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Drake had some exciting news for his hometown fans on Friday night (August 2) at Budweiser Stage in Toronto.
After surprising the crowd with a full set of R&B songs, he announced that he’s working on a new collaborative album with his OVO labelmate PartyNextDoor.
“On behalf of me and Party, we’ve been working on something for y’all,” he announced at the end of the concert. “So, you get the summer over with, you do what you need to do. I know all you girls are outside. When it gets a little chilly, PartyNextDoor and Drake album will be waiting right there for you.”
It was actually PartyNextDoor’s concert, not Drake’s — the Toronto date of the Mississauga rapper’s Sorry I’m Outside Tour — but he ceded the stage to his famous collaborator for nearly a whole hour at the end of his show. PartyNextDoor finished his own set — already a career-spanning show filled with R&B hits and slow-burning deep cuts from a decade of recording — then, after the stage set was changed over, the lights came back on with Drake standing in front of the microphone instead of him.
“I’m here tonight as a thank you,” he said, “to each and every one of you for all your years of unwavering support.”
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While shouting out Toronto is always good for a cheap pop from his local fans, Drake’s words felt genuine at this show. At a time when Kendrick Lamar’s ubiquitous diss track “Not Like Us” is contending for the song of the summer and even longtime friends are throwing their support behind it, it makes sense for Drake to do something special for the fans who’ve stood by him the most.
He said he had never done a full show of just R&B songs before, but he has more than enough to fill a strong setlist. He stuck mostly to one register: Drake with the melodies.
He nodded to Caribbean Carnival happening this weekend in Toronto with his Caribana ’99 tank top. That’s usually the weekend he puts on OVO Fest, but this was a little different than that yearly triumphant special-guest fest. Instead, it was a set filled with deeper cuts he rarely performs and one he debuted live for the first time.
He started with “Sweeterman,” the smooth 2015 remix of Mississauga artist RamRiddlz that he hasn’t played in years. Then came the first live performance of “Wah Gwan Delilah.” It was definitely a surprise. When Drake jumped on Snowd4y’s viral patois-laden cover of Plain White T’s emo-pop ballad “Hey There Delilah,” it was so divisive and strange that many people couldn’t figure out if it was really him or an AI deepfake. On this night, it was definitely him singing, and the crowd loved it.
Drake went back into his discography for “Practice” from Take Care and “Connect” from Nothing Was the Same, then got newer with “Finesse,” “Pipe Down” and “Redemption” — lower-key favorites from albums like Scorpion, Views and Certified Lover Boy. He brought up another OVO artist, Roy Woods, to play “Drama,” their vibey 2015 song.
Then, he brought back PartyNextDoor for a few collaborative songs, including the PND hit “Come and See Me.” Drake offered a lot of praise for him. He called him “the King of R&B” and his favorite R&B singer of all time, crediting him for inspiring him and “changing my life and changing my sound.” He even shouted out PartyNextDoor’s parents, who were in the audience.
With a collaborative album with PartyNextDoor on the horizon, we could hear a lot more of Drake’s softer side soon.
This article was originally published by Billboard Canada.
Oh my God, they’re back again. Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign have returned to deliver their Vultures 2 sequel. The joint LP hit streaming services after plenty of uncertainty early Saturday (Aug. 3). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The sequel arrives about six months after the […]
Three months after Aerosmith rescheduled the remaining dates of their Peace Out farewell tour, the group has officially announced their retirement from touring amid Steven Tyler‘s ongoing vocal cord injury. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The rock band took to social media on Friday (Aug. 2) […]
Boldy James has been on a run for the ages this year. First he dropped the critically acclaimed album Penalty of Leadership with producer Nicholas Craven and then followed that up with another great project in Across the Tracks alongside Griselda producer Conductor Williams. He now plans to release yet another “He’s the producer, I’m the rapper” collab […]
While KCON has long been heralded as the Mecca for K-pop fans, a new party that launched amid the 2024 Los Angeles date could also make it a must-attend for those in the industry as well.
What was meant to be a night to celebrate K-pop ended up being a cross-industry collaboration event hosted by Day 13, a new joint venture merger between K-pop and marketing expert Jenny Zha with Keith Kawamura, the anime and gaming marketing veteran who is also CEO of 3i Productions. Following KCON LA’s second day of concerts on Saturday, July 27, artists, execs, and influencers were on their way to downtown LA hot spot Hatch.
