah, I traveled with Action when I first moved there, worked with Meyhem, getting tight with them, and being able to actually stay in New York now because I’m doing enough things, and then that was when the Shady deal happened. So, luckily I was able to stay in New York, but it’s funny because I didn’t have a studio when we “Tyson Beckford,” I was still just making beats out of my apartment. We made the first song in my apartment, and my goal was to always eventually just get a studio in New York, so it just happened to work out that it was close to where he was living. I feel like that definitely helped out with the whole process, it made things a lot easier.
What I found interesting about this tape was that some of it sounds different from the usual Griselda stuff, especially the track with ScHoolboy Q. I wasn’t expecting that beat to sound like that. Was that on purpose?
R.S.: Honestly, it was just energy. Whatever he was throwing at me. I wasn’t being picky. Daringer is Daringer, so it’s all gonna hit. We’re just gonna make sh—t until we feel like we got what we need. You know, we still got a lot more songs left over. And then the ScHoolboy Q record was so different and he wasn’t on it at first. He happened to tap me on Twitter. I was in the studio with Q, and he heard it, and wanted to get on it. The song that Daringer made for Q was the one that Conway was on. He heard that first, like “Yo, this is fire.”
But then he went to the bathroom, and then the engineer was just like, “Yo, play me some s—t.” So, then I just started playing him songs, and when I played him that one, Q just so happened to walk in the room and was like, “What the f—k is that? This is it. This is the one I wanna get on.” I had a second verse on it, so I had to call Daringer, like, “Oh s—t, yo, I need you to f—king send me this s—t right now without the verse on it. Luckily, I had to beat in my phone. That’s what saved it.
So, you and Q just happened to be in the same studio, or you linked up specifically to chill and record?
R.S.: I did an interview in Portugal when I was on tour and the interviewer asked me who is somebody I would like to work with. think I named, like, three other people, but then I named ScHoolboy Q, so then eventually the interview just ended up on Twitter, and then he seen it, and then he quote tweeted it, like, “Yo, send it.” I hit me back and he was like I could either send him the record or just pull up to the lab. So, I pulled up and went to L.A. That’s how it happened.
I’m always fascinated by this, especially since you guys worked on this together. Today, nobody does that anymore. They send a pack and then you send verses back. Can you tell us the difference between collabing over email versus being in the studio with each other?
R.S.: With me? At one point, I used to feel like I work better on my own time. Sometimes when you in the studio, you get boxed into the time constraints. I used to feel like I’d rather not put my creativity in a time constraint box, like I feel like I work better when I just have my own time. So, a lot of my other s—t was more so just like, you could send me a beat, I’ll cook it up. But this one was more of a challenge. How much can I write on the spot? I hear the beat, I’m going in right there.
I used to think that I write better rhymes outside of the studio, but this pretty much proved to me that it don’t matter, you got the glow. I like this process because it’s more of a stream of consciousness. It’s more of just your energy right then and there. When somebody sends you a pack, you probably write half a verse today and then finish it two days later, and you may not have the same energy.
I like working on the spot because it makes me better, it’s like a challenge. You’re capturing the energy right there. Your creativity dies when you’re too comfortable, you start leaning on s—t. I just feel like I need to challenge myself.D: That was the goal of me getting the studio to begin with. I don’t have control over what happens after I send the beat a lot of times. What helped with this album is that we got to revisit and work on the songs more, I guess, post production, or whatever you like to call it. It’s got to spend more time on the songs and structure them and drops, you know, and just the skits and outros, intros. All that extra stuff that maybe a lot of times I don’t add that when I’m just making.
The bells and whistles, just to make it perfect.
D: The email stuff is always like an unfinished idea that ends up becoming a song. That was definitely the goal of me getting the studio and wanting to make a record like that, and being able to spend the extra time for sure. We got to do the s—t the right way. I’m happy with my investment, just because of that.
Yeah, them all habits die hard. Rome, do you punch in?
R.S.: Nope, at least I try not to. I’m not gonna say I don’t, sometimes you have to for continuity. But the reason why I don’t like to punch in is because if I can’t spit the rhyme straight through, I can’t perform it. If I’m punching in every bar, how’s that gonna translate on the stage? I gotta be able to say the rhyme straight through. I gotta be able to record it in one whole take, if I can perform it.
Yeah, because that’s like the norm now, especially with the younger rappers.
R.S: When you see them on stage, they’re not even f—king rapping. They just let the song play, and they just jumping up and down, ad-libing their own vocals, because they can’t even say the sh—t in one breath because of the fact that they had to punch it.
Was this the first project that you recorded in full there?
D: Yup, it’s personal space. I’m not sharing it with anybody and no one is going in and out besides me. We probably wouldn’t even have that ScHoolboy record had we not been in the studio. Because it was a beat that started with just drums, and me listening to records and not overthinking. It was literally just like the first thing that landed that just sounded good with the drums and then we kind of just built on it. We did a bunch of the records like that.R.S.: Sometimes it’d be better that way. If I wasn’t there, that’ll probably be one he made that he didn’t like. But I heard it and was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what the f—k is that? Sometimes you might just overthink it and be like, “Nah, this ain’t it.” The producer might want to do something, but then the rapper might hear something that the producer don’t hear. It’s like, “Nah, the rhyme could go crazy, right here. Don’t even add nothing. Keep it just like…” You know what I mean? That on the spot, energy is good.
Rome Streetz and Daringer
Photo Rob
How much input did you have on the beats?
R.S.: A lot, but I let Daringer do his thing. As far as the samples, it wasn’t like, “Pick this,” because he’s got 1000s of records. I don’t know what the s—t sounds like until he puts it together. Like, I don’t imagine you.
You work with The Alchemist closely too. He be digging obscure s—t. I’d imagine you do the same.
D: I’ve been on the same wave too. way. So, of course, when we got together, we could share ideas. I never felt like he thought I was gonna come in and just take his ideas either. So we always, somehow didn’t really run into the lot of the same things. We like a lot of the same music, a lot of the same records. But luckily, we didn’t run into too many instances where it was, like, we’re using the same sh—t. Yeah, the approach is a little different.
So, how’s that been for you, man? Now that you moved from Buffalo essentially into the industry for lack of a better term.
D: Not too many producers ever came out of Buffalo. I could only think of one off top that really flourished. Emile Haynie. And he took a different approach. He was doing Lana Del Rey and Mark Ronson. He’s worked on pop records, He did stuff with Ghostface and D.I.T.C. early on. He was around, but he definitely chose the pop route. So for me to be able to come up and stick with this style of rap, it feels dope. I always had the vision, but to actually come out of Buffalo and be able to move to New York City and be able to make a living from it? That was a big accomplishment.
How did you get affiliated with Griselda?
D: It’s crazy, we were bringing up Twitter before. There’s a small underground network that was going on in Buffalo at the time, so if you’re into that scene, we’re all going to run into each other at some point. I was a DJ at the time and I was trying to make beats on the side eventually. I was doing the DJ thing, playing showcases and playing rap records at a spot on Thursdays. I was a little bit younger, so I came in a little late, but I ended up meeting Gunn and Benny, and Gunn ended up just disappearing and then hit me on Twitter years later.
It was pretty much like, “Remember me, I’m about to put out an album. You got any beats?” And I was like, what Do you remember what year it was? 2014? HWH1. And that was the only original record on that tape.The rest of it was just like beats that he got, that he picked, that were already produced songs. That was the first one that we did, “Mess Hall Talk.” It was a little bit faster than a lot of the stuff that we would do down the line too.
He had the idea to start slowing the s—t down. Naturally, when we start pitching the music down, everything gets slower. I didn’t have Ableton and certain things at the time to maintain the tempo. That’s kind how the records and beats started getting slower, like 70 bpm, 60 bpm, type stuff. And he was coming from Atlanta at the time too, so you could tell there was some influence there. He kind of wanted to blend in the A with this type of rap, but with these tempos, with the samples pitched down, and it sounds like some chopped and screwed s—t.
Man, that makes sense. I never put those things together.
D: At least, I feel that way. That maybe was part of the reason why we were pitching it down to a certain speed. Also him still living there. Conway spent a bunch of time there. Benny spent a bunch of time there, so really Atlanta had a big influence on the whole s—t, surprisingly. The fact that he would travel all the way from Atlanta to Buffalo, he would drive a lot of times too. That’s not an easy drive. They would come to my apartment at the time, we recorded everything in my living room. Eventually, Conway stayed with and we started working on Reject 2. We ended up making two full records because he was staying with me the whole time. Looking back, making all that in my living room at the time was crazy, and the fact that Gunn was taking all these trips back and forth from the A to lock in made it even more special.
What else you got going on or planned. Anything you could talk about?
R.S.: I got an album with Conductor — probably two albums worth of music. I got sh—t with V Don. I got s—t with Muggs, Futurewave. I did a mixtape with Real Bad Man. I got a lot of sh—t.D: I want to do a compilation featuring a bunch of different artists on it. That’s always been a thing that I wanted to do. I think I’m going to end up doing a couple of them and make a series out of it. I got music with Meyhem still, so we’re probably gonna do a follow up. Maybe one day me and Bronson will do a full length. I did a handful of the records on that last album. So hopefully one day we could tap in and do a full length. Reject 2 is turning 10, so maybe Reject 3 with Conway in the next year or two. I’m really just focusing on me as an artist.
