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Shortly before her 24th birthday last January, Flo Milli got an unexpected gift from her fans. After playing dress-up one night in her bedroom, the Alabama upstart posted an Instagram video of herself singing to her new record, “Never Lose Me.” Though she made the video in jest, the results were golden, as the clip went viral, leading to the biggest hit of Flo’s career.
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“I saw it spreading before my birthday [in January], maybe months before that,” remembers Flo. “It was crazy, because I was promoting another song, but all that was on my mind was [“Never Lose Me”]. One day, I was at the house, and I made a video on my phone and posted it on Instagram. I was like, “Oh, they’re f–king with it.” Then, I put it on TikTok, and people started making videos immediately. It started getting bigger a few months after that.”
The success of “Never Lose Me” wasn’t originally on Flo’s birthday wish list, but the record has since peaked to No. 18 on the Hot 100, a career best. What started as an impromptu freestyle over Babyface Ray and 42 Dugg’s “Ron Artest” beat morphed into a sugary pop-rap bounce, courtesy of Flo’s entrancing hook and cheeky lyrics about staying close to her beau.
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“I was in the studio all night, and I wasn’t really focused,” says Flo. “I was working on other stuff for my project, and then right when I was about to leave, I asked the engineer to pull up this beat — that’s when I started rapping. For the ‘Never Lose Me’ part, I’m such a perfectionist: Until I get a line right and it sounds like how it sounds in my head, I’ll do it so many times. I just kept saying, ‘You never wanna lose me.’ I wasn’t expecting it to blow. I was just doing it for me.”
Released last December, “Never Lose Me” soared into the TikTok sphere and dominated. The song topped the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart for four weeks, becoming the longest reign yet for any track. The record’s remixes featuring Bryson Tiller and Lil Yachty also helped its growth, with both stars fanning over the song before its explosion.
“It wasn’t really planned; Yachty had reached out — he told me he loved it and we started communicating on that end,” says Flo. “I sent it to Bryson. That happened because he was hitting me on DMs [before it was officially out], like, “Drop this shit. This song has been in my head.” I was like, “You should put a little verse on it,” and that’s how that came about.
Despite those wins, Flo has one more trick under her sleeves: unleashing a third remix, this one with R&B and pop superstar SZA.
“I can’t give a date on [the SZA remix] right now but hopefully soon. I’ve been talking to SZA for a couple of years — she’s always been supportive towards my career, even behind the scenes.”
A version of this story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
In February, Billy Joel released his first song in 17 years, the emotional “Turn the Lights Back On.” But for his publicist, Claire Mercuri, there is never an off cycle with the 74-year-old legend.
Mercuri, who founded Claire Mercuri Public Relations in 2010, has represented Joel for more than 25 years. They began working together when Mercuri was at Columbia Records, where she rose to vp of media and also executed campaigns for veteran stars such as Bob Dylan, Bette Midler and Ricky Martin. In addition to Joel, her clients include his ex-wife, supermodel Christie Brinkley, and their daughter, Alexa Ray, as well as actresses Lorraine Bracco and Elizabeth Hurley.
A Brooklyn native, Mercuri scored her first music industry job in the 1990s as a personal assistant to KISS’ Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. “They were wonderful to me — and quite generous,” she says. “I still love them both.”
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Developing long-term relationships with clients past and present is part of what makes the job so meaningful. Joel manages himself, and Mercuri is part of his tight inner circle, many of whom have also been with him for decades. “There is no other artist quite like Billy Joel… [He] remains very much at the top of his game,” she says. “Music should enrich your soul and challenge you to think in new ways. Billy has done this as well or better than any other artist I know.”
Now, as the targeted press campaign Mercuri orchestrated around Joel’s new single — which included stops at The Howard Stern Show and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — wanes, the next several months promise to keep her busy. On April 14, CBS will air a special capturing Joel’s 100th consecutive performance at New York’s Madison Square Garden as he nears the end of his historic 10-year run of monthly shows at the vaunted venue this summer. Alongside those performances, Joel will co-headline stadium shows with buddies like Sting, Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks. As Mercuri says, “Billy is always in the conversation.”
This story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Reyna Tropical is set to release its first full-length album later this month — despite being a band for nearly eight years. Formed as a duo in 2016, and now the solo project of guitarist and songwriter Fabi Reyna, the act will release the 20-track Malegría via independent label Psychic Hotline this month.
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A stunning amalgam of inspirations including guitarist-singer Chavela Vargas and the cultural traditions of Columbia, Puerto Rico and more, Malegría “is something that I really needed to do for myself that’s full of life that I hope will continue far beyond my existence,” says Reyna, 32, who persevered with the band following the passing of its cofounder in 2022. “I hope that people listen to it from beginning to end, at least once. It’s a documentary piece to me.”
The 45-minute journey that includes spoken interludes between Reyna and collaborators that cover topics such as queer love, connecting and protecting the earth and detangling from the Western concept of “productivity.”
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“All the parts [of the album] have meaning,” says Reyna. “You can go as deep as you want with it or just dance to it and go to the beach with it. I’m excited to hear how it hits people.”
Foundation
At 9, Fabi Reyna had to fight to play guitar. The summer camp she attended in Austin didn’t want girls playing instruments — but she practiced tirelessly until she mastered the lead guitar for Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” and the camp relented. “Music, for me, is always alongside activism and having a purpose,” Reyna says. In 2012, she launched She Shreds Media, an outlet dedicated to women and gender-nonconforming guitarists and bassists. A few years later, at a Red Bull Music Academy event, she met musician Nectali “Sumohair” Diaz, and they formed Reyna Tropical, which combined her expert guitar playing with his production prowess. In 2022, Diaz died in an e-scooter accident, leaving Reyna to continue solo.
