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Doechii recently watched Avatar: The Way of Water, and it got her thinking about a key Na’vi tenet: “All energy is borrowed, and someday you have to give it back.” “That’s exactly how I feel,” she says. “From the women before me, I’m borrowing their energy so that one day I can give it back to the girl after me. That’s what I’m here to do.”
In just the past year, the 24-year-old rapper from Tampa, Fla. — who started releasing music in the 2010s before self-funding her debut EP in 2020 — has used that energy to impressive ends. In March, she became the first female rapper to sign with Top Dawg Entertainment, subsequently scoring a record deal with Capitol as well. Late-night TV and awards show performances followed, as did a string of standout singles, most notably “Persuasive,” which has 30 million official U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate. She also released her major-label debut EP, the five-track she / her / black b–ch, which peaked at No. 23 on the Heatseekers Albums chart and featured Rico Nasty and labelmate slash “big sister” SZA.
“Everything aligned,” says Doechii. And yet, despite her stellar 2022, this year’s Rising Star is planning an even bigger 2023 — which will include the first male feature on one of her songs, a Coachella performance and the release of her first full-length. “I’m in year three of my five-year plan,” she continues. “I’m constantly rising and I definitely haven’t arrived yet — at all. But I’m coming.”
What kind of pressure have you felt as the first female rapper signed to Top Dawg Entertainment?
A good pressure, because I know with me being the first, the next female rapper on TDE is going to look to me, look at the things I did and didn’t accomplish, and hopefully be better than me. That’s the point. I’m a leader of a new era of TDE, which feels really good. A lot of my fans reach out all the time about the impact that I’m making for them just being an alternative Black girl. Doing it on TDE like this is cool.
You mentioned borrowing energy and passing it on. Who did that for you?
They don’t even know they did it for me. It was artists like Trina, Nicki Minaj, Lauryn Hill, SZA — just powerful women being powerful women. Even watching Beyoncé be Beyoncé, she shows me that I have permission to be a boss. I can be a woman, and I can be a boss. Then Rihanna, she’ll be like, “I can be a savage.” Sometimes I’m sassy, sometimes I’m not. Watching all of them gives me permission to be more of myself.
Doechii photographed on May 17, 2022 at Seret Studios in Brooklyn.
Hao Zeng
Is there a favorite recent memory you shared with your labelmate SZA?
She’s like a big sister to me. When we were on tour [in 2021] she gave me a lot of advice on what to expect from the industry and how to carry myself. She has just always been supportive of who I am.
You mentioned your five-year plan — what will year five look like?
By year five I want to be at my peak. I want to be in my Sasha Fierce era, the top of my game with still a long way to go — but I want to reach my prime and never leave it.
You show so many sides of yourself in your music. What haven’t we seen yet?
Y’all are going to get it this year. It’s my pop era. Usually I’m alone [in the studio], but these days I’ve been inviting people in. Usually I like people to send me beats and I’ll just listen through, but recently I’ve been working with producers like J White in person, which is cool. So my vibe is kind of changing; it’s a lot of energy. It feels like a party.
Doechii photographed on May 17, 2022 at Seret Studios in Brooklyn.
Hao Zeng
Is this the year you’ll release a full project?
I will. I said that last year, though, and I didn’t. Like, for real for real, I have to this year. It’s not even funny, I have to. It’s time for me to debut this year. My fans will kill me if I don’t.
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
When asked if she remembers her first forays into producing, Rosalía giggles. “Oh, my God. I always felt that I wasn’t good enough, so I would treat it more like a game,” she says, before quickly adding, “Still, I wanted to learn how to make a beat because when the time came that I needed to do it, I would be able to do it.”
What started as a “game” inevitably became a way for the 30-year-old Spanish star to gain creative control — something she doesn’t take for granted considering the lack of women in the field. “There’s [still] skepticism about a woman being able to be an artist, singer, producer and songwriter at the same time. To me, these disciplines are not mutually exclusive.”
Like her previous albums (Los Ángeles and El Mal Querer), Rosalía’s Grammy-winning Motomami, released in 2022, thrives on the intersection of those skills. The sonically groundbreaking set — which finds her boldly fusing jazz and reggaetón (“Saoko”), as well as sampling Soulja Boy in an otherwise traditional bolero (“Delirio de Grandeza”) — is an honest expression of the creative freedom she felt as she drew inspiration from the sounds and artists that have shaped her. During the sessions, she would sit in the studio for 15 hours or more, searching for the right sounds, arrangements and structures for each song. “My homework as a producer is to follow my intuition,” she says firmly. “It’s to make decisions and take risks.”
Following in the footsteps of the artist-producers she read about when she was younger, like Björk and Missy Elliott, Billboard’s first-ever Women in Music Producer of the Year hopes to motivate a new generation of innovators.
What led you to first take on this role in the studio?
My first desire was to be onstage and share something. Then I realized that I wanted to decide what I was going to sing. I also wanted to decide what I was going to say and how it would sound. I didn’t just want to be an interpreter. I wanted to write, and then I wanted to produce. The desire to create became bigger than the desire to just interpret.
Is Motomami the freest you’ve ever felt as a producer?
One hundred percent yes. I was always thinking: “How can I be freer?” Fear, or whatever the opposite of freedom is, is the biggest enemy for a creative. There was an urge to find the reason why I’m doing this. “What is the world all about? What is life about?” All those things matter, and it’s why I make music.
What’s Rosalía the producer like in the studio?