I’m sure you want to show off your versatility, because I think you kind of did that with this tape.
R.S.: One thing I can say, when it comes to picking the beats, I was purposely steering away from certain type of beats only because fans are used to hearing that. it’s like one No, rather than being a whole album, I kind of knew what to expect, but then the project was still about to surprise me.D: We definitely worked on the sequence for a while and put that puzzle together. I feel like, once we got the songs in a specific order, we were able to start adding the skits and gluing it all together.R.S.: That’s the one benefit of working with one producer. You’re able to make all the songs flow into each other. I’m not saying you can’t do it with multiple producers, but it’s a little bit more difficult. You would literally have to get all of them people in the room at the same time to orchestrate that.
Why do you like working with one producer?
R.S.: I like to do one producer because it’s just cohesive. Sometimes when you have a bunch of different producers on one tape, you can’t really get a lot of the post production. I’m a fan of post production. Sometimes when I get beat and rap over it, when I play the song back, it sounds totally different. It’s easier to make intros and outros. If I’m getting packs all day, it’s harder to get 10 different producers to agree on the overall sound. One producer might like the mix on it, but then the other three might not like it, so then you gonna have to re-mix that song to go with that song.It could get crazy. I like working with one producer because you can kind of maximize the sound. You can get the most out of it, the producer can sit with it.
You should’ve did a British accent on one of the songs.
R.S.: [Laughs.] I probably have to go back to London for a couple years to get that sh—t down pat.
Were there any British movies or TV shows that inspired the samples and skits? I know the short was inspired by Snatch.
R.S.: Probably that that interview with the road man, that s—t funny as hell.D: I watched things like Layer Cake to get the gist of it which sent me into a rabbit hole. There was a few joints from the ’70s that I was hoping to sample, but basically just ended up watching them to catch a vibe. We used something on “Starbvxkz” that we added at the last minute, pretty much when we were doing the video. Definitely some influence there.
You guys planning on going on tour? London definitely has to be a stop, right?
R.S.: They’re not going to let me live if I don’t. That’s the main place that I have to do a show.
It’s a Tuesday morning in Australia, and Anna Lunoe has a sizable day ahead. Speaking to Billboard over Zoom from her home studio in Sydney, where post-it notes adorn the white walls, Lunoe is prepping for her set tonight at Accor Stadium, where she’s opening for The Weeknd.
Right now she’s going over her setlist — Ice Spice and Central Cee’s “Did It First,” Azealia Banks’ “New Bottega” — and other tracks that will, as she says, “tell the whole story of the intertwining between hip-hop and dance.” These opening sets are also a reunion for Lunoe, who first opened for The Weeknd in 2013 on his Kiss Land Tour.
Call it all another entry on a long list of accomplishments. In 2012, Lunoe moved to Los Angeles from Australia to pursue music and, amid the crescendo of the U.S. dance music boom, swiftly carved out a career as an in-demand producer and DJ. Four years later, she became the first woman to play a solo set on the mainstage at Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas, and in 2017 she played Coachella while pregnant, a revelation in a time when women, much less mothers, were even more dramatically underrepresented on dance lineups. She’s played every major global festival, and her list of releases is long, varied and well-listened to.
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But it’s only now, four years after moving back to Australia, that Lunoe is releasing her debut album, Pearl. Out Friday (Oct. 25) on NLV Records, the label from Lunoe’s longtime friend Nina Las Vegas, the 13 tracks embody the style and verve Lunoe has long been known for, working in big ideas about life and motherhood and work and the meaning of it all over productions both driving and delicate.
“I’ve never desired to exist hugely outside of the dance community,” she says. “I think this is a beautiful place. You see things go off, once they cross over into this bigger space, and you can’t always understand what happens out there. But in here, I love this world we’re in.”
Here, Lunoe talks about the album, and why she’s releasing it now.
1. Where are you in the world right now, and what’s the setting like?
I am sitting in my home studio in Sydney, in Australia, and it’s a beautiful day, and I have a really big day today. I’m playing with The Weeknd tonight, so I have all my gear around me and a big list of what to do, and I’ve got to work out what to wear.
2. What’s the first album or piece of music you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?
I discovered my local CD shop when I was like, five. I used to beg my parents to go there. My parents would have these long lunches at the local cafes with their friends, and I’d get bored, and the CD shop was just next door, so I’d always go next door and literally pester the lady to listen to all different songs. They used to have these little stations where you could listen to music. I remember buying TLC‘s “Creep” on CD single, and the way I felt when I first heard, I think it’s like a synth or guitar sound, that opens it. It was just like, “Oh my god.” That was mind-blowing.
3. What did your parents do for a living when you were a kid, and what do they think of what you do now?
My parents both created their own worlds, in their own way. My dad was in bands, then he [worked in nightclubs, and then he was in the food innovation industry. He’s a bit of an inventor, a really interesting character. So he fully supports and understands the need to forge your own path in life, which was cool. My mom created a fashion label for pregnant women, which was groundbreaking for her time, because there weren’t maternity clothes back then here in Australia.
Although they understand the kind of build your own life situation, I think my mom was always wanting me to have stability. She was always like, “Get a job at a bank.” Every time I called her, I’d go, “Mom, guess what!” She’d go, “You got a job at a bank!” It’d be like, “No mom, not this time.”
4. What’s the first non-gear thing you bought for yourself when you started making money as an artist?
There’s this really cool label called Perks & Mini, which is shortened to P.A.M. I still wear it to this day. It’s the coolest label. It’s out of Melbourne, and I flew to Melbourne for a gig, and I went to the P.A.M. store, and I bought what I thought was a pretty impractical purchase. It was a duffle bag with this awesome alien print. I thought it would fall apart as soon as I started using it, and because it was white I thought it would get dirty. I was like, “This is a stupid purchase, but I just really want it. It’s so fun.” I still have it to this day! It’s still an action. It was a good purchase. It was an absolute investment.
5. If you had to recommend one album for someone looking to get into dance music, what would you give them?
The first thing that popped into my head was Rooty by Basement Jaxx. It’s a good example of a fun record with incredible references and great pop writing that anyone can relate to, and did it’s own thing and didn’t feel formulaic at all.
6. What’s the last song you listened to?
Embarrassingly, my album songs. I was listening through them this morning.
7. You’ve been making music for a long time. Why is now the right time for your first album?
I’m finally getting to the point where I have the skills and understanding of myself as an artist, that I can make sense of my writing impulse as it pertains to the world I exist in as a DJ, a producer and someone who spends their life in clubs. I started writing, and what I wrote were more song based things. They weren’t necessarily built for the sonic world I exist in as a DJ. It took a long time to bridge those.
8. What changed?
It’s felt like dance music has met me in the middle, too. Dance music’s had this incredible arc in the last five years, or the last 15 years for sure. But in the last five years we’ve seen a lot more sincerity, a lot more real stories being told in the club space, and it made it easier for me. Suddenly there were songs that I could make sense of that I’d [made 10 years ago], or that I’ve always loved but couldn’t work out how they belonged in this space. Now it feels like they belong.
So I think it’s a case of my skill set meeting me here, dance music meeting me here, and honestly, probably the fact that I moved back to Australia and I’m not on tour as much as I used to be. I used to play non-stop. I never stopped touring, ever. Now I get a bit more downtime from being on the road, and that’s given me more space to hone my creativity and my production skills, too.
9. As you’re saying, you moved back to Australia after many years L.A. in 2020. How did that move change your career strategy? Obviously Australia has its own thriving scene, but how do you control your career while being further away from a lot of places, and the U.S. especially?
It’s been really challenging. I made the decision for my kids and my family. It definitely wasn’t a career decision. It was like, “This is what I need to do for my family, to be closer to my parents as they’re getting older,” all that stuff. The career stuff has just been… I don’t think I had control over it. I speak to that in the album as well. There’s songs that reference how it feels to be on the other side of that and to think, “What did I do? Did I just throw everything away, or a part of myself away?”
10. That sounds challenging. How have you navigated it?
I struggled with it a lot, because I spent many years building what I built, and I made a decision in a moment of crisis with a newborn, premature baby and a pandemic and my parents. I made that decision because I had to. I wasn’t thinking about my career at that time. At the same time, I believe that there’s more to life than just doing everything for your career, and that you have to do what’s right for everyone else.
So I don’t regret it, but it definitely meant there was a big spanner in the works in how things were laid out, and I had to adapt. But I also think that things don’t happen for nothing, and you have to look for the meaning in things that happen and look for the reason why this might happen to me and why I did this and what I can do now and look for the best possible road forward from where I’m at.
11. From a very outside perspective, what I see is that you being further away gives things that you do a celebratory feel. Like, “She’s back playing Coachella! She’s back playing in L.A.!” It seems like every time you come here and do something, it’s a moment. Does that feel true to you?
Oh I hope so. I would love that, because it’s such a moment for me. Me coming back to California and the States and the reception that I get, nothing will fill that hole like those cities. Those cities built me. I lived there for like, a third of my life. It’s such a big part of me.
I’m in this situation where now my heart is split in two, because I want to be with my family, but I also want to be in a place where I feel like my music resonates. And it’s also my friends, my community, all that stuff. It is such a big deal for me, and so I hope it feels like a big deal for everyone else too, because that’s what keeps me coming back, and for as long as people will meet me there, I’ll meet them there.