Discovery
With only four tracks released, all of which featured Afro Indigenous drum patterns and environmental samples, Reyna Tropical scored a major break in 2018 when Li Saumet of Colombian group Bomba Estéreo asked the duo to join the act on tour. Reyna and Diaz had never played live together — and Reyna had yet to cultivate her commanding stage presence — but they filled the opening slot by improvising and playing beats, some of which inspired the 2019 six-track EP Sol y Lluvia. A steady drip of tantalizing singles followed, and Reyna Tropical soon began to sell out domestic and international shows before realizing, as Reyna says, “we hit our capacity of what we could do by ourselves.”
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Future
By 2021, labels came calling — but the duo wasn’t ready to sign a deal. After Diaz’s death, Reyna spent a year meeting with one team in particular: Psychic Hotline, an artist-run recording company founded by Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn. On March 29, Reyna Tropical will release its debut album, Malegría (which combines the Spanish words for “bad” and “happiness”), on the label. While the album features familiar Congolese, Peruvian and Colombian rhythms, it also showcases Reyna’s growth. And although she is still getting used to performing alone — Reyna Tropical will tour with Portugal. The Man this spring — she’s finding comfort in the unknown. “I’ve opened the doors to be available for anything this album wants to take me into.”
A version of this story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
With the release of her 2021 debut album, if i could make it go quiet, alternative singer-songwriter girl in red blurred the line between contemplative songwriting and chaotic production, leaving the Norwegian artist born Marie Ulven with the challenging task of crafting an equally compelling follow-up. Yet I’m Doing It Again Baby! (out April 12 on Columbia Records) lives up to the difficult standard set for sophomore albums: Her songwriting cuts quicker to the core, while Matias Tellez’s production fuses even more influences.
Girl in red, 25, describes the album as an “elevated” version of her previous output. “It feels more creative,” she says, “more fun and more playful, and a little bit more confident. I’m not playing it safe, which is important … Everything is just getting pushed further.” She breaks down the inspirations that influenced I’m Doing It Again Baby!, from working alongside fellow pop superstars to refining her culinary tastes.
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Taylor Swift
While finishing her album in 2023, girl in red earned a coveted spot as one of the openers for Swift’s The Eras Tour. “It was like watching history being written in the moment — like, ‘I’m a part of history now,’” she recalls, still in awe. Opening five dates in June, she explains, was more than just a cool opportunity; it provided a career’s worth of educational experiences in less than a month. “I learned so much from watching Taylor’s shows and seeing how hard she works,” she recalls. “My new thing is I’ll ask myself, ‘What would Taylor do?,’ because I’m so inspired by her work ethic: ‘We’re not complaining, we’re just getting sh-t done.’”
Fine Dining
In the process of elevating her music, girl in red found that “my palate and my taste for food and drinks completely changed.” Embarking on gastronomic adventures at Michelin-star restaurants, and even studying to become a sommelier (“I have this delusion where I think I can be anything,” she jokes), the singer found herself taking on more complex topics in her music. “I think food is highly connected to everything you feel. So trying a bunch of really nice wines and nice foods gave me more depth to work with in production,” she explains. “I know that sounds really f–king pretentious, but it’s true!”
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1960s New York
On the final track of the album, “*****,” girl in red pines for the art scene of 1960s Lower Manhattan, specifically Andy Warhol’s iconic studio The Factory: “Six out of six, I never miss, you’ve got to be delusional to be in the biz at The Factory,” she sings. The artist says reading Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, introduced her to the scene’s history and made her immediately yearn for the “electric” times she wasn’t alive for. “I just feel like we’re missing that energy now,” she says. “With Studio 54 and The Factory and all these amazing artists working together to produce great art — it’s just so cool. I wish we had more of that today.”
Cartier Watches
“I had never thought about watches in my entire life,” Ulven says with a laugh. But when her longtime collaborator Matias Tellez started explaining his love of timepieces, the singer says she adopted the same obsession. She soon developed a specific infatuation with Cartier’s brand of stylish wristwear, and convinced Tellez to buy matching engraved gold watches to commemorate the album’s release. “It’s sort of about manifesting,” she says. “All these iconic people have worn these Cartier watches, and there’s something about wanting to wear something that iconic people wore.”
A version of this story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Since PinkPantheress started uploading her music to TikTok three years ago, her songs have gone from locked away on her hard drive to the Billboard charts — but the singer, songwriter and producer’s recording essentials remain the same: microphone, GarageBand-outfitted laptop and a killer ear for finding niche samples primed for her to mold into the next dance-pop earworm.
The 22-year-old from Bath, England, may have started enlisting fellow producers to help polish her work, as on her recent album Heaven Knows, but make no mistake: From her early viral single “Pain” to her 2023 hit “Boy’s a liar, Pt. 2” with Ice Spice, PinkPantheress has been the creative mastermind. In fact, the self-described perfectionist — whose team lovingly refers to her as “Pink” in lieu of divulging her real name — admits that she often finds herself seizing control of her studio sessions with collaborators.
“As soon as I’m at a point where I can’t do anything else, that’s where I go, ‘OK, now can you do the rest?’ ” she says of her process, laughing. “It ends up being a collaborative thing. I just like to get what I can do out of the way first.” When she comes across another artist’s track that she can’t stop obsessing over, that usually means it’s about to become the skeleton of her next project. “I’m just like, ‘I need to somehow make this my song,’ ” she says.
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She can recall only one time that she had to ax a track because she couldn’t get a sample — the original producer’s royalties demands were simply too high. But Billboard’s 2024 Women in Music Producer of the Year knew that what she brought to the table on her own was valuable — something that might inspire young girls who also want to make music — so she walked away.
“For whatever reason, I’ve always felt strongly about that,” she says of her sense of self-worth. “Obviously, it’s a good thing.”