I try to not have a specific idea of how a song must sound. Instead, I go in with concepts, or ilusiones, of how I would like it to sound. But never a rigid idea. That’s not organic, nor is it productive. Producing also requires humility because you’re constantly testing out ideas. I remember Pharrell [Williams] once told me that we’re just testing ideas from the universe because no one really owns an idea. I love that concept.
You’ve been very vocal about the lack of representation of women producers. Why is that important to you?
If you don’t see yourself represented in a role like this, how can you picture yourself working in that position? I became a songwriter and producer because I cared way too much. I did research when I was younger of women who were producing, and it was hard to find them, but they taught me that this was possible. Björk, Delia Derbyshire, Kate Bush — they’ve done this, and we don’t talk about it enough. I know I’m not the only one because there’s a new generation of women producing like Caroline Polachek, PinkPantheress — there are literally so many. It would be great if more people knew about them outside of the industry.
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
It’s 9:15 a.m. in Seoul, and most of the nine members of TWICE have just woken up. They’re barefaced, dressed casually and cozily in warm knits and sweatshirts; Chaeyoung still wears her parka hood, her blonde hair peeking out of the bottom. Nayeon, seated next to her, cleans her glasses with her shirt sleeve. Tzuyu, however, is alert and attentive. When I ask (through a translator) who’s the early riser of the group, everyone points to her.
This morning, the women of TWICE look more like students who’ve arrived at an early-morning class than the wildly popular K-pop girl group they are. But for their globe-spanning cohort of fans (known as ONCE), this is a familiar sight. The group’s long-running YouTube reality and vlog show, TWICE TV, along with other online vlog content, have gone behind the scenes with the act since its 2015 debut. Over the past seven-plus years, fans have followed along as Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu (who range in age from 23 to 27) have recorded music; toured across South Korea and Asia; attended award ceremonies; debuted their first-ever English-language single, “The Feels”; and, last year, played and sold out U.S. arenas, a still-rare feat for K-pop artists.
“That was our first time having a concert of that scale, so it was really shocking for us to see so many fans in the U.S.,” says Jihyo, recalling TWICE’s two nights in May 2022 at Los Angeles’ Banc of California Stadium.
Nayeon
Sunhye Shin
Jeongyeon
Sunhye Shin
“At that time in Korea, we couldn’t perform in the same way as in the U.S.,” adds Chaeyoung, referring to South Korea’s stringent COVID-19 restrictions. “So it was really refreshing to see the fans face to face in the U.S.”
Only a few of TWICE’s members speak English, but their fans’ raging devotion has long dispelled any questions about the group’s ability to successfully cross over. TWICE crafted a strong foundational identity early on with technicolor, rush-inducing pop exemplified by hits like 2018’s “What Is Love?” and 2019’s “Fancy.” More recently, it has expanded its sonic palette. Last year, “The Feels,” a groovy, disco-inflected song about a budding crush, became the group’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at No. 83). Its subsequent album, Formula of Love: O+T =
The September day that Becky G learned she had scored her first No. 1 as a solo artist on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart, with “Bailé Con Mi Ex,” she woke up her fiancé, the soccer star Sebastian Lletget, with tears in her eyes. “He was like, ‘Is everything OK? Why are you crying?’ ” she remembers. “A lot of people like to say I’m only successful because of my collaborations. To be able to prove myself as an artist and carry my own weight was important for me. To show the world that whichever way, collaborations or alone, I’m good.”
That solo feat is just one of many points of pride for the 25-year-old Mexican American artist and businesswoman, born Rebbeca Marie Gomez, these days. In 2022, she earned her first No. 1 on the Latin Pop Albums chart with the 14-track Esquemas, and another album — her first regional Mexican set — is due to arrive later this year. Come April, she’ll have “a huge opportunity to reintroduce myself to the world” when she plays Coachella under her own name for the first time.
Jean Paul Gaultier top, AKIRA jacket, Versace shorts, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, Moschino earrings, Grace Lee and Yvonne Léon rings.
Martha Galvan
All the while, Becky G has used her platform to help elevate the women around her. “This industry has really tried to condition women to see each other as competition. We’ve had to survive these very male-dominated spaces because of that ‘there’s only one seat at the table’ mentality. So we’re looking at each other like, ‘Who’s going to get it?’ [But] at my table, everyone is welcome,” she says firmly. “When I open the door, I’m going to leave it open and make sure everyone gets in.”
That impulse, she says, comes from her experience growing up in a tight-knit community in Inglewood, Calif., where her grandmother would cook for her grandchildren and, “If Doña Lolita from down the street came over, she would have enough [food] for her kids too,” says Becky G. “My entire being has been inspired by the houses I grew up in, the people that raised me. It really does take a village when it comes to our culture. Where one person eats, everyone can eat. I’ve really lived by ‘sharing is caring.’ ”
Monot dress, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, Eéera earrings, Vera Belleza ring.
Martha Galvan
And this year’s Impact honoree applies that kind of thinking not only within the music industry but beyond it, including as a co-chair of Michelle Obama’s voter registration nonprofit, When We All Vote. “I want to be a bridge-maker. I want to be a peacemaker,” Becky G says. “I want to be a real model, not a role model, because I know perfection is not real.”
How have you used your position to create change around you?
It’s not about what you identify as but who you are and how you treat other people and the change you want to make after you become the change. Someone told me the other day, “This contract looks like industry standard,” and I really challenged them. I said, “To be honest, that’s offensive because industry standard wasn’t made with people like me in mind.” It wasn’t made for young, brown women who are Latinas; who identify as a boss; who have ideas; who speak two languages. It’s about time that the industry starts to reflect that. And not just in how we’re represented but how we’re treated, how we’re paid, how we’re invited into those spaces. Changing those things is hard and I can’t do that alone, so I’m grateful I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with so many women.
