magazine
Page: 2
In 2019, Priscilla Renea’s solo career was stalled. She had released an album in 2009, and when it didn’t chart, she had turned to songwriting. Her second album, released in 2018, also failed to make much of an impact. So, Renea decided, a rebrand was in order.
For her new moniker, “I picked Melrose at first. That was terrible, a very short phase,” the 36-year-old recalls with a laugh. “Then I quickly settled on [the word] ‘money’ and went through a few last names like Money Jones, Money Smith. But when I heard the 2 Chainz lyric ‘hair long, money long’ [from 2012’s “I’m Different”], I was like, ‘Whoa. That’s it.’ ”
Join us at Billboard Women in Music 2025 — get your tickets here.
Two years later, the artist now known as Muni Long hit the jackpot. Her seductive smash “Hrs and Hrs,” initially featured on her 2021 EP, Public Displays of Affection, went viral on TikTok and became the then-indie artist’s first No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart. In February 2022, it peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 — and helped her land a contract with Def Jam Recordings (through her own imprint, then called Supergiant, now rechristened Muni Long Inc.). In September 2022, the hit appeared on her debut set, Public Displays of Affection: The Album, and won the artist her first Grammy Award, for best R&B performance, at the 2023 ceremony. At the 2025 awards, she won the same Grammy trophy for “Made for Me (Live at BET)” — and declared onstage during her acceptance speech, “Please stop calling me Priscilla… It’s Muni Long now!”
Trending on Billboard
Born and raised in Gifford, Fla., Priscilla Renea Hamilton wrote her first song at age 8; at 21, she signed a contract with Capitol. But when her 2009 debut album, Jukebox, didn’t chart, she pivoted to writing — and amassed a string of impressive co-writing credits for Rihanna (“California King Bed”), Kelly Clarkson (“Love So Soft”), Ariana Grande (“Imagine”) and Pitbull (“Timber”). As Christopher “Tricky” Stewart — the Grammy-winning hit-maker who executive-produced Muni Long’s Grammy-nominated 2024 album, Revenge — puts it: “She’s a professional song assassin.”
Genny romper, Wolford tights.
Joelle Grace Taylor
But even with those songwriting successes, her second album as Priscilla Renea, 2018’s Coloured, also failed to gain traction. “I started writing songs to make money because I bought into the [idea of] ‘Well, if you write enough hits, then you can be an artist,’ ” Muni Long says. “I gave it my all… I did so much free work, got stolen from and taken advantage of so many times, so many bad deals. I’d also been the only Black person in the room writing all these pop songs for years. So I quit to focus on me… keeping these songs for myself.”
After her 2022 breakthrough, Long released “Made for Me” in 2023. Buoyed by a viral TikTok challenge and a remix with idol Mariah Carey, “Made for Me” peaked at No. 8 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 20 on the Hot 100. Two Adult R&B chart-toppers, “Make Me Forget” and “Ruined Me,” quickly followed. (All appear on Revenge.)
“She’s real — there’s no facade with her,” Def Jam chairman/CEO Tunji Balogun says. “In an era where things can sometimes feel forced or indirect, Muni is able to take personal experiences and write about them in a way that projects universally onto her fans. She’s just very unfiltered and people appreciate that.”
Dolce & Gabbana dress, On Aura Tout Vu cuffs and earrings.
Joelle Grace Taylor
The artist recently released a new single, “Slow Grind,” that she says is for an upcoming project she’s already working on: “It’s all songs to make love to; I’m a lover girl.” But Billboard’s 2025 Women in Music Rising Star honoree is also taking a moment to enjoy her long-awaited plaudits.
“There are things that you can’t viral your way, relationship your way or accolade your way into,” she says. “This award signifies to me that I’ve reached a place in my transition as an artist from trying and aspiring to now I am doing, I am becoming. And I only have further up to go.”
This story appears in the March 22, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Ángela Aguilar has a tangible presence — even over Zoom. It’s mid-February and the 21-year-old singer is all smiles, almost giddy, as she joins our call from Mexico City, where she’s hunkered down in a studio working on her next album. “You probably didn’t recognize me because it’s a new me,” she says, referencing the shoulder-length, soft chocolate brown style that has replaced her signature short bob. “I do miss being [The Incredibles character] Edna ‘E’ Mode,” she adds with a grin, “but I’m enjoying this new stage.”
The “new me, new stage” goes beyond the new hairstyle. Ángela, the youngest of the Aguilar dynasty — her father is música mexicana icon Pepe Aguilar, her grandparents legendary Mexican entertainers Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre — married fellow regional Mexican superstar Christian Nodal last July in an intimate ceremony in Mexico (a subject she prefers to keep private and not discuss during our interview), and for the first time, she’s producing her own music.
Trending on Billboard
“I doubted myself a lot because I had never [produced] before, but I’m figuring out what I want my sound to be,” says Ángela, whose father produced all of her previous albums, including her latest, Bolero, which was nominated for album of the year at the 2024 Latin Grammy Awards. “At the beginning I was scared, but now I know that this album is me. It’s also scary to think if it goes well, it’s because of me, but if it goes badly, it’s also because of me.
“This is the first time I’m doing everything myself,” she continues. “I’m taking care of the arrangements, choosing the songs, directing myself vocally.” And for this project, she’s especially focused on supporting other female talent. “Most of the songs on the album are written by Mexican women. It’s a full mariachi album, but it is a little bit different; it has a modern twist, some subgenres in mariachi that you are not expecting me to ever sing.”
Join us at Billboard Women in Music 2025 — get your tickets here.
While this may be her first time flying solo, Billboard’s 2025 Women in Music Breakthrough honoree has for a while been on a journey of self-discovery behind the scenes, carefully strategizing how she moves through a genre that has been historically dominated by men. “It’s been a process of trial and error,” she says. “I’m still figuring out who I want to be and what I want to say.”
Her father has consistently encouraged that process. “My dad is the biggest macho ever, but he’ll be like, ‘Vas mijita. You can do it.’ Or he’ll tell me, ‘You’re not singing good enough, you have to be better.’ It prepares you to take on the world.”