Billboard’s last Producer of the Year honoree, Rosalía, gave you a shoutout during her Women in Music interview. Which female producers inspire you?
That’s really sweet. I didn’t know she knew who I was. Since she’s a [female] producer as well, it’s really cool. There’s obviously not many of us. I’m always going to say WondaGurl, just because she’s who I looked up to when I was starting. Obviously, Imogen Heap, but these are all veterans. I need to tap into more up-and-coming ones.
Sampling has been your bread and butter from the start. How has your process changed over time?
At the beginning, I wasn’t really adding anything to my samples. I was basically just singing over instrumentals. I didn’t mind sampling, but I didn’t like how people… I think people thought it was lazy, and part of me understood what they meant. I’m chopping them, speeding them up or slowing them down way more. I’m adding more instrumentation so it’s more hidden, whereas before it would kind of just be the actual track itself.
Lia Clay Miller
You’ve said before that some of your songs are “crap.” Do you really think that?
I’m one of those people who, in my whole life, nothing is ever good enough. For better or worse, this is just how I am. I’ll put out a song and think at the time, “This is 100% amazing.” It’s only when I’ve put it out that I doubt myself. Does that mean I think the song’s actually bad? No. Because at the end of the day, I know it’s still a bop.
What advice do you have for other female producers trying to hold their own in the industry?
It’s the vibe you go in with that people judge to see if they can get away with stuff. If you know what you want to make as soon as you step into the room, there should be nothing stopping you from actually doing it. What I’m saying is, if there’s a MIDI keyboard there, ask to use the MIDI keyboard. If [other producers] say no, then that’s wild and definitely leave. But chances are, they’ll say yes.
This story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Maren Morris wrote her first song as a preteen and says she knew, from that point on, that she wanted to be a singer. She long envisioned an equitable industry, particularly in country music, where she launched her career. But recently — after a particularly trying year in which headlines declared (not entirely accurately) that she was leaving country behind — the 33-year-old says she discovered something important: what she doesn’t want to do.
“What I’ve learned is that it’s not my job to inform everybody all the time about what I’m feeling,” Morris says, speaking from her Nashville home. “I want to talk and explain less and let the music speak for me, which was the whole point of getting into this in the first place.”
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Morris released her major-label debut, Hero, in 2016, featuring the breakout single “My Church,” for which she won her first Grammy (for best country solo performance). In 2018, she scored a crossover dance-pop smash with Zedd and Grey on “The Middle” — her first and only Billboard Hot 100 top 10 — and in 2019 released her acclaimed second album, Girl, which spawned her first Hot Country Songs No. 1, “The Bones.” That same year, she formed supergroup The Highwomen with Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby and Amanda Shires. And while Morris earned her first best country album Grammy nod with 2022’s Humble Quest, she’s most proud of last year’s two-song EP The Bridge.
Both EP tracks — the chilling “The Tree” and rallying “Get the Hell Out of Here” — connect her past of passionately speaking up for underrepresented voices in country music to her future of quietly speaking up for herself. “They were conceived in a moment of great reflection and heartbreak and loss and a little bit of grief and PTSD — all the things,” Morris says. (She finalized her divorce from singer-songwriter Ryan Hurd, with whom she has a young son, in February.) “They’re definitely a part of an important conversation that I was having with myself and my existence here in Nashville. They sonically sum up my last decade. I think it was a nice chapter close.”
Now Billboard‘s 2024 Women in Music Visionary feels lighter — and more excited — than ever as she embarks upon writing her next chapter, which she’ll do under Columbia New York rather than the label’s Nashville outpost she has long called home. “I’m just compulsively being creative right now,” she says. “This weighted blanket of burden has been lifted.”
Munachi Osegbu
You recently teased new music on Instagram, writing that you’re “barfing up [your] heart.”
Yes. That’s the new album title: Heart Barf.
If not that, what phrase defines 2023 for you?
I’m going to sound so Pinterest, but I think just letting go. Or changeover. I feel like I’m on this precipice of massive, massive change. And the music’s certainly reflecting that. In 2024, not that I’ve got an album done yet, but by the week [it’s] getting clearer and clearer what the theme and the sonics are. I’m not overthinking. I’m not trying to be micromanage-y like I typically am.
How does The Bridge represent that shift?
They are two of my proudest songs as a writer because as real and gritty and personal as I have gotten in past years, I don’t know if I’ve ever been quite as vulnerable as I had with those two. And it wasn’t comfortable to write them or to even release them or do any of the creative. Everything in that was a good green light that I was on the road to whatever is next.
You worked with Jack Antonoff on “Get the Hell Out of Here.” How did you two get together?
We met a year or two ago, and we were just fans of each other’s artistry and, obviously, on my end, his production of all my favorite artists. We’ve been writing a lot this year.
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Given his work with The Chicks and Taylor Swift — women who have had similar experiences in country music — what common ground did that create?
I think the background of what those women had gone through before me was … he was the perfect guy to feel trusting and safe with that sort of song. And then with “The Tree,” Greg Kurstin, whom I’ve worked with on my last two records, we have such a familiarity with one another. I love both of those guys so much. I feel like both of their résumés are so musically unbound — I’ve been pretty all over the map with songs of my own, but when you choose a producer, you’re hoping that they have the same melting pot of influences and don’t care about genre.
What artists do you admire for seamlessly navigating different genres?
Miley Cyrus comes to mind first. She’s got one of those voices, and her creative influences are clearly so vast. I mean, just look at the diversity of her albums — it’s almost Madonna-esque, where every album is a new genre or era, because she can do pop, she can do country, and then the Dead Petz record. And then obviously, my heroes: Dolly Parton really broke down barriers of genre with “Islands in the Stream” and “Here You Come Again” and was criticized for doing so at the time because it was like, “She’s leaving country. Dolly goes pop.” Taylor [Swift is a] huge chameleon. And then Sheryl Crow as well.