12. Pearl is out on NLV Records, the label from Nina Las Vegas. You and Nina have been very close friends for a long time. Did it just make sense to put the album out on her label?
It’s hard to to work out what might have happened under different circumstances. Coming back here and starting to release on NLV seemed so natural. It just seemed like I was home. Things were changing so fast in those years; I suddenly would have a song that I wanted to release, and Nina is my best friend, and she has this great label. I talk to her every day about what’s going on in my career. So she was like, “Oh, yeah, I can put it out for you.”
13. I imagine there are a lot of advantages to working with your best friend, yeah?
Now I can’t imagine working in a different way, because I have so much control over what I do. I’m not waiting for anyone to approve or give permission on what I do. Don’t get me wrong, me and Nina sometimes go at it about release dates and what we want to do next, in the best way possible, because that’s how we are. We’re sisters. But it feels like there’s no gatekeepers in front of me. Not that I ever felt that. I’ve always released with indie dance labels for the most part, in the last 10 years anyway.
But it just feels particularly aligned when the person is kind of part of your brain. I trust her opinion, and I trust where her head’s at. If she says, “this is cool, we should get this out straight away,” I trust her, because she’s someone who I built this whole thing with. We built it together.
14. What does success for the album look like for you?
I really don’t expect huge amounts to change after the album. I’m proud of of what I created. I think it’s a great jump off point for the next chapter, whatever that may be. I guess what success means to me is my community hearing it, and hearing me and meeting me there. I’ve never desired to exist hugely outside of the dance community. I think this is a beautiful place. You see things go off, once they cross over into this bigger space, and you can’t always understand what happens out there. But in here, I love this world we’re in.
15. Speaking of crossover stars, you’re opening for The Weeknd tonight. What kind of prep goes into a show like that?
This Weeknd situation is so unusual, to have been invited into an artist’s world all those years ago. We were playing 3,000 to 8,000 capacity rooms back then, and now tonight, 72,000. His arc is phenomenal, and I feel grateful to have been invited back into their sphere.
I feel comfortable, because I feel like I understand enough about myself and about their camp to know what to bring to the table and what I can offer. So I’m just looking to do the best job of that and just set things up for the evening ahead. I prepared thoroughly for this, because it is outside of my usual dance realm. But because I’ve done it in the past, I trust my instinct that if I do the prep and if I look at all the reference points and work out what I think I want to present, I trust that I will make the right decision.
16. Your two kids are sampled on your album track “Let’s Go Home.” To what extent do they understand what you do?
My daughter describes me as a “DJ -er.” I don’t correct her, because that’s cute. She knows that I have fun clothes. She likes all my different fun clothes that I wear when I’m DJing, and she always asks if she can have them when she’s older… I don’t post them a lot because I just love keeping them kind of separate and that part of me separate. I don’t put it on them. I just want to focus on them and their experience.
17. What are your proudest moments of your career so far?
I’m proud of myself for moving to America when I did, because I really had no business being that brave. But I think that was brave in hindsight, because I did not know anybody. Obviously there’s the big moments, like the EDC moments and the big pregnancy announcement. Those moments were huge. But there was so many moments that were quiet, when no one was there to cheer me on and I had to keep going, even when things went wrong or things were really hard. I’m proud of all those late night, on my own, being scared and still pushing through moments.
18. What are you proud of now?
Like you said, now it’s harder for me to make moments happen being further away and having kids and family, so I’m proud every time I am able to contribute meaningfully to this genre, whether it’s being part of a big show, or being a part of a mix, or a song that says and does what I want it to say and do. They’re all big achievements for me now. That’s something I’m proud of — that I’m continuing to do it and trying to balance it all.
19. What’s been the best business decision you’ve made?
To be as multifaceted as possible. Having a diverse skill set, whether it be radio or being able to play every genre from disco, to downtempo, to more commercial, to house, to techno, to underground and building a skill set where I can meaningfully speak and contribute in all these different genres. Plus doing my own vocals, and interviewing other artists, and my podcast. Being able to provide all these different services to music has been the thing that’s kept me moving forward, when one avenue fades away.
20. What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self?
Remember to stay focused on what is going outwards. It’s very easy to get caught up on the behind the scenes things, and the little things. But you should always remember to think about what’s actually going out to people and make sure you’re focusing enough energy on what’s going out to people, not just seeing yourself with what’s happening behind the scenes.
It’s been six days and I can’t stop listening to “Groupies & Goofies.”
Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and play it on my phone a couple times before going back to sleep. It’s one of the best rap album intros of the year, right up there with the opening tracks of Future & Metro Boomin’s back-to-back collaborative albums. I didn’t know what to expect when Babyface Ray‘s team sent me his latest album, The Kid That Did, but I was immediately grabbed by the intro.
After diving into the rest of the album, I came away thinking that this is the Detroit rapper’s most ambitious project to date. He sounds confident, and with confidence comes big swings. Songs like “I Need Some Motivation” and “Delusional” showcase his versatility, while others like “Watching My Page” and “Nights Like This” “Legacy” show more of his personal side.
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Ray has been prolific over the course of his decade-long career, releasing a slew of mixtapes and EPs as a solo artist and as a member of Team Eastside. The Kid That Did, released on September 13, is his fourth solo album and his first since his Wavy Gang label entered a partnership with Empire earlier this year. With 20 tracks clocking in at under an hour, the album’s already spawned six singles with accompanying videos with more on the way. One notable single is “Count Money,” with BossMan Dlow, which samples the iconic pause music from N64’s GoldenEye 007. “We got the original composer from GoldenEye to do the beat over,” he answers when asked how they managed to get the sample cleared. But there’s much more to the story.
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According to one of his A&Rs, Dre Edwards, Babyface Ray’s team had a hard time clearing the beat (made by producer Rich Treeze), so they decided to reach out to Grant Kirkhope, the original composer of the GoldenEye soundtrack, to see if they could get it cleared. Well, it turns out that Kirkhope was already familiar with Ray’s music and gladly offered to collaborate with Treeze to make a version of the beat that would work for all parties involved. He even posted the video on his Instagram.
I caught up with Ray at the Billboard‘s New York office, where we talked about the making of what is probably the most important album of his career, how his rap style is informed by his parents and how he managed to get Rich Paul on the outro. Check out the interview below.
This album feels like your most ambitious. There are some records that feel big on there. Would you agree?
Yeah, big for sure. I know what you mean. I was just trying to show a little more growth this time and make it sound different from the last projects I put out.
When you were making this album, did you go in with the approach that this was going to be an ambitious record?
I think the records I picked were just more along the lines of what you’re saying. I had other records that I wanted to use, but I went more with that type of style.
Yeah, because some of the beats are different from the stuff you usually rap over. Were you aiming for that sound? Or were they beats that you were coming across that happened to grab your attention?
Yeah, what I was coming across and what I felt like wanting to do at that time.
Detroit has had its rap moments with the likes of Eminem, Royce Da 5’9″, D12, and J Dilla, but the last few years have felt different. What is it about this era of Detroit rap that resonates with fans?
Probably the rawness. Probably being able to connect with the music a little bit more.
What are some of your favorite records from this album?
“Nights Like This,” “High Off Life,” the intro. I like “Delusional.” I like “Stuck in My Ways.” There’s a few on there.
There’s a couple of tracks that you get real personal on. You mentioned a couple of them. Can you talk about why you felt the need to go super personal on some of those?
Really, just updating people on what’s going on with me type stuff. And, really on all my projects, it’s always gonna be a song on there that’s kind of like super personal and I get deeper on what’s going on for real.
The way you rap, it’s like you put people on game. Can you credit your style to your father being a preacher?
Yeah, if you know my dad, it don’t got nothing to do with religion or him being a preacher. That’s just how he comes off, putting us on game and just schoolin’ us and kickin’ it with us since we were little. I can definitely credit that to him, for sure.
Did you spend a lot of time in church when you were younger?
Hell yeah. All the way up until eighth grade, I went to church every Sunday. I wasn’t really too much a fan of church, though. Nothing against religion, but the whole going to church thing — I would just feel burnt out.
Did your parents give you a hard time for wanting to be a rapper at first?
They ain’t know. So, it was like — once I got old enough to get out the house and do my own thing, I was just doin’ that on the low. But I wasn’t a bad kid, so they didn’t have to worry about me too much. I was just doing it. They didn’t really find out until I became poppin’. And then people was telling them, and by that time, it was already too late. They couldn’t really have a conversation with me about it.
How do they feel about it now that you’re successful?
I mean, they ain’t trippin’, they love it, and even my dad, he be talking about it. You know, back then he really didn’t understand, but now he sees what I’ve grown into as a man. He can understand and enjoy my music. He can see where I’m coming from.
When would you say you felt that you was poppin’ as a rapper? When it felt real.
My first feeling was around probably 2011 or 2012. We used to get booked in the city a lot with my group [Team Eastside.]
In earlier interviews you had mentioned that you dropped out of college. Around what year was that?
I graduated [high school] in 2009, so it had to be around 2010.
That’s around the time you said you started poppin’, so you were already rapping?
I was already rappin’ throughout high school and all that stuff. When I got out of school, I was still staying with my parents. My pops was like, “You either gonna get a job or you gonna go to school.” So, I ended up choosing college and when that didn’t work out I just left the house completely.