Pooneh Ghana
Ángela made her stage debut as a toddler when she joined Pepe at one of his concerts. Five years later, at age 8, she released her first album, a joint set with her older brother Leonardo Aguilar. The two later joined Pepe on back-to-back arena tours when he launched Jaripeo Sin Fronteras in 2018, honoring the jaripeo-style show — singing while riding horses — that their grandparents pioneered. Along the way, Ángela landed three No. 1 songs on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart and four top 10 hits on Latin Airplay, including her first No. 1 on that chart, “Por el Contrario,” with Leonardo and Becky G, last year.
“No one really asked me if I wanted to do this,” she says when reflecting on her start in music and her journey from child star to regional Mexican fixture. “It just happened and I’m happy it was that way. When you’re younger, you don’t realize how huge this is. I just thought it was fun getting to dress up and sing with my grandparents or dad and then everyone clapped for me. But when I was around 10 years old, I fell in love with performing and I thought, ‘This is what I’m here for.’ ”
With her grandmother’s vibrant falsetto and a mesmerizing, regal presence onstage, Ángela makes even the difficult skill of singing on horseback look effortless. As might be expected for someone from a family of born performers, she is extremely disciplined and has a strict routine: Besides training to sing on horseback, she sings while running or dancing to build her vocal projection and physical energy. But her diligence hasn’t stopped her talented family from giving her their opinion.
“It’s constructive criticism,” Ángela says with a smirk. “We don’t see each other as often so when we do, it’s like, whoa, they definitely catch me up on their feedback. I’m in the studio working on my new album and I showed my mom one of the songs — it was literally a demo on a voice note — and my mom was like, ‘You have to open your mouth when you sing because I don’t understand what you’re saying.’ And my dad is the same way. It really helps me. I don’t want people to tell me something is good when it isn’t. There’s a lot of yes men in the industry, so the best thing in the world is to have a whole family who is part of this artistic life.”
Pooneh Ghana
Her mother, Aneliz Aguilar, is also her manager, and has been pivotal in helping Ángela navigate the industry. “Having her by my side has saved me,” Ángela says. “She has taken care of me in this industry that is so difficult for young women, so difficult to have your voice heard. She’ll also ask how I’m feeling or if I’m emotionally prepared for something. I mean, she’s my mommy, I love to have her with me. From the dresses she would make for me when I was little to now showing me how to be a woman, I’ve learned so much from her.”
Mid-conversation, another important family member enters the screen. “Look at Gordo,” she says, picking up the family’s Instagram-famous 4-year-old pug. “He’s going to be a dad — my [other] doggie is pregnant, and she will have pugsitos with Gordo. I’m going to be a grandma.” (A couple of weeks after our interview, five adorable pugsitos arrive.) Then she adds with a shrug, “Actually, it’s weird because my dad says Gordo is my brother but he’s having babies with my dog, who is my daughter. I’m not sure what that makes me.”
But for now, figuring out this family tree will have to wait: Ángela is headed back to the studio to keep working on her new album. “I’m getting out of my comfort zone but still honoring my roots and traditions. I just turned 21, so it’s kind of like exploring where I want my career to take me.”
Pooneh Ghana
This story appears in the March 22, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Memphis-bred rap star GloRilla knows a thing or two about staging a comeback.
In 2022, she exploded into the mainstream with the Grammy Award-nominated, summer-dominating “F.N.F.” — and quickly followed it up with the Cardi B-assisted “Tomorrow 2,” which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became her first top 10 hit on the chart.
But 2023 proved to be a far cry from her triumphant rookie year. She kicked it off with the Moneybagg Yo collaboration “On What U On,” which stalled at No. 56 on the Hot 100 — and was her only release that year to even reach the chart. Everything she dropped bricked, whether it was the radio-ready “Lick or Sum” or her direct response to detractors, “Internet Trolls.” And that March, tragedy struck when three people died in a fatal crowd surge at her concert with Finesse2tymes in Rochester, N.Y. With her commercial pull waning, everyone on the internet (trolls and otherwise) seemed to agree: Big Glo had fallen off.
“2023 was an eye-opener for me,” the 25-year-old says. “I realized that I can’t take my foot off the gas. I didn’t know I was doing that, but I did. It was a reality check when I would drop music and people would hate it. Getting closer to God was one of the key things that helped me.”
Trending on Billboard
Join us at Billboard Women in Music 2025 — get your tickets here.
Born Gloria Hallelujah Woods, the eighth of 10 children, GloRilla grew up in the church. She sang in the choir and her mother only allowed gospel music in the house; as her taste evolved and she found a home in hip-hop, gospel music and its encouraging messages remained present in her raps — from 2022’s “Blessed” to “Rain Down on Me,” a gospel-rap track from Glorious, her 2024 debut studio album.
GloRilla also looked to Yo Gotti, the rap superstar and fellow Memphian who’s now her label head, as a mentor. Since Gotti signed Glo to his CMG Records imprint in 2022, the two have worked closely to hone her sound and image, taking her from viral breakout to presidential campaign surrogate (she performed at a Wisconsin rally for former Vice President Kamala Harris last fall). “Even with all the success and accolades, she’s still the same authentic and ambitious hustler that I met back in 2022,” Gotti says of Glo.
With the help of her CMG team, renowned choreographer Sean Bankhead and creative director Coco Gilbert, GloRilla spent late 2023 plotting the perfect road map to recapture her momentum. The plan worked: With her first release of 2024, the anthemic “Yeah Glo!,” GloRilla came out swinging. Arriving in February, the motivational anthem took over nightclubs, cookouts and locker room celebrations. The song topped Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay for two weeks and reached No. 28 on the Hot 100, then her highest peak for a solo single.
“To have that little break, come back with ‘Yeah Glo!’ and have it start going up on the first day [of release] — that was personal,” GloRilla tells Billboard in between rehearsals for her forthcoming Glorious tour.
