Music News

02 Aug 2023

Carly Rae Jepsen Opens Up About Living in a ‘Loud, Fearless Way’ on New Album ‘The Loveliest Time’

To understand how Carly Rae Jepsen arrived at her recently released seventh studio album, The Loveliest Time, we have to start back in 2020, when the pop star wrote an entire musical project while in isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“I wanted to face my loneliness and write about all the discovery I found in that place,” she tells Billboard of the creative inspiration that hit her at the time. “My imagination went to some pretty extreme places. I had a thought of, should I text my ex and rekindle that terrible relationship? [laughs] It was fun to write songs about all the extreme reactions you get from loneliness, like joining a dating app or going to some reflective place where you’re thinking about choices you’ve made or some grief for some stuff you haven’t unpacked that you finally have time to do. I was definitely looking at this theme of loneliness as a really cool starting place.”

As a result, 2022’s The Loneliest Time was born, filled to the brim with social media viral hits like the album’s title track, “Western Wind,” “Beach House” and more, keeping fans company during their own lonely moments. But Jepsen wasn’t done with the concept of growth through isolation. “It was always an intention of mine to look at this piece of work as a package,” she explains.

Throughout her hectic touring schedule in 2022, Jepsen still made time to revisit some of the B-sides that didn’t make the cut for The Loneliest Time. “I think, partially, having some time away and then coming back to them sort of helped me have new perspective on them,” she says of the songs. “There’s strength in leaving things and coming back and looking at it, and I felt like it was really helpful for me to sort of unlock some things that needed to be solved on these songs.”

That refreshed energy led to the aptly titled The Loveliest Time, which officially arrived on July 27. “The Loveliest Time was always the intended name for the album, but I was still in a lonely place when I wrote it,” she says of turning her two recent projects into sister albums. “It was just my imagination taking shape with, ‘what about when the world opens up?’ and the extremes of love and of being able to travel, like, getting to live in this really loud, fearless way. I don’t think I could have gotten to The Loveliest Time without going through The Loneliest Time.”

Capturing quite literally the loveliest time in her musical career, the album shows a new, experimental and free-spirited side of Jepsen, as she plays with unique sounds while still remaining true to her bubbly, colorful personality. She mentions “Psychedelic Switch” specifically, a rave-ready track with an unexpectedly extended intro leading into a euphoric, transcendent chorus. “If you hear the beginning of ‘Psychedelic Switch,’ it’s still dance-y, but it’s more slow. It was the work of [producer and co-writer] Kyle Shearer, who started going to raves with his wife when the world opened up after COVID. He comes into the studio, and I hadn’t seen a hot minute, and he’s like, ’So, I’ve been into rave music.’ And he starts playing ‘Psychedelic Switch’ and it sounds like a rave, and I’m like, ‘Let’s go!’ There was this playful energy, not only in my experience creating with people in person again, but also for everyone else who was a part of this and I think it brought this energy of like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is our renewal back into music.’ It has born some new, crazy energy in me.”

On the other end, The Loveliest Time also sees Jepsen dive deeper introspectively, as seen in “Kollage,” a mid-tempo track in which the 37-year-old superstar opens up about her fragility in how she deals with heartbreak and pain. “I think with The Loneliest Time and having some songs that offered a little bit more depth to them, I kind of realized that my audience seemed really welcoming to it,” she says of feeling ready to be more vulnerable. “I realized I was ‘allowed’ to be anything. In fact, there is no ‘allowed.’ Who made these rules? As long as my music feels sincere. Getting to write about subjects that are a little bit more nuanced, that feels so refreshing for me — being in the pop industry for so long and not feel like I have to be so cookie cutter or black and white.”

She concludes with a perfect representation of who she is as an artist right now: “It’s all so deliciously gray and everything in between.”

Listen to The Loveliest Time below.

02 Aug 2023

Jennifer Hudson Calls Common ‘a Beautiful Man’ Amid Dating Speculation

Jennifer Hudson and Common have been rumored to be dating since July of 2022, and the pair has played coy about the status of their relationship ever since. However, Hudson did give a hint as to what she thinks about the rapper’s looks in a brief conversation with TMZ.

“The rumors say a lot of things,” Hudson said when asked to clarify the status of her relationship. “He’s a beautiful man, I will give you that.” Elsewhere during her interaction with the media outlet, Hudson said “thank you” when told she and Common makes a beautiful couple.