Word, and you had said that they used church money to help send you to college.
Yeah, for sure. No cap. That really happened.
Rich Paul is on the outro. Can you explain that relationship? How did you guys link up? Was he a fan of your music?
He was a fan of my music. I met him through my partner, V, who owns a clothing line called Jack Ripp. He called me and connected me with Rich Paul, and then we hit it off just conversating about music. He really just wanted to talk about music, for real.
Has he given you any business advice?
Not really, head on. I just watch and learn from what he’s doing.
How do you feel about this album compared to your other tapes?
I feel good. I feel like I got some good records on there. I think people are gonna enjoy it. I’m geeked for it to get out, so I can see how the feedback is going to be.
Gillie and Wallo had mentioned that they noticed the ladies rock with your music on social media. Explain why you like to make records for them.
It’s always good to have a record or two for the ladies when you put a project out, because they’re consumers. And, really, I feel like it’s the women that get the men hip sometimes. You gotta have something that the ladies enjoy too.
Bossman Dlow seems to have that effect too. The ladies use his stuff on social media all the time. He did a show with Teezo for us recently and when he hit the stage, mad shorties ran to see him perform.
That’s fire. Dlow got a strong presence on social media with the women. I feel like the women be on it more than the men these days.
And you guys linked up on this project over the GoldenEye beat. How did that come about?
I had never met him. I was on Live one time just poppin’ shit and I said something along the lines [of] somebody talking to me in the club while the music was loud, and I was saying, ‘Stop trying to talk to me, Bossman Dlow is playing’ blah, blah, blah. And then it reached him and that kind of went crazy and he said something to me, and he came to Detroit, and we met up. We kicked it off like that. I did a song for him first, and then I was sitting on “Count Money” and I was like, ‘I think Dlow would sound good on here.’ I sent it to him and he sent it back.
You’re a video game head, right? What games do you play?
2K, Madden, NCAA. But I had woke up from my sleep, and seen my kids watching some s–t on YouTube, and I ended up downloading this new game called Little Nightmares. S–t fire. It’s like some horror-mystery shit.
You don’t play Grand Theft Auto?
I used to play Grand Theft Auto RP on my PC, but I stopped playing it. l was gettin’ burnt out on it.
You weren’t in Tee Grizzley’s world?
Yeah, I was in there. I was the only one with the Ferrari truck in there. That s–t turnt, for real, but I was getting burnt out.
What else you got planned for this album? You going on tour?
Yeah, I’m going on tour. I’m announcing the tour on Friday with the album [release]. That’s pretty much it. Hopefully, I can get a deluxe out because I do got some more records, more features, some more vibes that I wanna add to it.
You gonna put out more videos?
For sure, 100 percent.
Yeah, because you put out mad s–t already for this album.
S–t, I was just telling them. I got like seven videos already in, but I’m still trying to get at least two or three more.
The Leeds, England-based English Teacher released its debut EP, Polyawkward, in 2022, and its first album, This Could Be Texas, in April. So it surprised even them that they sold out New York’s Bowery Ballroom in June — on a Monday, no less.
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Frontwoman and lyricist Lily Fontaine and lead guitarist and producer Lewis Whiting chalk it up to relentless touring, which has honed the band into a tight unit that melds Radiohead-style guitar and synth sonics with hard funk flourishes and elegant melodies that showcase Fontaine’s literary lyrics about place, identity and broken relationships. (The quartet has actually been playing together since 2018 when they were a very different dream pop band called Frank.) At the Bowery Ballroom, Fontaine’s electric stage presence also galvanized the crowd, as she paced the stage and alternated between rhythm guitar and synth.
English Teacher ‘This Could Be Texas’
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English Teacher’s road work and original sound resulted in This Could Be Texas garnering stellar reviews and a Mercury Prize nomination this year. At the end of August, they continued their momentum with a new EP, English Teacher: Live From BBC Maida Vale — which includes covers of Billie Eilish‘s “Birds of a Feather” and LCD Soundsystem‘s “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” — and on Sept. 15, they return to the road, playing a slew of dates in North America and Europe.
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Fontaine and Whiting (briefly) Zoomed in from the United Kingdom to talk about the band’s success, the origin of its name, its songwriting process and its plans for the future.
You’re a very tight band. Is there a lot of practice involved?
Whiting: Less than you think.
Fontaine: We’ve been on tour for at least the past four or five months, and we’re about to start up again. We don’t really have time to practice because we’re playing the set over and over again.
That’s practice of a sort. I do think that strong live shows are crucial to building a fan base. Lily, you’re riveting onstage. Were you influenced by any other artists in terms of stage presence.
Fontaine: It’s not really a conscious thing to be honest. I’ve been doing it for such a long time — 10 years — that I feel quite confident now on stage. I also think that being a music fan, the affectations of people that I have enjoyed slip in with my stage personality.
How did the band’s name come about?
Fontaine: Ugh.
Whiting: It was a name Lily came up with quite a while back. There are different ways of looking at it. Like, a lot of our family members we’re English teachers and it’s a bit of a connection.
Fontaine: Now, I like the idea of what an English teacher is. We go to so many different countries, and the English language is so prevalent— people do speak it everywhere now — that people sometimes resent it. I hate the name, but also I like the idea of an English teacher being perceived negatively or positively depending on which country you’re in.
How did you all get signed to Island UK?
Fontaine: It was baby steps.
Whiting: Yeah. We’d gotten some support slots, Our guys were floating about. Nothing happened for a long, long time after that. They must have been aware of us and then yeah, the EP came out, we started to play more and they started sniffing around a little bit more.
A number of bands are striking deals with labels that enable them to keep their masters. Was that something you did?
No. It was like a split. We have a percentage.
What are the best and worst parts of touring?
Whiting: The best parts are being able to travel to places and play music that we’ve written to people who don’t know it as well. That’s the best bit, and then I suppose all the rest of it is the bad bit. The traveling is taxing for sure.
The price of touring has ratcheted up, which particularly effects indie bands. What has your experience been?
Fontaine: We don’t really make money. We only ever break even or lose money.
Regarding the title of your album, This Could Be Texas, you could have chosen any state or city here. Why Texas?
Whiting: It must have been in our minds subconsciously because it had just come up on the news about [us playing] South by Southwest. I think it was the best descriptor for where we stood. It was a really hot day and we were at a car park. At first it was a bit of a joke phrase, but then it morphed and attached itself to the song, which is about the process of writing the album. Then it became us saying this should be the title for the album. It wasn’t a sorted-out thing from the start. It just kind of presented itself.
Lily, on “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab,” you sing, “I’m the world’s biggest paving slab, and the world’s smallest celebrity.” Can you give me some context behind that?
Fontaine: I grew up in Colne, Lancashire, and outside the town hall there’s a giant paving slab and that’s one of the town’s local celebrities if you will. The song is about exploring this great display and not necessarily ever leaving the town. It’s a juxtaposition of exploring feelings of grandeur and feelings of self-deprecation.
There also seems to be a little bit of, “Don’t tread on me.”
Fontaine: Yeah, definitely. I think that’s the grandeur element.
Do you and the rest of the band write songs collaboratively?
Fontaine: It’s different every time. Sometimes, one of us will come in with a song quite finished and sometimes just a bit of poetry and a riff come together. Sometimes it’s separate songs. Sometimes it’s all together. It’s different. We like to work like that. So far, it’s been all right.
Whiting: It’s a quite chaotic approach. It’s kind of just throw things together.
Another standout song on the album is “R&B.” On it, you sing, “Despite appearances, I haven’t got the voice for R&B.” Is that subtext about expectations of you as an artist because of your skin color?
Fontaine: The whole song isn’t about that, but part of it is. At the time, I had writer’s block and the only thing I could come up with in my head was a melody for an R&B song. I thought that was so ironic because that is the genre that people always assume that I make when they look at me. Not always, but there’s been times when we meet another musician, and the look on their face is a big shock when I say that I make guitar music.
You come from a mixed-race family?
Fontaine: Yeah, my dad’s side of the family are from Dominica in the Caribbean and my mum’s just I don’t know, England I guess. They’re both British.
Now that Kamala Harris is a presidential candidate, race issues are at the forefront of the campaign. I don’t know if it made news in the U.K., but Donald Trump made headlines here when he said that Harris only recently had decided to identify as Black instead of Indian. Is that kind of racism familiar to you?
Fontaine: Definitely. It’s so funny because it depends on who you’re with. It depends on how Black you are, how white you are. So, if I’m with my white friends, then I’m the Black one, but if I’m with my Black family I’m the whitest person in the room. Race is fluid in a sense — and what a prick [Trump] is. Sorry.
Are you following the presidential race here?
Whiting: I’m following it closely. Biden dropping out was an extremely good call. I can’t say I knew a crazy amount about Harris before this, but I like following American politics. I’m an avid American politics podcast listener.
Fontaine: I don’t have as much knowledge of [politics] as Lewis because I don’t listen to any podcasts or anything. I’m glad that Biden dropped out. I think that was an obvious decision. We’re going to be in the U.S. when the election is happening, so it will be an interesting time to be there.
Lily, the lyrics to “Broken Biscuits” are quite powerful and sound very personal. Is there an autobiographical element to it?