Marine Serre top and pants, Al Zain necklaces, Rainbow K, Yvonne Leon and Grace Lee rings.
Martha Galvan
Which artist made you believe you could have an impact outside of music?
Selena. She was more than just a pretty face. She was a kind person, a good person, and that heart she had for people translated not just into her artistry but how she loved her fans. Being Tex-Mex, speaking Spanglish, someone who took over genres that were very male-dominated, she inspired other people.
How have you chosen which issues matter to you most?
It’s hard to think about being one person and saving the world, but when you think about being one person and making just a small impact in your community, it feels a lot more achievable. There are a lot of trailblazers coming into these spaces, and it’s important to create alliances.
Jean Paul Gaultier top, AKIRA jacket, Versace shorts, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, Moschino earrings, Grace Lee and Yvonne Léon rings.
Martha Galvan
What does receiving the Impact award mean to you?
There’s nothing more rewarding than knowing that you’re helping others and not expecting anything in return other than seeing people live in their truths, being inspired to be the change, live better lives because of whatever awareness I can bring. That, ultimately, is my version of success.
Miu Miu top, Area NY skirt, Wolford stockings, Marc Jacobs shoes, Grace Lee earrings.
Martha Galvan
This story originally appeared in the February 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
By the time Lainey Wilson showcased for BMG Nashville staff in 2018, she was at a crossroads. She had already been in Nashville for over five years after leaving her small Louisiana hometown of Baskin and was struggling to fit in. Her heavily accented, twangy country vocals and Southern swagger weren’t in fashion as the genre leaned more toward pop, but her attempts to accommodate that style weren’t working either. So she doubled down on her tough-but-vulnerable authenticity. With that attitude, she sang, “She’s a soldier/When I hold her/Up in the air” in her defiant “Middle Finger.” “Take that, Nashville,” she thought.
Wilson, now 30, laughs when she remembers that time. “I just got to a certain point where I’d been in Nashville for so long [and] my give-a-damn was a little busted. I felt like, ‘Why not just say what I want to say how I want to say it?’ That’s one of the thoughts that really set me free.”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
That fearlessness — and her robust, honest voice — captivated BMG Nashville president Jon Loba, who had been turned on to Wilson by another artist on his roster, Jimmie Allen.
“[She had] this absolute confidence. And it was an amazing vocal and, even at that time, amazing songs,” says Loba, who immediately signed her to Broken Bow Records. “But it was her narrative in between the music [where] you really got a sense of who she was: this strong woman from a small town in Louisiana who did not want to compromise who she was.”
Five years later, Wilson’s refusal to compromise has taken her to the top of the charts and awards show podiums. Her first album for the label, 2021’s Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’, included her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, “Things a Man Oughta Know.” “Never Say Never,” her duet with Cole Swindell, reached No. 1 seven months later. Her current single, “Heart Like a Truck,” from last year’s Bell Bottom Country, and her feature on HARDY’s “wait in the truck” are racing toward the peak of the chart. With six nods, she led all nominees for November’s Country Music Association Awards, taking home new artist and female vocalist of the year. Between supporting slots for Luke Combs — she’ll appear on his stadium tour this spring and summer after opening his 2022 arena tour — she headlined her first large club tour.
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
Along the way, Wilson, who co-wrote all but one of the songs on her two albums, developed a signature look — a wide-brim hat and bell bottoms, which she has worn daily for several years — as recognizable as her clear, strong vocals and striking songs. “When I was little, my mom bought me a blue leopard-print pair of bell bottoms I was absolutely obsessed with,” she says. “At one point, she was like, ‘You’ve got to take them off, we’ve got to wash them.’ I’ve always been in love with things that are throwbacks, whether it’s music or stories.” Wilson came by her love of bell bottoms honestly, but they’ve also served a purpose: “Trying to be an artist here in Nashville, a female artist specifically, you’ve got to figure out what you can do that’s a little different to stand out — so I definitely leaned into that as much as I possibly could.”
Not bad for an artist who got her start imitating someone else. Wilson worked her way through high school as a Hannah Montana impersonator. One of her last gigs, at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, helped prompt her move to Nashville. While performing, she established an intense connection with a little girl recovering from brain surgery. “Everybody in the building was crying as she sang every word to [Miley Cyrus’] ‘The Climb.’ I handed her the microphone, and my Hannah Montana wig was hanging off sideways. She hands me back the microphone and what she meant to say was, ‘Hannah Montana, you’re my star,’ but she said, ‘Hannah Montana, I’m your star.’ And I was like, ‘Yes, you are,’ and I thought, ‘I’ve got to figure out how to do this the rest of my life.’ ”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
Wilson’s own climb has been simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting as she navigates how to make a lifelong career in music sustainable. The self-described “homebody” slept in her own bed only 15 nights during her “whirlwind” 2022. “Last year definitely threw me for a little bit of a loop,” she says. But as her ascent continues, this year’s Rulebreaker is finding ways to make the road feel more like home, including bringing her French bulldog, Hippie Mae (who, of course, has her own Instagram account, with a bio reading “owner of that b–ch @laineywilson”), on the road with her, as well as her essential oils, meditation apps and grounding mat.
Those comforts have proved especially key as Wilson’s rise has expanded beyond music. Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan designed a recurring role specifically for her this season on TV’s most popular show, which Wilson found the courage to take on after considering what some of her own favorite rule breakers, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, would do. (She even has a song on her first Broken Bow album called “WWDD,” short for “What Would Dolly Do.”)