Hudson and Common’s dating rumors first sparked once they were spotted spending time together while filming their upcoming action-thriller movie, Breathe. When asked about a potential romance after their first public outing, the talk show host stated that the moment was nothing more than co-workers going out to lunch during a break.

“People create their narratives of it and it’s like, OK, you know, how you feel,” she told Entertainment Tonight last September. “We shot a film together and he played my husband. We gotta eat in between those moments.”

Common hasn’t let too much slip of his and Hudson’s possible relationship, but also called her beautiful in a June interview with TODAY. “I’ve always been inspired by her,” he said. “She’s one of the most beautiful people I ever met on the planet. Incredible heart, and she’s just dope, man.”

Hudson and Common have both won multiple Grammys, an Oscar and an Emmy. Hudson has also won a Tony, which makes her an EGOT.

Watch Hudson address her relationship with Common here.

02 Aug 2023

Kylie Minogue Wants This Australian Actress to Play Her in a Future Biopic

Kylie Minogue is preparing to end 2023 with a major bang — following the success of her chart-topping single “Padam Padam,” the Australian pop star will be releasing her upcoming album, Tension, in September and is headed to Las Vegas for her first ever residency come November. Speaking with E! News, the singer revealed that Vegas has always been in her plans.

“For many many years, I thought ‘I’ll do Vegas one day,’ and now is the time. It’s a brand new club and experience and it’s being made as we speak. It’s going to be box fresh,” she said, adding that narrowing down the songs she wants to sing will be a tall task. “I’ve got my work cut out for me to choose my setlist, and to choose a few surprises as well.”

As for the success Minogue has seen with “Padam,” the singer said she “will forever and always be so grateful” to the track. “From the moment it came out, it’s going, it’s running. What an amazing start for the Tension album. It’s a combination of club sounds like “Padam.” It’s my happy place, like a melancholic high. Kind of happy sad, but bangers.”

With so much on the horizon for the “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” singer, surely a biopic is in the works. Thankfully, Minogue knows exactly who she wants to play her: “Margot Robbie in my dreams, She has the Australian accent down for sure.”

Tension is slated to release on Sept. 22. Minogue will embark on her Las Vegas residency at the Venetian Resort on Nov. 3.

Watch her full interview with E! News in the video above.

02 Aug 2023

Jay de la Cueva Says Farewell to Moderatto After 24 Years

Jay de la Cueva is saying goodbye to Brian Amadeus, the alter ego that has accompanied him since 1999 fronting the Mexican glam rock band Moderatto. The musician made the announcement on Tuesday night (Aug. 1) in a video posted on his Instagram account.

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“I’m going to say goodbye to my alter ego, I’m going to say goodbye to that voice, leaving Moderatto,” De la Cueva said in the post. “It has not been an easy decision, since there is nothing negative, everything is going amazing, but today my heart resonates with the new music I am making. It’s very important for me to commit to that, to my first solo album and to the new band I have.”

Dressed in a red shirt and rocking his long hair down, the musician thanked those who have been with him all these years: his four bandmates (Cha!, Iñaki Vázquez, Marcello Lara and Elohim Corona), his management, the Universal Music label, his family and fans “for all the love” they have given him.

The 45-year-old singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist said that evolution seduced him, and that he is on a quest to “experiment.”

In March, De la Cueva announced the rock n’ roll supergroup The Guapos, alongside French-Mexican artist Adán Jodorowsky, Mexican singer-songwriter David Aguilar and the Spanish singer Leiva. With the group, he released the single “Soy Un Guapo,” part of his debut album Hey!, which will be presented live on Oct. 24 in Mexico City.

The rocker clarified that the commitments previously agreed to with Moderatto during 2023 that involved him will be carried out without setbacks. He also said that it will be a good opportunity for his fans to say goodbye to him.

So far, his bandmates in Moderatto have not commented on the matter. It is unclear if the group known for hits such as “Márchate Ya,” “Muriendo Lento” and “Sentimettal” will continue after De la Cueva’s departure.

Moderatto was founded in 1999 as a glam rock group that parodied the stereotypes of the bands of the musical genre that emerged in the ’80s, with obvious influences from groups such as Kiss, Twisted Sister and Mötley Crüe.

In its 24-year career, the group has recorded nine studio albums and one live album, including collaborations with artists such as Alejandra Guzmán, Belinda and La Arrolladora Banda El Limón. Their most recent album, Rockea Bien Duro, was released in 2022.

