State Champ Radio Music News
Page: 552
Selena Gomez broke down in tears on Monday morning (Jan. 27) in an Instagram post in which she promised to do anything she can to help undocumented Mexican nationals in the midst of the new Trump administration’s nationwide crackdown on undocumented non-citizens.
According the People magazine, the Texas-born singer whose grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico without proper documentation posted a since-deleted Instagram Story in which she weeped alongside the caption, “I’m sorry” and a Mexican flag emoji. “All my people are getting attacked, the children,” Gomez added in the video that can be seen here. “I don’t understand. I’m so sorry, I wish I could do something but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.”
President Trump began his second administration last week by vowing to unleash a nationwide immigration crackdown. CNN reported that over the weekend nearly 1,000 people the administration deemed national security threats were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers along with agents from a variety of federal agencies including the FBI, DEA and U.S. Marshals Service in Chicago, Atlanta, Puerto Rico, Colorado, Los Angeles, Austin, TX and elsewhere.
People said that in another since-deleted Instagram Story, Gomez wrote, “Apparently it’s not ok to show empathy for people.” According to reports, TV doctor Phil McGraw joined U.S. border czar Tom Homan in a highly choreographed raid in Chicago in which the daytime talk show host asked some detainees where they were from and whether they were legal citizens.
At press time a spokesperson for Gomez had not returned Billboard‘s request for further comment on the singer’s posts.
Gomez, 32, has been a strong advocate for the immigrant community before, including producing the 2019 Netflix series Living Undocumented, a doc that told the story of eight families who agreed to let film crews follow them as they faced potential deportation under the first Trump administration. At the time, Gomez slammed what she dubbed the Trump team’s cruel treatment of immigrant families, including its widely criticized separation of children from their families.
“I can’t even imagine what these kids being separated from their families are going through,” she said in February 2020. “It’s something that is going to traumatize them for the rest of their lives. And it just seems animalistic.” In October 2019, Gomez also penned a poignant essay for TIME magazine, in which she wrote about her aunt and grandparents crossing the border into the U.S. from Mexico.
“In 1992, I was born a U.S. citizen thanks to their bravery and sacrifice,” she wrote. “Over the past four decades, members of my family have worked hard to gain United States citizenship. Undocumented immigration is an issue I think about every day, and I never forget how blessed I am to have been born in this country thanks to my family and the grace of circumstance.”
The flurry of raids have mostly drawn praise from Trump’s MAGA followers and Republican lawmakers, while officials in some states have decried the actions. NBC reported that Newark, NJ leaders and immigrant rights activists complained that ICE agents entered the back of a business in the city and arrested three workers without proper documents, while also detaining and questioning employees who are U.S. citizens.
Among other tactics employed so far by the Trump camp as part of its immigration crackdown are the shutting down of the CBP One asylum app, the clearing of the way for immigration authorities to make arrests in schools, churches and hospitals and a rush of active duty troops to help build border barriers and escort people onto removal flights.
Kai Cenat didn’t become the most popular Twitch streamer in hip-hop by holding back his real opinions. So while speaking to Billboard for his January cover story, he didn’t hold back when it came to his takes on the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar rap war of 2024.
In conversation with Billboard‘s deputy editorial director Damien Scott, Cenat — who once FaceTimed Drizzy on his Twich livestream — began by saying, “I’m cool with Drake.”
Trending on Billboard
“So people would expect me to be on Drake’s side,” he continued. “But I’m not going to lie. Kendrick won that battle.”
Cenat was one of countless hip-hop fans who was locked in during the Toronto native and Dot’s musical conflict last spring, during which the two rappers lobbed searing diss tracks at each other throughout April and May. The streamer reacted to the drops in real time on his channel, with Drake notably instructing him to “stay on stream” before releasing “Family Matters” in May.
“I loved every second of it,” Cenat told Billboard of the musical back-and-forth. “I was just appreciating the moment. Like, bro, we got bangers right now that’s dropping back to back and everybody’s talking about them. It was definitely fire.”
Things took a turn in November, however, when Drake filed two legal actions against Universal Music Group over Lamar’s “Not Like Us” — the two-week Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper in which the Compton musician famously calls his opponent a “certified pedophile.” The “God’s Plan” artist accused the label of inflating the track’s streams through nefarious methods and cited defamation, alleging that UMG “could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed.”