“When it comes to Dolly and Reba, I feel like they really do listen to their heart. I feel like they’re not scared to go outside that box and do things that are a little scary,” she says. “I had never acted a day in my life. But I thought to myself, ‘Dolly and Reba, they’ve always made sure that their music is No. 1, but that has laid the foundation for so many opportunities to come their way.’ And so, if it’s a way for me to share more of my music with the world, even if it is a little scary, you’re dang right I’m going to do it, because that’s what they would do.”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
Wilson’s radio hits and Yellowstone role have brought her fame that she’s still wrapping her head around. Late last year, her team posted a video of her onstage with an angle that unintentionally highlighted her posterior and, she says, “The next thing you know, everybody’s TikToks are about my rear end.” The clip went viral and spawned imitators with women showing off their own bountiful booties, but it also invited legions of opinions about Wilson’s body.
“I definitely went down the rabbit hole reading comments,” she says. “A year-and-a-half ago, people didn’t give a rat’s ass to say something bad about me. Now the more well-known you are, the more negative comments you’re going to get … The reason why I take it so personal is because I do believe that words are powerful.”
Wilson is handling what newfound fame throws at her much as she has her career: with an authenticity that harks back to her roots, and on her own terms. She recently purchased 30 acres in Nashville and is renovating the house on the property, bringing in her own creature comforts to create a personal oasis. It’s a far cry from the camper she lived in for her first three years in Nashville. “I’m going to have some horses,” she says, adding that she decided against moving her childhood horse, Tex, up from Louisiana given his advanced age. “I want to be able to go somewhere and turn it all off and just jump on a four-wheeler.”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
When Kim Petras emerged from beneath Sam Smith’s layered pink tulle gown on Saturday Night Live in January, it was a perfect visual metaphor for her presence on the Hot 100 chart-topper they were performing, “Unholy.” Cooing and belting about her virtues as a no-hassle, dirty-chic sugar baby, Petras was magnetic — the hit’s secret weapon, revealed.
Two weekends later, at the Grammy Awards, Petras had an even more definitive moment in the spotlight. “Unholy” won best pop duo/group performance, and, at Smith’s behest, Petras accepted the award, exuding joy and liberation in a speech that became a high point of the night. “I just want to thank all the incredible transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open for me so I could be here tonight,” said the German singer, who in that moment became the first out trans artist to ever win a major-category Grammy.
Nikita Karizma top and bottom, Laurel DeWitt wrist cuffs.
Vijat Mohindra
Changing the game has become habitual for the dance-pop devotee, who signed to Republic in summer 2021. In October, “Unholy” made Petras and Smith the first openly trans and nonbinary artists, respectively, to top the Hot 100 in its 65-year history. When Madonna introduced their performance of “Unholy” at the Grammys, thanking a new generation of “rebels out there, forging a new path and taking the heat for it,” it felt like both a coronation and vindication for Petras, who, since her 2017 arrival, has always carried herself like a main pop girl but has only recently started to be treated like one.
“My whole life revolves around strong, amazing women who do whatever they want and have an artistic point of view,” says this year’s Chartbreaker, casually vaping beneath a hoodie. “[They’re] the reason I found the power in myself to do what I do.”
JimmyPaul top and scarf.
Vijat Mohindra
Is the industry treating you differently since “Unholy” became a smash?
Hell yeah. [Before] it was like, “Oh, the gays love her,” but people didn’t want me on their songs. I didn’t get budgets approved. It was rough. I’ve been an independent artist for so long just hustling and playing clubs, and now different people are hitting me up to collaborate and get in the studio. It’s cool that people are catching on.
TikTok played a role in breaking “Unholy” before radio paid attention. What are your thoughts about the app?
I love the humor — nothing is so serious on there. I like that more weird songs blow up on TikTok than you would expect, like “Running Up That Hill.” The new generation just cares if they like the song. There’s less industry control because of TikTok.
Laurel DeWitt wrist cuffs.
Vijat Mohindra
This is your biggest hit, and first major one without Dr. Luke as a collaborator. People have questioned your working relationship with him. Do you see “Unholy” as a chance to move past it?
I’ve always been a songwriter. Anything I’ve done, I’ve been a big part of writing. I’ve always collaborated with different people and producers. Luke is the one person people like to pick out and be like, “This is obviously who has to write all of this girl’s music because she can’t be talented and that’s a big name.” But I am here because I’m good at writing, and I do my sh-t.
What was it like playing SNL with Sam?
It means the world to me. Even growing up in Germany, SNL was a huge thing. I’m a huge comedy fan, and I love Bowen [Yang] on the show. We’ve kind of become friends — there’s this really sweet story of Bowen listening to [my song] “I Don’t Want It at All” before his SNL audition.
Laurel DeWitt earrings, body chain, bra, and wrist cuffs.
Vijat Mohindra
In the last five years, how much has the industry changed its attitude toward trans artists?
A lot. When I tried to sign to [labels] in the beginning of my career, it was like, “What is the fan base going to be? How do we market this? There isn’t a place for you.” Then I went to gay clubs and built a solid fan base and showed everyone it’s possible. Now they have to accept it. I’m happy there are more trans artists now that are being taken seriously. I just don’t want to be the last.
Who are some of your career idols?
Cher. Nicki Minaj. Madonna. Lana Del Rey. Marina. Kylie [Minogue]. The list goes on. Women in pop music were my only friends in high school — they were everything I wanted to be and [gave me] the strength I [needed] to transition and live my life authentically. They gave me the strength to be myself.
