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Last year, RAYE swept the BRIT Awards and established her presence in the U.S. with the 070 Shake-assisted top 40 hit “Escapism.” In 2025, the British singer-songwriter has proven that her star power is not dimming anytime soon, earning her first solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Where Is My Husband!,” which currently sits at a No. 58 high on the chart dated Nov. 22.
Co-written and co-produced with longtime collaborator Mike Sabath, “Where Is My Husband!” finds RAYE blending Motown-era soul, big band instrumentation and a funky, rapid-fire cadence into an irresistibly animated plea for her imagined spouse to arrive already. “I would like a big and shiny diamond that I can wave around/ And talk, and talk about it/ And when the day is here, forgive me God, that I could ever doubt it,” she proclaims in the bridge, which went viral as a snippet on TikTok ahead of the song’s Sept. 19 release. “Husband” also serves as the lead single for RAYE’s forthcoming sophomore studio album, which follows debut My 21st Century Blues. In addition to helping RAYE become the first artist to win six BRIT Awards in a single year, the project also earned her 2025 Grammy nominations for best new artist and songwriter of the year, non-classical.
“Instead of being like, ‘How are we going to follow [My 21st Century Blues] up?’,” we were like, “You just toured the whole world, and it looked and sounded like this,” Sabath says about the inception for “Husband.” “You want to look and sound like that more. How do we design for that?”
RAYE first performed the then-unreleased “Husband” as the opening number during her Glastonbury Festival set in late June, preparing the stage for months of hype across social media. After RAYE’s first TikTok of her performance garnered nearly two million views, she continued teasing the song in subsequent posts, often leaning into her humor or giving fans glimpses inside the recording studio. Now, just over two months since its release, “Husband” has hit No. 13 on the Billboard Global 200, her highest ranking since “Escapism” peaked at No. 7 in 2023.
Below, New York-bred producer-songwriter Mike Sabath, 27, goes deep with Billboard about the composition of “Husband,” working with RAYE in the studio, and how they finished the song just 11 days before its release.
How did “Where Is My Husband!” come together?
We had an idea of the space we wanted to play in. [RAYE] was super inspired by The Supremes, visually and textually, and I’ve had this sonic vision since [My 21st Century Blues] — we reached it a bit with “The Thrill Is Gone” and “Worth It.” She had been touring for eons, and I had been doing other things and my own artist stuff. We got a ski cabin at Big Bear [Lake] in California for 10 days, but it took us five days to figure out how to eat and drink water there. (Laughs.) We’re musicians, we cook up in a whole different way!
With the last album, it all came together through the live show, which expanded and unified the sonic realm by making it super orchestral and brassy. She brings that queen energy. It’s like Your Highness who wears no shoes.
[With “Husband,”] we reverse-engineered it from her live show. It started with a drum roll and these brass hits, then I tapped a keyboard groove on the MIDI [controller]. It’s easy to [complain about not having] live drums, but it’s so important to get the idea out in its most simple form. There’s always time to sonically improve something, but there’s not necessarily another time when that stroke of inspiration is there. Lyrically, I just let her do her thing; I Americanize things when I need to. I come in like, (Sings lyric.) “He should holler.”
When did you know “Husband” was complete?
We literally didn’t finish it until 11 days before it came out. We got the foundation in Big Bear, and then we ended up finishing it at a studio in Joshua Tree, including the bridge. I did the horns at that studio, and then I added strings when I got back home. RAYE added a bass player and some piano when she went to London.
I feel like deciding if a record is done before it’s mixed is just silly. The mix is such a part of the color and the setting of the record; it reveals and cleans things. After one of the early mixes, for example, I realized RAYE needed to record more backing harmonies on the pre-[chorus].
This record was super untraditional in the way that we did the lead vocal. In the verses, there’s no lead vocal; it’s just doubles on the sides. And that’s how we did [most of] the record. She kept trying to cut a lead and didn’t like it, so I had to figure out what the “lead” meant in this context and create what it would feel like using four to eight voices. We did it with Tony Maserati, who’s a legend, and the sweetest dude ever.
In the 11 days before the song came out, I flew to Australia thinking the record was done. I landed at 4 a.m. and ended up in the Uber on Mixstream with Tony, making significant changes to the record over the phone as I’m completely delirious. When I finally got to where I was staying, we were still mixing, but I could look at the water, which calmed me. Physical location is a really powerful perspective tool in mixing. The song also had a different ending.
What was the original ending?
RAYE loves as much drama as possible, so she made this whole extra ending. I was like, “This is such a potent song, we should just end it.” And she’s like, “I want to do this thing!” I’m always supportive, so I let that happen, and that ultimately revealed other things that helped finish the record anyway. The day before we turned the song in, she calls me as she’s going to sleep in London, like, “Mike, we have to remove the ending.” It was hilarious because we made this whole thing for her ending, which we ended up keeping for the new ending. It was like a side quest.
I produced a new ending on the phone with Tony, and it was f–king insane. But it worked. After we turned the song in, RAYE and I were like, “I don’t know about the master.” Something about it just wasn’t hitting. We pulled that version, but we had to send them the mixed version, so I texted Tony out of his sleep. He got out of bed, made some coffee, went into the studio in the middle of the night, and bounced the final files. And then we delivered the record 11 days before it came out.
Was there a sense of “This is a hit!” when you turned the song in?
My biggest songs have been songs that I’ve been most excited to play for people — and that was the case with “Husband.” When it was done, I knew it was different. I really liked it, but I didn’t know it was going to be a hit. They were going to put out a different song, and I really pushed for this. It wasn’t that hard because it was pretty clear at that point, but I was like, “You have to come back with the drum roll!” Also, [“Husband”] was just more done at that point.
Why do you think fans have latched on to the song so much?
The world really fell in love with her on the last record, so I think people wanted her to win. Also, I think a lot of people are looking for a husband. People want love; we’re humans, and people want a partner. That’s resonant in itself and probably why the bridge exploded first. And the song itself is just crazy. People want to hear real music s–t going on, and there’s all that happening in this record. It’s also the things that are intangible, too.
The whole journey with RAYE so far has been amazing. We started eight years ago, and to witness all of this and be a part of it has been beautiful. I’ve always been like, “You guys are sleeping on this girl!” She’s always been amazing. Generational artists don’t just pop up; they are trained and prepared for sustainability. [RAYE] is a generational artist, and I’m honored to be her friend.
A version of this story appears in the Nov. 15, 2025, issue of Billboard.
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“This year has been a nail-biter when it comes to investing,” says Kristin Lee, founder of the business management firm KLBM. “Most of our clients have chosen to keep it more conservative and keep an eye on markets rather than doing anything major. We’re always keeping an eye out for unique opportunities in times like these.”
Lee expresses a view that many share in the financial community, including Billboard’s 2025 class of top business managers.
Nominated by their firms and peers and chosen by our editors, the financial advisers profiled here take on tasks for clients that have never been more complex: auditing streaming royalties, negotiating concert tours, building equity through branding deals and selling or buying music catalogs — to say nothing of conventional chores like budgeting, filing taxes, guiding investments or estate planning.
The passage in July of major tax and spending legislation — formally a budget reconciliation act — is having a significant, but mixed, impact.
“The 2025 reconciliation act significantly favors tax relief for high-income individuals and corporations while reducing funding for essential social programs,” says Jordan L. Josephs of Royal Entertainment Business Management. “The top 10% of earners are expected to receive nearly 80% of the legislation’s total benefits. While this may positively impact our high-income clients — particularly established entertainers and executives — it could present challenges for middle-income creatives, especially those who rely on public support or educational grants.”
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Accountants typically await guidance on new tax legislation from the IRS, which has been affected by the government shutdown that began Oct. 1. The result is “uncertainty, which is always the problem with this kind of thing,” says Joshua Klein of TKG Business Management. “Clients can handle higher taxes or stricter rules, but when the rules aren’t clear, like in this bill, that’s a hard thing to plan around.”
A perennial top priority for business managers is “security, security, security,” says Mike Merriman of PARR/3. But he adds: “Our industry is on the precipice of a new era of cyberattacks with [artificial intelligence], social engineering and more sophisticated scams than we’ve seen before. Part of protecting our clients’ wealth is to create multilayered security systems that constantly update and stay two steps ahead.”
Timothy J. Jorstad, founder of his own firm, Jorstad, notes that for some clients, “crypto and AI-related investments are very popular but come with very high risks. It is important that clients limit their overall risk exposure to alternative investments to no more than 10% of their total portfolios.”
The alternative investments that clients choose never fail to surprise business managers, and Billboard always invites our honorees to offer examples of the unusual places where artists and executives invest spare cash — while respecting the confidentiality of those clients. This year, those investments range from a cricket team to dinosaur fossils.
One client of U.K. business manager Colin Young of the London-based firm CC Young invested in “a share in a zoo,” he says, “with an optional participation in feeding the hippopotamus.”
Ivan AlarcónOwner/CEOCarolina MedinaJuan RodriguezLaura SuarezProject managers, Vibras Lab
Alarcón was the CFO for Bad Bunny’s Puerto Rico residency and will fill that role for the artist’s upcoming European and Latin American tours. His clients also include Karol G and J Balvin. His firm helped close agreements with merchandising company Bravado and spirits maker Casa Dragones for Karol’s new tequila, 200 Copas. Vibras was involved in tours that sold 3.5 million concert tickets in the past 12 months, according to the company, including outings by Natalia Lafourcade and Balvin’s Back to the Rayo tour.
What’s affecting client income: “I believe we are on the verge of a reappraisal cycle: Catalogs could appreciate significantly because they will power the next generation of [artificial intelligence]-driven entertainment, from immersive experiences to personalized music for every listener,” Alarcón says. “My advice to clients has shifted toward protecting, structuring and retaining ownership of their rights because what today is a licensing opportunity could become the foundation of entire new revenue streams tomorrow.”
A booking to play the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show on Feb. 8, 2026, has confirmed the superstar status of Bad Bunny, a client of Ivan Alarcón of Vibras Lab, who was the CFO of the artist’s history-making residency in Puerto Rico.
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Belva AnakwenzePrincipal/business manager, Abacus Financial Business Management
“The evolving role of business managers is no longer just managing existing income but actively helping clients build long-term wealth through ownership, diversification and strategic capital deployment,” Anakwenze says. Her firm has guided several musician and actor clients in launching everything from wellness brands to tech startups, providing the financial infrastructure and strategic planning needed to transform creative professionals into successful entrepreneurs. “This diversification has proven crucial as AI and industry consolidation continue to pressure traditional revenue sources,” she adds.
What’s affecting client income: “The shift toward playlist-driven discovery and shorter attention spans means our musician clients must fundamentally rethink their creative and business strategies. We’re advising clients to focus on building direct fan relationships through platforms like Patreon and Bandcamp rather than relying solely on Spotify or Apple Music, where payouts remain fractional unless you achieve massive scale success.”
Jose Luis AristizábalFounder/CEO, CamaleOn
Camaleon is turning ambitious artist projects into profitable ventures, made possible by the firm’s “full-service approach and the strong team we’ve built,” Aristizábal says. This is exemplified by how it directly manages the full touring revenue cycle. “We don’t just plan tours — we also [oversee for] our clients all the extra income sources like VIP packages, merch sales and meet-and-greets,” he adds. “By keeping these [operations] in-house and handling everything from logistics to financial planning, we cut out middlemen and increase profits for our artists.” The company also manages legal, tax and royalty matters, while ensuring its artists “keep as much of their earnings as possible” with “a strong, profitable business behind them.”
What’s affecting client income: “Whether it’s AI, streaming changes or other shifts, our team looks at everything through the lens of profit, legal safety and long-term strategy — so our clients always have a clear and complete plan.”
Angie BarajasLouis BarajasCo-founders/business managers, Business Management LAB
Business Management LAB has achieved its highest revenue growth year, something Louis Barajas attributes to the company’s focused attention on its clients. “As [business management] firms consolidate and grow in size, Angie and I made a firm commitment to stay boutique and cater and double down to [serve] musicians and executives in the Latin music community,” he says. Their clients range from regional Mexican music stars like Ivan Cornejo, Natanael Cano and Julion Alvarez to Latin urban and pop acts like Yandel and Elena Rose.
What’s affecting client income: “We are seeing that the younger artists that are more technology-savvy are using AI, new and multiple streaming platforms and the direct-to-fan and creator economy. [They] are learning to monetize their music and rely on less traditional [music label] platforms,” Louis says.
The Alma Tour 2025, promoted by Live Nation, will bring Elena Roseto nine U.S. cities beginning Nov. 28 in Miami Beach. She is among the clients of husband-and-wife business managers Angie and Louis Barajas of Business Management LAB.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Harrison BaumanSenior vp of investments, Raymond James & Associates
Bauman says the most important issue for his clients is their “personal security — planning for their future and setting the right expectations.” He has in-depth conversations regarding the sale of their catalog and how it affects today versus tomorrow. New streaming payment models and catalog sales are affecting clients’ income, he says. Raymond James & Associates has also assisted clients with implementing certain retirement plans at a young age in order to reduce their taxable income and, over the past year, the company has helped with the financing for clients relocating to different states or new homes.
Impact of the Reconciliation Act: “Section 181 allows entertainers to deduct certain production expenses,” Bauman says, referring to the provision of the tax code that previously applied solely to qualified film, TV and live theatrical productions.