Earlier this month, Drake escalated things further by launching a full-blown lawsuit against UMG; the label has denied the allegations in his suit and called it “illogical.” Cenat also just so happened to be mentioned in the filing. The Degrassi alum’s lawyers named him and a few other streamers who reacted to “Not Like Us” when it dropped as examples of UMG “whitelisting” the song, something Cenat also reacted to on a stream.
“Wait, why am I in this s–t?” he asked his viewers at the time, baffled. “Wait, hold on! Wait, what the f—? I’m getting sued?!”
See Cenat on the cover of Billboard below.
In January 1975, on a side street in New Haven, Conn., surrounded by the campus of Yale University, a small French restaurant featuring live music opened its doors, with an unlikely name — Toad’s Place.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
This month, Toad’s Place marks its 50th anniversary, now with a national reputation earned by showcasing hundreds of artists, helping to launch the likes of R.E.M and U2 and hosting rare small-room performances by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel and The Rolling Stones.
In the volatile venue business, Toad’s Place is a survivor. The club is older than many of the nation’s other iconic rooms of its size and has outlasted peers, like New York’s Bottom Line, which were once part of the same showcase circuit.
Trending on Billboard
Brian Phelps, owner of the club, recently reached out to many of the performers and industry figures who have passed through the club’s doors with the news that “we will be celebrating this golden anniversary” in the coming months. A documentary on Toad’s Place is in the works. Other details of the celebration have not yet been announced.
In 2021, Phelps and veteran New Haven journalist Randall Beach co-authored The Legendary Toad’s Place: Stories from New Haven’s Famed Music Venue (Globe Pequot) and hosted a book party at the club. (Editor’s note: This writer contributed a short essay to the book.) “It has been my job to present the music as best as I could,” said Phelps at that gathering.
It’s fair to say that almost any national or regional club-level artist touring the Northeast from the late 1970s onward has been welcomed at Toad’s Place. While the walls of Toad’s Place may not talk, they are emblazoned with the names of acts that played the club early in their careers. Among many others: U2, R.E.M., Meat Loaf, Michael Bolton (a native of New Haven), Ramones, Talking Heads, Pat Benatar, Joe Jackson and Huey Lewis & the News, whose lead singer told the book’s authors: “We love that joint.”
Phelps says Toad’s Place had survived through the decades thanks to the club’s willingness to evolve with tastes in music and the desires of fans. Paintings on the walls commemorate appearances by Kanye West in 2004, Drake in 2009, Iggy Azalea in 2013 and three bookings of Cardi B in 2016 and 2017. In the past year, the club has presented artists as varied as revered rocker Jack White, former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach and country singer Lauren Watkins.
Originally opened by the late Mike Spoerndle and two partners, Toad’s Place began booking national club acts in 1976 with the help of well-connected musician and agent Peter Menta — and, from 1977 onward, with help from promoter Jim Koplik, who is now Live Nation’s regional president of Connecticut and upstate New York.
On Aug. 25, 1978, Koplik had booked Springsteen to play the since-demolished New Haven Coliseum area. After the show, Springsteen stopped by Toad’s Place to jam with John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. The club’s reputation was growing, thanks to the savvy of in-house bookers Lucy Sabini and her successor, Katherine Blossom.
By the summer of 1980, in the wake of the multi-platinum success of The Stranger, Billy Joel had become an arena-packing superstar, when he chose to play two nights at Toad’s Place to record tracks for his Songs in the Attic live album.
But the most remarkable night at Toad’s Place took place at the end of that decade, in August 1989. Beach recalled hearing a message on his home answering machine tipping him off to a hot booking at the club. Others had been told the event was a birthday party for Koplik. A local band, Sons of Bob, were on the bill that night.
On Aug. 12, 1989, The Rolling Stones took the stage at Toad’s Place in front of just 600-something dazed fans at Toad’s Place. The band, which had been rehearsing for their Steel Wheels tour in Washington, Conn., played an 11-song set that opened with “Start Me Up,” closed with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and featured the first live performance of “Mixed Emotions.”
Less than a year later, Dylan, also warming up for a concert tour, gave a marathon performance at Toad’s Place on Jan. 12, 1990, playing for four hours and 20 minutes in multiple sets, granting the request of an audience member to cover Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” and concluding with “Like a Rolling Stone” at 2:20 a.m.
In the book, Beach quotes Billboard touring editor Dave Brooks, who cites a handful of clubs nationwide that have survived as long as Toad’s Place, like the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J.; First Avenue in Minneapolis; the Troubadour in West Hollywood; and the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass.