Kim Petras photographed by Vijat Mohindra on Dec. 19, 2022 at Locus One Studio in Los Angeles. Laurel DeWitt wrist cuffs, JimmyPaul boa.
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
In the five years that followed SZA’s culture-shifting 2017 debut album, Ctrl, the pressure to deliver another ambitious, eclectic project reached a boiling point. Yet somehow, she managed to cut through the noise, surpassing the astronomically high expectations set by Ctrl with her much anticipated follow-up.
When SOS arrived Dec. 9, 2022, on RCA Records and Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), it didn’t just successfully steer clear of the sophomore slump — it elevated her to superstardom. Across its whopping 23 tracks, SZA embarked on a fearless sonic voyage, dipping her toes in gospel, grunge, rap and whatever else she fancied outside of R&B’s boundaries. Similarly, she took her writing up several notches with dynamic, vivid storytelling that tugged deeper at heartache and self-acceptance. And its commercial success has already made history: SOS debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spent seven consecutive weeks there, making SZA, Taylor Swift and Adele the only three women to rule the all-genre albums chart for that long. The set then returned to No. 1 for an eighth week on Feb. 9 and just claimed a ninth (on the chart dated Feb. 25), boasting more weeks atop the Billboard 200 than any R&B album since Usher’s Confessions ruled for nine nonconsecutive weeks in 2004. SOS‘s nine weeks at No. 1 also gave it the most weeks atop the chart for an album by a woman in nearly seven years, since Adele’s 25.
And yet, despite all that success, she still feels like she has to prove herself.
“Right now, I just have extreme gratitude because I swear to God, I never thought I’d be No. 1 for even a week, let alone seven,” the 33-year-old artist born Solána Imani Rowe tells Billboard in early February as she cruises along the Pacific Coast Highway — a brief moment of reprieve before she really hits the road this spring for her first-ever arena tour.
“SZA is a force,” says Terrence “Punch” Henderson, SZA’s manager and TDE president. “To go seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 is legendary. She’s a true generational artist, a cultural reset, if you will. For her album SOS to blend so many different genres together in a cohesive frame shows her genius and versatility. Then you have the voice, the words, the pain, the growth, the relapsing, the delivery, the stories, etc. … a true masterpiece.”
While the industry and public alike overwhelmingly share Henderson’s sentiment, Billboard’s 2023 Woman of the Year remains prone to self-doubt. Thoughts like “Do I deserve this?” and “I wish I did better” frequently creep into her mind, and she’s working on quieting them. She has already released new music since SOS dropped, by way of her February appearance on the remix of Lizzo’s 2022 song “Special.”
“Manifestation is real,” Lizzo tells Billboard. “I declare 2023 the year of SZA. But SZA has been Woman of the Year for me for at least a decade. I’m always such a fan of her music, a fan of her artistry, but I really love her as a friend. Solána Imani Rowe, you will always be ‘the one.’ ”
And, once she releases the deluxe edition of SOS — which will feature 10 additional tracks and is coming soon — SZA says she’ll be done trying to convince herself that she deserves her flowers.
“I guess I need to stop trying to figure out what it means,” SZA admits, “and start realizing and living in what it is.”
How did you feel after SOS was released? Did you have any hesitations about its reception?
You know when something is really popular, the positive is loud and the negative is loud? I’ve never been quite this popular before, so the negative is also really loud, and it threw me off. I was like, “OK, cool. Noted.” And I tried to figure out what actually resonates with me as a true assessment of my work and what is not true and something I can’t allow myself to internalize. I know people wanted [Ctrl’s] “Broken Clocks,” “Love Galore” and all that other sh-t again, but I departed from that by choice. Not because I couldn’t do that again; it was just because I wanted to grow. I wanted to do something completely different.
It’s hard making music as a Black woman [because] we don’t get the luxury to try something and have it be something that’s genuinely part of us. You have to allow people to get to know different parts of you. Some people may really f–king hate that, and some people might enjoy it. And I’m grateful for those who enjoy it.
Were you surprised that “Kill Bill” — which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 to become your highest-charting song to date — was the SOS song that took off?
I knew it would be something that pissed me off. It’s always a song that I don’t give a f–k about that’s just super easy, not the sh-t that I put so much heart and energy into. “Kill Bill” was super easy — one take, one night.
The chart success of SOS has put you in the same conversation as pop superstars. Is it important for you to be recognized outside of the R&B space?
To even be in the conversation with Taylor [Swift] and Miley [Cyrus], even the fact that our fans are fighting, is ridiculous because it’s like, “How?!” I just really appreciate the opportunity to be in that conversation at all. It’s something I never dreamed of.
What are your thoughts about your upcoming first-ever arena tour and performing this album in front of your fans?
It’s interesting because my other shows were intimate, and I felt like people were really coming to see me. But I know certain people are just coming to see what the hype is about, and that makes me nervous. But I just want to put on the best show that expresses my theatrical side.
I am deeply excited to pop ass and cry and give theater. I want it to feel like a play on Broadway, but more like Suspiria and Cirque du Soleil in the weirdest way. I want it to be smart and exhilarating and exhausting and exciting like a party, but also like a therapy session.
How do you tour an emotionally intense album like SOS? Do you insulate yourself from the material, or does it inevitably dredge up emotions?
I never know. When I was performing “20 Something” before my grandma died, it didn’t hit me the same. And then after my grandma died, I could barely get through it at rehearsal. Who knows what any of these songs will bring up for me in real life? Shooting the video for “Nobody Gets Me” was really f–king sad. I cried a lot. I’m just going to wing it and see.