Jay de la Cueva is one of the most active musicians in the Mexican music scene. He rose to fame as a member of the children’s group Micho Chips in the late ’80s and, in addition to Moderatto, he was a member of bands such as Molotov, Fobia, Las Víctimas del Doctor Cerebro, Titán, Los Odio! and Mexrrissey.

Listen to De la Cueva’s full message below:

02 Aug 2023

See a First Look at ‘San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time’ Documentary

San Francisco from 1965 to 1975 provided an extraordinarily fertile environment for the birth of such music acts as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Steve Miller, Santana and many more. Additionally, seminal festivals such as Monterey Pop, Altamont and Woodstock brought Bay Area musicians into the national forefront during that time. 

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The rich scene is examined in San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time, a two-part docuseries that airs Aug. 20 and Aug. 27 on MGM+.

The documentary comes from the same team that produced the three-time Emmy-nominated doc Laurel Canyon: A Place in Time of directors Alison Ellwood and Anoosh Tertzakian of Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions, the Kennedy/Marshall Company, Amblin Television and Jeff Pollack. 

“Just like with Laurel Canyon, I personally lived through this extraordinary musical period of time and visited the San Francisco scene on a regular basis, so I’m very excited to be working again with the same amazing team we assembled to create the Laurel Canyon doc series,” said executive producer Frank Marshall in a previous statement.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=-LTD7C-oFhc&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

“We are thrilled to reveal a new perspective on this explosively creative and musical place in time through never-before-seen archival material and the personal stories of those who lived and breathed the San Francisco scene. People think they know what the ‘Summer of Love’ was all about, but the two-part film sheds both light and darkness on what really happened during the psychedelic renaissance,” co-directors Ellwood and Tertzakian said in a joint statement to Billboard.

San Francisco, Sounds A Place in Time, MGM+

In the premiere of the documentary’s trailer above, even a young Bob Dylan praises the Northern California scene, declaring that “Jefferson Airplane are playing at Fillmore Auditorium, and I would like to go if I could.” The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia chimes in on the scene as well, declaring it a peaceful one, even in the face of the Vietnam War: “We’re not thinking about any kind of power, revolution or war.”

02 Aug 2023

NewJeans Score First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 With ‘2nd EP ‘Get Up”

NewJeans land both their first No. 1 and first entry on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Aug. 5) as their 2nd EP ‘Get Up’ debuts atop the list. The set earned 126,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending July 27, according to Luminate, mostly driven by CD sales of the album.

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The Korean quintet brings a second all-female group to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in less than a year, following BLACKPINK’s Born Pink last September. They are the only two albums by all-female groups to reach No. 1 in the last 15 years. (Before BLACKPINK, the last all-female group to lead the tally was Danity Kane with Welcome to the Dollhouse in April of 2008.)

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, the all-star Barbie soundtrack bows at No. 2 – with the biggest week, by units earned, for a theatrical film soundtrack in over four years. Plus, Greta Van Fleet claims its third top 10-charting effort as Starcatcher starts at No. 8.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Aug. 5, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 2. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Get Up’s 126,500 equivalent album units earned in the week ending July 27, album sales comprise 101,500 (with 99% of that sum driven by CD sales and 1% via digital download), SEA units comprise 24,500 (equaling 34.39 million on-demand official streams of the set’s six tracks) and TEA units comprise 500.

Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of Get Up was issued in collectible CD packages (three main versions, available in 14 different iterations, with different covers and packaging individualized to the different group members, and all with a set of randomized branded merchandise inside, including photo books, lyric books and photo cards). Most of the permutations of the CD edition of the album saw their contents housed in a branded bag, which was then contained inside a box. The set was only available for purchase as a CD or a digital download album.

Get Up is mostly in the Korean language, but includes some English lyrics. It is the 20th mostly non-English language album to hit No. 1, and the fourth of 2023, following Stray Kids’ 5-STAR (one week at No. 1, June 17 chart), Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito (one week, March 11) and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: Temptation (one week, Feb. 11).

Though Get Up is NewJeans’ first album to chart on the Billboard 200, the group logged three entries before the album’s release on the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, including the Get Up track “Super Shy,” which climbs to a new peak of No. 48 on the Aug. 5-dated chart.

Notably, the six-track Get Up is the second No. 1 album of 2023 to have fewer than 10 tracks, after another K-pop project, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s five-song The Name Chapter: Temptation.

The all-star Barbie film soundtrack bounds in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 126,000 equivalent album units earned — the biggest week for a full-length theatrical film soundtrack, by units, in more than four years. The last soundtrack to score a bigger week was Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born, which registered 129,000 on the March 9, 2019, chart (at No. 1), following its exposure on that year’s Academy Awards (Feb. 24).