“Yeah Glo!” was meant to introduce GloRilla’s debut album, but its runaway success significantly shifted those plans. “I felt like I had to build my momentum back, so that’s where the mixtape kicked in,” she explains. “We made that decision around the time ‘Yeah Glo!’ came out.” Ehhthang Ehhthang arrived in April and yielded another hit single, the Megan Thee Stallion-assisted “Wanna Be,” which later received a Cardi B remix and peaked at No. 11 on the Hot 100. The week before, Megan had announced Glo as the special guest for her arena-conquering Hot Girl Summer Tour. Between Ehhthang Ehhthang and successful guest appearances on BossMan Dlow’s “Finesse” and Big Boogie’s “Bop,” GloRilla had become inescapable — and she hadn’t even launched her official album campaign yet.
While opening the Hot Girl Summer Tour in June, GloRilla released “TGIF,” which kicked her 2024 into an even higher gear. Within a week of the song’s release, Rihanna shared an instantly viral clip of herself adorably dancing and singing along to it. By February 2025, GloRilla became the first artist to simultaneously become a face of all four of Rihanna’s Fenty brands.
With Riri begging for an album in her DMs and Beyoncé posting pictures with her on Instagram, GloRilla had undoubtedly became the hottest woman MC in the game. As “TGIF” cemented her pop appeal, GloRilla kept her core audience fed — and reinforced her sound — with her feature on Real Boston Richey’s “Get in There.”
“Me and my team figured out the difference between a mixtape and album song: You just got to hear it,” she says. “My core sound is how [gritty] the mixtape sounded. When I went into album mode, I already had a lot of those songs before the mixtape — but I knew they weren’t mixtape songs.”
After months of recapturing and multiplying her momentum, GloRilla finally released Glorious in October. With collaborators ranging from Sexyy Red to Maverick City Music, Glo’s studio debut was a capstone on her massive year, earning the highest opening week total for an album by a female rapper in 2024 (69,000 units) for a No. 5 debut on the Billboard 200. Five of its songs landed on the Hot 100, including “Whatchu Kno About Me” (No. 17), which Taylor Swift later used to soundtrack an Eras Tour TikTok. “I was real excited about that,” Glo recalls. “Everybody was sending it to me — I was feeling like ‘that girl’ when she posted that.”
Now, after scoring three Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay No. 1 hits in under a year and being named Billboard’s Hottest Female Rapper of 2024, Billboard’s 2025 Women in Music Powerhouse is determined to deliver an impeccable show on her tour, which commenced March 5 in Oklahoma City and will play arenas and music halls throughout the United States.
“Even though I’m not as good at dancing, I’m getting better and I learn fast,” she says, noting that her tour prep playlist includes gospel classics like Yolanda Adams’ “Open My Heart.” “I learn about two new routines a day. I like helping out with choreography because I get to do what I’m comfortable with and showcase my vision.”
Still, GloRilla isn’t as concerned with being the best rapper alive as she is with her own consistent personal growth. “I have the desire to be the best me I can be,” she proclaims.
This story appears in the March 22, 2025, issue of Billboard.
“It’s beautiful, how I have nothing to lose,” Grace VanderWaal says. After winning America’s Got Talent as a precocious, ukulele-toting 12-year-old in 2016, VanderWaal was fast-tracked into a major-label pop career, which stalled following her 2017 debut, Just the Beginning.
Eight years later, VanderWaal, now 21, has prepared a very different follow-up: Childstar, out April 4 on Pulse Records. After releasing the single “Babydoll” last month, VanderWaal unveiled “Proud” on Friday (Mar. 21), as well as spring tour dates that kick off in Chicago on May 4.
Childstar is a concept album with dark edges that unpacks the uncomfortable truths of growing up in the spotlight — and provided some long-overdue catharsis. “I did whatever I wanted,” VanderWaal says, “and made something I was proud of.”
Trending on Billboard
When did you start working on Childstar?
A little more than a year ago, but I wrote the album stupid quick. That was unexpected, but I was at a point where, due to some trauma development, all of this s–t about my childhood started spilling out. It’s what my subconscious was doing, but I wasn’t mad at it. I thought it was raw and vulnerable, so I leaned into it.
On a song like “Proud,” you sing about seeking validation as a child and feeling controlled, and the listener can’t help but think about how your career began.
I wanted to talk about subliminal conditioning and how nothing is black and white. What makes something so complicated is when there’s no one to blame — that would be so easy. If you’re getting exposed to millions of people who are saying, “You’re great at this, you’re doing good,” while your brain is literally forming — of course there would be repercussions of that. But no one did anything wrong.
What made you partner with Pulse Records?
I brought the Childstar concept to every label you can imagine, and some people liked it and some people really didn’t like it. Then I went to Pulse, and they were the first ones to not only like it, but take it more extreme. I didn’t want to sign with people who would hold back an idea, but a lot of the art and visual ideas you see have been collaborative or fully from the Pulse team.
What would you tell longtime fans who are surprised by this album’s thematic focus?
I don’t know if they would be surprised. I think there’s a very small crowd that will feel like I’m stealing a narrative. As a child, I was very aware of the purpose that I served for people — I was this hope and happiness, this innocent angel. But it’s my story to tell, so whatever thoughts those people have, I don’t really care. I’m not a symbol for you.
This story appears in the March 22, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Before her 2024 world tour had wrapped up, Tate McRae already had thoughts on how to level up her next live outing. “It’s a lot of back and forth and a lot of just brain dumping,” she says of her scattered ideating process with her creative director, Parker Genoway. “I come with a whole bunch of mood boards and random ideas… You dream as big as you can until you get the budget, then you have to narrow it down.”
Fortunately for McRae, that budget expanded, thanks to a massive first quarter of 2025. The 21-year-old singer’s So Close to What, her most mature and introspective album to date, arrived in February and gave McRae her first No. 1 entry on the Billboard 200, with 177,000 equivalent album units earned — which at the time was the largest debut week for a studio album by a woman artist in five months — according to Luminate.