Tyson BeemCEOChristopher FazzolariShane GlassTodd KamelharJohn MenneciMelissa MortonRichard MozenterAnton PamerMike SkeetBill TannenbaumManaging directors, Gelfand Rennert & Feldman
As one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most skilled business management firms, GRF plays a leadership role within Focus, an interdependent partnership of wealth management, business management and related financial services firms. Drawing upon the global Focus ecosystem, GRF delivers its guidance to leaders in music, film, TV, sports, social media and other creative arts. As CEO, Beem has connected the various experts and resources across the company including the U.S. and U.K. business management teams, the U.S. and international tax teams, tour accounting, production accounting, music and royalty examination services, music publishing, record-label administration and intellectual-property valuation. Offering “a wide spectrum of expert services,” Beem says, “creates exceptional results for clients.”
What’s affecting client income: “We are continuing to see a proliferation of monetization opportunities for music rights,” Beem says. “That includes acquiring various rights, selling various rights and, of course, confirming that recurring revenues are calculated properly. You’re seeing these valuation opportunities evolve as you see new buyers including private equity enter the market.”
Julie BoosOwner/chairman/business managerDuane ClarkOwner/president/business managerJamie CheekOwner/CEO/business managerErica RosaOwner/vp of royalties and contract compliance/business managerDavid BoyerJen CongerDan KillianCarmen RomanoOwners/business managersPaul BarnabeeDirector of West Coast operations/business managerChris HughesBetsy LeeJason LeissBusiness manager, FBMM
FBMM is focused on ways to find cost savings for clients in various areas, including touring. “We’re constantly looking for opportunities to leverage our clients’ collective buying power to negotiate cost savings, whether that’s through preferred pricing with bus vendors or discounted fuel card rates,” Cheek says. The company also continues working to help clients protect their creative works in the age of AI. “It has been important to work with artists’ legal teams and managers to ensure awareness of the potential issues and developing new best practices for handling the use of AI and evaluating strategies to protect artists’ names, likenesses and intellectual property,” Cheek says.
Pressing issue: “The changing cost structure and ultimate potential impacts on profitability of touring,” Cheek says. “Three primary cost centers that are affecting this are acquiring and retaining great staff with shortages in nearly all departments; travel costs, which have skyrocketed over the past two years; and production costs. These inflationary measures we have seen before — but not all at the same time.”
Charles BradbrookJanice LloydStephen MarksSteven WrenPartners, SRLV
SRLV “has played a key role in supporting high-profile clients through major transitions — including international tours, catalog sales and strategic projects — all while maintaining a personalized, hands-on approach to business management,” Marks says of the company, which launched in 1988. And part of what has contributed to that success is the addition of three partners: two in the creative division and one in the private client international tax division. “These partners,” Marks says, “exhibit our continued commitment to excellence in client service, particularly in navigating complex financial landscapes.”
Impact of the Reconciliation Act: “QSBS [qualified small business stock] relief has been available for some time but has often been overlooked in favor of pass-through tax arrangements,” Marks says. “However, the enhanced QSBS relief provides significant tax advantages. So when new ventures are being discussed, more consideration will be given to a qualifying QSBS structure. This is particularly relevant for the entertainment industry, where asset value appreciation continues to be robust.”
Joseph CallaghanMark CarterSimon WintersPartnersThomas SmithPartner/entertainment industry leaderScott DunnachieDirector, Prager Metis
Over the past year, the Prager Metis team has focused on “creating diverse revenue streams for our clients, from merchandise lines to exclusive VIP experiences,” Smith says. Moreover, when considering possible revenue events, the company’s executives look beyond the immediate rewards that opportunity may provide and consider the question: “ ‘How will this decision impact our client’s business in five or 10 years?’ ” he says. “Thinking ahead allows us to build sustainable growth strategies for our clients, creating long-lasting success in an ever-changing market.”
What’s affecting client income: “With the touring season in full swing, we’re advising artists and touring companies to sharpen their financial strategies, especially by cutting overhead and negotiating smarter contracts,” Smith says. “Industry shifts like AI-driven production tools, evolving streaming revenue models and the surge in music catalog sales are reshaping how income is earned and managed. Staying agile is key.”
Adam CaswellDirector of business managementRoger RamosAccount manager, Fineman West & Co.
Fineman West & Co. has expanded its royalty and catalog valuation division, taking steps that include the integration of AI-driven analytics. This has helped the firm’s clients — a roster that includes Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, producer J.R. Rotem and Sam Farrar of Maroon 5 — “uncover missed royalties, identify new revenue streams and make more informed decisions when evaluating catalog sales,” Caswell says. The changes at the firm reflect “how business management is becoming more proactive, data-driven and creative — serving not just as financial stewards but strategic partners in our clients’ long-term growth.”
Pressing issue: “One of the biggest challenges right now is managing cash flow amid rising costs of living, shifting touring margins and the ebbs and flows of royalty payment schedules,” Caswell says. “Business managers are balancing the need for liquidity with long-term planning — helping clients stay financially steady while continuing to invest in their careers, businesses and future opportunities.”
Lauren CooperFounder/CEO, LC Business Management
Cooper founded LC Business Management in 2024 with one goal in mind: to provide a more tailored and personal experience for talent and creators. Over the past year, her business has doubled in size, which Cooper says “is both exciting and a testament to the need for a more thoughtful, client-first model in this space.” She adds, “We are not just handling numbers but supporting our clients across every facet of their financial lives.” To diversify beyond music, the company works closely with clients to build sustainable, long-term financial health through investments, brand partnerships, entrepreneurship and other ventures that align with their values and lifestyle.
Pressing issue: “One of the most pressing issues we face is bridging the financial literacy gap, especially with younger or emerging talent. We are not just managing money. We are educating clients on taxes, investing and how to build lasting wealth through ownership. Empowering them with that knowledge is essential to protecting their futures.”
José “Pepe” CruzManaging director, Solución Estratégica
Focused on building sustainable financial strategies that support both artistic goals and long-term business vision — like Ozuna’s 2025 summer tour across Europe — Cruz has guided his clients beyond touring and into business ventures across hospitality, agriculture and digital media. “One of the most interesting projects I’m currently overseeing is the development of an entertainment content platform designed to expand Latin music’s digital footprint and audience engagement,” he says. “My goal is to help clients like Ozuna protect their assets while building diverse, forward-thinking business models that extend well beyond music.”
Impact of the Reconciliation Act: “The most meaningful change is the formal enactment of the HITS Act tax breaks. This puts the music industry on equal footing with film and television, giving independent creators financial relief and greater access to professional resources. It’s a game-changer that encourages more investment in new music, supports creative growth and strengthens the overall ecosystem.”
Lester DalesPaul MakinDirectors, Dales Evans & Co.
Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres world tour is poised to become the highest-grossing trek ever with the September announcement of another 138 shows. The Dales Evans & Co. client’s tour has already brought in $1.4 billion with its first 211 shows through July 27. A year on from helping shepherd Queen’s record-breaking $1.3 billion catalog sale to Sony, Dales and Makin remain focused on supporting clients in similar one-off “milestone” deals amid the general “constructive support services” they offer. “Decisions around asset sales — to sell or not to sell — remain fundamentally important for many and need to be carefully considered based on each individual client’s circumstances and aspirations,” Dales says. “But for many, tour planning and income generation remain of prime importance.”
Pressing issues: “Maximizing and monitoring income flows,” Dales says. “As many clients become more reliant on worldwide touring, the mitigation of and planning for international withholding taxes. Then the preservation and growth of our clients’ assets.”
With its September announcement of 138 more concert dates, Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres world tour is poised to become the highest-grossing trek ever. The band is advised by Lester Dales of Dales Evans & Co.
Samir Hussein/WireImage
Ed EschlemanOlga GoldovskayaDirectors, Armanino Advisory
Eschleman says Armanino Advisory has overseen several successful international tours for his clients, which “involves making sure proper insurance coverage, tax compliance and other regulatory compliance matters are addressed prior to and during touring.” But the biggest questions Eschleman sees are about recordings and listening: “How will artists be compensated for their works that are used to train AI models? Will AI-created music start to make up a large part of the music catalog that consumers listen to?” he says.
Impact of the Reconciliation Act: “The act extends film/TV’s Section 181 treatment to music. You can immediately expense up to $150,000 per project of U.S. sound-recording production costs — think studio time, session players, engineering, mixing/mastering and certain eligible release assets — instead of amortizing over years,” Eschleman says. “Net effect: lower taxes the year you cut the record and more cash for marketing, which is especially powerful for indie artists and labels.”
Kella FarrisStephanie SelfCatherine MooreStephanie AldermanPartners, Farris Self & Moore
Farris Self & Moore marked its 10th anniversary in January and continues to guide clients with their financial needs, from structuring catalog sales to evaluating tour opportunities and setting a proper foundation for emerging artists. FSM has been able to separate itself from competitors by being less of a financial administrator and focusing more on strategic advice. “Whether that’s pressure-testing a tour budget before a client commits to dates, working through the mechanics of a brand partnership or walking someone through what a major transaction actually means for their taxes and long-term planning,” Alderman says, “the goal is the same: help clients understand their options clearly so they can make decisions that align with their goals.”
What’s affecting client income: “Touring economics,” Alderman says. “What used to function as a reliable revenue stream has created a stark divide: Top-tier artists are breaking touring records while emerging acts can still book shows for exposure and experience, but the middle tier has essentially hollowed out.”
Marco FonsecaCEO, Red Mind Global
Fonseca developed a “scalable” business management team to prepare Red Mind Global’s “next stage of growth” and “ensure we can welcome new artists without compromising the quality of service,” he says. “We have invested in building technology-driven tools across our back-office departments to provide managers and artists with real-time financial and operational data,” Fonseca says, encouraging artists to understand how to navigate “today’s overload of information” for more accurate decision-making. “At Red Mind,” he adds, “we believe that streamlined, high-quality data is the foundation that enables artist projects to grow sustainably.”
What’s affecting client income: “Artificial intelligence,” Fonseca says. “My advice to artists is to treat AI as an ally, not a threat: Those who understand it early will be the ones shaping how it works for them instead of having it imposed on them. But AI should never replace artists. The soul, emotion and human experience behind music is irreplaceable, and that is where true value lies.”
Pete FrosticFounder/CEO, The Greenroom Resource
Before Frostic founded The Greenroom Resource to advise entertainment stars, he was an entertainer himself. “I was a touring musician for 10 years prior to gaining my MBA,” Frostic says. “I’m proud of how that ethos informs our interactions with clients.” Although many of his specific achievements are confidential, Frostic is proud “to help clients all across the revenue spectrum find a way to present their art to their fans in a way that is conducive to a profitable business that drives their personal net worth up over time.” As the cost of touring rises, Frostic knows his work is more important than ever, noting that these increasing costs are “always in conflict with our clients’ desire to deliver their performances in a way they envision it creatively.”
What’s affecting client income: “I believe strongly in the long-term value of content ownership. As new monetization models appear and disappear over time, the owners of the [intellectual property] assets are the ones with the power. I do my best to help clients retain and/or reclaim these rights.”
Lidia GámezManuel LópezCo-CEOsDaniel RuizCFO, MAAS/Sympathy for the Lawyer
Dellafuente’s two sold-out shows in June at Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium drew 130,000 fans and generated an economic impact of 35 million euros (about $40 million), according to the artist’s business management firm, MAAS/Sympathy for the Lawyer, which oversaw the venture. “Given the ambitious and innovative artistic proposal, which required a massive financial investment and complex structuring, coupled with the challenges currently facing large-scale events in Spain — including a forced venue and date change from the originally planned Santiago Bernabéu — this endeavor represented a monumental challenge that our team successfully managed and delivered,” López says.
Pressing issue: “In today’s industry, artists and managers need far greater control and clarity over their data,” López says. “Yet the information is often fragmented. At MAAS, our commitment as business managers is to provide simple, agile and comprehensive visibility across all three pillars of the business — recorded music, live and publishing — without requiring clients to consult dozens of separate dashboards.”
Some 130,000 fans turned out in June for two sold-out shows at Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium by Dellafuente, according to his business management firm, MAAS/Sympathy for the Lawyer.
Aldara Zarraoa/Redferns
Adrien GoodFounder/business manager, Luma Business Management
As a go-to business manager for songwriters and producers who power the top of the Billboard Hot 100, Good has carved out a unique lane in the music industry with Luma Business Management, which marks its fifth anniversary this year. Helping clients like Dan Nigro, Steph Jones, Sam Sumser and Petey Martin, Good says the most important thing he advises writers and producers to do is to future-proof their finances now. For creators with sporadic income, he adds, “that means building real liquidity cushions to help them hit their personal lifestyle goals, not just get them to the next royalty statement.”
What’s affecting client income: “For our producer/songwriter clients, catalog positioning for a potential sale in the next three to five years is front and center. Every new deal comes with a discussion of what that will mean for the catalog value and where they will be in recoupment when that time comes.”
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In its nascent days, Big Machine Label Group had a mantra: “Start at crazy and work backward.”
“It happened very early on in some of our marketing meetings, where, as a young label, we didn’t have a lot of marketing money, and so it was like, ‘What’s the craziest thing we could do? Let’s define the mile marker and work backward from that,’ ” BMLG founder and chairman/CEO Scott Borchetta remembers.