“I think the main thing that has kept them open all these years is staff or current ownership who feel a sense of guardianship, and strive to protect these venues because of their cultural and historical impact on popular music,” said Brooks.
Phelps managed Toad’s Place from 1976 to 1985, then became a partner with Spoerndle and subsequently took over ownership of the club. But at the 2021 book party, Phelps praised the role of his former mentor and partner in launching Toad’s Place. “Big Mike” Spoerndle earned his nickname with his size, his appetites, his lifestyle, his charisma and his generosity; he became “the soul of Toad’s,” Koplik told the book’s authors.
But Spoerndle also struggled for years with substance abuse. For those familiar with the onstage history of Toad’s Place, the book’s deeply reported chapter on Spoerndle, his upbringing and the roots of his addictions is the emotional heart of the Toad’s Place story. On May 6, 2011, Spoerndle, then 59, was found dead at his home — and the cause of death was later given as poly-substance abuse and kidney failure.
When the pandemic struck, Toad’s Place was forced to close for months, “shut up like a damn morgue,” a Yale student said at the time. Phelps turned to savings, the federal Paycheck Protection Program — and, at the time of the book’s completion, was awaiting additional help from the Shuttered Venues Operators Grant, which Congress passed in December 2020.
Reflecting in the book on the pandemic and its aftermath, Phelps writes: “We will survive. We have a destiny in front of us!”
Snoop Dogg has been feeling the backlash after his performance at the Crypto Ball at Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this month, and he appeared to clap back at the haters during a recent Instagram Live.
Snoop seemingly addressed the comments on Sunday (Jan. 26) while sitting in a car and sparking up. “It’s Sunday I got gospel in my heart,” he said in a video posted to his Instagram. “For all the hate I’m going to answer with love, I love too much.”
He continued to fire: “Get your life right, stop worrying about mine. I’m cool. I’m together. Still a Black man. Still 100 percent Black. All out ’til you ball out or ’til you fall out.”
Snoop wasn’t the only rapper in attendance, as Rick Ross and Soulja Boy also pulled up to the Crypto Ball in Washington, D.C., while Nelly performed at the Liberty Ball on Jan. 20.
He’s seen plenty of vitriol in his comments section on social media, as many have called him a “sellout.”
Over the weekend, Snoop addressed how he deals with the negativity while joining the R&B Money Podcast.
“You ‘gon deal with hate when you get to the top, no matter who you are. How do you deal with that hate? Do you answer it with hate, or do you answer with love and success?” he said. “Me, personally, I answer it with success and love. That’s my answer to any hate and negativity that comes my way, ‘cause it’s the strongest force that can beat it.”
Actor Marlon Wayans also came to the Death Row legend’s defense during a recent interview with 101.1’s The Wiz. “I know Snoop, and I know Snoop has always been a real one … I’m not gonna allow for public skewering,” Wayans said.
Snoop Dogg was previously very critical of Donald Trump, and he appeared to change his tune following Trump’s pardoning of Death Row co-founder Michael ‘Harry O’ Harris, who was behind bars on attempted murder and cocaine trafficking charges, before the twice-impeached president left the White House at the end of his first term.
“That’s great work for the president and his team on the way out,” Snoop Dogg reportedly said in 2021. “They did some great work while they was in there and they did some great work on their way out. Let them know that I love what they did.”
More recently, Snoop stated he had “nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump” during an interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times.
As “sexy drill” continues to solidify its place in the New York drill scene, frontrunners like Bay Swag are becoming synonymous with the subgenre’s success. With the forthcoming project Damaged Thoughts in the works, he isn’t letting the sexy drill wave fade out anytime soon.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Last year, the Queens native teamed up with mini-genre architect Cash Cobain on his biggest hit, “Fisherrr.” Pronounced “fur-shur,” the sensual, R&B-meets-drill track achieves liftoff with a celestial melody and a pared-down flow. Fueled by a viral live performance and the Reemskii dance challenge (created by dancer and artist Kareem “Reem” Gadson), “Fisherrr” became an instant TikTok hit.
“We made the song at the end of 2023,” Bay tells Billboard. “We teased it, then it started going viral on TikTok. Then, me and Cash were like, ‘Yo, we gotta do [From the Block],’ he said, referring to the popular live music platform where up-and-coming artists perform viral songs in front of a suspended mic.