Trending on Billboard
The chart-topping debut — along with a dozen Billboard Hot 100 entries from So Close to What and a high-octane performance of top 20 hit “Sports Car” on Saturday Night Live — helped cement McRae’s leap to pop’s A-list. It also set up her Miss Possessive arena tour, which began in Mexico City on March 18 and was followed by a handful of South American dates. She will head to Europe in May and will begin a North American run in Vancouver in August.
McRae pulled from a wide range of influences for her tour themes, including classic dance showcases. “It’s been really fun to dive into old musicals and old TV shows,” she says, “and bring out Fosse references and old Chicago references, and tap into that geeky musical side I think we all have.”
Meanwhile, Genoway — who collaborated with McRae on her Think Later tour and spearheaded her SNL and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon performances earlier this year — points to McRae’s “It’s ok I’m ok” music video as an example of the singer’s opposing aesthetics, showcasing the intersection of grungy and glamorous. McRae says, “I’m referencing rap shows, I’m referencing Kendrick [Lamar] shows, Post Malone shows, and then I want to feel like a glam pop girl. It’s finding a cool in-between.”
The new tour includes a “thrust stage” in the shape of a giant T, and there are also cranes involved. “You try to make people walk in and be like, ‘What are we looking at right now?,’ and create your own world in there,” McRae says. Genoway adds that McRae should “feel like she’s in the middle of everything” surrounding the show, which also includes a B-stage and a mix of stage elevations.
As for McRae’s dance skills, “[Her] technical ability is unmatched,” says Genoway, who works as part of Silent House Productions. “Tate levels everyone up who works with her. She’s going to be at rehearsals late at night and so are you. She’s going to work hard and so are you.”
And although McRae is playing her biggest venues to date, her preshow routine has remained consistent. “I always take one Grether’s Pastille and suck on it,” she explains. Prior to a group prayer and a moment of meditation, McRae will warm up her voice by performing the ad-libs to Rihanna’s “B—h Better Have My Money.” “My dancers probably think I’m f–king crazy,” she says with a chuckle.
This story appears in the March 22, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Country music stardom wasn’t in Megan Moroney’s plans. Though she wrote her first song at age 19, Moroney studied marketing and accounting at the University of Georgia. But in the end, that turned out to be just the preparation she needed for a career in Nashville.
“I guess because I grew up thinking I was going to be an accountant, I didn’t know much about the industry and what rules I should even be following,” Moroney, 27, says today. “There is definitely a bit of, ‘I’m going to do whatever I want to do.’ ”
Join us at Billboard Women in Music 2025 — get your tickets here.
So just two months after the Georgia native released her debut EP, Pistol Made of Roses, independently in July 2022, she chose to put out another song not on the EP: “Tennessee Orange,” a ballad of a star-crossed romance between fans of two rival SEC football teams.
Trending on Billboard
At first, Moroney doubted her decision. “You spent every dollar that you have making this EP. Why would you release another song that’s going to take away from these songs?” she recalls thinking. But when Spotify offered to add a new song by Moroney to its Fresh Finds playlist — provided that she gave them one — the timing seemed perfect. “They are a huge platform, and that’s free marketing. Football season’s coming and I’ve got this football song. It made sense.”
That “football song” soared into the top 20 of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, and on the strength of that success, Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records signed Moroney in November 2022. With the labels’ help working it to country radio, “Tennessee Orange” reached the top five of the Country Airplay chart and has now been certified triple-platinum by the RIAA.
Selkie top, Nadri jewelry.
Tracy Allison
For the relatable songs on her debut album, 2023’s Lucky, and its follow-up, 2024’s Am I Okay? (which debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200), the self-described “emo cowgirl” drew on influences like John Prine and Emmylou Harris — but filtered them through the lens of a 20-something navigating life and love, such as on the mean-girl takedown “I’m Not Pretty” and the introspective “No Caller ID.” And Moroney’s marketing background keeps coming in handy: She’s connected with a wide audience thanks in large part to her innate branding acumen — using different colors to signify each new album era, for instance — and off-the-cuff use of social media.
“I like to create worlds around albums,” Moroney says. “I feel like my fans would be very upset if I didn’t continue that. I’ve been writing a lot, and I have a couple of colors in mind [for upcoming music].”
Last year, Moroney toured with Kenny Chesney and won two coveted industry honors: the Country MusicAssociation’s new artist of the year and the Academy of Country Music’s new female artist of the year trophies. And as she continues to amass commercial wins (her catalog has registered 2.1 billion official on-demand streams in the United States through Feb. 20, according to Luminate) and begins work on her next album, Billboard’s 2025 Women in Music Rulebreaker is still fearlessly following her creative impulses.
“I’m sure the next album will have a few emo cowgirl songs, but overall, I’ve been shocked at myself,” she says. “I’m still in the creative process, but it’s been happier than I thought.”
Dolce & Gabbana dress, Camila Cabello necklace, Nadri earrings and rings.
Tracy Allison
You have built a relationship with your fans through social media from the get-go. Why was that so important to you?
I think social media and the direct me-to-fan interactions is how it’s all blown up so quickly. I recently teased a song I had literally just written while I was in the islands. I was like, “I’m in the middle of the ocean and this song is such a vibe. I’m just going to post it.” Because I can share so much of my life and share songs quickly and react to what they like, I know what they like, so then I can put it out. And sometimes my life is just straight up boring, and I’m like, “Sorry, guys!”
How else have you broken rules in your career?
I’m definitely not putting myself in any kind of box. I love country music, and all the instrumentation [on my songs] is country, but I’m not just thinking about being in a field with trucks. With branding “Tennessee Orange,” I made the cover [art] on my phone. I have control of my social media. There is no “You should do this or you should wear this.”
Who, to you, has been a rule-breaker?
Artists that are true to themselves. Dolly [Parton] did her own thing. Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves — especially when Kacey was coming up, her songwriting opened the door for conversational, universal lyrics in country music. For me, that was the first artist where I’m like, “Can you say that in a country song? OK, cool. If she can say it, I can probably say it.”
Megan Moroney photographed on February 25, 2024 at The Paper House in Nashville. Selkie top and bloomer, Malie shoes and Nadri jewelry.