“It’s a very liberating concept and construct,” he continues. “I love working with artists who think big or people who see things in such bright colors. That’s when I feel I do my best work.”
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And for 20 years, Borchetta and his team have done their best work developing artists from scratch and taking established stars to new heights, including Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire, Thomas Rhett, Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, Rascal Flatts, Mötley Crüe, Dolly Parton, Carly Pearce and Riley Green.
Borchetta started BMLG in September 2005 as a sister label to Toby Keith’s Show Dog Nashville (while that partnership dissolved six months later, Keith held equity in BMLG until 2019). Following in his father’s record-company footsteps (Mike Borchetta worked in promotions for Capitol Records, RCA Records and Mercury Records), the junior Borchetta became highly regarded for his promotional prowess at both MCA and DreamWorks, at a time when country radio was king.
After MCA parent Universal Music Group (UMG) bought DreamWorks, Borchetta decided to leave and start Big Machine, which takes its moniker from both the Velvet Revolver song of the same name and a reference to the “big machines” he drives as a sports car driver in the Trans-Am Series. (Borchetta also owns NASCAR Xfinity Series team Big Machine Racing.)
Big Machine’s initial roster included Jack Ingram, DreamWorks artist Danielle Peck and, thanks to his early discussions with her while at DreamWorks, a teenage Swift. Borchetta promised her that if she was interested, he would sign her as soon as he got Big Machine off the ground, and he made good on his word in 2005.
Borchetta and Swift at the 44th annual Academy of Country Music Awards in 2009.
Ethan Miller/Getty Image
Nearly a decade-and-a-half later, Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings bought the UMG-distributed label in 2019 for a reported $300 million. Then in 2021, HYBE bought Ithaca for $1.05 billion. Despite no longer owning Big Machine, Borchetta says he retains creative control.
BMLG operates four imprints: Big Machine Records, The Valory Music Co., Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment and Big Machine Rock (which HYBE sold to Gebbia Media in May, but the imprint remains under Borchetta’s remit). In 2012, the label group launched publishing company Big Machine Music, which includes such powerhouse writers as Jessie Jo Dillon (George Strait, Maren Morris) and Laura Veltz (McEntire, Kane Brown).
Helping guide BMLG from day one are Borchetta’s wife, executive vp of creative Sandi Borchetta, and president Andrew Kautz. Other key team members are COO Mike Rittberg and executive vp of A&R Allison Jones, as well as Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment president/CEO Jimmy Harnen, The Valory Music Co. president George Briner and Big Machine Records executive vp/GM Kris Lamb.
Twenty years in and with 185 No. 1 songs, 76 Grammy Award nominations and more than 225 million albums sold, according to the label, the mission remains largely the same, Borchetta says: “It’s all about cutting through the noise.”
What made you start your own label?
There was one really polar moment. Sandi and I were on vacation with Reba [McEntire] and [then-husband/manager] Narvel [Blackstock] in Cancún [Mexico], and he goes, “When are you going to run one of these things?” I thought, “Wow, if Narvel thinks I could do it…” That was really a boost to my thought process. There were certain mile markers on how I was thinking about the business, and one of the big things was Napster. When that came out, it scared everybody. It was a terrible time for the record industry. We’re suing college students and grandmas, right? “Is it a weed or a flower? Let’s just kill it.” That was a dead reckoning of [the conventional record industry not] seeing what the future is. Realizing that physical distribution at scale was a dead man walking over the next several years, it’s like, “I don’t see anybody getting ahead of this.” And that was the moment. It’s like, “There’s a lot of land out there that nobody’s claiming. Let’s go claim it.”
McEntire and Borchetta at the Music Biz 2017 Awards Luncheon in Nashville.
Rick Diamond/Getty Images
Your first release was Danielle Peck’s “I Don’t,” which reached No. 28 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Then, the label’s second single, Jack Ingram’s “Wherever You Are,” went to No. 1. Were you thinking, “Man, this is easy”?
If you look back to 2005 [and] that era, radio was still king, and I was the best in the business in promotion. I knew that I had a honeymoon period [and] that my first three or four records would get a chance. We really expected the label to be successful. I wanted to get our systems working before we got to Taylor [Swift] because I felt like that was going to be very special.
Taylor Swift launched as MySpace was taking off and you really harnessed the early power of social media. You also helped create the Great American Country TV series Short Cuts, which went behind the scenes. Tell us about launching her.
Out of nowhere, on May 1, 2006, Taylor starts showing up once an hour [on GAC] with these one-minute shorts to show her songwriting, her in the studio, her performing, etc. We intentionally didn’t release the first single, “Tim McGraw,” until the beginning of June because I wanted to see how hot we could make it. By the time we shipped that single, we were watching her MySpace increase [by] double-digit percentages week over week. When we shipped the record, I would call radio stations and say, “We have you surrounded and you don’t even know it.” It was just the beginning of a forest fire. We went everywhere because I knew she could back it up.
Did having a big star that early change the label?
A big lesson I learned at DreamWorks is Toby [Keith] got so big that we didn’t have anything else to balance it out and it became really challenging. As Taylor started to become the superstar that she became, I wanted to make sure that the label couldn’t be completely defined by one artist. Before you know it, we’ve got Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, The Band Perry, Florida Georgia Line. Reba McEntire comes over. We built out a superstar label because that was the only way I felt we would be taken seriously. We couldn’t be a one-trick pony.
In 2012, you became the first American label to receive performance royalty rights at terrestrial radio, starting with iHeartMedia. How important was that to you?
In that moment, it was extraordinarily important, and we came so close to getting a blanket license, so to speak, for the industry. It’s a shame that it didn’t happen because we would be sharing in global terrestrial performance rights around the world. It was something that I realized really early on that we were going to have to do in the private sector. We were not going to get this done through a political pathway. This all started with a conversation that I had with [iHeartMedia chairman/CEO] Bob Pittman… [We were] able to go to all [our] artists and say, “We just got you another income source.”
You and your team seem much less risk-averse than a typical label. You launched Nash Icon with Cumulus in conjunction with the company’s country radio format of the same name, a rock label in partnership with fashion designer John Varvatos and a label with Blac Noize!, all of which are gone now. How do you decide what to take the risk on, and how upset are you if it doesn’t work?
Hey, everything has seasons. Nash Icon was incredibly successful not only with Reba, but Hank [Williams] Jr. and Ronnie Dunn. With John Varvatos, it just got to the point where rock is so hard to do, but we had a nice season with that. Everything doesn’t last forever. Sometimes they’re just moments, sometimes they become a movement. Even though the Blac Noize! imprint didn’t last that long, out of the box, you had a huge hit with GloRilla and a Grammy nomination. We have this new joint venture [Ascend Music] with [industry executive] Joel Klaiman, who brought a killer act, Marfa. This is really the key for these other joint ventures. It’s A&R opportunities. It’s like, “What do you see out there that we don’t see?”
Spotify started in 2006 and now streaming is the dominant means for people to listen to music. How has it changed how you do business?
It changed everything. We’ve gone from selling a CD to Walmart and Target for $12.02 to [song streams generating] 0.004 [cents] around the globe. It’s how you get [artists] to scale because now we have things that are doing real business that aren’t at radio. At the end of the day, we want it everywhere, but I don’t know that you have to have it everywhere. Does it change how we sign artists? It does. Is this going to stream or not? You’ve got to have a social story. You’ve got to have a streaming story. You’ve got to continually remain interesting. And it’s probably harder than ever for these new artists.
Scott and Sandi Borchetta at Big Machine Label Group’s celebration of the 58th Annual CMA Awards last year in Nashville.
Brett Carlsen/Getty Images
How do you look at terrestrial radio now?
It’s still very important. If you look at our more mature artists, it’s super important to reach their fan base, and not as important to the younger artists.
Swift’s deal with Big Machine ended in 2018. How much pressure did you feel to try to make up that market share?
Business as usual. “Let’s go to work.” You can’t just say, “Oh, let’s go get the next one.” There isn’t another one, right? There’s her. To this day, we still do great business. It wasn’t like, “How do you make that up?” Because if you got so focused on that, [other] parts of the business would fail. The best thing we could do is get up and go to work every day and do our best work.
When you sold Big Machine in 2019, you’d had a ton of suitors before. Why was it the right time to sell?
I felt like it was the right time to sell with where the market was at that point, with Taylor leaving and the writing was on the wall for Florida Georgia Line [the duo went on indefinite hiatus in 2022]. I’m thinking to myself, “I built this to win Super Bowls, and we won Super Bowls. And so now it feels like it was the right time to do it.”
You took some pretty nasty slings and arrows from Swift and her fans, as did Scooter Braun. How did you personally navigate that?
I know that I’m true to myself. I never did anything to intentionally hurt any artist. I never expected that kind of response, but it happened. It’s unfortunate, but again, I have to live with the decisions that I make and I know I’m a good person. The people around me are good. We didn’t die that day. It’s perseverance… You’ve got to be resilient in this business. You get knocked down and get back up. It’s not the first time you’ve been knocked down. Probably won’t be the last.
In 2021, HYBE bought Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. How did that change how you operate your company?
For Big Machine Label Group, I am the sole decision-maker. They’re not involved in our A&R. Obviously, we have to be fiscally responsible to them and we work on very specific projections. But that’s just the business side. From a creative [standpoint] and all that, that lives in Nashville.
You were in a near-lethal car racing accident in 2023 and had to learn to walk again. Did you think about leaving the label, or did it help you to have a goal to get back to?
I was very aware that I was pretty much dying in the ambulance. At that point in the ambulance, I couldn’t breathe and then I split up blood. I said, “Just give up.” I don’t mean give up living, just go to the pain and let it go. If you’re dying, then you’re dying and just accept it. And my mantra became “Get to the next minute,” because I knew as soon as I got to the hospital — whether I was dying or not — I’d be out of pain. So I went into this meditation. When I woke up and saw how busted I was head to toe, I’m like, “Well, I survived this and there’s no way in hell I’m going to let this define the rest of my life. I’ve been so blessed. There are so many people I’m responsible for, so how quickly can we start the healing process?” From that day to today, it’s “I will not lie down, I will not go quietly.”
So you did not think about leaving the label?
I didn’t think about not being me. And this is me.
As you look ahead to the next 20 years, how much longer will you stay?
I’m going to stay until I don’t want to stay anymore. I’m still really excited about being a student of this game. I’m learning stuff every day. I equate [artificial intelligence] somewhat to how Napster was. Nobody knew what it was. They were predominantly just afraid of it. [I’m like], “Well, let’s jump in there.” I look at the opportunities that we have to use [AI] as a marketing tool and in a creative way and to encourage our artists and our creators to get their arms around it. That’s exciting to me.
The Band Perry performs during the Big Machine 20th Anniversary concert this August in Nashville.
Catherine Powell/Getty Images
In August, Middle Tennessee State University named its College of Media and Entertainment after you even though you went to school in California. Why was that important to you?
That’s how I started my speech. I said, “You need to know that I dropped out of college after two semesters. And here’s the reason why: This didn’t exist.” There wasn’t a path to learn the record business 40 years ago. Now there is.
Also in August, to celebrate its 20th anniversary, Big Machine held a concert in Nashville that included Rascal Flatts, Riley Green, Sheryl Crow, Brett Young and The Band Perry. Why did you decide to make it free, and how did you decide on the performers?
I wanted everybody invited. I wanted the biggest party possible. I didn’t want any restrictions. Danielle Peck came back and opened the show with our very first single. Jack Ingram came back and did our first No. 1. I was filled with pride the whole day, and then the night was just magical. I’ll never forget it. It didn’t rain. It was a perfect day.
This story appears in the Nov. 15, 2025, issue of Billboard.
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When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reveals its Academy Award shortlists in 10 categories on Dec. 16, it will constitute an early holiday present for the creators of 15 original songs and 20 original scores. Another round of voting will follow, preceding the nominations announcement on Jan. 22, 2026. A final round of voting will then occur before the 98th annual Oscars telecast on March 15.
Three top contenders for best original song — “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, “Lose My Mind” from F1: The Movie and “Dying To Live” from Billy Idol Should Be Dead — are each the work of five co-writers. The academy will award no more than four Oscars in this category. Should any of those songs win, the songwriters must share a single statuette.
Best Original Song
“Dream As One”Miley Cyrus, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, Simon FranglenAvatar: Fire and Ash, 20th Century Studios
Wyatt and Ronson won in this category in 2019 for co-writing “Shallow” from A Star Is Born with Lady Gaga and Anthony Rossomando. They received a second nod in 2024 for “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie. Cyrus and Wyatt teamed with Lykke Li last year to write “Beautiful That Way” from The Last Showgirl. It wasn’t nominated (or shortlisted), but it generated some buzz. Franglen also scored the film.
“Dying To Live”Billy Idol, J. Ralph, Steve Stevens, Tommy English, Joe JaniakBilly Idol Should Be Dead, Live Nation Productions
This would be Ralph’s fourth nomination in this category and the first for the other songwriters. Idol has received three Grammy nods, including one for “Cradle of Love” from the 1990 film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane. Billy Idol Should Be Dead was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, who has helmed concert and documentary films by such A-listers as Madonna, Paul McCartney, Beyoncé & Jay-Z and Taylor Swift.