What does it mean for you to be Billboard’s Woman of the Year?It really scares me. But I really want to do something with my time in the sun right now. There’s so much I want to do for other people. I need to do something to deserve that in a way that has nothing to do with me, something that’s selfless and uplifts other women, people, period. It makes me feel more responsible than I was before. I feel like I owe everyone so much more than just smiling and getting onstage and waving. Part of it I know is just letting God use me and be myself and letting that be part of the work. But I know that there’s something more that I have to do.
SZA photographed on October 11, 2022 at Quixote Studios in Los Angeles.
AB + DM
You were the first woman signed to TDE in 2013. How did you manage to maneuver through the male-dominated label for nearly a decade on your own?
I didn’t mind the lack of female artists. I just felt like I was always the first to do something, and that was frustrating. It was me telling y’all I need hair and makeup because I’m super hands-on, on top of being a woman. I’m making PowerPoints trying to explain why I want to be in this type of publication versus that type of publication.
It was tough, but by the same token, I think all of us grew together at the same time. They never had to do anything like this before, and we were all being so randomly innovative together by trying to figure out what makes sense. And I also liked that they weren’t trying to clean me up and look like anybody else. They were just taking me as I was. That was really priceless, just to express myself visually how I wanted to and without the judgment of “Let’s make her pretty or sparkly and shiny and sterile.”
Who are some women in the music industry whom you look up to?
There’s nobody in the industry that f–ks with me and that I f–k with the way that Lizzo f–ks with me and the way I f–k with her. She never made me feel like because I don’t have a No. 1 song or I [previously] didn’t have a No. 1 album that I wasn’t capable. She’d been telling me that she thought I was the one for years. The way that she thinks of me so highly as a human being and as an artist means so much to me. I just have never met anybody like her in this entire industry.
There’s a lot of women I look up to in general that I don’t know personally, but watching them is incredible. Beyoncé, but who doesn’t look up to Beyoncé? I love Jozzy’s and Starrah’s energy. I love the way Nija is from New Jersey and has been able to transmute her energy from being a writer to an artist. Kehlani’s hella effervescent, and you can just feel the energy when she’s performing. I love Chloe Bailey and her commitment to perfection — I feel like she’s going to be a legend. Even Taylor letting that whole situation go with her masters and then selling all of those f–king records. That’s the biggest “f–k you” to the establishment I’ve ever seen in my life, and I deeply applaud that sh-t.
What does the future look like for SZA?
After I do the deluxe, I’m hoping to be able to accept that this chapter is done. I’m looking forward to actually feeling proud of myself and not just smiling and nodding at accolades but really feeling it internally and knowing that I’m good enough.
A version of this story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
When Rema is in the studio, he pursues sounds and sensations that he says touch his soul. Ignoring this instinctive creative process could’ve yielded a different rendition of a “Calm Down” remix — possibly one without Selena Gomez.
The original version of the Nigerian musician’s midtempo hit “Calm Down” arrived a year ago as the second single from his March 2022 debut studio album, Rave & Roses. The enticing, ambient song finds Rema pleading with a young woman at a local club to trust that his intentions are pure. The track, produced by fellow Nigerian native Andre Vibez, oozes with his signature style of Afrobeats, which he calls Afro-rave — a subgenre influenced by his love for hip-hop, African music, lo-fi and alternative.
After Rema, 22, noticed the single beginning to take off (debuting on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart two months after its release), he knew he had to capitalize on the momentum, so he trusted his gut and recruited a woman “take it up to the next level” — and immediately knew that Gomez was the right fit. The “Calm Down” remix reaches a new No. 26 high on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 and holds its top position on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart for a 23rd week. Billboard spoke with the rising artist about the making of his biggest hit to date, his plans to give back to Nigeria and pushing Afrobeats forward.
How did you link with Selena Gomez for the “Calm Down” remix?
It started with being a fan [and] supporting her music. She actually came across my music too, and she also wrote to me. Our teams got familiar and we started working towards this good music that came out. It started that from friendship, to colliding our teams together, and everyone is like a big family right now. It was very much organic, and we made it happen, and it’s just so huge. I’m amazed.
When after the original “Calm Down” did you think you needed a remix, and why was Selena the right person to match the vibe?
[Around] June, I started seeing the impact. I hit my team [like], “I think this might be a song I would like to do a remix to.” I don’t really do remixes — most of my songs are solo or features. I wanted a female voice on the song. The song was already blowing up, so I felt like we needed someone that could take it up to the next level. From our discussions, planning, and available contacts and friendship, Selena was the best bet. I had my fingers crossed she would agree. Luckily for us, she did and we felt no need to reach out to anybody else.
What has it been like watching the song transform into a global hit?
Every day I wake up to good news. Not just good news about how well my career is going; it’s about how well my culture is flying. Afrobeats is going to the next level. This song is opening doors and bridges. Listeners want to know what more is coming from Nigeria, what more is coming from Africa. I’m so happy. I’m happy for me, my team, the culture and for Selena. She embraced the sound, and she did her own thing. It was the right timing [with] the right person, and the impact has been so huge. Seeing people who don’t speak my language sing my song word-for-word really shows that people are impacted by the sound, and I’m grateful for it.
Why do you think “Calm Down” has been such a long-lasting hit?
It’s not just about the song — it’s also about me and the gift that God has blessed me with. I work in the studio with no plans. I just create. However any of my songs go, I love them the same way. I push them the same way. I feel like people just pick whatever resonates with them. There’s no single element I could really pick out. If I focus on that, that would just box me in somehow. I don’t know what it is, it’s just good music.