What genre do you see as the closest to getting it right in terms of inclusivity and representation?
They all have room to grow. [But] just in terms of worldwide reach and really being dominated by women, pop music. It’s kind of a cool Wild West because pop music can be anything: It can be Ariana Grande, it can be Taylor, it could be Noah Kahan. So I do like the freedom of that. Music is headed in a very interesting direction. The album of the year nominees for the Grammys, women dominated. I would hope that country music eventually does the same. Because when you have everyone’s stories, the music is better, and it ushers in younger artists and songwriters and musicians to want to move to Nashville, to want to make music here. It’s interesting to see people go to pop or pop labels [who came] through country.
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You said recently you got sick of being a “yes” person. What have you joyfully said “no” to?
In the beginning, I felt this massive sense of pride when I would send an email back and just be like, “No. Pass.” But now I’ve gotten so much better at setting a boundary that it doesn’t feel like a win or a loss. And the threat of that is always, “Well, she’s a diva.” But I hope I lead by example: You don’t ever have to be a b-tch, but you can absolutely put your foot down. Bending over backward is not a thing that I’m willing to do anymore to sacrifice sleep or time with my son. I have to take care of myself.
What’s something that previously felt out of reach but now feels like it’s yours for the taking?
I think just finding joy and inner peace … I wish it wasn’t such a struggle for me. Not that I think so highly of myself, but I wish I didn’t have such a throbbing heartbeat for world suffering. I sometimes wish I could just put my head in the sand and enjoy my privilege, but I don’t want to do that. That’s not the life for me. But I think I’m letting go of having everyone around me put their feet to the fire. I can only focus on myself and align myself with people that have the same wants and morals. I want this year to be about my own happiness — becoming a better mom and boss and human and writer and all the things.
This story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
When “Munch,” an unbothered slice of New York drill by rapper Ice Spice, exploded on social media and into the pop culture lexicon in late summer 2022, few listeners had heard of the talent behind it. But over the next year, the Bronx MC with the trademark ginger Annie ’fro (which she sometimes also wears in a buss down) leveled up — and raised her profile — with each single she released, all powered by her quippy, unfussy lyrics and the Jersey club-inflected beats of her longtime collaborator, RIOTUSA.
Her early singles, even if they missed the Billboard Hot 100, still resonated culturally, laying the groundwork for commercial wins. In February 2023, Ice earned her first solo Hot 100 entry with “In Ha Mood,” which has collected over 166 million official U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate. By the close of 2023, she had scored four Hot 100 top 10s, an achievement that tied Nicki Minaj (2012) and Cardi B (2018) for the most by a female rapper in a calendar year.
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Ice has earned over 1.7 billion official U.S. on-demand streams. Her Like…? EP, which yielded the Hot 100 No. 4 hit “Princess Diana” with Minaj, peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200. In 2023, Ice also collected two top 10s on the Radio Songs chart — “Barbie World” (with Minaj and AQUA, No. 5) and “Boy’s a liar, Pt. 2” (with PinkPantheress, No. 8) — as well as her highest-peaking Hot 100 entry yet, for her appearance on Taylor Swift’s “Karma” remix (No. 2). With that momentum, she scored four Grammy nominations (including best new artist), an opening slot on Doja Cat’s Scarlet tour and prominent billing at Coachella this spring.
Now Ice — who was recently all over social media after accompanying Swift to the Super Bowl — is focused on prepping her forthcoming debut studio album, Y2K. “I think this is some of my best work,” she says, hinting that “it’s not going to be too long — it’s going to be sweet and to the point.” In the meantime, Billboard’s 2024 Women in Music Hitmaker honoree can’t stop putting out smashes: Her latest single, the new jazz-tinged “Think U the Sh-t (Fart),” has already garnered 11.8 million official U.S. on-demand streams in less than a month.
What defines a hit for you?
There’s so many different types of hits. But my favorite is the one that’s just, like, culturally important. Fans know the lyrics and care about it. They just love the song. Growing up, so many songs that I thought were hits and statistically weren’t really, like numberswise, if you care about that. But in my heart, it’s a hit and I know all the lyrics.
You scored four Billboard Hot 100 top 10s in 2023. Which is your favorite?
“Princess Diana” with Nicki [Minaj] because I felt like “Princess Diana” was already my best song on [Like…?], but then it didn’t chart or anything until Nicki got on it. I was just so happy to have both of those worlds where I felt like it was culturally a great song, but also it charted. And then I had my dream collab fulfilled at the same time.
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Did Nicki or Taylor give you any songwriting advice?
When I was in the studio with Taylor, like, I’ll never forget that. She told me, “No matter what, just keep making music and everything’s going to be fine.”
As you craft your debut album, what are you listening for?
First, a really hard beat. If the beat doesn’t instantly move me — like if I don’t physically feel the beat of the speakers — then I’m just going to keep moving on to the next one. But as soon as I know, I know I have that beat. It’s up from there.
Some past winners of this award include Charli XCX and Dolly Parton. Who are some of your favorite hit-makers of all time?
Well, first, shout out to them; they’re iconic, each in their own way. I would say Lana Del Rey — I’m obsessed with her, and I feel like all of her songs are hits, even the ones that aren’t as big as the others. Rihanna, too. I have both [her and Del Rey’s] vinyls. Taylor Swift. Of course, Nicki Minaj. Drake. The list is long!
Is there a hit of yours that you were surprised people latched on to — or one you thought would be bigger?
I thought that “Actin a Smoochie” would be a bigger song. Every time I hear it, I’m just gagged that it’s not bigger. [But] “Boy’s a liar, Pt. 2,” I never thought that song would be as big as it is. I knew it would be a big moment, but I didn’t think it would be triple-platinum.