“Salt Then Sour Then Sweet”Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlile, Andrea GibsonCome See Me in the Good Light, Apple Original Films
Gibson, who died of ovarian cancer in July, would be the first person to be posthumously nominated in this category since Howard Ashman, who received four nods (including one win) in the two years following his 1991 death. Bareilles and Carlile executive-produced the documentary about Gibson and her wife dealing with Gibson’s illness. Carlile was nominated in this category at the 2025 ceremony for co-writing “Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late.
“Just Keep Watching”Tate McRae, Tyler Spry, Ryan Tedder, Amy AllenF1: The Movie, Apple Original Films
This year, McRae landed her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and her first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100. Could she earn her first Oscar nomination in early 2026? Allen is the reigning Grammy winner for songwriter of the year, non-classical. Tedder has three album of the year Grammys for his work with Adele and Taylor Swift. Spry is known for his credits with artists such as OneRepublic and McRae.
“Lose My Mind”Grant Boutin, Ryan Tedder, Amala Zandile Dlamini, Caleb Toliver, Hans ZimmerF1: The Movie, Apple Original Films
Although it’s rare for two songs from one film to be nominated, Emilia Pérez achieved the feat at the 2025 ceremony. F1: The Movie, Sinners and Wicked: For Good are among the films hoping to do the same early next year. If “Lose My Mind” is nominated, it will mark Zimmer’s first nod in this category. He has received 12 nominations (and won twice) in scoring categories.
“Highest 2 Lowest”Aiyana-Lee Anderson, Nicole Daciana AndersonHighest 2 Lowest, A24
Highest 2 Lowest, directed by Spike Lee, is an English-language remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 Japanese film, High and Low. The movie stars Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky, LaChanze, Princess Nokia and Ice Spice (in her film debut). Aiyana-Lee Anderson, the niece of David Ruffin of The Temptations, co-wrote the titular track with her mother, Nicole Daciana Anderson. This would be the first song from a Lee film to be nominated.
“Golden”EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, IDO, 24, TeddyKPop Demon Hunters, Netflix
“Golden,” which topped the Hot 100 for eight weeks, would be the first No. 1 since Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” from Trolls in 2017 to rule the chart and then land an Oscar nod. (“Shallow” from A Star Is Born hit No. 1 only after its Oscar win.) EJAE, IDO, 24 and Teddy would be the first South Korean-born songwriters to be nominated since Karen O, who was cited in 2014 for co-writing “The Moon Song” from Her.
“Dear Me”Diane WarrenRelentless, Greenwich Entertainment
Earlier this year, Warren tied Sammy Cahn’s record of earning a best original song nomination for eight consecutive years. If she is nominated again in 2026, she’ll stand alone. It would be her 17th nomination in the category, a total surpassed only by Cahn (26) and Johnny Mercer (18). Moreover, it would be her 13th nod as a solitary songwriter, tying Randy Newman for the most solo-written nominated songs.
“I Lied to You”Raphael Saadiq, Ludwig GöranssonSinners, Warner Bros. Pictures
Ryan Coogler produced, wrote and directed Sinners, which was No. 1 at the box office for two weeks in April. The last two films that Coogler wrote and directed — Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — both spawned best original song nominees. Saadiq and Göransson are past nominees in this category: Saadiq in 2018 for co-writing “Mighty River” from Mudbound and Göransson in 2023 for co-writing “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“Last Time (I Seen the Sun)”Alice Smith, Miles CatonSinners, Warner Bros. Pictures
Caton, who turned 20 in March, would be the youngest nominee for best original song since Billie Eilish, who was just six weeks past her 20th birthday in 2022 when she was nominated for co-writing the title song to No Time To Die (which won). In addition to co-writing the song, Caton co-stars in the film. Smith was a Grammy nominee for best urban/alternative performance in 2008 for “Dream.”
“Train Dreams”Nick Cave, Bryce DessnerTrain Dreams, Netflix
Cave is vying to become the third songwriter from Australia to be nominated in this category, following John Farrar (for writing “Hopelessly Devoted to You” from Grease) and Peter Allen (for co-writing “Arthur’s Theme [Best That You Can Do]” from Arthur, which won). Dessner has won two Grammys. Train Dreams stars Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones and William H. Macy.
“As Alive as You Need Me To Be”Nine Inch NailsTron: Ares, Disney
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are submitting this as Nine Inch Nails rather than under their individual names. If the academy keeps it that way, it would be the first nominee in this category to be listed under their group billing. Reznor and Ross have received three Oscar nods for their scores, but this would be their first for a song. Jared Leto stars in Tron: Ares, the third installment in the Tron franchise.
“The Girl in the Bubble”Stephen SchwartzWicked: For Good, Universal
Schwartz has received five nominations in this category, winning the first two times for “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas and “When You Believe” from The Prince of Egypt. He was subsequently nominated for co-writing three songs from Enchanted. Wicked: For Good is the sequel to Wicked, which received 10 nominations earlier this year, but none in this category since it didn’t include any new songs.
“No Place Like Home”Stephen SchwartzWicked: For Good, Universal
If both of Schwartz’s songs are nominated, he’ll become the first individual songwriter with two songs in the running since Randy Newman accomplished the feat 16 years ago with The Princess and the Frog. Wicked: For Good adapts the second act of the 2003 stage musical by Schwartz and Winnie Holzman. Jon M. Chu directed both this film and its megahit predecessor.
“Zoo”Blake Slatkin, Ed Sheeran, ShakiraZootopia 2, Disney
Colombian superstar Shakira is vying to become the first songwriter born in Latin America to be nominated in this category since Brazilians Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown were nominated in 2012 for a song from Rio. Sheeran is a four-time Grammy nominee for song of the year, winning for “Thinking Out Loud.” Slatkin was nominated in that category for co-writing Lizzo’s “About Damn Time.”
Best Original Score
Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century Studios)Simon Franglen
This is the third installment in the Avatar franchise. James Horner’s score for the original film was nominated in this category in 2010. Horner was set to score the sequel, 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, before he died in a 2015 turboprop plane crash. Franglen subsequently got the assignment for that film, though his work wasn’t nominated. This would be Franglen’s first Oscar nod.
Bugonia (Focus Features)Jerskin Fendrix
Fendrix was nominated in 2024 in this category for scoring director Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things. Fendrix also scored Lanthimos’ follow-up, Kinds of Kindness, though that film didn’t receive any Oscar nods. The composer and director are back for a third go-round. Bugonia stars Emma Stone, who won the Oscar for best actress with Poor Things and also starred in Kinds of Kindness.
Captain America: Brave New World (Marvel/Disney)Laura Karpman
Karpman was nominated in this category two years ago for scoring American Fiction. If she’s nominated again, she’ll join a short list of women who have received two or more nods in scoring categories, following Rachel Portman and Angela Morley. (Hildur Guðnadóttir is also hoping to make that list with Hedda.) This is the fourth installment in the Captain America franchise. Alan Silvestri scored the first; Henry Jackman handled the second and third.
Fantastic Four: First Steps (Marvel/Disney)Michael Giacchino
Giacchino was nominated in this category for Ratatouille in 2008 and won for Up in 2010. Fantastic Four: First Steps, the 37th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, features an ensemble cast including Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn.
F1: The Movie (Apple Original Films)Hans Zimmer
Zimmer has received 12 nominations in this category, landing at least one in each of the last five decades and winning for The Lion King and Dune. He’s third on the list of living composers with the most score nominations, trailing only John Williams (who has amassed an astounding 49 in score categories) and Thomas Newman (14). F1: The Movie became the top-grossing auto racing film ever and the top-grossing movie of Brad Pitt’s career.
Frankenstein (Netflix)Alexandre Desplat
Desplat has received 11 nominations for his scores, winning for The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2015 and The Shape of Water in 2018. Frankenstein was directed, written and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro, who did the honors on The Shape of Water as well as a third film that Desplat scored, Pinocchio. Frankenstein, which stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Christoph Waltz, is based on Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 novel of the same name.
Clockwise from left: Erivo in Wicked: For Good, Pitt in F1: The Movie, Stone in Bugonia, Grandein Wicked: For Good, Jordan in a dual role in Sinners and Isaac and Elordi in Frankenstein.
Illustration by Klawe Rzeczy; Erivo: Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures. Pitt, Stone: Everett Collection. Grande: Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures. Jordan, Isaac, Elordi: Everett Collection.
Hamnet (Focus Features)Max Richter
Hamnet was co-written, co-edited and directed by Chloé Zhao, who won a pair of Oscars in 2021 for directing and co-producing Nomadland. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, Hamnet follows the relationship between William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway, and the impact of the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet, on their lives. Richter has received two Grammy nominations — best score soundtrack for visual media for Ad Astra and best music video as a featured artist on Woodkid’s “The Golden Age.”
Hedda (Amazon MGM)Hildur Guðnadóttir
In 2020, when Guðnadóttir won best original score for Joker, the Icelandic composer became just the fourth woman to capture an Oscar in a scoring category. Lyricist Marilyn Bergman shared the award for original song score in 1984 for Yentl. Rachel Portman won best original musical or comedy score in 1997 for Emma. Anne Dudley won in that same category the following year for The Full Monty.
A House of Dynamite (Netflix)Volker Bertelmann
This would be Bertelmann’s fourth nomination in this category, following Lion (a collaboration with Dustin O’Halloran) in 2017, All Quiet on the Western Front in 2023 (for which he won) and Conclave earlier this year. A House of Dynamite is an apocalyptic political thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow. The film’s ensemble cast includes Idris Elba, Tracy Letts and Anthony Ramos.
Jay Kelly (Netflix)Nicholas Britell
This would be Britell’s fourth nomination in this category, following nods for the Barry Jenkins films Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk and Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up. Jay Kelly is a coming-of-age comedy-drama directed by Noah Baumbach that he co-wrote with Emily Mortimer. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern and Billy Crudup.
The Lost Bus (Apple Original Films)James Newton Howard
This would be Howard’s eighth nod in a scoring category. He has also been nominated for two songs. The Lost Bus was directed by Paul Greengrass and stars Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera. The film is based on the true story of a bus driver who navigated a bus carrying 22 children and their teachers to safety through the 2018 Camp Fire, which was the deadliest fire in California history.
Marty Supreme (A24)Daniel Pemberton
Pemberton has yet to be nominated for a score, though he was nominated for best original song in 2021 for co-writing “Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7. Marty Supreme, which stars Timothée Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow, is a sports comedy-drama set in New York during the 1950s. It is loosely inspired by American table tennis player Marty Reisman and his at-all-costs pursuit of greatness.
Materialists (A24)Daniel Pemberton
If both of Pemberton’s scores are nominated, he’ll become the first individual composer with two films on the final ballot since Alexandre Desplat scored a double in 2015 with The Grand Budapest Hotel (which won) and The Imitation Game. Materialists, a romantic comedy-drama written and directed by Celine Song, follows a love triangle among characters played by Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal. It’s Song’s second feature as a writer-director following Past Lives.
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros. Pictures)Jonny Greenwood
This would be Greenwood’s third nod in this category, following Phantom Thread in 2018 and The Power of the Dog in 2022. Greenwood, the lead guitarist and keyboardist of Radiohead, and Nine Inch Nails mainstays Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have yet to be nominated in the same year. One Battle After Another is an action thriller written, co-produced and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio Del Toro star.
Sentimental Value (Neon)Hania Rani
This would be the first nomination for Rani, a Polish pianist, composer and singer. Sentimental Value, a comedy-drama directed by Joachim Trier, follows a fractured relationship between an acclaimed director and his two estranged daughters. The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it won the Grand Prix. It was selected as the Norwegian entry for best international feature film at the upcoming Oscars.
Sinners (Warner Bros. Pictures)Ludwig Göransson
Göransson has received two nominations for best original score for Black Panther in 2019 and Oppenheimer in 2024, winning both times. The Swedish composer has scored all five of director Ryan Coogler’s films — Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and now Sinners. Göransson also has an executive producer credit on this film, which stars Michael B. Jordan in dual roles as twin brothers.
The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Pictures)Daniel Blumberg
Blumberg won this category earlier this year for The Brutalist. He is vying to become the first best original score winner to be nominated again the following year since Alexandre Desplat was nominated for Isle of Dogs at the 2019 ceremony after winning the previous year for The Shape of Water. The Testament of Ann Lee stars Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shakers religious sect in the 18th century.
Train Dreams (Netflix)Bryce Dessner
This would mark the first Oscar nomination for Dessner, who has won two Grammys — best chamber music/small ensemble performance in 2016 for producing Eighth Blackbird’s Filament and best alternative music album in 2018 as a band member and co-producer of The National’s Sleep Well Beast. Train Dreams stars Joel Edgerton as a logger who is working to develop the railroad across the United States.
Tron: Ares (Disney)Nine Inch Nails
As with their best original song entry, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are submitting this under their group name. If the academy keeps it that way, Nine Inch Nails will be the third group nominated in a scoring category as such, following The Beatles, who won best original song score in 1971 for Let It Be, and Son Lux, which was nominated for best original score three years ago for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Wicked: For Good (Universal)John Powell, Stephen Schwartz
Powell and Schwartz were nominated in this category at the 2025 ceremony for Wicked. Schwartz previously won in the defunct original musical or comedy score category for Pocahontas and was nominated in that category for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Prince of Egypt. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who were Oscar-nominated for Wicked, reprise their roles in the sequel, as do Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum.
Additional reporting by Melinda Newman.
This story appears in the Nov. 15, 2025, issue of Billboard.