Tracy Allison
Last year, you performed with Tate McRae in Nashville. Do you feel a kinship with women pop artists?
The pop girls, I love their music. Tate and Olivia [Rodrigo] are amazing. I was so surprised, honestly, when I sang with Tate how much crossover our fans [have]. I was a little nervous to go out in front of Tate’s crowd. Even though it’s Nashville, I was like, “These people are going to be like, ‘Who is this girl?’ ” But fortunately, everyone freaked out, and so that made me happy.
For other artists who want to break rules, what advice do you have?
Trust your gut and make decisions based off you and your career alone. Don’t bring another artist’s success into how you think you should operate. It’s OK to take risks, too.
This story appears in the March 22, 2025, issue of Billboard.
When Jennie posted the long-awaited trailer announcing her debut solo album, Ruby, she was on a plane heading to London. “It’s hard for me to stay longer than a week in one city,” she confesses — while in the car en route to yet another flight (this time from Los Angeles back home to Seoul).
Jennie chose the commanding “Zen” to soundtrack the album’s January trailer, particularly highlighting the lyric “In the dark I grew,” a sentiment that echoes throughout Ruby. “To me, that song is the core of this album,” she says. “So it only felt right to begin this journey with it.”
The album, which is entirely in English and arrived March 7, was preceded by singles “Mantra”; “Love Hangover,” with Dominic Fike; and “ExtraL,” with Doechii; and its other features — including genre-spanning artists such as Dua Lipa, Childish Gambino and Kali Uchis — further illustrate Jennie’s wide-ranging taste and global appeal. As a jet-setting artist with a devoted worldwide fan base firmly in place thanks to her role in history-making K-pop act Blackpink, Jennie is determined to build upon that on her own. (She released Ruby on her independent label, OddAtelier, in partnership with Columbia.) “It feels like my power as a superhero,” Billboard‘s 2025 Women in Music Global Force says. “It drives me to put more great things out there and work hard.”
Trending on Billboard
Join us at Billboard Women in Music 2025 — get your tickets here.
You already have a global fan base thanks to Blackpink. How did that benefit you on your solo journey?
If anything, I’m reintroducing myself to the world with this album. I’m throwing myself out there as if this was the very first time — that’s the commitment that I told myself. So I don’t think it changes so much for me.
You’ve adopted the middle name of Ruby Jane. How did that inspire the album title?
I was contemplating until the very end. I didn’t name [the album] Ruby because it’s a part of my name. To me, Ruby speaks to me as the curtain call of a play, where I’m opening this new chapter of… I don’t want to say new life; life is life, but a different stage in my life and I’m welcoming everyone in. I don’t necessarily see Jennie, Ruby, Jane as three different alter egos of mine. That’s just who I am, all in one.
Annakiki dress.
Songyi Yoon
You released a lyric breakdown of “Love Hangover” in Korean. Why was that important for you to do?
I love the fact that I’m Korean, so I’m just showing my appreciation and giving back the love that [my Korean fans] give me, and I wanted them to understand my music and myself better since this is an all-English album. And I know that they want to be more interactive with me in both languages.
What lyrics on Ruby best sum up how this journey has felt for you?
There’s a song that speaks to me in that sense called “Starlight,” and I think it’s a beautifully written song about how I felt for all this time. It’s a personal song.
Dua Lipa is featured on “Handlebars.” Tell me about that friendship.
I’ve known Dua for a very long time now. I went to her first show in Korea. We’re already good friends, [but] it was our first time doing a song together. That itself was a new experience for us to see each other in a different way, and we just had a great time.
Jacquemus top, David Koma pants, AREA hat.
Songyi Yoon
Between you two, who do you think travels more?
Honestly, we both work hard.
Behind the scenes, you have a strong team of women helping run your label. Why was that important to you?
I consider it to be important to work with people that you share good energy with, and I naturally started to gravitate toward empowering women. I’m still working hard to become one of those women that I look up to myself.
This story appears in the March 22, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Musicians have often expressed a desire to make a difference in the world, through both their art and their actions. Now, the world’s biggest music company has assembled a powerful squad of corporate ninjas to help its artists get the job done.
In June 2024, Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge announced the creation of the UMG Global Impact Team to “enact and amplify the company’s vision for positive change through community engagement, environmental sustainability, events and special projects,” the company stated.
Music industry veteran Susan Mazo — who has been with UMG since 2014, is chief impact officer/executive vp and serves as the founding chair of UMG’s All Together Now Foundation and is a co-creator of the Amplifier Award, which recognizes artists committed to positive change — assembled the new team of specialized change agents.
Trending on Billboard
The members of the Global Impact Team, who happen to be all women, include Mazo; UMG senior vp/head of sustainability Dylan Siegler; Kristin Jones and Arielle Vavasseur, co-founders of Inside Projects, a strategy and marketing agency that specializes in social impact; UMG senior vp/executive director of the Task Force for Meaningful Change Menna Demessie; UMG vp of global impact Markie Ruzzo; and UMG senior director of global impact and communications Sharlotte Ritchie.
“The strategy came from the highest levels of the company,” Mazo says, “working closely with Lucian Grainge and Will Tanous,” UMG’s executive vp/chief administrative officer and a member of the company’s executive management board. Mazo says they sought to form a team who “could help create change and awareness through the power of their networks.”
That team’s work led to the announcement last September of UMG’s 2024 Use Your Voice campaign, which built upon a similar initiative four years earlier and sought to increase voter awareness and participation in the November general election. UMG partnered with leading voter resource organizations including HeadCount, the NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, When We All Vote and the Voto Latino Foundation.
Mazo notes that HeadCount has reported that Sabrina Carpenter got more voters engaged in last year’s election than any other artist the organization works with. HeadCount says Carpenter inspired 35,814 voter registrations and got another 263,087 voters to take other actions outside of registration, such as checking their polling location. The team also launched UMG sound practices for events, a guide for integrating sustainability into UMG initiatives.