For what it’s worth, when I was in college, the streets was definitely running up “Smoochie.”
Oh, see! Thank you! That’s what I care about.
This story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
In just a few years, Tems went from working a digital marketing job to becoming a globally known hit-maker who rubs shoulders with stars like Beyoncé, Rihanna and Drake — all without losing her cool or confidence. “When I make music, I don’t really think about where it’s going to end up,” she explains nonchalantly. “I just leave it all in the studio.”
To a certain extent, she doesn’t even have time to think about where her songs will end up — since once she releases them, they tend to immediately spread everywhere. Ever since she was featured on Wizkid’s 2020 smash, “Essence,” which reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 a year later (with the help of a Justin Bieber remix) and earned a Grammy nod for best global music performance, the 28-year-old Nigerian artist’s rich, velvety voice has traveled far beyond the African continent and become a mesmerizing fixture in popular music. Drake put up billboards in Tems’ hometown of Lagos to announce she would be featured on his 2021 album, Certified Lover Boy; a year later, they appeared together again on Future’s Hot 100 No. 1 “Wait for U,” which samples “Higher” from Tems’ 2020 debut EP, For Broken Ears. She was one of only three featured artists on Beyoncé’s 2022 Renaissance album. And she earned Golden Globe, Academy Award and Grammy nominations for co-writing Rihanna’s 2022 comeback single, “Lift Me Up,” from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack.
But she hasn’t needed others’ star power to shine, establishing herself as a solo hit-maker as well. With “Essence” leading a major crossover movement for Afrobeats in the United States, Tems emerged as one of the first big African acts here of the last few years. For Broken Ears produced another sleeper hit with “Free Mind,” which set a record for most weeks (17) at No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart for a song by a female lead artist the following May. (SZA’s “Snooze” later surpassed it.) And even though Tems only released two singles last year — “Me & U” in October and “Not an Angel” in December — she was responsible for or featured on eight of the top 40 Afrobeats songs in the United States in 2023, according to Luminate.
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It’s a remarkable career trajectory for someone who has yet to release her debut album — which Tems assures “is 1,000% coming out this year,” though she matter-of-factly adds that she’s “not thinking too much about outcomes.”
Such self-assuredness comes naturally to the artist born Témìládè Openiyi, whose Nigerian mother broke with Yoruba tradition by choosing her daughter’s name — a role typically reserved for the father’s side of the family — because “God told me,” Tems’ mother explained on For Broken Ears’ “Témìládè Interlude.” Growing up, “everybody just called me Temi. Nobody really called me by my full name. It wasn’t something that was on my mind,” Tems says. “It’s only now, as an adult, that I started realizing that it meant ‘The crown is mine.’ I think that’s really powerful. It feels manifested, based on how my life has gone.”
Cameron Hancock top, My Wardrobe HQ skirt, Rick Owens boots, 4element jewelry and Dinosaur Designs bracelets.
Zoe McConnell
FEBEN dress, Hugo Kreit earrings, Dover Street Market sunglasses.
Zoe McConnell
And it’s fitting for Billboard’s 2024 Women in Music Breakthrough honoree, who is smashing boundaries for African artists and crossing over to the U.S. market without compromising her own sound. When Tems started making music in her early 20s, the producers she met with often told her that if she wanted to be popular in Nigeria, she should make Afrobeats music. But for someone who grew up enamored by the sentimental melodies of Céline Dion, Destiny’s Child and Mariah Carey, Tems yearned to make soul-stirring songs that sent people deep into their feelings rather than joyful dance records that anyone could catch a vibe to. “Is it possible to make this type of music even though I’m Nigerian? Is there a limit to what I can make?” Tems recalls asking herself. “I wanted to find out.”
In 2018, she quit her job and independently wrote, produced, recorded and released her debut single, “Mr. Rebel,” which showcased her arresting vocals over a buoyant, introspective beat (and established her fan base as the “Rebel Gang”). “It wasn’t an overnight thing,” Tems says of transitioning to making music full time. But as she struggled to establish herself, she had the freeing realization that “I was selling myself short by not pursuing my passion and worrying about what people think.”
That extended to the ways others tried to categorize her music. “Afrobeats” has become a catch-all term for popular music emerging from West Africa, but Tems says her music, which encompasses neo-soul, R&B, reggae, hip-hop and Afrobeats, “doesn’t perfectly fit into one genre.” And she has been touted as a leader in the subcultural alté movement, which emerged in the mid-2010s among young Nigerian creatives who found nontraditional ways of expressing themselves through music and fashion.
“I believe not every Nigerian needs to do the generic sound because we’re talented in general, and whatever we decide to do, we’ll just do it really well,” says Tems’ co-manager Muyiwa Awoniyi, who first met the musician in 2019 during a studio session she attended. When one of the producers present complained that Tems kept rejecting the music they were playing and she stood her ground, her fortitude impressed Awoniyi, who started managing her four months later.
Ester Manas dress, Nona the Label hat, Mugler earrings, Dinosaur Designs rings, Natasha Zinko and Swarovski necklaces.
Zoe McConnell
Ever since, Awoniyi and co-manager Wale Davies have prioritized helping Tems make “amazing music that attracts the maximum amount of people possible,” says Awoniyi, who views her career milestones as her music’s “ripple effect,” but says such accomplishments don’t drive her or her team. (They do, he admits, “keep [Tems’] name in the conversation,” especially when she’s not actively releasing music.)
While Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade led the charge for African female artists in the 2010s, in this decade, Tems has paved the way for a new generation that also includes Ayra Starr and Tyla, the latter of whom recently scored a Hot 100 top 10 with her pop-infused amapiano smash, “Water.” Tems and Tyla are among a handful of African acts performing at Coachella this spring — further proof that African music, in its many styles, continues to take over the world’s biggest stages.