Tell me about the song’s creative process. Did you assist Selena with her verse?
That was all Selena and her team. I don’t really know what her creative process is like, but we did it remotely and she was very concerned about how the record was supposed to turn out. Every move she made on the song, she always wanted to know if I was good with it. Some artists just be like, “Whatever I did is dope. Have it,” but she wanted to know if I resonated with whatever she did on it — and I did. I loved it. The only part I switched was with my producers: we touched more parts of the beat and let her verse breathe, but nothing else.
What have you learned from working with her?
When working with other artists, you should care every step of the way. She cared. I learned caring. When she started working on it, she called me on FaceTime, and we talked a little about it. The mixing, the music video, making sure that she didn’t take from it. It wasn’t like, “Oh, [it’s] Selena Gomez, so we have to switch the whole idea to something else,” she just embraced it. She’s such a hard worker, knowing how much she does. She acts, she has a makeup line, she does music. She has busy s–t to do, but she’s been promoting [to] her fanbase and has been very genuine, loving, kind and supportive of me. Even aside from “Calm Down,” [her fanbase] also supports my other music, just because I did a collaboration with Selena. That’s amazing.
What was the song’s initial inspiration?
I was at a party, and a couple of girls walked in, and I saw a girl in yellow. I wanted to talk to her and her friends were being really stuck up. They didn’t really want to chat. And I was like, “Yo, just calm down. Let’s have a chat.” And then she actually calmed down, and we started talking and dancing. When she left the party, she was on my mind, and I wanted to see her again. That was it. I walked in the studio fresh out of that emotion.
Who is your dream collaboration?
Bad Bunny. That’s my dream collab right now.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, you called your sound Afro-rave. Would “Calm Down” be a part of that movement or is this something entirely different?
Any music that comes from my mouth is Afro. You can tell that my sound is very distinctive out of every other Afrobeat artist, but it doesn’t take away the fact that Afro-rave was birthed through Afrobeats. [Afro-rave] is a subgenre. Burna [Boy] has his subgenre because he’s the only one doing him, you feel me? CKay, Fireboy DML, etc., they all got what they do, and some people just keep it straight with the old genres. I didn’t take it away from Afrobeat being my inspiration, but it’s just me posing to evolve the sound to something else. I worked hard for the sound, [and] I got criticized a lot until it started making its own wave. So I feel like it needs to be labeled. It’s knowing something is special and you trademark it. It’s me vouching for my art, my creation.
What’s next for you?
I really want to keep focusing on impacting the African youth. I feel like before I started getting global [recognition], my fellow Africans have been my huge propeller. They’re the ones who took me to the world.
I want to focus on building up our trust between artists and fanbases. We’re doing so much [in] other parts of the world [that] are developed and have better infrastructure. Whatever is coming into the culture, I would like to reinvest in it. We have to start putting up good shows. We have to start making people come to us. It’s good to do world tours, but we all need to come together to build Africa. As much as we are traveling, making the news, blah blah blah, I just really want to focus on home.
What do you want to do specifically to focus on the African youth and give back to your community?
I wouldn’t say it’s on some charity level type s–t. It’s based on the infrastructure that creators need. There are a lot of complaints coming from directors, painters, even musicians — fans don’t trust artists anymore because the shows are not being put up nicely. We need infrastructure. It’s important. The rest of the world is giving us that, but I think it’s very important that we actually invest in ourselves, because we really want the world to come to us.
They’re going to Ghana, they’re going to Tanzania, they’re going to a lot of places to watch Afrobeats artists, but we really need to focus on Nigeria here right now. The lineups in different African countries are a lot of Nigerian artists, but our infrastructure is very necessary.
A version of this story originally appeared in the Feb. 4, 2023, issue of Billboard.
In early 2022, charlieonnafriday had just finished recording the last song for his first project and was about to drive away from the studio. Then his producer Tyler Dopps called. “He was like, ‘Wait, there’s one more thing that we have to do before you leave,’” the 19-year-old artist recalls. Dopps played him a languid loop, and the singer-rapper wrote down the lyrics that ultimately became the hook to his pop-leaning breakup track, “Enough.”
The song wasn’t ready at the time to make the project, so he stashed it away in his phone. But months later, ready or not, “Enough” took off on social media. While driving to Los Angeles from his native Seattle with a friend last June, charlieonnafriday (born Charlie Finch) played the song and belted along to the chorus — which his friend filmed and posted on TikTok. The clip not only went viral but became charlieonnafriday’s breakthrough hit — two things he’d been building toward since childhood.
He started uploading vlogs to YouTube at eight years old and continued creating content on TikTok with his friends throughout high school. Inspired by his hometown hero Macklemore, he developed an interest in music, and in the eighth grade, after seeing his friend’s older brother producing in a home studio, started making his own. Over the next few years, the two stockpiled “hundreds of songs” as charlieonnafriday honed his rap skills during their daily sessions. “Every time I made a song, I felt like I was getting better slowly,” he says. “That’s what really interested me. I wanted to see how far I could take it and how good I could get.”
After taking a break to focus on school and football, he was motivated by the pandemic lockdown to pick the craft back up — this time on his own. Charlieonafriday started recording with Logic Pro and leaned heavily on YouTube tutorials to show him the ropes, admitting the hardest part was learning how to mix his own vocals. On the production side, he decided to trade in the trap drums that grounded his early music for more melodic beats, creating a pop-rap hybrid. “The artist always has that vision in their head,” he says, “but if you know how to do it, then it’s seamless.”