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Since her days as a kid on Long Island, pop-rock singer-songwriter Julia Wolf has been fascinated by horror films. “My mom was putting on slasher films from when I was in the womb,” she says.
Over time, such grisly themes began to spill over into her music. In early 2024, she thought of the lyric “I’d slit my own throat just to see if you’d mourn me” while crafting a track about a recent ex — but then texted her sister and best friend to make sure that the line wasn’t overly morbid. Soon after receiving the go-ahead, she found another lyric, “I stalk myself on the internet just to see what you’ll find,” tucked away in her phone’s Notes app. Before long, Wolf had enough material to begin recording.
“It was just the choice of how vulnerable I wanted to get,” she recalls. “It’s something that took me until my thirties to understand that that’s what I want to do — be as honest as possible.”
The resulting track, “In My Room,” has pushed the 30-year-old from the indie shadows into a hitmaker. Propelled by its niche usage by a particular cult fandom on TikTok, its following has since carried over to the Billboard charts: the grungy song has reached a No. 27 high in 17 weeks on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and a No. 21 high on Hot Alternative Songs. And its success has opened doors that Wolf can hardly fathom, including an Instagram direct message from — and eventual collaboration with — Drake earlier this year, who opened their conversation by quoting lyrics from the breakthrough.
Raised on a steady diet of Avril Lavigne and emo music, Wolf began experimenting with music in high school at open mic nights and restaurant gigs around Queens. Debut EP Girls in Purgatory arrived in 2021 and full-length Good Thing We Stayed followed in 2023, with the latter’s pop-leaning singles “Get Off My” and “Gothic Babe Tendencies” with blackbear garnering buzz within the indie scene. As Wolf readied “In My Room” in 2024, she teased it relentlessly on TikTok. Though heavier and darker than anything she’d made before, the song quickly gained traction on the platform, thanks to Wolf tying snippets of the track to rotating images of different Twilight characters and scenes.
“Julia is the most Twilight-obsessed person I’ve ever met in my entire life,” NU.WORLD Management founder Tanner Barry, Wolf’s manager since 2023, says. “When it started working, it was so easy for us to keep playing into it.”
LE3AY
Lifted by several posts of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, Wolf released the song in full in March 2024. But as the trend began to wane, funding dried-up, according to Barry. At the time, they were working with independent distributor Stem, which was hesitant to back a bigger push for “In My Room” because of it being based around a timely fad, Wolf says.
“Since the song was already out for so long, they didn’t want to add any more funds to it. It was just me and Tanner thinking of what we can do to [grow] this organically.”
She remained convinced that the Twilight universe would remain the most receptive vessels for “In My Room,” and every time she continued to post the song with a clip surrounding the franchise’s characters, it’d rack up hundreds of thousands of views. Wolf and her team brought those stats to fellow independent distributor AWAL, and while they were in discussion, the track experienced its biggest viral wave yet, with a TikTok video celebrating Stewart’s beauty in a collage of photos. Today, the video has more than six million views. “We were all panicking like, ‘What do we do?’ ” Wolf remembers.
She quickly followed it up with a clip in the same format of Twilight co-star Ashley Greene (who portrays Alice Cullen), which has since surpassed 12 million views. Wolf and AWAL reached a deal this January, and the company helped boost Wolf’s visibility, in part by funding microinfluencer campaigns. The timing of the hit’s resurgence proved fortuitous: She had nearly wrapped the recording for 2025 full-length Pressure — which ultimately arrived in May — and the scorching hot single provided a push in the lead-up. Initial plans to release single “Jennifer’s Body,” a nod to a different cult fandom, were temporarily shelved, and she instead opted for an acoustic version of “In My Room” in February.
“She’s such a good singer,” Barry says. “I thought [the acoustic video] would be a good way to show people that she actually sounds like that.”
LE3AY
The following month, Drake surfaced in Wolf’s DMs. According to Wolf, he discovered the song after a woman requested that he play it at a club. “Shout out to that girl for having my back,” she says today with a laugh. The two then exchanged numbers and began to talk about making music together. Wolf recorded a few demos to send to the superstar, and one titled “Dog House” became the winner. Wolf’s raw vocal serves as the intro to the track, which erupts into a high octane rage-rap single that also features Yeat. The song arrived in September, and in turn became Wolf’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 53.
“She was at probably two million monthly listeners and jumped up just shy of 10 million,” Barry reflects of the A-list co-sign. “We were seeing the highest streams of [Pressure] on a daily basis. What Drake did so well, that we’re so appreciative of, is he allowed [the song] to be a showcase of Julia.”
Drake also supported Wolf in the months before its release, watching her perform at Toronto’s Velvet Underground in June and sharing some advice over dinner afterward.
“He was expressing how everyone has access to the internet and is able to say anything they want,” Wolf says. “The loudest people aren’t the right people, but it just feels that way. I get so in my head about internet comments and people being mean. He can definitely relate to that.”
LE3AY
But even with a coveted Drake collaboration opening up an entirely new fan base, Wolf remains devoted to the crowd that got her to this moment: In August, she performed an intimate showcase for 60 fans in Forks, Washington, at the location used for Bella Swan’s home in the Twilight movies. And her star only continues to grow: She released 2MUCHPRESSURE, a remix EP helmed by producer duo 2DUMB on Halloween and will begin touring arenas in support of mgk later this month.
“What helps me stay grounded is that ‘In My Room’ existed for so long when nobody cared,” Wolf says. “I truly believe that any song that I believe in can work. It just needs all these factors to get it to click.”
A version of this story appears in the Nov. 15, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Trending on Billboard
GIRLSET wants you to know that nothing’s over until they say it is.
Ten months ago, news broke of the group’s shake-up: a lawsuit against its label, South Korea’s JYP Entertainment, from a former member, KG, followed by the exit of another, Kaylee, due to health concerns seven months later. But by the end of August, the now four-member girl group had already redebuted with new music and a new name.
Formerly known as VCHA, GIRLSET is a K-pop rarity: a group that didn’t crumble under pressure but rebuilt itself from within. It’s a story of optimism — and what follows a breaking point in the often unforgiving world of K-pop. GIRLSET’s hiatus would’ve been a death sentence for most groups. Instead, the resilient quartet returned with a renewed love for its craft.
In a plush, dimly lit Hollywood club on a recent Wednesday afternoon, GIRLSET’s members — Kendall, Lexi, Camila and Savanna — are bubbly and noticeably excited to chat about their latest era. There’s a light, airy energy among them.
“I had to keep reminding myself, ‘You’re doing this for you,’” Lexi, 19, says of her experience within the rigid K-pop training system. “Whatever happens, happens. I love what I do and that’s what kept me going.”
VCHA formed in 2023 through the competition show A2K (or America2Korea), a joint project by JYP Entertainment and Republic Records that followed American contestants through multiple rounds of evaluations in Los Angeles and Seoul that summer. Thousands of young girls auditioned, but only 11 trainees made it to the show’s final rounds. JYP Entertainment founder and CEO J.Y. Park envisioned a multicultural girl group that could represent the Western market while undergoing the famously rigorous training of the K-pop system. Having already secured his place among South Korea’s “Big Four” entertainment giants, Park, who this fall was named co-chairman of the Korean government’s presidential committee focused on cultural exchange, wanted to bridge the two pop worlds.
JYP wasn’t the only K-pop company with this goal. As A2K was holding auditions, HYBE and Geffen Records jointly launched The Debut: Dream Academy, another reality show with similar objectives to A2K. The competition yielded a new group, KATSEYE, whose formation was documented in the 2024 series Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE. Now, KATSEYE is dominating the pop world: The group received a Grammy nod for best new artist in early November, as well as a best pop duo/group performance nomination for its single “Gabriela,” released in June, which hits a new No. 33 high on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Nov. 15.
GIRLSET’s Camila, a 20-year-old Cuban Canadian, embraced the opportunity to get involved in the K-pop system. “For me, I always wanted to be a singer,” she says of her motivation to audition for A2K. “I loved K-pop and pop groups, but it felt like a faraway dream. So when the opportunity came, I told myself, ‘I’m getting it. I’m going to be in a girl group.’ ”
Camila
Munachi Osegbu
Kendall, a 19-year-old Vietnamese American who hails from Texas, says auditioning was more about blending her passions than choosing just one. “Back then, I was figuring out my future — college, career — and I loved both singing and dancing,” she says. “But I thought the only place I could do both was Broadway, and that wasn’t what I wanted. So I assumed I’d have to pick one, maybe go into production. Then A2K came along — it was perfect.”
As Kendall, who describes herself as “calm and collected,” explains, “We always say, ‘Everything happens for a reason.’ That’s something we all repeat a lot.”
The four members say they found strength in camaraderie when things got tough during training. Savanna, a 19-year-old Venezuelan Trinbagonian from Florida, recalls that the hardest part of the A2K audition process was “taking it day by day. Growth doesn’t happen overnight. Seeing everyone beside me working hard helped, too. We were all pushing each other.”
VCHA’s initial run was promising. The original six-member act debuted in January 2024 with the single “Girls of the Year,” reached No. 5 on Billboard’s since-discontinued X-based Hot Trending Songs chart with “Y.O.Universe,” opened for JYP powerhouse girl group TWICE on select tour dates and quickly built an international following. However, following a canceled Lollapalooza 2024 debut due to unforeseen circumstances and the imminent departure of two members, things quickly turned — and left fans wondering if the act would continue. But GIRLSET’s drive, and the discipline forged through its members’ auditions and training, became a foundation as the quartet’s world threatened to fall apart.
On Dec. 7, 2024, a lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by the guardian of then-17-year-old member KG Crown, alleging child neglect, labor exploitation and unfair business practices by JYP USA staff. Two days later, on Dec. 9, JYP USA issued a statement calling the claims “false and exaggerated” — but also suspended VCHA’s activities. The case ignited widespread debate among K-pop fans about the treatment of young artists within the idol system, a topic that continues to dominate social media as the once-niche genre expands globally.
Months later, the group suffered another blow. In July, JYP USA announced that 15-year-old member Kaylee had “mutually agreed to part ways” with the company. Now only four of VCHA’s original six members — Lexi, Camila, Savanna and Kendall — remained.
Many VCHA fans have wondered: Had the girls foreseen the hard times on the horizon? “Some things were unexpected; others weren’t new to us,” Kendall reflects. “We had a lot of intertwined feelings about everything: our journey, our relationships, the past members. But we had each other to rely on.”
Kendall
Munachi Osegbu
All four say they talked through the toughest moments and felt supported by their team at JYP USA and Republic. But they’re still processing the changes to VCHA and the turmoil that followed. “It’s impossible to sit down and explain everything,” Camila says softly before Savanna brightly adds, “But then we found a group in us. It felt right — like this was the moment to truly put ourselves out there as GIRLSET.”
Less than 30 days after Kaylee’s departure, on Aug. 7, VCHA redebuted as GIRLSET under JYP USA and Republic. Its first release as a rebranded act, “Commas,” signaled a confident reset. The fun, stand-alone pop single highlights where the group is heading next, with a girl-crush concept that says, “We’ve been here the whole time. Pay attention.”
While the highly publicized departure of two members might’ve rattled another group’s confidence — and its label’s faith in its future — GIRLSET is digging its heels in.
“When we’re in dance practice, I always have these moments,” says Sheboygan, Wis., native Lexi, her eyes bright. “I’ll stop, look in the mirror and think, ‘Wow — This. Is. Us.’ We’ve come so far. Hearing the sound, seeing how much we’ve evolved — it’s crazy. Every time I look in the mirror, I lock in for 10 seconds and say it out loud: ‘Guys, this is us.’ ”
Lexi
Munachi Osegbu
The rest of the girls smile as she speaks, for these optimistic, supportive moments have become Lexi’s calling card within the group. “It’s easy to forget change when it’s gradual,” Kendall adds. “But when we look back, we see how much we’ve grown.”
JYP Entertainment is confident about GIRLSET’s future as well. “They’ve walked a path no artist has taken before, and we hope this original journey leads them to a new level of success that no artist has achieved before,” the company says.
And in a 2025 pop world where global girl groups — and especially those hailing from the K-pop training system — are hot commodities, GIRLSET may have reemerged at the perfect time. The term “multicultural girl group” has recently become a fixture in industry conversations. Traditionally, K-pop groups comprised East Asian members. The newer multicultural model, however, seeks trainees from diverse national, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It’s a concept that Park pioneered through A2K — and GIRLSET embodies the promise of that experiment. It knows that “multicultural girl group” has become something of a buzzword, but for the members, it’s a lived reality. They’re deeply proud of representing their own cultures within K-pop.
“I always feel so happy being the representation for Latinas,” Camila says, glowing. “Growing up, seeing Fifth Harmony with Cuban members made me feel like maybe I could also make it. I know there are girls and boys seeing us now and seeing themselves in us. That’s really special.”
Lexi, who is Hmong American, adds, “Being able to bring different communities together is such a great feeling. Everyone loving the same thing — that’s the best part.” As Camila explains, “We want people to see themselves in us. That’s the whole point.”
GIRLSET isn’t alone in that mission — but does the group feel any rivalry with its fellow L.A.-based K-pop-trained peers in KATSEYE? “We’re all just doing our own thing,” Kendall says matter-of-factly. The act is aware of the constant online comparisons between it and KATSEYE but isn’t phased by them. “It shouldn’t be about competition,” Camila says with a smile. “Let’s just slay together.