“I’m not sure if I would ever really be aware of whatever impact my story has, but it feels inspiring to know that I’ve inspired others because I’m inspired by other people as well,” Tems says. “It just encourages me to keep going.”
FEBEN dress, Hugo Kreit earrings, Steven Ma heels, Dover Street Market sunglasses.
Zoe McConnell
Cameron Hancock top, My Wardrobe HQ skirt, Rick Owens boots, 4element jewelry and Dinosaur Designs bracelets.
Zoe McConnell
This story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Young Miko vividly remembers the first time she realized her music could make an impact. It was in 2021, after the Puerto Rican singer-rapper released her second single, “Vendetta,” in collaboration with trans artist Villano Antillano — a hard-hitting trap song in which the two spit bars about empowerment, individuality, resilience and self-confidence, all while spotlighting the LGBTQ+ community.
“That’s when I felt a before and after in my life,” Miko tells Billboard. “It’s a moment that I always return to, and I realize that it wasn’t just a song. I feel in my heart that it started a very beautiful movement or gave it more strength. I love feeling that from the beginning I’ve been doing something good with the voice that life has given me and with the space I have, which has to have a purpose.”
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That same voice — one that effortlessly transitions from unapologetic rap rhymes to smooth, sugary vocals — and a devoted work ethic have propelled Miko to become one of música urbana’s brightest new stars, breaking through in the male-dominated genre while primarily singing about her queer identity.
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The 25-year-old artist born María Victoria Ramírez de Arellano Cardona has landed major collaborations with Bad Bunny, Arcángel, Feid, Bizarrap and Karol G — most recently playing the latter’s romantic interest in Karol’s cinematic “Contigo” music video. She has also had a strong presence on the Billboard charts, including four hits on Hot Latin Songs and three on Latin Airplay, two entries on the Billboard Hot 100 and five on the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S.
But even amid those successes, Billboard‘s 2024 Women in Music Impact honoree says she’s still learning. “It’s important to have that mentality and to not think I’m at my peak,” she says. “I want to feel like I’m never going to stop being a student, and for me, that’s the coolest part.”
How has embracing your queer identity in your lyrics affected your art?
It has been everything. My lyrics demonstrate a Young Miko that’s 100% true to herself. Thank God, I’ve felt comfortable enough from the beginning to be able to do it and give myself that space to be myself and do what I want with my music. I think it’s very nice that it had a good impact on the music industry in general and on the people around me. Obviously, sometimes, it can get loud — your surroundings, the opinions of others — but I feel like Young Miko would never have been the same if I wasn’t 100% honest in my music.
How have you used your social media presence to create change around you?
Beyond a social media platform, I like to start with my circle and the people who are with me every day. In whatever way I can help, I will always try to add or contribute my grain of sand. Obviously, being aware that anything I publish or associate with will have an impact, period. I know that now people are listening and paying attention to what I say, which gives me more reason to want to promote a good message. There are so many people with so many followers, and they don’t use it for sh-t. For me, it’s a blessing that life has decided to put me in a spot where my voice matters.
You joined Karol G for her Mañana Será Bonito tour and headlined your own Trap Kitty tour last year. What effect did the touring life have on you?
I f–king love touring! It’s so much fun. I feed off a lot from the crowd and the energy. Sometimes you have to see it to believe it — the emotion of all the people and how they know your songs. I learned that it’s not always going to be pretty. There are days that are going to be super tiring, and if you cancel or postpone a show, it’s horrible [for the fans] but you must get through it. Beyond learning as an artist, I learn as a person. When I’m on tour, I miss my home, my parents, my island, the warmth of my people. It’s a roller coaster and not for the weak. It’s so surreal, but I f–king love it.
This story will appear in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
No manager wants to say no to their artist. But this time, the situation demanded it. “You’re blowing your f–king money,” the manager told her client. “This is money you’re not going to have to promote your music.”
The expense under discussion wasn’t a private jet, a non-fungible token or some new cryptocurrency, but glam — a catch-all term that encompasses the services of hairstylists, makeup artists and nail technicians. The rising artist wanted to hire her favorite celebrity hairstylist for a two-day video shoot, which would cost $12,000 in services alone, in addition to business-class travel for the hairstylist and the hairstylist’s assistant, plus the hairstylist’s agent’s fees. The label’s video budget was $10,000 to $15,000, not including travel, and the difference would come out of the artist’s pocket. The manager stood firm: “We’re not doing that for your hair.”
Still, she sympathized with her artist’s anxiety. “Everything is so visible now,” the manager says, noting that fans expect artists — and in particular, young women — to always look the part of the perfectly put-together pop star, whether at an awards show or on TikTok. “You’re always being compared. And there’s all these photos all the time, and then when they don’t look good, the internet loves to talk about that. It’s just really unfair.”
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As the world reopened after COVID-19, public appearances for artists increased — even more so than before the pandemic, according to the many artist managers and publicists interviewed for this story — and with that, the need for professional glam. To control costs, artists’ teams must negotiate constantly with their clients about when (and when not) to use it.
“When I first started in this business in the ’90s, nobody got B-roll of anything,” says one Nashville-based business manager. “ ‘What are you talking about, B-roll? They’re doing radio interviews. Y’all don’t need any B-roll.’ But that’s part of the process [now], so you can’t walk out and not be camera-perfect every time. Because the second they are, everybody attacks them on social media.”
Glam professionals have mixed feelings about this increased demand. Some say pay was better in the 1990s, others that their rates have always been — and remain — low, and many state that they are still recovering financially from the total halt in work during the pandemic. But a handful have capitalized on explosive social media followings and their work with a few popular clients to transform themselves from invaluable members of the backstage team into celebrities in their own right who can demand $5,000 to $10,000 a day for their services.