Barbie marks the highest charting soundtrack in more than a year, since Encanto led the list for nine nonconsecutive weeks (January-March 2022). Barbie is also the highest debut for a full-length theatrical film soundtrack since the Beyoncé-led The Lion King: The Gift also opened at No. 2 three years ago (Aug. 3, 2019, chart).

The Barbie album features new music from Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice and Sam Smith (among many others), and even a pair of tracks from the film’s co-star Ryan Gosling.

Of Barbie’s starting unit sum of 126,000, SEA units comprise 70,000 (equaling 93.81 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 19 songs), album sales comprise 53,000, and TEA units comprise 3,000.

Meanwhile, Barbie boasts the largest sales week on vinyl for a theatrical film soundtrack (33,000) since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. (The set’s vinyl sales were enhanced by its availability across at least six color variants.) Further, Barbie scores the largest first-week streams (93.81 million) for a soundtrack in over five years, since Black Panther started with 138.95 million (Feb. 24, 2018, chart).

Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time dips 2-3 on the Billboard 200 with 103,000 equivalent album units (down 2%). The set has earned in excess of 100,000 equivalent album units in all 21 of its chart weeks, extending its own record as the album with the most weeks of 100,000-plus units since the Billboard 200 began ranking titles by units in December of 2014.

Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) falls to No. 4 in its third week (79,000 equivalent album units; down 35%) after spending its first two weeks at No. 1. Peso Pluma’s Génesis drops 3-5 (53,000; down 4%), Swift’s chart-topping Midnights descends 4-6 (49,000; down 4%) and Wallen’s former leader Dangerous: The Double Album falls 5-7 (47,000; down 1%).

Greta Van Fleet notches its third top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as Starcatcher starts at No. 8. The set launches with 45,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 41,000, SEA units comprise 4,500 (equaling 5.83 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 10 songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Rounding out the top 10 is a pair of former No. 1s: SZA’s SOS (7-9 with just over 42,000; down 2%) and Swift’s Lover (6-10 with 42,000; down 3%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

02 Aug 2023

TOMORROW X TOGETHER Gives Sneak Peek of Lollapalooza Set in Dance Practice Video

Lollapalooza is just around the corner, and TOMORROW X TOGETHER is preparing to put on a show that MOA will not forget. Ahead of the group’s headlining set at the annual Chicago music festival, the quintet — which consists of members Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun and HueningKai — gave fans a sneak peek at their performance via TikTok on Wednesday (Aug. 2).

“Hey, MOA. There is only one week left for Lollapalooza. So we’re practicing hard for our performance. We’ll make you proud — let’s go!” Soobin said into the camera.

The footage then cuts to the group performing intricate choreography in a dance studio. The K-pop stars dance along to tracks “Tinnitus (Wanna be a rock)” and “Sugar Rush Ride” from recent album Sweet, as well as the group’s Jonas Brothers’ collab, “Do It Like That.”

TXT spoke with Consequence in May and shared how they were feeling leading up to their appearance at the music festival.

​​”When we were performing for the first time at Lollapalooza last year, I felt a little pressured and worried, rather than excited, because I had to perform in front of a lot of people that don’t know us,” Soobin recalled. “But last year, I saw that people were just there to enjoy, and they enjoyed our show — so now that we’re going back with the title of headliner, I’m not worried this time. It’s also a good opportunity to present ourselves to people that don’t know us, so I think I’m going to enjoy myself even more this time.”

TOMORROW X TOGETHER is set to take the stage on Saturday, Aug. 5. See the group’s dance practice video below.

02 Aug 2023

Liam Payne Shouts Out One Direction as ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ Nears 1 Billion Streams: ‘Miss You Boys’

It’s been 12 years since One Direction burst onto the scene with their massive global hit, “What Makes You Beautiful,” and on Wednesday (Aug. 2), Liam Payne celebrated a new milestone for the song.

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“Wow I just got told we’re about to make a billion streams on wmyb,” the 29-year-old singer wrote alongside a throwback photo of himself posing with former bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson. “Never in the making of this song so early in our career did I think I would be looking at those numbers what an achievement boys!”

He continued, “I’m so lucky not only to share this with you but also this amazing fanbase everyday I’m learning about myself and what was all of this for but now when I listen back and think of the power we all had including you as a fanbase I’m so happy that for 5 years we made such a great soundtrack to life for myself and everyone who got to listen sharing laughter pain and everything in between miss you boys. Lots of love.”