“It’s amazing seeing so many talented girls from different cultures coming together and making something great,” she adds. “I think what they’re doing is amazing — and they’re super sweet. It’s more about appreciating both [groups]. I think we’re both special in our own ways.”
When it comes to GIRLSET’s place within the larger multicultural group movement, JYP Entertainment says, “The members were born and raised in North America, but they were trained under JYP’s signature training that highlights discipline and artistry. The combination of their cultural diversity and K-pop artistry makes them truly distinctive. For us, GIRLSET isn’t just joining the movement; they’re helping to shape the next era of U.S. pop.
“The goal isn’t just success,” the label adds. “It’s endurance and legacy.”
GIRLSET feels a shared responsibility to represent authenticity in a world that prizes perfection. “We always want to be a group that speaks about real things and be raw and realistic,” Savanna says. “We’re just people with emotions, and I think that’s what we want to be remembered for.”
Savanna
Munachi Osegbu
Of course, being a K-pop act based in L.A. rather than Seoul presents logistical challenges. In Korea, JYP groups have access to fellow idols who can share tips and tricks of the trade, as well as state-of-the-art training facilities, built-in TikTok content buddies and consistent opportunities to sharpen their skills on Korean music shows. K-pop fans have come to love seeing their faves collaborate with other groups, and crossover TikTok dance challenges have become common.
“L.A. is different,” Kendall notes. “There aren’t weekly music shows where idols naturally meet. It’s less accessible, but if it happens, it happens.”
They’ve still found community within the JYP universe. GIRLSET’s members reflect on opening for TWICE in early 2024 with admiration. “Seeing TWICE’s show was inspiring,” Camila recalls. “Lily from NMIXX is really sweet. She’s given advice about this lifestyle and overcoming things.” Kendall adds, “We’ve also talked with [NiziU members] Nina and Rima. Speaking English makes it easier to connect. They’ve been supportive.”
As for their L.A. peers? “Maybe one day,” Kendall says of connecting with KATSEYE. “They’re super talented and sweet; the essence of their group is similar to us — global, representing your culture, bringing something new.”
For GIRLSET, just the opportunity to start fresh means everything. When asked what they want fans to remember most about this new era, the answers come quickly: survival, growth, empowerment.
“We’ve all pushed ourselves individually and become so much stronger as a group,” Savanna says. “Our versatility now — it feels like a power. Seeing our artistry come to life in sessions and performances, it hit me: We’re really transforming now. We’re becoming the artists we were meant to be.”
They’re proud of how far they’ve come — and ready to show it. “This new music era feels a lot like, really, the core of us. The vibe of this comeback is very much our vibe,” Kendall teases. “It’s bold, confident and full of personality. Definitely a new chapter.”
Munachi Osegbu
The group’s latest single, “Little Miss,” represents that new chapter. Due Nov. 14, the Y2K-flavored pop track with hip-hop edges and GIRLSET’s signature vocal prowess is the act’s second release since its redebut, and it cements its image as four young artists embracing their power. “The song feels like the core of us,” Kendall says. “It’s really our essence.”
“I think I really value that during this era, we just get to be truly who we are moving forward,” Savanna reflects confidently. “I think that’s something that I appreciate the most about being GIRLSET now.”
And when things get heavy, they lean on each other. “No one else could ever understand us like we do,” Camila says. “We’re living it together.”
This story appears in the Nov. 15, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Trending on Billboard
Rosalía offers an exasperated laugh as she sits down, having tried on a variety of equally stunning outfits only to end up in the casual clothes she arrived in: black pants and a camo jacket lined with fur. It’s the same jacket she was spotted wearing at a Parisian cafe in early October, seated alone with a cup of tea while poring over the sheet music of a song from the 1900 Puccini opera Tosca.
The Barcelona-born singer’s candid moment with the canonical tragedy was significant — one of many subtle nods that she was pursuing something outside the typical parameters of modern mainstream music. Rosalía studied musicology in college, and over the last eight years has often meshed a wide variety of genres and influences in her songs. But for someone who rose to global fame on the cutting edge of culture, studying the musical notation of a century-old opera communicated a pointed message.
Weeks later, fans began to understand why. On the evening of Oct. 20, she took to Madrid’s Callao Square with giant projector screens, where a countdown unveiled the release date for her fourth album, Lux (Nov. 7 on Columbia Records), as well as its cover art, which features Rosalía dressed in all white, wearing a nun’s habit and hugging herself under her clothing.
Every move Rosalía has made over the past three years while crafting Lux has been considered, intentional and entirely in her own world. Having risen to fame with the flamenco-inspired pop of her Columbia debut, 2018’s El Mal Querer, she flipped the script with her eclectic, energetic 2022 album, Motomami, which spanned pop, reggaetón, hip-hop, electronic and more and became her first album to chart on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 33. But Lux is something different: an orchestral, operatic opus recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra that blends history and spirituality and experiments with form, language (she sings in 13 different ones throughout the album’s 18 tracks) and the very idea of what is possible for a major recording artist in 2025, for a project that’s more Puccini than pop — not that it doesn’t have its moments of catchy relatability.
“It’s like an album she wrote to God — whatever each person feels God is to them,” says Afo Verde, chairman/CEO of Sony Latin Iberia, which works with Rosalía alongside Columbia. “This is an artist who said, ‘I want to walk down a path where few walk.’ And when you navigate inside the album, you completely understand the genius behind it.”
Araks bra, Claire Sullivan skirt, Louis Verdad hat.
Alex G. Harper
Rosalía spent the better part of three years crafting Lux’s lyrics and instrumentation, drawing from classical music, native speakers and instrumentation, and the giants of the past — women including Saint Rosalia of Palermo; the Chinese Taoist master/poet Sun Bu’er; the biblical figure of Miriam, sister of Moses; and even Patti Smith all figure into its cosmology — to create something that feels both worldly and otherworldly, a distinct take on navigating life’s chaos. It was also a period where she experienced personal and professional changes: She broke off her engagement to Puerto Rican reggaetón star Rauw Alejandro, switched management and landed her first big acting role in the forthcoming third season of hit HBO series Euphoria, all while immersed in making the album.
“In general, just to be in this world is a lot; sometimes it’s overwhelming,” she says on a fall day in Los Angeles. “In the best-case scenario, the idea would be that whoever hears it feels light and feels hope. Because that was how it was made and where it was made from.”
“This record takes you on a complete journey; the singing on it is just astounding,” says Jonathan Dickins, who runs September Management, home to Adele, and who began representing Rosalía in June. “I think she’s a generational artist. I’m lucky enough to have worked with one, and now I’m lucky enough to work with another. She is an original.”
To make Lux, Rosalía relied on several of her longtime collaborators — producers Noah Goldstein and Dylan Wiggins and engineer David Rodriguez among them — and tasked them with taking a new approach. “The whole process helped me grow as a musician, as a producer, as a sound engineer,” says Goldstein, who has also worked with Frank Ocean, Jay-Z and FKA twigs. “That’s one of my favorite things about working with Rosalía: I’m always learning things from her.”
She also tapped new collaborators such as OneRepublic singer and decorated songwriter Ryan Tedder (who spent three years DM’ing Rosalía, hoping to eventually work together) and urged them to push their boundaries. “For an artist to give me the freedom to just express myself in that way, God, that is the most fun I’ve ever had,” says Tedder, who has worked on mammoth albums by Adele, Beyoncé and more throughout his career. “I’ve been asked by everybody, ‘What does the new Rosalía stuff sound like?’ And I literally say to everybody, ‘Nothing that you possibly would imagine.’ ”
Alex G. Harper
Fans got their first taste of Lux when Rosalía dropped the single “Berghain,” which features Björk and Yves Tumor, in late October. The song kicks off with a string orchestra introduction followed by a Carmina Burana-like chorus and then Rosalía singing in an operatic soprano voice — in three languages.
For Rosalía, challenging preconceptions about the type of music she, or anyone, can make is part of the point — thinking outside the box, following her inspiration and constantly learning, finding and creating from a place of curiosity and openness to new experiences and ideas. “I think that in order to fully enjoy music, you have to have a tolerant, open way of understanding it,” she says. “Because music is the ‘4’33” ’ of John Cage, as much as the birds in the trees for the Kaluli of New Guinea, as much as the fugues of Bach, as much as the songs of Chencho Corleone. All of it is music. And if you understand that, then you can enjoy in a much fuller, profound way, what music is.”
When did you start working on this album?
I don’t think that it’s easy to measure when something like this happens or starts. The album is heavily inspired by the world of mysticism and spirituality. Since I was a kid, I’ve always had a very personal relationship with spirituality. That’s the seed of this project, and I don’t remember when that started.
How did you approach Lux differently?
This album has a completely different sound than any of the projects that I’ve done before. It was a challenge for me to do a more orchestral project and learn how to use an orchestra, understand all the instruments, all the possibilities, and learn and study from amazing composers in history and say, “OK, that’s what’s been done. What can I do that feels personal and honest for me?” And also the challenge of having that inspiration in classical music and trying to do something that I haven’t done before, trying to write songs from another place. Because the instrumentation is different from all the other projects I have done. But also the writing, the structures, it’s very different.
Chloé dress, shoes, and scarf.
Alex G. Harper
After Motomami, your success and fame hit a new level. How did that help you make this album?
All the albums I’ve done helped me be able to be the musician I am today and make this album now. Lux wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t taken the previous steps. Each album helped me release something, to free myself as much as possible. Every time I go to the studio, it’s from wanting to play around, try something different, to find different styles of making songs. I always try to stay open.
You’ve said Motomami was inspired by the energy of L.A., New York, Miami. What was your mission in making Lux?
It’s made from love and curiosity. I’ve always wanted to understand other languages, learn other music, learn from others about what I don’t know. It comes from curiosity, from wanting to understand others better, and through that I can understand who I am better. I love explaining stories. I like to be the narrator. I think as much as I love music itself, music is just a medium to explain stories, to put ideas on the table. So that’s what this project is for me. I’m just a channel to explain stories, and there’s inspiration in different saints from all across the world. So you could say it feels like a global thing, but at the same time, it’s so personal for me. Those stories are exceptional. They are remarkable stories about women who lived their lives in a very unconventional way, of women who were writers in very special ways. And so I’m like, “Let’s throw some light there.”
What I know is that I am ready, and this is what I needed to do. What I know is that this is what I was supposed to write about. This is my truth. This is where I am now.
What contributes to the fact that the album feels so global is you sing in 13 languages on it.
It took a lot of writing and scratching it and sending it to someone who would help me translate and be like, “This is how you would say this in Japanese. This is how it sounds.” There were so many things that I had to play with and take under consideration. Because it’s not just writing. It’s not just on paper. It has to sound good. There’s a big difference for me when I write, for example, a letter for somebody that I love than if I write a song. It has to have a certain sound, a certain intention of musicality.
It was a big challenge, but it was worth it. It made me grow so much. And I feel like every word on this album, I fought for it, I really wanted it, and then I waited for it, and then it came. It took me a year to write just the lyrics for this album, and then another year of arranging music and going back to the lyrics and retouching. It took a lot of effort searching for the right words: “How is this not just going to be heard, but also, if you read it, how does it feel?”
Rosalía photographed September 24, 2025 at Quixote Studios in Los Angeles. Colleen Allen top and skirt.
Alex G. Harper
The lyrics read like a novel.
There’s a whole intentional structure throughout the album. I was clear that I wanted four movements. I wanted one where it would be more a departure from purity. The second movement, I wanted it to feel more like being in gravity, being friends with the world. The third would be more about grace and hopefully being friends with God. And at the end, the farewell, the return. All of that helped me be very strategic and concise and precise about what songs would go where, how I wanted it to start, how I wanted the journey to go, what lyrics would make sense.
Each story, each song is inspired by the story of a saint. I read a lot of hagiographies — the lives of the saints — and it helped me expand my understanding of sainthood. Because my background is Catholic from my family, so you understand it through this one [lens]. But then you realize that in other cultures and other religious contexts, it’s another thing. But what surprised me a lot was that there’s a main theme, which is not fearing, which you can find shared across many religions. And I think that’s so powerful because probably the fears that I have, somebody on the other side of the world has the same ones. And for me, there’s beauty in that, in understanding that we might think that we’re different, but we’re not.
All of these songs are very personal, but “Focu ’ranni” feels especially so. What was the experience of writing that one?
I found out that there’s this saying by Santa Rosalia de Palermo — she was supposed to get married and then she decided not to; she decided to dedicate her life to God. I thought that something in that was very powerful. I researched her story, and that’s why there’s some Sicilian thrown in that song. It was a challenge to sing in that language. That was a challenging song to do and to sing, but I feel grateful that it exists.
You create a world, and a sisterhood almost, on this album. How does a more playful song like “Novia Robot” fit in?
There was this woman who was very inspiring named Sun Bu’er; she dedicated her life to becoming a teacher of the Tao. And the way she lived her life was unconventional at that time. I thought there was something powerful about her story. Apparently, in order to make a journey, she destroyed her face to be able to travel safely. And she had a partner, she had a family, but she decided she wanted to dedicate her life to spirituality. It was so bold and courageous. And at the end of that song, you hear another voice, which is in [Hebrew], that’s inspired by Miriam, this figure who led an entire people and was a rebellious woman and considered close to the idea of sainthood in Judaism. So I thought that it was cool to have those two voices, the same way how in opera there are so many voices co-existing. So I thought in that song that could happen with that playfulness, yes, and playing with the sound of how Chinese Mandarin would sound.