“This is, for me, the biggest hurdle to developing female artists today,” the manager says. “It’s just killing me because we can’t [sign and develop] girls because of crippling glam costs.”
Not all glam professionals are so cost-prohibitive. “That’s like the 1%,” says hairstylist and men’s groomer Laura Costa, whose clients have included Daniel Caesar, 50 Cent and d4vd. “People who are getting these astronomical rates are just the very small percentage of hairstylists and makeup artists that are working with huge-selling artists like Mariah Carey. I don’t want people to think that we’re out here making $10,000 a day to put ChapStick on someone. Because that’s not the norm.”
The norm for someone like Costa, who has been in the business since 2012, is $500 for a men’s “do-and-go”: meeting clients where they are, doing their hair or makeup and leaving. The average do-and-go lasts two hours, and then Costa is off to another appointment. “I’ll work for the entire day, and people think, ‘Oh, my God, that’s great money for the day.’ But I have to give my agent 20% of it, I have to pay all my taxes, I have to pay for all my equipment.”
A do-and-go allows glam artists to squeeze more clients into a day, but running from job to job can be taxing. “I think it’s the worst thing that has happened to the industry,” says makeup artist Colby Smith, who has worked with Icona Pop, Tove Lo, Charli XCX, Zara Larsson and Alanis Morissette, among others, during his 17-year career. “My do-and-go today is from 12:30 to 2:30, so they’re paying me not for half a day and not for the full day. The whole concept of do-and-go is to get us for a quarter rate.” Sources say day rates typically range from $1,000 to $2,000, while a do-and-go pays anywhere from $300 to $800. “It’s a new industry standard that has brought pricing down and the use of us down,” Smith explains.
The do-and-go is often booked for artists who are spending a whole day making different types of content, like social media posts or TV appearances. Some artist team members say labels favor cramming everything into one day and opting for a do-and-go — rather than hiring the glam team for the full day — to cut costs. If an opportunity does not fit in the scheduled day, the artist must turn it down.
For some up-and-coming artists, doing their own glam is preferable to a missed opportunity. According to one publicist with clients in the pop space, established artists may decline to appear even on social media without full glam, but newer acts understand that they must stick to a budget or stay home.
Country artist Megan Moroney, who scored her first top 10 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums and Hot Country Songs charts in May, tends to handle her own hair and makeup except for special occasions. “Right now, it’s mainly just for big shows that are streamed or obviously awards shows or bigger events, I have glam,” says the 26-year-old singer-songwriter, who is signed to Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records. “I wish I could have my glam girls all the time because it definitely looks a little bit different when I do it,” she admits.
Moroney’s glam team includes makeup artist Paige Szupello and hairstylist Jessica Miller, the expert behind Moroney’s signature hair pouf. “She said she wants to be known by her silhouette, so we have the pouf that we do on her,” Miller says. “And you know, that’s iconic. People are recognizing that pouf now.”
“Jessica really is the only person that knows how to do it,” Moroney says. “She could probably do it with her eyes closed. I have had people fill in sometimes if she wasn’t available, and it was an epic fail.” Having a consistent glam team puts Moroney at ease ahead of performances, not only because Szupello and Miller know her face and hair so well and are able to always create an on-brand look, but also because she feels comfortable around them. “They definitely know way too much about my life,” she says. “When you find people that are really talented at what they do, it just makes it more enjoyable if you also like them and are friends with them.”
Those friendships can also sometimes lead to business complications. “That’s where it gets messy with a lot of these glam teams,” says one glam professional. “When they get too close, they think that they can ask for crazy numbers, and they’ll get it because it’s like, ‘Well, I’m your best friend. Are you going to fire me because I’m asking you for money?’ ”
On the other hand, informal relationships between artists and glam teams can blur job descriptions in ways that overtax glam professionals. “They need someone in their camp that they can actually trust,” says Robear Landeros, whose clients include Kat Graham, Jennifer Hudson and a number of Bravo’s Real Housewives stars. “I become publicist, I become manager, I become security guard, I become stylist. It goes beyond the glam of it all. I don’t think the common person understands like, ‘Oh, my God, they charge so much,’ or ‘Oh, my God, why does it cost this?’ It’s so much more than just beauty.”
For business managers, the cost of glam also goes beyond beauty. “I think the travel is a huge part of it,” says Kristin Lee, founder and managing director of business management company KLBM. “Having to fly people, pay for their cars, give them per diems when they’re on the ground — that stuff has doubled from a few years ago.” To reduce costs, Lee tells her clients to use local hairstylists and makeup artists rather than fly glam teams to different cities. She has also put glam professionals on flat retainers when a client has a particularly active month, since it is often cheaper than a day rate.
Lee estimates that her female clients — who span genres, though she has had an uptick lately in Miami-based Latin artists — spend about $100,000 annually on glam, but it does not make them inherently more expensive than her male clients. “They all find ways to spend a lot of money,” she says dryly, though, she adds, “I fully believe in the ‘pink tax.’ The guys are spending money on luxury [by] choice, as opposed to what my clients consider a necessity for going out and looking and feeling a certain way — which costs a lot of money. Everything is more expensive as a woman.”
Belva Anakwenze of Abacus Financial Business Management says her clients — most of whom are Los Angeles-based R&B and hip-hop artists — spend around $30,000 on glam in an active quarter, and though it can be much higher than that, the cost typically accounts for less than 3% of an artist’s expenses. “Glam is a very small percent for our clients’ overall budgets,” she says.
Anakwenze has tough conversations with her clients about going with less expensive, less familiar glam teams to save money, but sometimes such decisions are not so simple. “With people of color, it’s even more difficult because not everyone knows how to effectively style their hair or makeup, and so they do become very loyal,” she says. “But sometimes the loyalty ends up saving us money, in that they don’t really increase their fees. They’ll go up incrementally, but if they’re charging a new client $1,000, they may charge my client, an existing client, $500.”