Fontaine: That’s probably the most personal song on the album actually. Yeah, it’s really personal. There’s this John Cooper Clarke poem, “Evidently Chickentown,” that has a lot of repetition, and I wanted to see how many different ways I could use the word “broken.” Then I was seeing how I could use all those different ways to relate to things in my life that were broken or that have been broken.
There are references to all sorts of things: breaking in shoes and broken homes, but also “Smithereens,” which is a Black Mirror episode and the show’s creators [Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones] call their company Broke and Bones, which I use in the lyrics. There’s lighthearted stuff in there as well. It’s not all sad. But a lot of it is quite dark actually.
Do you come from a broken home?
Fontaine: That’s me. Yeah, my parents split up when, I don’t know — maybe I was like one. It was when I wasn’t conscious, which is a blessing probably.
I noticed that the band worked in more melodies on This Could Be Texas than you have on prior work. Has that been a natural progression?
Fontaine: That’s probably because when we were writing the first EP and some of those earlier songs. I was listening to more post-punk. That was the time of the post-Brexit, post-punk resurgence in the U.K., and I was quite influenced by that. That trend wore off, and I was listening to a lot of classic songs — not classical music. I’m coming to music as a singer, and I felt it was just natural that I would probably go back towards that eventually.
At the end of August, English Teacher put out a live EP that includes covers of Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” and LCD Soundsystem’s “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down.” Why did you choose those?
Fontaine: LCD felt natural, because we all really like them, especially that song. I think it felt like a song that we could tackle given the instruments that we had at our disposal. With “Birds of a Feather,” we were asked to do a cover for BBC Radio One which is as you probably know is more of the pop end of the spectrum. So, we looked at what had come out recently — and my boyfriend said, “You should do this song.” We listened to it together, and I was just crying. I found it really moving, and I was like, “I want to do this.” We put it together in a day, and it felt right.
Are you working on the next album?
Fontaine: Yeah, we’ve got a few songs written actually. It seems like it’s come around so fast. Yeah, I’ve got ideas of the concept for it and everything.
Can you share the concept?
Fontaine: It’s too early to say really, and it’s not entirely up to me. But I don’t think I would want to put out a body of work that didn’t have some kind of unifying aspect to it. It happens naturally when you pull everything together that something connects it. It’s not exactly a concept album but always a bit of a through narrative. Thematically, it will probably be a sadder and darker album.
You are clearly into literature, poetry and media. Is there anything that has your attention these days?
Fontaine: Yeah. I’m going through a big phase with Octavia Butler, the science fiction writer. I’m obsessed with her and I just finished the second of two of her books. I’ve immediately ordered the next one because I want to read it whilst I’m still in that world.
She’s my focus at the moment. I’ve been watching The Bear. I think it’s amazing. The writing is brilliant, and the acting is so realistic that it’s kind of scary that people can act but also be so human at the same time. I love food as well so it’s a good one.
There’s a moment in Adam Sandler’s new comedy special, Love You, when the comedian picks up an acoustic guitar and very intently and fluently plays “Malagueña,” the classical guitar instrumental by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona, before he launches into “Mutterin’,” a comedic song about murmuring negative asides under his breath.
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In Sandler’s first Netflix special in six years, he finds humor in most things — whether it be a low-brow, scatological sketch about a wish-granting genie, or a clever riff on non-sensical word pronunciations as he toggles between spoken bits and songs. But one thing Sandler takes very seriously is his musicianship.
“When I was a kid, my dad had an acoustic guitar, and he would play ‘Malagueña.’ That song means a lot to me,” Sandler tells Billboard. One day, Sandler — who was already taking guitar lessons while growing up in Manchester, New Hampshire — came upon a Stratocaster in a store window. “I was in bands all through junior high and high school and I said, ‘Oh my God, I would do anything for that guitar.’ My dad said, ‘I’m not just going to get it for you, but if you learn “Malagueña” note for note, I’ll get that guitar for you.’ I practiced it for a year until my father was impressed enough he got it for me when I was 12. I think of that every time I pick up a guitar.”
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And he picks up the guitar a lot in Love You, which was directed by Josh Safdie, whom Sandler worked with to great acclaim on the 2019 drama Uncut Gems. Instead of the usual comedy special where the comedian walks out onto a brightly lit stage to applause, Love You opens with a decidedly more frantic, in-your-face tone. Sandler pulls up to the venue dealing with a shattered windshield, he’s then barraged by autograph seekers, he can’t find a clean hoodie to wear, his coffee order is wrong, and he’s running late. Once he gets on stage in the darkly lit small club — a deliberately disheveled Nocturne Theater in Glendale, California — things aren’t much better: there are technical glitches with the screens, and a stray dog even wanders onto the stage.
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When Safdie came to him with his slightly skewed vision for the special, Sandler says, “It definitely took me a little while to go ‘yes.’ I just thought we were going to shoot the show because I had been doing the show for a while and I had that down, so I was excited to do that, but Josh kept saying, ‘Let’s try to do something different.’” The special is a scaled-down version of the arena show Sandler took on the road last fall, which grossed $28.5 million in 27 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore.
Though Sandler knew some of the curveballs that were going to come his way at the Nocturne, Safdie’s plan kept Sandler on his toes, and gives the special a jagged edge. “That made it more exciting the days we were shooting,” Sandler says. “I definitely never knew when something was going to come at me and throw the rhythm off, and I had to try to react and keep the show going as smoothly as we could. It made it more of an electric vibe.”
As if there wasn’t enough disruption, an unplanned kerfuffle breaks out between some audience members. “It was kind of early on in the show, and then all of a sudden you felt some hostility in the crowd,” says Sandler, who quickly diffused the situation. “When you’re on the road, it’s going to happen. Things get out of control in the audience and you got to react to it and try to calm things down.”
Just as his 2018 special, 100% Fresh, ended with a sentimental, sweet musical tribute to the late Chris Farley, his friend and former Saturday Night Live castmate, Love You similarly concludes with “Here Comes the Comedy,” a warm salute to the healing power of comedy, as footage of the dozens of comedians who have influenced and delighted Sandler since his youth appear on the finally operational monitors. In the six-minute number, written by Sandler and his longtime musical partner Dan Bulla, Sandler plays the Stratocaster his father gave him when he was 12.
Sandler apologizes that he has to cut the interview short because he’s in the middle of pre-production on Happy Gilmore 2, his sequel to his 1996 comedy classic. The movie will start shooting in New Jersey next year and Sandler’s already teased that the new version will include a number of cameos, just as the original did, including Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who sported a Happy Gilmore cap at this April’s Coachella. “He’s gonna come by. He’s a very nice guy,” Sandler said on The Tonight Show on Aug. 20. “You guys would love him in real life. What a big, handsome guy. Funny and cool as hell. He’s a stud and he’s so funny.”
There’s no word on whether Kelce’s girlfriend, superstar Taylor Swift, will also make a cameo, but Sandler is an unabashed Swiftie. He and his family attended a Los Angeles show on the Eras tour in August 2023, as well as the Los Angeles premiere of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film. When asked his favorite Swift song, Sandler struggles to pick just one, but it’s clear he has plenty riffling through his head from years of being the ultimate girl dad.
“Everything [my two daughters] throw on I love, but one of the first ones they threw on when they were young was ‘The Best Day,’” he says of Swift’s sentimental track about her mom from 2008’s Fearless. “We connected with that when the kids were young. Every album, we listen the first day it comes out. There’s not a song they don’t know every word to.”
Like Swift, Sandler is no stranger to the Billboard charts. Between tunes like “The Chanukah Song,” The Wedding Singer’s “Grow Old with You” and “The Thanksgiving Song,” as well as his Grammy-nominated comedy albums, Sandler’s landed on 10 different charts, including topping the Comedy Albums chart in 2019 with his 100% Fresh album. It’s something he’s kept an eye on since his early days.
“When I was young and my albums came out, I worked with Brooks Arthur,” he says, referencing the renowned late music producer whom he collaborated with for nearly 30 years. “He used to talk to me about his charts and I’d ask him, ‘How are we doing on Billboard?’ I always wanted to know.”
In a year brimming with highly acclaimed releases from women in Nigerian music, Qing Madi’s voice is hard to ignore, set apart by its youthful resonance.
Before her emergence on the Afrobeats scene, Qing Madi (real name Chimamanda Pearl Chukwuma) had regular life plans like most young people: get a degree, then get a job. She had just moved from her birthplace of Benin City to Lagos with her family. This move brought on more opportunities in the form of songwriting gigs for artists such as Skales, Iyanya and Larry Gaaga.
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“One day, I was asked to do backup for Blaqbonez and showed up for the vocals. I met his producer Ramoni, and he played me this beat that I thought was so beautiful,” she tells Billboard via Zoom. “I asked to do a freestyle to the beat and titled it ‘See Finish.’”
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She uploaded it onto TikTok in 2022. “I used to post cover videos on TikTok and some of them would blow up,” Madi says, citing her renditions of “Overloading (OVERDOSE)” by Crayon, Ayra Starr, LADIPOE, Magixx and Boy Spyce and Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran’s “For My Hand” as examples. “I never put out anything original because I wasn’t bold enough and didn’t think people would like it.”
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But as “See Finish” went viral, Madi says she was swarmed by DMs from different local and international record labels. “My mom was so overwhelmed by what was happening from just this one freestyle, but we eventually decided that I would get signed to Jton Music and Columbia/Bu Vision,” she says. “The next step was to release an EP with songs I’d worked on.”