The album is so operatic and orchestral. How did you begin to immerse yourself in those styles and find the people that you worked with to deliver that?
They’re the people I feel comfortable with, so I love sharing time with them in the studio. For example, I worked on [Lux song] “Mio Cristo” for months by myself in Miami and L.A., and I delayed the moment when I would share it. I wanted to make a song that was like my version of what an aria could be. So I remember just going to the studio after so much work, after so much back and forth with an Italian translator, and I [had been] improvising on the piano, trying to find melodies, to find the right chords and notes. I went to the studio and I shared it with Dylan [Wiggins], with Noah [Goldstein], with David [Rodriguez], and I remember they were like, “Yes. That’s the song. There it is.” So it’s been a lot of isolation on one side — a lot of writing — and then on the other side a lot of collective effort in the studio.
It’s such a vivid album. How are you plotting out how it will look visually?
My sister and I work together a lot. I’m very lucky that I get to just keep playing around and having fun like how we used to when we were kids. Her and I love recommending things to each other, we send books to each other. Having a project together is something I feel so grateful about, the fact that my family is involved — my mother, my sister, they’re very important people in my life, and I feel like I can share everything with them. And on the visual side, it was just playing around with references and imagination, just trying to think, “What can we do with this?” Just playfulness. That’s how I think the best things happen — out of joy.
Have you given any thought yet to what a live performance of this album would look like?
Thoughts are never lacking, but we’ll see. I don’t want to think too much how that would look until that really is happening, if that makes sense. But there’s definitely a lot of creativity with how this could be translated to the stage.
Alex G. Harper
At the same time you were working on this, you were filming the third season of Euphoria, your first major acting role. Was that difficult?
It was very challenging to do both. I was recording the album and producing and checking mixes, everything, while I was shooting Euphoria. I had to divide my mind between both and it was also the first time that I was doing something like this — preparing a character, studying lines. These are new things for me and I’m not used to it. It’s very different from making an album and making music. For some reason, I didn’t completely go crazy, and we’re still here.
Did any of that experience seep into the album?
[Euphoria creator] Sam [Levinson] and I are both very sensitive people. For some reason, whatever he’s creating for me resonates for this moment. When we were shooting, when we spoke about the [show’s] story, I didn’t know him that well. I really admired his work, but I didn’t know how his mind worked, how he is as an artist. I realized he has so much sensibility and I connected so much with that, not just with his work, but also him as a person.
How did that role come about?
I shared that I really wanted to start acting, that it was something that I would love to do. The only thing I had done was [the Pedro] Almodóvar [film Pain and Glory in 2019], and when I was 16 I studied theater for a year. I feel like being a musician and being onstage is being a performer, but I had never experienced it as being filmed, learning lines; it’s a very different job. I had done it with Almodóvar, but I was like, “I would love to do it with somebody like Sam, somebody that has a vision as strong as him. Or someone like Sofia Coppola.” So then I heard the third season was happening and I was like, “I would love to audition.”
You had to audition?
Of course! Because I’m not an actress, and that was really scary. But at the same time, something told me that I was supposed to do it. So I did an audition tape, then met an audition person and then something else, and then it happened.
Rosalía photographed September 24, 2025 at Quixote Studios in Los Angeles. Araks bra, Claire Sullivan skirt, Louis Verdad hat.
Alex G. Harper
At the end of your album, you address the concept of death. Are there things in your life that you worry about not having enough time to do?
No. Whenever God decides it’s time to go, it’s time to go. Whatever I have come here to do, I feel like I’m doing; whenever I have to leave, I will leave. That’s how I try to live. I would love to know how it feels to be 100 years old, but that’s not on me to decide. But I would love to keep writing, I would love to keep making music, I would love to keep learning how to cook better, I would love to keep studying — one day I would love to go to college again and study philosophy or theology — and I would love to keep traveling. There are so many times that I travel and feel like I haven’t seen enough or haven’t had enough time to just experience places.
But for now, I’m dedicating myself to my mission, which is making albums and performing. And for me, performing is an act for others. I don’t like touring. I like to be onstage and I love my fans, so I do it. But I love being in my home, calm, reading, cooking, going to the gym, lifting weights and going to sleep. Literally, that makes me so happy; I don’t need a lot. (Laughs.) When you travel, it’s much harder; psychologically it’s a challenge, always. But I also know that there are other jobs that have so much complexity and challenges, and I feel so grateful that I can be a musician.
What’s the biggest challenge that you feel like comes with this career?
The price you pay, the sacrifice, the amount of moments that you lose with your family, with your loved ones. My grandpa died when I was at the Latin Grammys in 2019, and I was about to perform when I found out. I couldn’t even be at the burial. Those things, I’ll have to live with the sadness and the regret of not being there. Those are things that are not the good side of being a musician: always struggling, always being committed to whatever you’re doing, to the people who are there in the audience that night who paid for their ticket to see your performance. Maybe that’s the thing they’re looking forward to the most that week. The price is really high, but this is what I chose, and I’m fully conscious that this is the decision I’ve made.
In releasing this album, what would success look like for you?
Success, for me, is freedom. And I felt all the freedom that I could imagine or hope for throughout this process. That’s all I wanted. I wanted to be able to pour what was inside, outside. And those inspirations, those ideas, make them into songs. I was able to do that, and I will not ask for more.
This story will appear in the Nov. 15, 2025, issue of Billboard.
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Throughout much of Tame Impala‘s career, the Australian psych-rock group has been a critical darling as its following and stages have both increased in size. Yet, even as the act has littered Billboard‘s rock- and alternative-focused charts, it never reached the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 — until last month.
With the pop-leaning single “Dracula,” Tame Impala has officially sunk its teeth into the chart: Following a debut at No. 55 on the Oct. 11-dated list, it has lurked well beyond the shadows and scaled to a No. 33 high. Plus, the breakthrough may have opened the floodgates, as two other songs from the group’s recent album Deadbeat — released through Columbia Records on Oct. 17 — have since reached the Hot 100 (album opener “My Old Ways” and second single “Loser”).
It’s hard to point to one thing in particular as the spark for the act’s now-exploding mainstream appeal — frontman Kevin Parker’s extensive work on Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism likely didn’t hurt in bringing in an extended fan base, but it’s just as plausible that his characteristic warble and high-level production finally reached the masses at multiple formats (including TikTok) in a capacity that was long overdue.
Whatever the reason may be, coming to a finished product for “Dracula” was a years-long process, according to co-writer Sarah Aarons. The 31-year-old Melbourne native recalls that the two were tinkering away endlessly to get everything just right, still making fixes to the lyrics two hours after the mixes were due. “There was just something about it that bothered him,” Aarons says. “That crunch-time moment made us be like, ‘Alright, what is it? What are the lyrics? What’s the structure? Go.’ ”
She also lent writing assistance to fellow Deadbeat tracks “Oblivion” and “Afterthought” and is notably the only person outside of Parker credited as a writer or producer anywhere on the album. Aarons notes that the two would spend hours on end in the studio and on phone calls throughout the creation process for the album, growing a close friendship along the way — so much so in fact, that Parker even helped DJ her wedding earlier this year.
Below, Aarons reflects on creating “Dracula,” what makes Parker such a talent to work with in the studio and more.
How did you first connect with Parker?
He was in Australia, and I was in L.A., and there was something he was working on that I don’t think even ended up happening. Someone put us in touch and we had a FaceTime call, and I don’t think we even talked about whatever the thing we were supposed to do was. We just talked s–t. Then the next time he came to L.A. three or four years ago, we hung out and we had this thing where I was like, “I just got a puppy, do you mind if I bring my puppy to your studio? My puppy’s name is Peach.” And he was like, “My daughter’s name is Peach!” And they were both like three months old. It was a weird bonding moment.
Were you already working on “Dracula” or anything else from Deadbeat that long ago?
No. He knew he had to start something. I remember him being like, “Yeah, I should probably figure that out.” It was always like a joke that we all made — me and my wife are quite close with him and his wife. So when they’re in L.A., we would always bring it up and he’d be like, “Yeah, I’m going to have it done in three months.” And we’d all have an argument whether he’d do that. But I think that’s what makes his stuff so good. He really does take his time, and he’s really intentional about what it all sounds like.
“Dracula” took a long time, in the way that there are so many iterations of what it was. There was this one song that was what the chorus is — I call it the chorus, he calls it the pre-chorus — [sings] “In the end, I hope it’s you and me.” We’d worked on that a couple years ago. Then there was this song that we’d written called “Dracula” that his wife loved. One day he just sent me a thing, he was like, “I put the line from ‘Dracula’ into this other idea.” It was the [sings] “Run from the sun like Dracula.” He mashed that into that one line from this other idea, and I was like, “Oh damn, that’s kind of sick.”
It was a really long process in that way. Piece by piece, he’d be like, “Actually, now I think the song’s about this.” Sometimes he’d call me, and I’d be in London and it would be 11 p.m. for me and 9 a.m. for him. We just had so many moments where he’d be like, “The verse is bothering me.” And I’d be like, “Okay cool, let’s get into it.” But it’s funny because we wrote “Afterthought” two hours after the mixes were due. He just called me and he was like, “I have this beat and I feel like the album needs one more song.” And it literally ended up being called “Afterthought,” which is really funny.
“Afterthought” started two hours after the mixes were due?
Yeah. He had called me to finish “Dracula” — I was in London, he was in Australia. “Dracula” was the only song that wasn’t finished. He was mixing everything else and he sent me a picture of a whiteboard that had ticks on it of what he’s done and what he hadn’t — everything else was all ticked and then “Dracula” had no ticks. The beat was always the same, but it was more the lyrics and the structure [that changed].
How much does it impact the writing process to work with someone so well-versed on the production side of things as well?
Oh, it’s so much easier. Everything is him; it sounds so much like him. For me, it’s not easy to get a lyric past him. You can’t just say a lyric, and he’s like, “Cool, I’ll put that in there.” He has to feel the thing or it will not go in the song, whether it’s production, lyrics, melodies — anything. I love that because I’m like, “Oh cool, you’re making me have to really think what is best for you.” It’s not a song for everyone. It’s a song for [Tame Impala]. He’s expressing himself in so many aspects of the songs. When you’re with an artist and it’s like, “Oh, let’s get the producer to do (mimics the sound of a beat),” it’s so many cooks. With him, he’s just doing his thing.
How did the two of you finally come to terms with the final lyrics for “Dracula” given all of the changes over what sounds like a yearslong process?
It’s really interesting, because I’m a person that can keep writing. Like, “Cool, you want a different thing, let’s go!” I’ll do a different one. It’s really up to the artist, because for one person it might be one thing, and for one person, it might be another. There are certain things I might fight for — there were certain lyrics where the melody changed, and I was like, “Bro, you better keep that or I’m going to have something to say about it.” But other than that, he’s gotta hear it and go, “This is mine.”
I think it was the crunch time. It was like, “Cool, this mix is due in 45 minutes.” When you know you have a deadline, your brain just goes, “This is the right thing.” He called me and he went, “What about this melody?” And I was like, “Yeah! How did we not do that melody already? It totally fits the song.” We’d written lyrics so many times, we already had so many lyrics floating around our brains. We had so much of what we knew the song was that it kind of clicked.
You also co-wrote “Oblivion” and “Afterthought” on this album. As a writer, is it easier to work on several songs from the same project versus a one-off in terms of sculpting a cohesive voice or theme that an artist is looking for?
I totally feel that way. Every once in a while, you get one day with someone, and it’s just so hard. You’re just not built to be like that collaboratively, to me. I think the multiple songs is more just a result of the fact that we had fun making s–t. If he ever got stuck, he’d just be like, “F–k it, I’m calling Sarah.” I also heard everything else [on Deadbeat], because we would just chill in the studio and play stuff. That for me was super helpful. Also, knowing the person really well: I found that all my biggest songs the last few years have been people I’m super close with. That’s such a common thread for me at the moment. Music’s supposed to be fun. There’s a reason I’m not an accountant. I’d be bad at it.
As far as I can tell, you’re the only credited songwriter on this album, which is also produced in its entirety by Parker. Does that hold any special meaning to you?
I’m grateful that he called me for help. I’m super flattered. It all happened so naturally in such a friendly way — that’s my favorite thing. It’s funny how you can try as a songwriter so hard [and say], “Oh I want to work with this person and this person.” You can write a list of who you want to work with, but that’s not what gets you there. The universe has to put you where you need to go to make music with the people you should make it with.
A version of this story appears in the Oct. 25, 2025, issue of Billboard.
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In today’s music economy, where streaming royalties remain thin and ticket prices continue to escalate, one of the fastest-growing and most resilient sectors is merchandise — and few companies are as prominent in the space as Universal Music Group’s wholly owned Bravado, which oversees the world’s largest music merchandise operation.
Bravado aims to unite artists and fans through products that aspire to be more than souvenirs, and at the center of its machine is its president, Matt Young. A 25-year merchandising veteran who joined Bravado four years ago, Young has shepherded the company through an era of unprecedented demand and logistical complexity, helping Bravado grow into a revenue engine that UMG says now generates over $900 million in annual business. But those top-line numbers tell only part of the story.
“We’re building bridges,” Young says, “allowing fans to touch something physical that represents the emotional connection they have to the music.”