For others, loyalty comes at a higher cost. Sally Velazquez, founder and president of Empower Business Management, explains that once her clients lock in their regular glam teams, those hairstylists and makeup artists post photos of their work with them on social media and build their own fan bases. “Their prices start to increase based on their demand, which makes sense. But that demand sometimes happens because our clients gave these people a shot,” she says. “We see a year later, now that same makeup artist that was charging $100 wants $750. And now, the issue is the client built a rapport with this person, they like working with this person. I’m a person that definitely wants to make sure that we value whoever we’re working with, but sometimes it gets to the point where you’re like, ‘Hey, maybe we only use this makeup artist for big things like the Grammys and not use them for every day.’ That’s the way we try to manage the costs.”
Velazquez acknowledges that inflation and cost-of-living increases play a role in the rising rates but also points to travel and accommodation, as well as unexpected expenses. “As the makeup artist becomes very famous, it’s almost like working with another artist,” she says. “It’s not just their fee anymore. It’s also just the little things that they need. You know how artists have their own riders? Now makeup [artists], hairstylists have their own riders as well.”
Everyone — from artists’ business managers to the glam professionals they’re hiring — is looking out for their own bottom line. “We are running a business, everybody’s running a business, and very few artists end up actually profitable,” says a publicist whose client spent $600,000 on a recent TV appearance, a large portion of which went not to hair or makeup but styling. “It’s not like we’re just trying to save money. It’s that you’re trying not to hemorrhage money. And you’re trying not to spend stupid money, and that’s where it becomes stupid money.”
One label source who has worked with Latin artists for decades says that sometimes even what seems like “stupid money” is worth it in the end. “When I was working for a label, I would pay this hairstylist $5,000 a day,” the source recalls. “The artist had like an inch of hair, and he was constantly telling him, ‘Oh, my God, you are so handsome today. And you really look great. And I see that your face is super fresh.’ All those things that the artist needs so desperately, constantly. When you tell that to an artist, if you’re the manager or if you’re the label, they think that you say it because you want him to hurry up and go onstage.”
While getting the look right is a glam team’s primary job, those in the field are keenly aware of this additional expectation. “I understand when they say, monetarily, we’re a massive expense, because I know we are,” says one glam professional. “But you really can’t put a price on having us around when we make the day run smoother. I’ve been on Nicki Minaj music videos. I’ve been on Cardi B music videos. I’ve been on Mariah Carey music videos. I’ve been on Katy Perry music videos. All of these f–king music videos would not get made without their goddamn glam teams. These women would not feel confident enough or happy enough. And I have literally seen some of these big, big A-list talent walk off set because the vibe wasn’t right.”
The source from the Latin world agrees. “It’s important to find the right people. The glam people, their assignment really is to make the artist happy. I was going to say they are expensive — but now I realize that they are super cheap.”
Glam Rock Stars
Get to know some of the top hair and makeup pros with major artist (and social media) followings.
Jesus Guerrero
HairstylistInstagram followers: 598,000Clients: Dua Lipa, Katy Perry, Rosalía
Perry’s bob-to-bangs transformation, Rosalía’s 2023 Latin Grammys tresses and Kylie Jenner’s “wet look” all have one thing in common: Guerrero’s comb. The hair guru’s versatility allows him to go from taming Christina Aguilera’s platinum waves one day to weaving Kali Uchis’ hair into a butterfly sculpture for her Red Moon in Venus album cover the next.
Ursula Stephen
HairstylistInstagram followers: 125,000Clients: Zendaya, Ciara, Mary J. Blige
Beyond heading her own salon, veteran stylist Stephen has crafted showstopping styles for everyone from Rihanna to Serena Williams, Ariana DeBose and Yara Shahidi. Many of her most memorable looks have been worn on the Met Gala carpet: Zendaya’s auburn Joan of Arc crop in 2018? That was all Stephen, as was Rih’s faux-hawk swoop in 2009.
Tokyo Stylez
HairstylistInstagram followers: 1.5 millionClients: Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Victoria Monét
Tokyo Stylez is behind the wigs of more stars than one would believe — in fact, she’s so good, it’s often difficult to tell whether her clients are sporting one of her pieces or a dye job. She’s responsible for some of the past few years’ most iconic hair moments, from Cardi B’s bright yellow pixie cut on the Invasion of Privacy cover to Megan Thee Stallion’s pink ’do on Saturday Night Live in January.
Rokael Lizama
Makeup artistInstagram followers: 306,000Clients: Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez
When he’s not working as Beyoncé’s on-the-road Renaissance tour makeup artist, Lizama creates nude-glam looks for Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Scherzinger, Demi Lovato, Normani, the Kardashian sisters and more. After working on campaigns for other major beauty brands, he started his own self-titled makeup line with a specialty in fake lashes.
Priscilla Ono
Makeup artistInstagram followers: 894,000Clients: Rihanna, Latto, Kali Uchis
Rihanna wouldn’t trust just anyone to paint her face — but Ono is no ordinary beauty expert. Not only is she the global makeup artist of the singer’s billion-dollar Fenty Beauty brand, but she also brushed on Rih’s Super Bowl halftime show and Academy Awards looks in 2023.
Patrick Ta
Makeup artistInstagram followers: 3.6 millionClients: Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, Halsey
Ta opened his first salon when he was just 18. By showcasing his wearable glam looks on social media, he built a client base that now includes Gigi Hadid, Kim Kardashian, Anitta, Hailee Steinfeld and Ayra Starr — and in 2019, he launched an eponymous cosmetics line that was picked up by Sephora. —HANNAH DAILEY
This story will appear in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.