Released last November, her seven-track self-titled EP carries relatable reflections on great first loves, independence and a wide range of emotions one experiences on the journey to a fully-formed identity. On “Madi’s Medley,” she asserts strength in difficult situations. “Why” explores what it’s like to be your own person amid pressure to conform. Eight months later, Madi released its deluxe version featuring three new songs: the “Vision” remix with Chloe Bailey, the Kizz Daniel-assisted “YBIL (You Believe in Love)” and “Sins For U”.
Since then, Madi has performed in the U.S. for the first time as part of BNXN’s tour, gained co-signs from Afrobeats superstars Wizkid and Ayra Starr (with the former tapping her for background vocals on his “Diamonds” track last year) and earned a spot on Billboard’s 2024 21 Under 21 List. Still, the 18-year-old singer-songwriter admits she has moments where she can’t believe it’s all real. “Seeing the crowd screaming my songs back to me affects me in a big way,” she says. “I’m really writing songs for the whole world to listen to.”
Qing Madi spoke with Billboard about her mainstream success, the upsides of delusion and why she never feels the pressure to fit in.
In some interviews you refer to your music as “Afro-delulu.” How does this describe your sound?
Most of the stuff that I sang about on the EP was not part of my reality at the time. In “American Love,” I sang about traveling around the world, when I’d never even crossed the border. I was looking to the future and then it just started manifesting with all my current travels. I can be delusional, but I like to talk a lot about the things that I want, and somehow they always come to be. And “Afro-delulu” wasn’t even a term I came up with, my fans created that for me and I liked it and went with it.
Your music touches on themes like love and heartbreak in a relatable way. How do you bring these ideas to life?
Besides being delusional, I also write about things that happen to me or my friends. “See Finish” came from a friendship breakup that hurt me, and no one really talks about those, because they’re not supposed to hurt as much as heartbreak from romantic relationships. I’m not a confrontational person – so if I have an issue with someone, I’ll probably make a song about it, because it’s the easiest mode of expression for me.
This year, Afrobeats has been largely defined by women, each with their own distinct sound. What’s it like to be part of a rising crop of artists who decide to prioritize their own vision and go outside of the norm?
It’s beautiful. I’m more proud of the audience than I am of the industry because the crowd is opening their ears to us. There have always been women with different sounds, but some never got the opportunity to be heard because the audience would be like, “This music is too slow, this isn’t what we want.” We’re all growing to the point where everyone has a genre that they truly enjoy, and since they’re more accepting of other kinds of music, we don’t have to subject ourselves to a particular pattern. It also helps that Nigerian music is more global than ever before, so I’m proud to be part of it, being on the inside and getting to watch the growth up close.
There’s some pressure on artists to have the perfect brand or to present themselves in the most appealing way to the public. How do you put your own perspective first?
When people think of a female artist, they usually picture someone whose style and appearance is very “feminine.” I’m not really trying to fit into that ideology, because that’s not who I am. Sometimes people say things like, “You’re a pretty girl! Why not dress more like this?” Or “If you change your style, you’re going to get a lot more [public approval].” But I try to stay true to myself and not become somebody else. There are people who are more accepting of a different kind of look and girls who just want to be comfortable. I’m trying to use my image to speak for them.
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Young artists today are also burdened with the focus on numbers, branding and engagement around their music. How do you handle these expectations?
I don’t focus on what people expect of me, because there’s always going to be criticism. My music is always from my heart, so if it doesn’t feel genuine to me, it won’t be released. When I put out “See Finish,” people were like, “She’s a one-hit wonder, she’s not going to do it again.” And when “Ole” [featuring BNXN] came out, they said, “You just got lucky with a major feature.”
If I listen to the negatives, it would mess with my mind, and if I rely on the positives, it would make me too comfortable and I would only stick to a particular sound and style. So I block everything out and I never read comments on anything. My focus remains only on creating.
As your music continues to attract audiences worldwide, what is your outlook for the future?
There has been a lot of growth, and I don’t think about limitations because of the fast pace at which we’re growing. Everything is falling in place and I’m just really hopeful. I only care about how my music is being received, how it resonates among the audience and how it contributes to the growth of Nigerian music and women in general. I feel like my album will be in the works soon, and it’ll represent how I feel and what I speak for.
On a 95-degree day in late July, Channel Tres shows up on Zoom from his place is Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood wearing a tank top and intermittently drinking from a large water bottle.
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It’s been a few weeks since the artist released his debut album, Head Rush, 17 tracks that package myriad elements of Tres’ psyche — “my love life, dealing with loss, dealing with the transition when my dreams become reality” — into a sophisticated, swaggy amalgamation of hip-hop, R&B and electronic music that tracks his rise from his native Compton to big tours and big festival stages.
“Now I’m somebody people will recognize sometimes,” he says. “I’m not just a bedroom musician anymore. I’m doing things. It was like, ‘I have all these things going on, and I only have this one brain to process it. That was the meaning of the title, Head Rush. It was something that could be euphoric, but it’s also something that can be a headache.”
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This characteristic depth is balanced by a lot of output that’s just purely danceable. This fall, Tres will go on a 15-date tour with Kaytanada for shows he predicts will be “the biggest dance parties of the year.” He’s also currently working on dance music that he’s testing out at DJ sets and afterhours. And the reach is real: When he recently went back to Compton to hang out on the set of Kenrick Lamar’s “Not LIke Us” video, he says “a lot of people came up to me like, ‘Yo man, we love what you’re doing. We’ve gotten into house music.’ I would never think going back home that I’d hear this from people. Stuff like that inspires me.”
Ahead of his performance at HARD Summer in Los Angeles this weekend, Tres talks about what he’s done, what he still wants to achieve and the times he’s just been able to enjoy the moment.
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It’s been a month since your album came out. What has this time been like for you?
The first two weeks were like hell, because I was reading everything. I would search my name on Twitter and read everything; I was reading Reddit, just engulfing myself in the positive and negative feedback. It was a lot for me, but I felt like it was important to get both sides of criticism, just because I want to teach myself how to take whatever it is and be okay with it.
That sounds intense.
I didn’t want to feed into all the positive feedback and fill my head up with all positive things, thinking I’m the shit when I still have things to work on. Then I wanted to also look at the negatives so I could build strength to have thicker skin so it won’t affect me as much. Because the more you get into this, you realize it’s just going to be all types of comments coming at you. I always safeguarded myself from that, but this time, I was like, “No, I’m going to engage.”
Then after that two weeks, I stopped. I was like, “Okay, cool. I’m going to go back to therapy, and instead of bi-weekly make it once a week.” [Laughs.] Then I just got really excited about the future. I was like, “Wow, I really put a chapter of my life into 17 songs and released it, and it feels so good.” I’m excited to take what I learned from this process to inform the next body of work.
Were able to shake off the best and worst things you read about yourself?
Yeah. I learned how to be like, “This is how I feel. I know what I was saying right here. I know how I freaked the production right here and what that means to me as a producer.” After it was all said and done, I was like, “Oh, I’m only in competition with me.” I get to do something I’m passionate about, and it serves me, and it serves my creative juices and the the child in me, but it also pays the bills. So wow, look at the life that I get to live.
You mentioned being recognized and having your profile rise. The last time you spoke with Billboard, in 2023, you said were “ready for big s–t… ready for the big stage type of energy.” Do you feel like you’ve achieved that with this album?
No, I don’t feel like I’ve achieved that. But I feel like I achieved what this album was supposed to achieve for me. I didn’t get to where I want to go with this album, but I’m thankful I did it, because there’s more stories to be told, and I want to leave a trail of [output.] Whenever that moment comes, cool. I feel successful already, but I know there’s places I want to go.
What places are those?
I still want to play Glastonbury. I still want to headline Coachella. There are certain things that I want automatic, like I want to get Tonight Show automatically. I want more excitement behind things I’m doing, but I’m not in a rush for that. I know those things come with the more work I put in.
Have there been moments when you’ve felt like you were getting exactly what you wanted or dreamed of?
I had an album release party for my project and Thundercat showed up, Ty Dolla $ign showed up, Kaytranada showed up, Estelle, Ravyn Lenae. I was wondering if they’re all going to show up. I was like, “Let me just go for the fans and give this body of work the appreciation it needs.” Then everybody showed up. We all listened to the album, then afterwards, everybody I mentioned came on stage, and I was able to play my favorite songs with them and vibe with the crowd. I was so full of love. I was like, “This is what it is. It’s about community.”
These are people I’ve looked up to since like, 2010, and now some of them I can call friends and collaborators. And my mom was there, my aunt, my grandma came. Everything clicked. At that point, nothing mattered — like the successes I want, or my personal ambitions. For my cousins or other people from L.A. that knew me before to see where I’ve gotten to now, that brought a lot of gratitude.
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Maybe this is an unfair question since you just released your album, but are you working on music right now?
I’ve already been working on new music. I’ve been finding new sounds. With Head Rush, I needed to rap more and incorporate some of my hip-hop roots and R&B roots. It’s an electronic album, but it’s not the dance album I wanted to make. It’s more of a album of self -expression, but I put some dance songs in there that are going to be good to perform. But I still have a really crazy electronic dance project I want to make.
Ooh. Tell me more.