Matt Young will participate in a panel at Billboard‘s Live Music Summit, held Nov. 3 in Los Angeles. For tickets and more information, click here.
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Young’s path to Bravado traces the broader arc of the merch industry. He began at Roadrunner Records in the late 1990s, when the label had started to flirt with what would become known as “360 deals,” which bundled merchandising with recording and touring rights. From there, he spent time at an independent merch company before moving on to Warner Music and helping it build its merchandise division. “I’ve seen this industry from every angle: indie, major, startups,” he says.
By the time Young joined Bravado in 2021, the merch sector had begun to mature into a sophisticated global business with its own supply chains and sustainability strategies. In his role, he oversees customized blueprints for artists who range from global superstars like Billie Eilish and The Rolling Stones to emerging bands on the club circuit. About one-quarter of Bravado’s roster is non-UMG acts, and the company’s model spans from tour merch sold directly at concerts to retail partnerships with American outlets like Hot Topic and others in Europe and Asia.
“Tickets and T-shirts,” Young muses, are now twin pillars of the touring economy, with some artists selling hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of items in a single night. For certain acts, particularly those with deeply engaged fans, the merch table rivals the box office as a source of income. This shift has also forced the industry to rethink product design, moving away from one-size-fits-all T-shirts toward fashion-forward collections, sustainable fabrics, upcycled inventory, exclusive colored vinyl, collectible collaborations and even action figures.
Billie Eilish posing with her merchandise at the Billie Eilish x American Express Hit Me Hard and Soft Pop Up on May 8, 2025 in Berlin, Germany.
Marcus Lieder
Meanwhile, the evolution of VIP experiences has further blurred the line between merch and fan engagement. Bravado’s premium programs for artist tours range from simple early-entry packages to elaborate meet-and-greet activations that command thousands of dollars. For bands like Pierce the Veil, VIP passes that grant barricade access and exclusive goodie bags have become essential fan experiences, while legacy acts like Def Leppard and KISS have offered photo ops and once-in-a-lifetime perks.
Yet challenges remain. The company must navigate tariffs and geopolitical disruptions to supply chains and shipping routes while managing its inventory and combating bootleggers — both the ones who have long hawked counterfeit shirts outside arenas and those in the Wild West of digital merch, where Instagram scammers selling fake band shirts is an ongoing issue. For Young, though, these obstacles underscore the stakes. In his view, merch is not only about revenue diversification but also about cementing culture through everyday objects that can transform passive listeners into active community members. Merch — and Bravado’s products — are both commerce and cultural currency. “This isn’t just what I listen to,” Young says. “It’s who I am.”
How big is Bravado’s business today?
Universal’s earnings reports show that merchandise generated north of $900 million last year. It’s a substantial piece of UMG’s overall revenue, and it means our side of the business gets attention at the highest levels.
You often describe merch as more than just souvenirs. What do you mean by that?
Music creates an emotion, and merch is the last tangible thing you can hold, wear or display that represents that feeling. A vinyl record — even for someone without a turntable — can be merch. A hoodie or a T-shirt is an identifier: It says, “This is who I am, this is the culture I belong to.” That’s more powerful than a simple transaction.
KISS posing with fans during a VIP experience on the band’s End of the Road Tour in 2023.
Keith Leroux
What does your job look like week to week?
It’s a mix. We run teams in cities across the globe — New York, L.A., London, Berlin, Tokyo, Sydney, Madrid, Nashville. So there’s operational management. But there’s also signing new artists, pitching them ideas, collaborating with labels and making sure our products fit each fan base. We also spend a lot of time on sustainability: upcycling leftover inventory, using recycled materials and building new processes to reduce waste.
How does upcycling work?
We partner with a company called Hallotex. They take old tour stock — unsold shirts, tote bags, whatever — break down the fibers and respin them into new cotton. That gets turned into new blank [shirts] for fresh merch. Or maybe it’s taking old tote bags and turning them into a blanket. It’s about turning excess into opportunity and cutting down on the warehouse full of leftovers that used to define this business.
How do the economics of merch work for artists?
There are three main buckets: tour sales, online stores and retail. On tour, there’s usually a truck following the band with inventory, and most of that money goes directly to the artist on a net-split basis. Online and retail work more like a royalty system since we handle production and logistics. Across the board, the splits are heavily in the artist’s favor — often 80% to 90% after costs. It’s often the No. 2 source of revenue [for artists] after ticket sales. It’s not unusual for a major tour to transact hundreds of thousands of dollars in merch in a single night.
What makes for a successful merch strategy?
Culture. If a band has a lifestyle built around them, merch thrives. Look at Billie Eilish, who insists on sustainability and explains it to fans every night. Or Olivia Rodrigo, who wore her own merch onstage. When the artist truly believes in it, sales follow. It becomes part of their identity and their fans’ identities.
What kinds of products are trending now beyond T-shirts and hoodies?
Exclusive vinyl colorways for tours, blankets for amphitheaters, memorabilia books like Olivia Rodrigo’s, collectible action figures like we did for Rihanna, Slipknot’s masks and jumpsuits. It’s all about matching the lifestyle of the artist with the passion of the fan.
Rihanna collectible action figure, “Rhenna”.
Courtesy of Bravado
How do global challenges — tariffs, Brexit, supply chain issues — affect you?
They definitely add complexity. Brexit alone changed how we move goods in and out of Europe. Tariffs can impact pricing and margins. But we have logistics teams built to handle that. We try to be nimble and find ways to keep delivering.
What about risk? Not every product is going to be successful. How do you deal with demand uncertainty?
The key is smart inventory control. We measure sales every night on tour and adjust orders quickly so we don’t get stuck with piles of leftovers. Years ago, I inherited a warehouse in Nashville that was literally two football fields wide full of unsold merch. That doesn’t happen anymore. We recycle, upcycle and design smarter so we’re not flooding the market. And when there is excess, we’ll sometimes move it online for fans who couldn’t get to the show.
How much do fashion trends dictate what you create?
A lot. Kids today don’t want the same cuts we sold 10 years ago. Right now, shorter, wider shirts are in. A few years ago, it was skinny fits and super-thin fabrics. Hip-hop audiences might prefer heavyweight blanks, while pop audiences want pajamas or skirts. It’s about curating for each fan base — answering their call rather than handing them a generic black T-shirt.
Machine Gun Kelly wearing a shirt from the collection he collaborated on with his hometown football team, the Cleveland Browns, at the start of the current football season.
Sam Cahill
Do you work outside music, with comedians or podcasters?
Yes. We do VIP and merch for Kevin Hart, and we also work with Shane Gillis, who’s one of the biggest comedians in the country right now. Comedy is different — comedians don’t pile into vans for long tours; they fly in for weekends. But they have catchphrases and bits that translate perfectly to merch. We also work with YouTubers and media personalities if it makes sense for our demographic.
Do macroeconomic shifts — inflation, politics, consumer confidence — affect your numbers?
On tour, not really. Since COVID, merch numbers have been the highest we’ve ever seen. People are celebrating being back in shows and merch is part of that. At retail, yes, you see slowdowns when inflation hits or tariffs drive up prices. But live is resilient. People are buying hoodies, vinyl and collectibles as part of the celebration of going to a concert.
Bootleggers have been around forever. Are they still a problem?
Always. If you’re buying from a guy in the parking lot, it’s not legit. And while the shirts might be cheap, they fall apart. But there’s also a fascinating subculture of vintage band tees. Original Nirvana or Nine Inch Nails shirts from the ’90s can sell for thousands of dollars today. That market is booming, and in some ways, it fuels demand for new designs, too.
Looking ahead, where’s the growth?
Digital. We’re learning as we go in video games and online platforms — it’s still the Wild West. There’s also a fight against online piracy, with fake ads on Instagram and Facebook. Beyond that, it’s about converting casual fans into superfans with unique, culturally relevant products. At the end of the day, it’s about making sure fans feel closer to their favorite artists.
This story appears in the Oct. 25, 2025, issue of Billboard.
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It’s the tail end of September’s Climate Week: NYC when Maggie Baird gets on Zoom from her hotel in the city, ceramic mug of tea in hand.
The mother of Billie Eilish and FINNEAS, as well as a staunch activist for sustainability and plant-based food access, Baird calls her time at Climate Week a “mixed bag of emotions”: She has participated in troubling events addressing the grim effects of climate change, but has also learned about the more hopeful work that’s happening around the world to address it.
“It’s a very dark time and there’s a lot going on,” she says. “Climate change is a threat multiplier. Every single other issue you care about, climate is there making it worse.”
Maggie Baird will participate in a panel at Billboard‘s Live Music Summit, held Nov. 3 in Los Angeles. For tickets and more information, click here.
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But Baird, who quotes Joan Baez’s famous “Action is the antidote to despair” declaration, has been a force during the event. Support + Feed, the organization she founded in 2020 that provides hot, plant-based meals to people in need, distributed roughly 2,500 of these meals, along with pantry items, across New York. She and representatives from the nonprofit used this time in the community to talk about plant-based diets as crucial mechanisms of positive environmental impact, with the week’s efforts also connecting various community organizations with climate thought leaders. The week ended with a Support + Feed “friend-raiser” event that hosted climate activists, community members and celebrities like Martha Stewart and Eilish, who turned out to support her mother.
“The main thing I would say about this time is that it’s a moment for radical collaboration,” Baird says. “Every organization I know and work with, we’re just like, ‘How can we be better together?’ We have to multiply — exponentially.”
For Baird, however, every week is Climate Week. Having worked with her children and their respective teams to meaningfully integrate sustainability into their careers, she’s essentially a frontline reporter on sustainability within the music industry.
One sector where she’s seeing “really exciting advances” is merchandise. Baird is a longtime collaborator with Bravado, the merchandising and branding division of Universal Music Group that recently sent 400,000 obsolete and unsold tour T-shirts and other unused items by ship from Nashville to Morocco, where they were repurposed into new yarn by sustainability-focused textile manufacturer Hallotex. The yarn will be used to make new items in Europe to avoid the emissions of shipping them back.
Maggie Baird, Finneas, and Billie Eilish at the Support + Feed Fall Fundraiser Event on Oct. 24, 2023.
Zoe Sher
For Eilish’s merch, the Bravado team has successfully collaborated with upcycling and sustainability-focused clothing companies Rewilder and Suay and designer Iris Alonzo, the co-founder of the Everybody.World brand. Suay, for example, took hundreds of dead-stock work shirts, added sleeves and embroidered “Billie” on each piece, while some of Eilish’s old merch was repurposed into bags. “The upcycled items sold out so fast,” Baird says, “because there were limited quantities and they were extremely unique, and unique to Billie.”
Meanwhile, a program developed by Eilish’s Live Nation touring team, Support + Feed and Reverb, the long-standing nonprofit focused on music industry sustainability, now requires that any venue hosting an Eilish show must sell at least three plant-based main courses — and some venues have even gone entirely plant-based for Eilish. (Her sold-out Hit Me Hard and Soft world tour began in fall 2024 and runs through November.) The team also hosts educational webinars for venue culinary staffers to educate them about plant-based eating.
“It’s about trying to help them understand that the arena has an obligation to clientele, to planet and to cost,” Baird says. “It’s all done in a friendly, helpful way. We’re very welcoming and excited that they’re willing to even take the call, frankly.” The goal is for venues to maintain more robust plant-based approaches long after Eilish leaves. “It’s really about helping people understand that you’re not just serving your customer better while being better for the planet,” Baird explains, “but that you can actually save money.” These savings are achieved by reducing reliance on meat and incorporating more dishes made with lower-cost ingredients like beans, lentils, grains, fruits and vegetables; meals built around whole-food ingredients are often significantly more affordable to produce.
She is aware that implementing such programs takes resources. Eilish has helped fund Support + Feed and Reverb to be on-site at shows by rising artists who don’t yet have the funds to host these groups themselves. “I think it’s important that we reach down,” Baird says. Fans can also buy more expensive “changemaker” tickets for Eilish’s shows, with 50% of the revenue from each tagged for sustainability projects. One dollar of every regular ticket sold is also donated.
While Eilish is among the most visible musicians promoting sustainability in the industry, Baird’s hope is that even if artists don’t want to publicly discuss their efforts, “they’ll still just do it. They don’t have to make it as outward as what we’re doing, but they can just do it as a given.”
Maggie Baird and Hayley Williams of Paramore deliver meals on June 28, 2023, as part of Baird’s volunteer work for her nonprofit organization, Support + Feed.
Zoe Sher
All these initiatives are happening in a year when Support + Feed has responded to a host of disasters. It fed locals in Los Angeles following the devastating California wildfires in January and in Tennessee after intense flooding in April. (Baird notes that in the wake of such events, Support + Feed representatives stay on the ground long after many other response organizations move on to the next crisis.) The communities Support + Feed serves have also been “very impacted” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, “so we’ve had to really be nimble in how we feed people and how we convene,” Baird says.
Still, the organization is expanding its offerings, now providing, in addition to hot meals, free produce from local farmers and cooking classes and recipe cards for people who may be unfamiliar with the produce they’re receiving.
“We’re really increasing our education and our outreach as much as possible,” Baird says, “but also just feeding, feeding, feeding, feeding, feeding. The need now is tremendous with all the food programs being cut.
“It’s a very intense time,” she continues, “but there are so many people doing great things.”
This story appears in the Oct. 25, 2025, issue of Billboard.