See Payne’s post here.

Last month, Payne reflected on one of his bigger career controversies, in which he bashed his former bandmates and controversially claimed on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast that he was the inspiration behind Simon Cowell’s decision to create One Direction.

In an eight-minute YouTube video posted on July 8, the singer revealed that the subsequent backlash from the interview was one of the incidents that ultimately encouraged him to enter a sobriety treatment program for 100 days. “My own frustrations with my own career and where I kind of landed, I took shots at everybody else which is wrong. Obviously, I want to apologize for that, in the first instance, because that’s definitely not me,” he shared in the clip. “One of the biggest remarks I made was about the One Direction thing … and a lot of self-protection, I suppose, in that moment, more than anything. The rest of the boys really stuck by me when I needed them most, they kinda came to the rescue. Even Zayn, as well, which is why I did send him a little thank you online. It came across really big-headed didn’t it?”

Moving forward, the “Strip That Down” singer said he’s focusing on his sobriety as he continues to make social media content for the rest of the year. He’s also set to head out on a headlining tour later in the year.

02 Aug 2023

Lionsgate Picks Up For King & Country’s ‘Unsung Hero’ Movie

For years during their concerts, contemporary christian music sibling duo For King & Country — brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone — have been sharing the story of their family’s immigration from Australia to the United States.

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Now, their story is coming to the big screen, as Lionsgate has picked up Kingdom Story Company’s Unsung Hero, which marks the directorial debut for Joel, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Unsung Hero will release April 26, 2024.

Since launching their debut album Crave in 2012, For King & Country has notched 13 No. 1 hits on Billboard‘s Christian Airplay chart, including “God Only Knows” and “For God Is With Us,” and has won four Grammy trophies.

The movie follows the musically talented family, which moved stateside after their father’s music company in Australia dissolved. After moving to Nashville, the duo’s older sister, Rebecca St. James, earned a string of hits in the 1990s and 2000s. The brothers got their start in music by being roadies on their sister’s tours. Unsung Hero centers on the family’s matriarch, Helen Smallbone (played by Daisy Betts), and how her faith and determination played an essential role in the family’s story.

The movie will star Joel portraying his father, David Smallbone, with additional cast members including Jonathan Jackson, Candace Cameron Bure, Kirrilee Berger, Lucas Black, Terry O’Quinn and Lady A’s Hillary Scott. Smallbone and Richard Ramsey direct the film, which is based upon a script Smallbone and Ramsey also wrote together. Producers on the project are Justin Tolley, Josh Walsh and Luke Smallbone.

02 Aug 2023

Gunna Flaunts ‘F—kumean’ Success in New ‘Rodeo Dr’ Music Video: Watch

On the heels of achieving his highest-charting unaccompanied Billboard Hot 100 hit with “F—kumean” (No. 4), Gunna has released a new music video for “Rodeo Dr.” Taken from his chart-topping A Gift & A Curse album, “Rodeo Dr” debuted and peaked at No. 42 on the Hot 100 last month on the chart dated July 1, 2023.

The Spike Jordan-helmed music video finds Gunna blending the autobiographical and the theatrical. The clip finds the rapper navigating a dramatized police car chase as he returns to Beverly Hills for the first time since his months-long jail stint. In May 2022, Gunna (alongside Young Thug and 28 other YSL associates) was charged in a 56-count RICO indictment and subsequently turned himself in. After pleading guilty to single racketeering conspiracy charge last December and receiving a four-year suspended sentence, Gunna was released from jail. Throughout the music video, Gunna flaunts luxury shopping bags and dedicated groupies alike, leaning into to triumphant tone of the video.

In the beginning of the music video, Gunna references the “snitching” controversy that has characterized most of the discourse around him for the past year. As “F—kumean” plays in the background, one character asks, “Man, y’all still f—k with that n—a?” “F—kumean, n—a?” another character responds. “You ain’t f—g with him?” The audio then cuts to a fictionalized news report alluding to the YSL situation before launching into Gunna’s gaudy return to Rodeo Drive. The music video ends with a scene between two inmates, one of whom is also from Gunna’s hometown, fondly watching the rapper’s raucous return to the streets.

Gunna has earned four top 10 hits on the Hot 100, reaching as high as No. 4 with both “F—kumean” and the Grammy-nominated “Drip Too Hard” (with Lil Baby). On the Billboard 200, the “Too Easy” rapper has sent five titles to the chart’s top 10, including the No. 1 albums Wunna and DS4EVER.