I’ve been making dance music again. I mean, I never stopped, but I have a re-love for it again. I’ve been practicing DJing again, and I’ve been finding sounds and new BPMs. I’ve been doing more after parties and underground club parties and testing out records in my DJ sets. I’m getting hungry again about how I relate to dance music. I feel like how I felt when I first fell in love with it again, but in a new way, because I have more skills.
What are the best business decisions that you’ve made so far in your career?
I would say firing the team I started off with. I was very loyal in that situation, and I wasn’t necessarily getting the best work. When I came into the music, I’m thinking I’m working for my team, when in reality, I’m Channel Tres. I created Channel Tres. I’m in the studio creating the songs; I’m putting my life on the line going on these tours. So the people around me need to be held to a standard, and we need to be working together. Nobody’s working for anybody. Being able to let a situation go based on business and not being so loyal because you have emotional connections has been a really great thing for me. Because, yes, I’m very loyal. But sometimes that doesn’t mean that that person is doing the best work for you.
How have things shifted for you since you made that decision?
I feel like I have business partners now. We can look at Channel Tres objectively and make the best decisions for what we’re trying to get to. Because I am a musician and a creative, but I’m also well invested into the business of Channel and how we can further that. I know that I’m gonna show up, and I’m going to put the work in, and when I have somebody that’s working with me, and they have the same energy, I can sleep at night with that.
You’re going on tour with Kaytranada this summer. What’s that show going to look like?
When the Kaytranada tour offer came it was just like, “Wow, this is exactly what I need right now.” I was excited to go on tour by myself, but then I was like, “Nah, Kaytranada and I together on a tour is just going to be the biggest dance party of the year.”
[My team and I] are so locked in to capitalize on the things I’ve already done. My routine is better. Me and creative partner, we’ve gotten better. I’m open to learning, but I’m also coming with fire. I’ve been rehearsing, and I’m honing in on things I haven’t before. Even if it’s just a dance move I want to add to my repertoire. I’ve been watching a lot of Broadway shows like The Wiz. Now I’m walking around in the house, but I’m doing it in a Broadway fashion.
There aren’t that many dance artists that incorporate actual dancing into their live show. Why is that a compelling thing for you to do?
I’ve been dancing since I was a kid. In high school I was in ballet. I’m just an art kid. If I wasn’t doing music, I’d probably be doing a play. I have to make things interesting for myself. Also my first tour I ever went on was with Robyn. I got to watch her every night. The way she worked the crowd, you could feel the love and energy. There’s no mistake that the universe put me on that tour. I want to bring people that type of energy.
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Have you always been so able to freely express yourself, or has it taken a long time to get to this place of just following the impulses?
Naturally as a kid I was like that. But then I did a talent show in seventh grade, and I got booed and made fun of for the rest of the year. It shut me down for a while and I was reserved, and like “I’m just gonna be a producer and be in the background.”
What changed?
Something happened when I was in college. I was a drama minor. I started learning how to act and then kind of felt the energy again. I don’t live where I grew up anymore. I’m not the person that all those people knew anymore.
I experienced house music and dance music and was like, “There’s no time to be precious about this. I’m going get a choreographer. I’m going start taking classes. I’m going to practice and start being the person I want to be. Fuck it. There’s just no time to be cool. If it falls through the floor, it falls through the floor, but I’m just going to put myself out there, because you only get one life.” And it worked.
What was the seventh grade talent show performance?
I grew up in church, that’s how I got good at instruments. I grew up with my great grandparents, so I was wearing loafers and slacks. So I just was like, “I’m gonna bring this energy to school, and it’s gonna be good.” Me and my friend wrote a gospel song. I sang it. I was dancing, and it was just a sea of laughter.
That’s tough.
Because it wasn’t cool to be like that. I’m going to school in Compton. Either you play sports, or you’re a gangbanger. That shit wasn’t cool.
Well, if they could see you now.
They do.
Over three years into his solo career, Aaron Frazer is about to embark on his first headlining tour. Frazer – the drummer and vocalist for soul outfit Durand Jones & The Indications – released his first solo album Introducing… in January of 2021 when touring options were limited due to COVID-19 restrictions and only managed to fit in a few opening gigs with fellow retro-enthusiasts Black Pumas.
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For his sophomore set Into the Blue (out today via Dead Oceans), Frazer will support the new record across nearly 30 dates and multiple countries – a challenge he’s nervous, but ready to accept.
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“At this point in people’s careers, if they’re the front person up there without an instrument in their hands they have probably been doing it since they were a kid,” Frazer tells Billboard. “And I’ve spent a lot of time on my butt … behind a drum kit.”
But Frazer isn’t entirely untested as a headliner. His booking team floated the idea of a one-off show at the iconic Troubadour in Los Angeles (the city he now calls home) for February and, within minutes of onsale, it was sold out. The team added two more nights around the city including The Lodge Room and The Paramount in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, both of which also sold out.
“It moved really quick, which was cool, man,” says Frazer. “I don’t think anywhere in the world has my back the way L.A. has my back.”
Tonight, he’ll celebrate the release of Into the Blue at The Wiltern, which has a larger capacity than his Threepeat run combined, and will formally introduce his loyal audience to the 10-track collection that showcases an even wider range of Frazer’s talents. Following his heavily soul-focused debut, Into the Blue takes the listener from 1950s pop of “Perfect Strangers” to the ‘90s R&B-styled “Fly Away,” along with boleros-inspired Spanish-language track “Dime.” While the genres sound disparate, Frazer and co-producer Alex Goose manage to ground the album in Frazer’s slick drumming and signature falsetto.
Billboard caught up with Frazer prior to his album release gig to discuss growing into a frontman, his love for hip-hop and how he manages to create cohesion as a “genre-agnostic” artist.
Into the Blue takes you into even more genres than before with ‘90s R&B, 1950s/1960s rock’n’roll and, of course, soul. How do you make all these genres sound cohesive on one album?
I am extremely eclectic in my listening, but for some people I did want to avoid the feeling of whiplash. Finding these through-lines that you can weave together to make it a more cohesive listening experience. So, like, Italian film score, some of the spaghetti western stuff. Ennio Morricone was a big influence on this record, and David Axelrod. Both Morricone and Axelrod, you have these big operatic background vocals, but then you also have very tough drums – very breakbeat-oriented drums. For me, it is keeping the drums tough throughout.
For example, the opening track “Thinking of You” — I was listening to a lot of Black Ivory from Harlem when I was writing that. The true period take would be to actually dial back the drums a little bit, but I wanted to push the drums a little bit more forward so that it can also blend with a song like “Dime” which is part Little Beaver and part Kali Uchis. So, yeah, tough drums, the background vocals and I am still me in every context. That is also the tie that binds.
Speaking of “Dime” featuring Cancamusa, what made you want to add Spanish-language vocals to this track?
I was working with a Spanish co-writer. I had this beat that I had made in collaboration with Alex Goose, my co-producer, as well as Robin Hannibal from Rhye. We put this track together and it had this smooth, intimate romance to it and Spanish is such a romantic language – it literally is a romance language. It felt like the right context for a Spanish-speaking artist. I wrote the lyrics with a writer named Sofia Lafluente, and she brought the Spanish perspective to that. I love being able to shine a spotlight on other artists, whether it is with my production or if it’s on my own social media. So much of the soul audience that I have is Spanish-speaking, and I wanted to show respect to the culture and bring a Spanish-speaking artist onto the track.
Your career has been heavily influenced by older soul music. What drew you to that music?
I’ve always felt genre agnostic. Hip-hop for me has always been at the core of my musical DNA. That’s how I learned soul music in the first place. The first CD I ever owned was Big Willie Style by Will Smith. I wish it was a cooler album. [Laughs] You get what you get when you’re a kid. But on that record there is “Just the Two of Us” which is a Bill Withers interpolation and the “Men in Black” rap which is Patrice Rushen’s “Forget Me Nots.”
From the jump, my introduction to soul music was filtered through hip-hop. It’s always been part of how I’ve understood music. Every hip-hop record draws multiple lines outward to other records across generations. So, here’s a drum break from the ‘60s. Here’s a soul sample from the ‘70s. There’s a jazz piano snippet. That’s the core of my musical philosophy. All these genres and different decades, it’s all just one thing.
Despite the depth of genres and instruments you introduce on the album, the tracks never sound cluttered. How do accomplish that?
It definitely takes a lot of work the more elements you put in. A lot of my musical heroes are good at exactly that. Curtis Mayfield builds these huge arrangements but they’re never like, “Whoa! Okay, I get it.” It’s never overbearing. Lee Hazlewood is another one that I come back to a lot. He’s making country music but there’s a toughness to it and his arrangements are just cavernous. A lot of it comes down to the part arranging and being able to see when everything fits. There’s a call and response to create a conversation between the elements. That’s what it is a lot of the times.
You had a very successful Threepeat run of shows in Los Angeles earlier this year, but now you’re going on a full headlining tour. What can fans expect?
I have a drummer who signed on for this tour who also sings background and plays percussion. So, when I’m on the kit, he’ll be on percussion and background vocals and then when I go up front, he’ll be on the drums.
So, unlike previous gigs, you’re going to be even more of a frontman. How does that feel?
It feels naked. It feels like a fever dream where you walk on stage without your pants on. It is fun, but it is a challenge. It requires a certain amount of bravery. I’m learning as I go, but I’m looking forward to this opportunity to experiment with abandon. That’s something I admire so much about Durand as a front person – his sense of abandon, his freedom on stage.