In January, as wildfires devastated Los Angeles, the Global Impact Team supported UMG’s overall response. UMG partnered with groups and organizations including Support + Feed, Dodgers Foundation, World Central Kitchen and Bruce’s Catering to serve first responders and families in need. UMG merchandising company Bravado donated clothing to affected UMG employees and the fire departments in Pasadena and Santa Monica. The company canceled all of its Grammy weekend activities, donating and repurposing all resources including hotel rooms, catering, trucking and vendor resources to relief efforts. In addition, UMG’s All Together Now U.S. employee matching program had record donations following the announcement of a 150% super match for fire relief organizations. UMG’s efforts regarding wildfire relief are ongoing.
Most recently, the Global Impact Team helped UMG expand its four-year partnership with the nonprofit Music Health Alliance to launch the Music Industry Mental Health Fund. The initiative, announced in February, will provide comprehensive, high-quality outpatient mental health resources for qualified members and workers of the music industry. Mazo calls the expanded partnership “the most natural way to ensure continuous and effective mental health support for anyone working in our industry.”
Are the issues that the Global Impact Team addresses “of particular concern to the current generation of UMG artists? Absolutely,” Mazo says. “And we’re really taking the lead from what our artists are interested in and what our artists are talking to us about.”
This story appears in the March 22, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Live Nation, BMI, ASCAP, Nettwerk Music Group, Soundstripe and the Recording Academy rank among the best places in the music business for women to work, according to a first-of-its-kind survey.
The 40-year-old nonprofit organization Women in Music, in partnership with company reviews platform InHerSight, has unveiled its first edition of WIM Best Places To Work, recognizing top companies in several areas, based on industrywide initial survey data. Women in Music, established in 1985, describes its mission as serving “to advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts through education, support, empowerment and recognition.”
“The music industry has long been a cultural force for change, and now more than ever, we have to take the lead in prioritizing diversity in leadership as much as the diversity of the music we represent,” Women in Music president Nicole Barsalona says.
Trending on Billboard
“Research shows that gender-diverse leadership drives revenue, innovation and talent retention — it’s not just good practice, it’s critical to our success as an industry,” Barsalona says. “Future surveys will include increased diversity metrics to add even more depth to the data, but this is an exciting start.”
The WIM Best Places To Work initiative honors music companies that demonstrate excellence in fostering inclusive workplace culture and ensuring satisfaction across metrics that matter to women, such as salary, leadership opportunities, remote work options and parental leave.
Women in Music notes that the survey is ongoing and accessible through its website to ensure that it’s continually updated to reflect the latest industry standards in workplace excellence.
“Our philosophy has always been that data is central to building better workplaces,” InHerSight co-founder and CEO Ursula Mead says. “So when organizations like Women in Music come to us recognizing the power of data, we’re thrilled to realize their initiative.”
The survey cites research from consulting firm McKinsey that states that companies with strong female representation at the top outperform competitors by nearly 50% in profitability and share performance.
In addition to those previously named, smaller companies and organizations (of two to 51 employees) that ranked high on the survey include the Music Business Association, The Syndicate, Blackstar Agency, the American Association of Independent Music and the Mechanical Licensing Collective.
“I’m thrilled to know that the Music Business Association scored so well in the WIM Best Places To Work survey,” MBA president Portia Sabin says. “Diversity is very important for us in all aspects of what we do, and we’ve worked to diversify our board, our events and our staff. One thing we strive for is to have diversity at all levels of the company, providing a mentorship aspect for younger people who may join us. It’s very true that our diversity makes us stronger as a team and makes this a great place to work.”
The survey collected data on 17 research-backed metrics. The results singled out the top companies in categories including equal opportunities for women and men, women in leadership, salary satisfaction, flexibility, remote work opportunities, maternity and adoptive leave, employee responsiveness and a sense of belonging.
Live Nation, for example, stood out for its maternity and adoptive leave policies, ability to telecommute, remote work opportunities, flexible work hours and equal opportunities for men and women.
The WIM Best Places To Work initiative has been launched at a challenging time for corporate America, says Monika Tashman, a partner at prominent music industry law firm Loeb & Loeb and an advisory board member at Women in Music.
“With diversity, equity and inclusion programs terminated at the federal level and a vow to police the private sector’s DEI initiatives,” she says, “it is vital that we publicize, promote and encourage private sector companies that are committed to constructing a workplace culture and benefits package that is unbiased and crafted to allow all employees to thrive.”
Women in Music is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, unaffiliated with Billboard, founded in 1985 to educate, empower and advance women in the music industry. WIM hosts year-round educational and career development programming in chapter markets around the world, with equity-focused initiatives that include WIM Safe(r) Spaces, the WIM Workplace Initiative, the WIM Mentorship Program and the WIM Executive Internship Program. To become a charitable partner or to make a donation, go to womeninmusic.org.
This story appears in the March 22, 2025, issue of Billboard.
As the concert business soars to new heights, five of its most powerful women have been on a tear. As leading agents across five top booking agencies, Jenna Adler, Lucy Dickins, Samantha Kirby Yoh, Cara Lewis and Marsha Vlasic serve as tour architects and chief dealmakers to the stars, shaping the live-music landscape while helping their artist clients build their brands and broaden their businesses beyond music to sustain their careers.
With her client Adele, Dickins helped create a 75,000-capacity Munich venue purpose-built for the superstar’s 10 August 2024 shows (and aptly named Adele Arena). “I don’t think anyone else has ever done that,” Dickins jokes over Zoom. Lewis famously got a shoutout in 1987’s “Paid in Full,” on which Eric B. and Rakim explain, “Cara Lewis is our agent … and together we get paid in full.” The hip-hop touring powerhouse’s wins go back decades — and include moments like Eminem’s first-ever show outside Detroit in 1999.
When we speak, Adler has just returned home from a trip to Dubai with her client Jennifer Lopez and expounds on the new heights that Deftones — “the first band I ever signed” — are currently achieving. Vlasic casually mentions that “Neil” — as in longtime client Neil Young — recently called to discuss his upcoming coastal tour. And Kirby Yoh is keen to chat about LCD Soundsystem’s recent Los Angeles and New York residencies, which encompassed 20 shows and which she booked for the band that she has helped guide through arenas, festival headlining slots and beyond over the years.