Notable attendees included KCON performers like K-pop star and American Song Contest winner AleXa, as well as Mikha of the Filipino girl group BINI — both of whom enjoyed bites and drinks in the roped-off back section of Hatch with friends like The Kelly Clarkson Show producer Jasmine Stephen, songwriter Vanessa Jefferson whose love of K-pop has been long documented by her sister Lizzo, and Henry Jiang of OfflineTV who talked to AleXa about their interest and collaborating in the game space.
“With the inaugural Day 13 industry party, we wanted to bring everyone together to create more avenues for ideation, and establish a longstanding tradition that can give way to even more exciting cross-collaboration projects,” Zha reflects to Billboard. “Subcultures like K-pop and anime are so pervasive it’s now part of mainstream conversation — especially at the forefront for key stakeholders behind-the-scenes.”
A host of journalists, publicists and other media figures that long worked in the K-pop space were also in attendance. Lively discussions included the extra effort being put into ILLIT’s comeback single, ATEEZ’s recent move to United Talent Agency, excitement and inquiries about TITAN CONTENTS’ first girl group AtHeart (originally revealed on Billboard), a K-pop act’s upcoming song collaboration in partnership with Netflix, a new K-pop artist’s signing with a U.S. PR, gripes about working with and guesses about the future of one major Korean agency, as well as tons more juicy tidbits to compete with Hatch’s wagyu and wasabi skewer.
Also in attendance was award-winning actress and dancer Krystal Ellsworth (who blew up in India after starring in the 2017 flick Heartbeats that was shot in the country). Brian Chau of CAA was in the house, linking up Konami and Bandai Games over drinks to explore how talents could be further integrated in a convo about video gaming industry.
Influencers like “The Transition Guy” Jonny Tran (930,000 TikTok followers) and Twitch streamer iGumdrop (with nearly 300,000 Twitch followers and 450,000 Instagram followers) were seen connecting with members of Sony’s Santa Monica Studios — producers behind the God of War franchise – for collaboration opportunities.
Finneas is coming to his little sister’s defense after a commenter labeled Billie Eilish‘s verse on the Charli XCX “Guess” remix “predatory.”
The takedown occurred in the comment section of a TikTok posted Friday (Aug. 2), in which a user wrote that the 22-year-old singer’s lyrics on the Brat deluxe track were “highkey predatory,” accusing her of “queerbaiting” and “reducing girls to mere objects, all in an effort to convince the masses that she’s actually into them.” The remark appears to be in response to the part of “Guess” where Eilish sings, “Charli likes boys, but she knows I’d hit it/ Charli, call me if you’re with it.”
The producer, however, was having none of it. “What a take you little clown,” he wrote. “I got to watch the entire internet slam my sister for queer-baiting for an entire year when in reality, you were all forcing her to label and out herself.”
It’s unclear whether the user who posted the criticism was coming from a genuine place or simply trying to stir the pot, but Finneas’ point still stands. Eilish has been open about how challenging it’s been for her to speak about her sexuality on her own terms while growing up in the public eye, especially as she’s faced backlash for supposedly queerbaiting — or disingenuously pandering to LGBTQ audiences for commercial gain — since 2019’s “Wish U Were Gay.”
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The two-time Oscar winner was met with similar allegations in 2021 for dancing sensuously with women in her “Lost Cause” music video. At the time, Eilish didn’t publicly identify as part of the LGBTQ community; in November 2023, however, she revealed to Variety that she’s “physically attracted” to women, soon after which she accused the outlet of “outing” her on a subsequent red carpet.
“i like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares,” she added on Instagram Stories at the time.
Eilish has since grown more comfortable speaking — and singing — about her sexuality. Before “Guess,” she mused about lusting after a female love interest on her Billboard Hot 100 hit “Lunch,” and in her April Rolling Stone cover story, she said, “I’ve been in love with girls for my whole life, but I just didn’t understand — until, last year, I realized I wanted my face in a vagina.”