I also need to figure out who I am as a front person. I don’t come out of the James Brown school of frontmanship. It would be weird if I did. Smokey Robinson had his own kind of stage presence that is more demure. Or Curtis Mayfield, his stage presence was interesting because he held a guitar for a lot of it, which is nice. When I have a guitar in my hand, I’m like, “Okay, I’m safe. I’m good. I have something to do with my limbs.”
On No One Gets Out Alive, singer-songwriter Maggie Rose is sending a message.
“The theme of this record is using this finite amount of time well while we have it,” she says of the recently released project. She was in a reflective mood as she wrote and recorded the dynamic work, having gone through the pandemic, seen some friendships come to their natural conclusion and lost her best friend’s dad to cancer. “All these things that made me feel connected to my community were gone,” she says.
With its folk-pop-soul, acoustic production and Rose’s expressive, smoky vocals, the album recalls works from Bonnie Raitt, Yola and Dusty Springfield.
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Rose says she doesn’t necessarily think about what listeners will learn about her from hearing to the album, but instead what they will learn about themselves: “I think I have a really strong belief in myself and what I’m doing,” she says. “[It’s] not as much as I want them to learn about me, but hopefully that they will draw from this.”
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Produced by Ben Tanner, the album guitarist Sadler Vaden and drummer Chad Gamble from Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit, keyboardist Peter Levin (Amanda Shires, Gregg Allman), bassist Zac Cockrell (Alabama Shakes) and keyboardist Kaitlyn Connor and guitarist Kyle Lewis from Rose’s own band. “I believed in this Field of Dreams idea of build it and they will come,” she says, of assembling the players.
Rose, who released her first album in 2009, delivered the completed project to Big Loud Records, which didn’t change a thing, including the sequencing. “I am not by any means jaded, but it wasn’t what I was expecting a label on Music Row to deliver for me and fully embrace what I was doing,” she says. “I think that just is a testament to Big Loud and how progressive and artist forward they are. But all the tentativeness that I had just from having operated around Music Row for so long, that all went away just because I felt like I was really understood. This is the partnership I’ve been waiting for.”
Rose has played the Grand Ole Opry 106 times, and if mainstream country music gatekeepers have yet to embrace her, she feels totally accepted on that vaunted stage. “I think it speaks to all the different iterations of what the Nashville music scene is,” she says. “The fact that the Grand Ole Opry has been around for almost 100 years is probably due to the fact that they are malleable and they’re trying to adapt, and also be progressive and cast a little bit of a wider net than maybe our friends at country radio are doing. I don’t know that my music is like a bullseye for what you would typically expect to hear at the Grand Ole Opry, but I feel very much part of a community that I want to see go on for another 100 years.”
Below, Rose picks her five favorite tracks from the new album — though she admits her top selections can change on any given day — with explanations in her own words for each pick.
“No One Gets Out Alive”
The title by itself: If you just hear ‘No one gets out alive,’ it sounds really ominous and dark. When you hear the song in its entirety, it’s anything but. It’s really hopeful. I’d had this title just kind of rolling around in my head. I knew the day that I wrote this song with Sunny Sweeney and Natalie Hemby, that most likely I would end up naming the album that — just because I’d already written some other songs that were about moving on with only what you need and taking advantage of the time that you have. It was me letting go of some emotions that were holding me back creatively and keeping me from living to my full potential and extracting all the joy I can from what we’re doing.
I wanted this really dramatic ending, and I even got kind of scared of it. I said to Ben Tanner, “People are going to think I’m being too dramatic or over the top with this.” And he’s like, “You deserve to step into that theater and drama. That’s what the song is about.” There’s urgency. It’s demanding people live in the present right now.
“Mad Love” (feat. John Paul White)
“Mad Love” and “No One Gets Out Alive” are a little like twin songs. Every song has its little counterpart that it belongs with. “Mad Love” has that same kind of cinematic, Tarantino soundtrack feel as “Alive.” It was almost like I was trying to manifest this character that was a little braver than I was at the time. I’m like, this is Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill and pretending to step into this role. And maybe if I write this story and create this person in this persona, I’ll able to fulfill it and live up to it. I love performing that song. It just gives me like [Lee] Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra, spaghetti western vibes. And it’s also goes with the theme of relationships running their course, and of owning a little bit of that anger and moving on from it.
I love John Paul White. He’s got the haunting melody/ harmony thing down. I was like, “What better voice than John Paul’s to have on a song like ‘Mad Love’?” And I didn’t even tell him what parts to sing. He’s just doing his own thing. It truly just adds this ghostly beauty to the song that I love.
“Fake Flowers”
I wrote it with Chuck Harmony and Claude Kelly, who have become really good friends of mine. It was maybe one of the first songs that I had written when I started to realize there’s an album that’s starting to galvanize here. Chuck and Claude are known for writing these huge, diva pop melodies, and have written for Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Whitney Houston and Britney Spears. We probably made nine efforts, just the three of us, for songs to be contenders for this record and “Fake Flowers” was one of them.
I felt like I owned my anger, which is not necessarily something women are always encouraged to do. It’s one that I really look forward to during the live show, because it’s so dynamic and it has [these] kind of spooky, intimate verses and then this explosive Motown chorus, where it kind of mimics raging out. I love when music and the sentiment of a song can really marry together so well like that. I have a fondness in thinking about writing that with them and knowing that the three of us really had something special.
“Too Young”
The song I wrote with Natalie Hemby is about ageism. Natalie and I both were drawing from our similar experiences of moving to Nashville when we were teenagers. Knowing that we were talented, knowing that we have good people or established people around us and things going for us, but we were kind of undermined in thinking that we didn’t know what was best for ourselves and our careers. We wrote the song based on that. Knowing that I’ve been in Nashville for 16 years and was feeling like, “OK, I’m 35 and making another record.”
I wanted to include at the end that you’re never too old to chase your dreams. No one is. I think ageism is a really tough subject to write about, but I feel like Natalie and I did a good job. And it was such an intimate day of us laughing and crying and going down memory lane of different things that we had experienced throughout our careers. There was a lot of beauty to it, too, and anticipation for what’s to come.
We have to push against that stigma within our industry. It’s ridiculous. I love hearing from artists who have lived experiences and who can draw from wisdom. I feel more rooted in what I have to say now than I ever have.
“Under the Sun”
I love the groove of it. It has this fun Fleetwood Mac feel, but the lyrics are this really strong juxtaposition of sadness and the idea that we’ve exhausted every effort to reconcile and it’s not going to happen. There’s a little sarcasm to it as well: I guess there’s nothing out there for us that will bring us back together. I just like when you are grooving along to a song and you think it’s like this happy bop and it reveals itself to you as “Oh, this is actually pretty introspective and kind of sad.” It’s one that I really look forward to playing live. The production’s kind of fun and it adds a cool element to collection of songs that makes it really well rounded.
Josh Groban shocked the theater community when he and his Sweeney Todd co-star Annaleigh Ashford announced that they will be playing their final shows on Jan. 14, 2024, with Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster set to replace the pair. While Groban expressed gratitude for getting to be in the show in his departure announcement, the star provided additional context as to why he left in a new interview with Billboard News.
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“I think that we feel whether we stayed in it another year, whether we left tomorrow, I think Annaleigh and I feel like we did what we came to do,” Groban explained to Billboard‘s Rebecca Milzoff. “We wanted to get it off the ground in a way that we were really proud of, to get a response that [Stephen] Sondheim would have been really excited by and proud of, we wanted to bring our essence to the role and do something to it that we personally would be really proud of. And then it comes down to, how long do you stay fresh in that and how long do you feel like you have something really vital in your tank to give it.”
Their revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, to use its full title, received eight Tony nominations, including best revival of a musical and best actor and actress in a musical for Groban and Ashford. The cast album from the show is nominated for a Grammy for best musical theater album. Final-round voting is currently underway. The awards will be presented on Feb. 4.
Elsewhere during Groban’s interview, he spoke about his link to David Foster, who mentored him throughout the process of recording his 2001 self-titled debut album, and revealed that the experience gave him the tools necessary to soar on his sophomore follow-up, Closer. Groban reflected on the album hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and being surprised because it felt “a little more expressive” than his debut.
“I remember it didn’t open at No. 1. I remember being surprised [when] I got the call that it had gone No. 1 when that’s usually not the case. Usually, you have your big opening week, at least that’s the way the business is now, so that was a really special feeling.”
Closer entered the Billboard 200 at No. 4 in November 2003 and finally reached No. 1 in its ninth week in January 2004. “You Raise Me Up,” a Foster-produced track from the album, became his first hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and brought him his first Grammy nod (best male pop vocal performance).
“That was the first album I started to write on,” Groban recalls. “I felt like that was the first album that I started to explore more eclectic taste and took more risks and dipped my toes into waters that felt a little more self-expressive.”
He continued, “Your first album you’re just so careful, you got a lot of chefs in the kitchen. When you got someone like David Foster, you’ve got Gordon Ramsey in your kitchen — in a good way. So that album doing what it did really made me realize that my fans are in it for the long run. That album going to No. 1 made me realize, ‘Oh we’re gonna have a journey together.’ … They were open to other styles. They were open to me being me.”
Watch Groban’s full interview with Billboard News in the video above.