Trending on Billboard
Their rosters are deep, their wins are many, and their reputations as leaders not just in the “female agent space” but the world of agents, period, are renowned. While each works for a different company — Kirby Yoh is a UTA partner and its co-head of global music, Dickins is WME’s global head of contemporary music and touring, Adler is a music touring agent at CAA, Lewis is founder and CEO of Cara Lewis Group, and Vlasic is the co-chair of Independent Artist Group’s music division — there’s a clear kinship among them, with the five women throwing out adjectives like “legendary,” “chic,” “magnificent” and “respected” when referring to one another.
“I hate losing,” Adler says. “But at the same time, I’d rather lose to one of them than to any of my male counterparts.”
Here, the five discuss their long careers, juggling their professions with motherhood and how agencies are changing for artists and female executives alike.
Jenna Adler, whose clients include Jennifer Lopez, Doja Cat, Charli xcx, Shaboozey and Deftones.
Myles Hendrik
In terms of working with well-established touring acts, how do you guide an artist through a long career? How do you manage demand as an artist evolves?
Samantha Kirby Yoh: The No. 1 thing is partnering with an artist. You’ve really got to listen to what their vision is, what their priorities and concerns are. Those change over the years. Cyndi Lauper had a lifelong dream of playing an arena tour. She’d never done arenas and also wanted to do a spectacular presentation in regard to her life’s work. It’s not guiding so much as listening and then putting it together and being in true partnership with the manager and artist.
Jenna Adler: You can’t just be a transactional agent. It’s never going to last that way. You have to be really passionate because at the end of the day, we’re selling.
Cara Lewis: Once an artist’s fan base has solidified, doors open. It is about coming up with different opportunities that align with that artist to further enhance the brand and continue adding to their longevity. That can be as simple as playing larger venues, adding a sponsor or doing a brand partnership that increases awareness and grows the fan base … The ultimate goal is longevity and the ability to reinvent and hold fans’ attention throughout the evolution of a career.
Marsha Vlasic: To be honest with you, it’s not mathematics and it’s not chemistry. It’s pretty much instinct. I’m very confident in telling [artists] what I think they should do. I’m not afraid of them. A lot of people tiptoe around artists. Even certain managers are afraid to talk to their own artists. But once you go through a certain number of years and earn a certain amount of respect, then artists reach out to you and trust you.
Lucy Dickins: It’s about building a strong, authentic relationship. I need to understand an artist’s vision and figure out how to tell that story. From when we’re starting to work together to when they become huge clients, authenticity is, for me, the most important thing because I think people can see through [anything inauthentic].
Lucy Dickins, whose clients include Adele, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, James Blake and Lola Young.
Courtesy of WME
What’s your philosophy on artist development?
Dickins: You’ve got to build a solid foundation that allows them to grow, experiment and evolve, while they’re also grounded and true to what they are. It’s not one size fits all. My thing is always just focusing on empowering them with the tools, knowledge and support they need to make informed decisions and trust their instincts. I’m a gut person, so for me, it’s like, “Go with what you want and just be authentic.”
Vlasic: I worry about taking that leap of faith too quick, too big, and then you’re f–ked. Artist development to me is turning people away, selling out, having a great show … Again, a lot of it is instinct.
Lewis: Throughout my career, I have always been at the forefront of artist development, championing female artists. In the early stages of an artist’s career, you have to know how to capture the urgency, which is all about strategically planning based on artist analytics, packaging and, of course, ticket pricing.
Kirby Yoh: My philosophy is to listen and tell the story of who they are. If there is a deep love in regard to beats, it’s about where we can get them DJ’ing in the warehouse and doing a remix. Every step and play have to be intentional and authentically build on the lore of who they are. And don’t miss steps. You have to do the steps to build your community with you so they feel they’re on the journey with you all the way.
Are festivals still effective in breaking new artists?
Adler: For me, it’s about the long game and not taking festival money so fast, not even looking at festivals until we have a bit of control over where we want to play. I always say we should never play a festival before four o’clock because before four, you’re playing for the vanity of it. Instead, let’s go out and do the hard work and create our own fan base so we can point to a scoreboard and say, “I sold this and that out. This isn’t a favor.” I don’t care about doing all these festivals. There are always exceptions, but my go-to is not worrying about being on a poster in a [small font size] just to say we’re there. Let’s go and sell out a 300-seat club.
Vlasic: I don’t know what else we have to break a new artist. Having an artist’s name on a festival poster is very important. All promoters look at who’s on there, and at least the emerging artists can play to a bigger audience than they would if they went on the club scene and did 300 a night.
Kirby Yoh: I love festivals. It depends on what festival it is. The smaller festivals, like the 20,000-capacity, are doing great. If you look at [San Francisco dance festival] Portola and [festival creator] Danny [Bell’s] exceptional skill set as a curator, it doesn’t even break artists but brings people who only heard of X, Y or Z DJ and then they suddenly hear the artists that inspired that DJ. It takes them on a kind of learning [journey]. [Portola] has done that exceptionally.
Dickins: I think it’s arguable to say if a festival breaks an artist, whereas before it used to be really important. Now a lot of artists on the way up ask if it’s more important to do their own show and build their own brand. If you’re in the opening slot on a stage or up against a load of clashes, what are you really getting out of that? I don’t know. As opposed to doing your own show with your core fan base or attracting people coming to see you build your brand.
But if you’re a bigger artist, they’re still huge milestones because they bring massive exposure and the chance to reach global audiences. And there are smaller festivals, or genre-specific festivals, that are becoming more prominent. Doechii played Camp Flog Gnaw last year; that was a huge moment. The big ones are good for the bigger ones, and the more bespoke, genre-specific ones are becoming more prominent for the smaller artists.