“Who f—ing cares? The whole world suddenly decided who I was, and I didn’t get to say anything or control any of it,” she continued in the article. “Nobody should be pressured into being one thing or the other, and I think that there’s a lot of wanting labels all over the place. Dude, I’ve known people that don’t know their sexuality, or feel comfortable with it, until they’re in their forties, fifties, sixties. It takes a while to find yourself, and I think it’s really unfair, the way that the internet bullies you into talking about who you are and what you are.”
A$AP Rocky has released the lead single from his upcoming album Don’t Be Dumb.
Produced by Greg Kurstin, Jordan Patrick, Zach Fogarty, Hitkidd and Rocky himself, “Highjack” shows the Harlem rapper getting back in his bag of being one of the most confident rappers out. With bars like “Don’t compare that p—y boy to me (I don’t like that)/ Feelin’ like I’m Sosa, Chiefie Keef (I don’t like that)/ Tired of them n—as sleepin’ on me, I don’t like naps/ N—as f— around and stole the flow and y’all like that?,” he’s leaving things up to interpretation, and we’re sure fans will speculate online about whom he’s referring to exactly.
Those aren’t the only lines packed with subliminals.
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“Before we dropped ‘Peso’ on you n—as, you ain’t like Raf/ N—as want a feature from me? This ain’t a life raft” and “These n—as want my wife bad, the people want my next track/ The coppers want my Black a–, f—ed up, but it’s like that” shows Rocky reminding the game about his influence.
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Rocky spoke with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe recently and he talked about his new music and fatherhood.
About his new single, Rocky had this to say: “I feel like the real is back, man, and it’s just like, this sh– is for the taking. It’s a highjack. Not only that, it’s just we coming with a whole new aesthetic on everything, especially with German expressionism and the whole ghetto futurism grim thing. So that’s just what the sound sounds like and whatnot. The sonics of it.”
About tapping Jessica Pratt and Jon Batiste for a couple unlikely features on “Highjack,” he said this: “I just love alternative. I love just different sounds and whatnot. [Jessica Pratt] kind of gave me this kind of Portishead meets Stevie Nicks vibe a little bit. … So I always f—ed with her as a artist, and so I figured it was necessary to get her, Jon Batiste on this one and kind of make it feel soulful to bring it on home in the outro.”
And on fatherhood influencing his new music, he told Lowe: “I got more personal vulnerable things to talk about and whatnot, and it’s just, I think the trick is having that fine balance of just entertaining and telling a story or giving something, telling somebody listening and view something informative about you and whatnot.”
Don’t Be Dumb is set to release Aug. 30.
You can watch the Zane Lowe Apple Music interview below.
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A number of RuPaul’s Drag Race queens are coming for Missouri politician Valentina Gomez after a homophobic tirade about the Olympics she posted to social media. “These f—-ts should get their own f—-t category, because, before, if a man hit a woman, it used to land him in jail. Now, it gets you a gold […]
This week in dance music: We spoke with members of the U.S. breakdancing team ahead of the summer Olympics, we caught up with Empire of the Sun in the wake of their new album, we tracked Charli XCX from her Boiler Room set in Ibiza to the wildly successful ticket sales for her upcoming Sweat tour with Troye Sivan to her panties-forward edit of “Guess” with Billie Eilish. Meanwhile, PinkPantheress announced that she’s cancelling the rest of her 2024 tour to focus on her health, and we chatted with Channel Tres about his new album, his upcoming tour with Kaytranada and a lot more.
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Speaking of a lot more, these are the best new dance tracks of the week.
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Isoknock feat. Cade Clair, “4evr”
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The emo-meets-trance-meets-bass track that you neither knew you needed (nor were aware that anyone was capable of making) arrives via the title track of 4EVR, the surprise album from Isoknock — the collaborative project from San Diego wunderkinds IsoXo and Knock2. The ravey song comes with a stylish video that gives shades of “November Rain,” but with a more opaque ending which is more fully fleshed out in the nine-minute short film, Isoknock: 4evr. The film comes in tandem with the eight-track album, which blends trap, bass and a lot of wild sounds into a hard, loose, very fresh-sounding 27-minute thrill ride that features the previously released RL Grime collab “Smack Talk.”