Charlieonnafriday photographed on January 23, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Michelle Genevieve Gonzales
He then “started flooding TikTok” with snippets of new songs — advising viewers to “live every day like it’s Friday,” inspiring his moniker — in hopes of building a fan base outside of Seattle. At the start of 2021, he made his first significant splash when he teased the intoxicating “After Hours.” Months later, the song caught the attention of Geoff Ogunlesi, CEO of The Ogunlesi Group, who signed on to co-manage charlieonnafriday (along with the company’s Sam Weiss, charlieonnafriday’s day-to-day manager, as well as Anthony and Ameer Brown, CEO and president, respectively, of digital marketing company Breakr). By the end of the year, “After Hours” surged to a new level of virality, with two live performance clips that have collected more than 13 million views.
Record labels were calling, but Ogunlesi was intent on waiting for the rising artist to release a body of work before committing to a deal. “It was risky because in this music landscape, moments are fleeting,” he admits. “You’re rolling the dice where, if and when ‘After Hours’ dies down, do the labels disappear? Do you lose an opportunity? [But] we felt really strong with our strategy.”
The artist’s debut project, the eight-track Onnafriday, arrived in April 2022 and soon after, he started taking meetings with the labels competing for him. He was immediately sold on Island, saying he was swayed by the label’s “family vibe,” and signed a record deal that summer. “A lot of the labels I met with two or three people, but with Island, I met everybody,” he says. “I knew that Island would put in a lot of effort. Labels are amazing for dumping gas on a flame.”
But “Enough” still didn’t have more than a refrain at that point — and as it began to take off online, he started feeling the pressure. He recalls with a laugh his team’s mentality: “Get [co-writer] Club 97, Tyler [Dopps] and Charlie in a room and finish it, [because] there are videos with five million views on a song that’s not done.”
“Enough” was finally released in August, and soon crossed over from social media to streaming services to radio airwaves — which Ogunlesi refers to as “icing on the cake” — fueled by a promotional run set up by the label. “At the end of the day, a lot of life is built on relationships,” says Ogunlesi. “Nothing really beats meeting people, winning them over [and] having programmers that are fans.” By November, charlieonnafriday made his debut on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, where “Enough” has since reached a No. 22 high on charts dated Jan. 28.
Having recently moved to Los Angeles — where he lives in a house “full of the same homies I started with” — charlieonnafriday kicked the year off with his new single “That’s What I Get,” amid a 10-date college tour across the country that wraps in February. He’ll then head overseas, playing to some of the biggest crowds of his career and opening for an artist he calls “one of the greatest performers ever”: Macklemore. And though hesitant on announcing a release date, he’s planning to drop a deluxe version of Onnafriday later this year.
“We’re not just trying to build a song, we’re trying to build an artist,” says Ogunlesi. “It has to extend beyond just one moment.”
Charlieonnafriday and Geoff Ogunlesi photographed on January 23, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Michelle Genevieve Gonzales
A version of this story originally appeared in the Feb. 4, 2023, issue of Billboard.
At long last, RAYE is in charge of her artistry. “I feel so free as a creative for the first time,” says the 25-year-old London-born singer-songwriter, who went independent in 2021 following seven years under a record deal with Polydor Records. “It’s probably the happiest I’ve been.”
Now, the growing artist, who has writing credits with Beyoncé, Rosalía and Ellie Goulding, is riding the high of her 2022 hit, “Escapism,” with 070 Shake, which first took off on TikTok and continues to build on the Billboard charts. She has no plans of slowing down, either, and will tour throughout the year in support of her recently released debut album, My 21st Century Blues. “[The album] is a different range of feelings and blues within my perspective as a woman in this day and age,” she explains.
RAYE only ever aspired to be a musician: “Make it work, figure it out” has been her mantra from age 7. Influenced by her musically inclined family — including her Ghanaian-Swiss mother, who sang in church as a child, and her grandfather, a songwriter — she enrolled at South London’s BRIT School, home to alumni such as Amy Winehouse, Adele and FKA twigs. But she dropped out after two years, eager to forge her own path. “I felt like it was important not to be taught how to do ‘that thing,’ ” she says. “It’s something you’ve got to learn with your own voice and own way.”
As a teenager, RAYE would take the train after class to songwriting sessions, often “working with 35-year-old white guys,” she remembers. “It was important to get my skills up.” She self-released her first mixtape in 2014 and signed to Polydor in the United Kingdom soon after. Within a few years, RAYE scored her breakthrough on London producer Jax’s “You Don’t Know Me.” But, she says, some of those early wins were bittersweet. “As soon as the [record] deal was signed, I was ushered down a path sonically that I didn’t necessarily intend for myself.” She tweeted her frustrations in 2021, saying the label wouldn’t let her release an album, and parted ways with Polydor that year to go independent.
In June 2022, RAYE signed with distribution and artist services company Human Re Sources ahead of her long-awaited debut album, My 21st Century Blues. “Escapism,” a standout dance-rap fusion with 070 Shake, arrived in October and became RAYE’s first Billboard Hot 100 hit, reaching a No. 22 high. The song powers the 13-track set, half of which she co-produced. “Some of these topics, my close friends don’t even know about me,” she says, alluding to themes of body dysmorphia, toxic relationships, substance abuse and sexual violence. She began 2023 opening for Lewis Capaldi on his U.K. arena tour and will hit the road with Kali Uchis in April. “I wasn’t gunning for big chart success,” she says. “I was putting out music I love, now that I’m in complete control of my career.”
A version of this story originally appeared in the Feb. 4, 2023, issue of Billboard.