Samantha Kirby Yoh, whose clients include LCD Soundsystem, Björk, Rosalía, FKA twigs and St. Vincent.
Courtesy of UTA
How are you seeing artists handle ticket pricing? In regard to the all-in approach where customers only see the final cost, is it important for fans to know the face value that artists are charging before ticketing fees?
Vlasic: None of my artists want fans to be pissed off because they think they’re charging too much. The thing is, somebody’s going to be miserable about something all the time. That’s my feeling on ticket pricing. With older artists, where it may be their last tours, they don’t want to go out just for the fun of being on the road. The road is no longer something [those artists] are dying to do, but this is their means of income. They don’t want to piss people off, but they want to maximize it.
Lewis: It all depends on artist, market, viability and urgency. Keep prices low, within reason and without compromising [an artist’s] ability to tour and offer an innovative production. Be cognizant of ticketing fees. Know what the competitive acts are charging and make an analysis of the sales and how the scaling is related to the result. Understand that each market has different needs due to the economy and different urgency.
Dickins: International markets tend to be much more cautious [than in the United States]. But ticket fees are a huge thing. At the International Live Music Conference in London, everyone was telling me that there are major concerns around ticket fees and the lack of transparency because fans feel misled when those additional fees are tacked on at checkout.
Kirby Yoh: I think most artists want the experience to be as easy as possible. When you go to buy a ticket for your favorite artist’s show and you’ve got $100 in your pocket, you want the total checkout cost to be $100.
Adler: I am so sensitive to ticket pricing because I look around like, “How can all these people afford all these shows?” Yet every show is selling out, even though the average ticket price is north of $100. I always try to go on the lower side, almost to a fault. I get a lot of pushback because they say I’m leaving money for scalpers to come in. I don’t want that. It’s such a delicate balance.
Cara Lewis, whose clients include Eminem, Travis Scott, Erykah Badu, Khalid and Don Toliver.
Laura Rose
You’re all so well established. How has your job changed over the years?
Adler: The biggest difference I see is that now the artist wants a relationship with their whole team. When I started, none of the agents had direct relationships with their artists. Agents always had to go through a manager. Now artists want to be able to pick up the phone and talk to their agent.
Dickins: When I was first booking tours, there was a load of in-market stuff you never paid much attention to that now you do because the look goes everywhere. Your first look is really important because that can play into stuff later on in a career. It’s way more involved, much more detail-oriented and much more strategic.
Lewis: Social media has changed our lives. It is the key to it all and has changed the way we market and sell everything. Professional networking platforms have given us resources to connect with anyone at any time about anything.
Vlasic: I think the pandemic changed things more than how long I’ve been in the business. Since the pandemic, the whole structure of the business is different in terms of the back-office stuff. I have a beautiful office. I rarely go there. I don’t have a schedule. Maybe I’ve always beat my own drum in terms of being at a company, but the company structure and routine have changed drastically.
Most of you have children. What is it like doing your job as a mother?
Vlasic: I don’t know how I did it. I seriously don’t. I didn’t have family that I could call at any given moment. My husband had his own thing going. I went home almost every night, made sure they had dinner and the homework was done, and then I went out. I don’t know how the girls do it now, but the difference is, if you’re an agent at most companies, you don’t have to be in the office for a certain amount of hours like I did. I remember one time one of my sons was really sick, and I was staying home to get the test results from the doctor … My boss at the time called me and said, “I hope you realize you should be working regular hours,” knowing my son was sick. That wouldn’t happen now.
Adler: I have 23- and 25-year-old sons, and CAA allowed me to [raise them] with such seamless patience. They were incredibly supportive even before it was a thing. I nursed every day, my kids came in, but that was because [CAA managing director] Rob Light had five kids, and he was a great dad. He understood. All the guys here had kids and understood it was family first. I was really lucky in that way.
Dickins: As a female agent, the sacrifices I have to make with a young family are huge. It’s something I battle on a daily basis. I got back from London two days ago. I go to Australia on Sunday, I come back for one day, then I go to London for two days. When I look at men in my positions, they don’t have the guilt that I have … My husband deserves a f–king award because he has to hold the fort all the time. When my 9-year-old is crying because she doesn’t want me to go away and I have to go because I have to spend time with a client, it’s tough. I think that’s why, in the touring aspect, it’s especially hard for women.
Marsha Vlasic, whose clients include Neil Young, The Strokes, Cage the Elephant, Norah Jones and Elvis Costello.
Kat Stanas
In recent years, it feels like the glass ceiling has been broken in agenting, and your careers are a testament to that. Does that feel true? How could this world be more supportive of women?
Vlasic: When I was starting out, I didn’t know I was any different. I didn’t know people viewed me as “You’re one of the only women.” I just worked hard and was determined. There are times I’ll come off a panel and a young girl will come up and say, “It’s so hard for us as women.” I’m thinking, “What the f–k are you talking about?” There are more women agents, more women managers, more women musicians. Don’t use that as an excuse.
Kirby Yoh: I think it has become more supportive to women, but there’s still a lot more to do. There need to be more opportunities, full stop. But we’re getting there. More people are hiring women. More people are empowering them with tools and skills, and more of us are pulling our sisters with us in a good way, like, “Come to the studio with me. Come to the show.”
Lewis: [Billboard’s] Women in Music [has] been an amazing platform not only honoring the talent but also bringing awareness to the behind-the-scenes executives pushing the industry forward. We need more of this. When you put your heart and soul into all that you do and succeed at it, it should raise you up, not keep you stagnant at a company.
Adler: It used to be that the males would pit us against each other because the women weren’t close to each other and there were very few slots. It’s taken a long time to change the narrative of “She can’t be in leadership because she doesn’t get along with so-and-so.”
I don’t know if I should say this, but I’m going to. Women in Music is such a powerful issue. There are few places to celebrate what we do. On the other hand, I say to myself, “But I should be part of the overall list.” I play with the boys every single day. I appreciate all of it and it means so much to me, but that’s where I am today: I love my female sisterhood, but I can also play with everybody.
This story appears in the March 22, 2025, issue of Billboard.