The Blessed Madonna feat. DJ E-Clips, “Godspeed”
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The Blessed Madonna announces her long-awaited debut album, Godspeed, with the release of the album’s title track, a collaboration with the always excellent DJ E-Clyps that functions as nothing less than the warm welcome to and thesis statement for the entire project. “So sing your song and do your dance; godspeed the boogie, this is your chance,” E-Clyps commands while listing all the good and mysterious things god does over a funky, squelchy beat. This song comes comes alongside the news that Godspeed — out October 11 via Warner Records — will include the Kylie Minogue collab “Another Saturday Night.”
“Godspeed: the word marks the beginning of a journey and sometimes the end of one,” the Blessed Madonna says. “After nearly a year in lockdown, when I signed the paperwork and knew that I was going to be allowed to make this album, I called my dad in Kentucky to tell him the good news. He could not contain his pride and in a way his relief. I was going to be ok. He says it better than I do at the beginning of the record. I lost him suddenly just weeks before the first session, but his voice will live in Godspeed forever and make a million more journeys to everyone who hears it.”
Jamie xx feat. The Avalanches, “All You Children”
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Amid a very big month that’s finding Jamie xx play nearly a dozen clubs nights in New York City and Los Angeles as part of his the pop-up club party, The Floor, the producer has dropped the latest track from his forthcoming In Waves. A collaboration with legends The Avalanches, the song is a sort of call to arms for the album and the dancefloor, with lyrics that encourage that “all you children gather round, we will dance… together ” over warm ’80s synths and a sort of chant reminiscent of Bicep’s 2021 essential “Apricots.” In Waves is out via Jamie xx’s own Young label on September 20. In the meantime, he continues The Floor tonight in L.A.
“The Avalanches have always been an inspiration for me,” the producer says. “Their sample technique and how they piece together different sounds is incredible, and collaborating on a track with them has showed me new ways of making music.”
Caribou, “Volume”
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Caribou takes a sample from M|A|R|R|S’ 1987 all-time jock jam “Pump Up The Volume” and places it within a deep house, near-ambient-at-times production that ramps up with such subtlety that by the end you might be surprised to find yourself dancing with your eyes closed. The track comes ahead of an expansive 27-date fall and winter tour that will take Caribou mastermind Dan Snaith and crew across the U.S. and into Europe and Canada.
“‘Pump Up the Volume’ was the first time in my life I heard electronic music,” Snaith says, “sitting in front of the family stereo system listening to the top 40 countdown on the radio when I was a kid. It completely blew my mind – it sounded like something from another world. It’s stuck with me ever since – I always wanted to rework it in some way. I didn’t consciously think about it when I started working on my track, but I think there’s something really special about having gone right back to the very beginning in making this.”
Carlita feat. SG Lewis, “The Moment”
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Given how prolific SG Lewis has been as a producer lately (check his A+ work with Tove Lo on their recent collaborative EP Body Heat), one could be forgiven for forgetting that he’s also a really good singer. His silky vocals are at the fore of “The Moment,” a lush collab with Turkish-Italian scene star Carlita and the third single from her forthcoming debut album, Sentimental, coming this November on Ninja Tune.
Nicole Moudaber with House of Molly, “Slap Back”
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Techno titan Nicole Moudaber takes a right turn into tech house via her Higher Ground debut, “Slap Back,” an extremely club-ready jam built around a bouncy synth and earworm vocals from London duo House of Molly. Moudaber will likely drop it this weekend during her set at France’s Family Piknik, where she’s appearing alongside Sven Vath, LP Giobbi, Josh Wink and many more.
Armin van Buuren, “Es Vedrà”
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Dutch titan van Buuren has done a casual 16 Ibiza residencies during his inimitable career, so it’s simply correct to say that he understands the vibe of the island and is channeling that sweat, saltwater and sunsets vibe on his latest, “Es Vedrà.” Out via Armada and named for the giant rock that juts out of the water on the island’s west coast (which many party people say has mystical powers), the song is immersive and high energy, lush and tight and really just plainly catchy. Van Buuren returns to Ibiza for a four Sunday run at Ushuaïa this September.
Kesha was dangerously close to becoming a literal “Backstabber” while performing the song at her Lollapalooza set, something she didn’t even realize until afterward. According to the pop star, her prop knife was switched out for a real blade before she went onstage Thursday night — not that anyone told her about it. “sooooo apparently […]