Trending on Billboard
Their live rendition for that series racked up 2.7 million views on Youtube — then in April, the pair followed up with a remix featuring Ice Spice to solidify the track’s slot in summer rotations. Operation: Slizzy Summer was in full effect.
Before Bay Swag helped spur a new wave in New York, he created local buzz at 16 years old with his debut “Rumors.” He followed up with “Saucin,” a track dedicated to his father, Bay Lloyd, who was sentenced to 85 years in prison for a second-degree murder charge from 2012. Lloyd built a reputation in Queens as a party promoter, and toured with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest and Swizz Beatz, eventually motivating his son’s musical aspirations.
In 2015, a chance meeting with Christian “King” Combs and Justin Combs during NBA All Star Weekend paved the way for him to join Christian’s rap collective, CYN. They collaborated on a handful of tracks, including Christian’s 2017 breakout single “Type Different,” featuring South Florida rapper Lajan Slim.
The track dropped during the same time Swag was introduced to an up-and-coming Bronx rapper and producer, Cash Cobain. The pair didn’t collaborate until 2021 when sexy drill infiltrated New York’s regional sound and TikTok. Swag’s playful, nonchalant style blends seamlessly into Cobain’s stripped-down R&B and drill samples. They proved an undisputed match on “Fisherrr,” and fanned Bay Swag’s momentum with their follow-up “Worldwide Sniper.” Cobain’s moody soundscape bolsters Bay Swag’s lothario tales. He curtailed the one-hit TikTok sensation curse with spontaneous one-offs, including “Nothing Last Forever,” “Patti Labelle,” and “Skims” featuring D Lou.
On his upcoming project, he navigates the emotional aftermath of a breakup on the Lil’ Mo-sampled “Make it,” while on “5 Star,” he reunites with Cobain and Chow Lee to put a “slizzy” spin on Selli Paper’s “5 Star Mami.” On the intoxicating club track “Drank,” featuring Detroit heavyweight 42 Dugg, he briefly departs from the project’s Y2K-inspired production into the menacing territory of Detroit drill. He stacks his carefree staccato bars with Dugg’s gravelly vocals and thumping 808s, boasting about the fast lifestyle, laced with sex and substances.
On the verge of dropping his first project in three years, Bay Swag spoke to Billboard on how sexy drill is uniting a new generation of drill artists, how “Fisherrr” came together and more.
Growing up with a father who was in the industry, which genres or artists initially influenced your interest in music?
My dad had me around [music] so much that I felt like it was the only thing for me to do. Being in the studio, in the car surrounded by music, that’s how I got the love for it. I grew up in a house full of women so my mom used to always play a lot of Keyshia Cole, Chris Brown, Trey Songz – a lot of R&B. My dad had me listening to rap [like] Future, Jadakiss, Juelz [Santana], Jim Jones, Biggie, stuff like that.
You made a splash with “Rumors” and “Saucin” when you were just a teenager, which also led to you joining King Comb’s collective, CYN. What were those earlier days in your career like and how did you link up with Christian Combs?
Around those times, I started taking music seriously. It was during the time my father got incarcerated, so I became the man of the household. That’s when I dropped “Saucin,” which was a song about my dad and him being wrongfully convicted.
After that, it was All Star Weekend. Me and my cousins were in the car and I had actually met Justin [Combs] a couple years before that at a club in Queens. Fast forward to All Star Weekend, we seen they were out here, and my cousin was like, “Yo. I bet you I hit him and he’ll answer before you.” So I hit him and he hit him and Justin ended up answering me. We had a connection because one of my homies from Queens was running with them. He hit me and asked what I was doing. He was like, “Yo. We about to go to the club, but I’ll link you with my little brother.”
So he sent me a driver to go to his little brother, which is Christian — and my cousin stayed with him, since they’re the same age. Literally, I just walked in. I don’t know these people from a hole in the wall. I walked into the restaurant and was like “Wassup.” We clicked just like that. From there on, history. [Laughs.] Isn’t that crazy though?
How did you transition from making music in Miami with the Combs brothers to linking up with Cash Cobain, Chow Lee, and the Sexy Drill cohort?
Queens is small. Everyone knows everyone. I had a buzz and [Cash] had a buzz in our younger days. One of my homies would always tell me he got this producer, so one day he came into the studio with me and brought some beats. That’s how we met.
Was this around his 2 Slizzy 2 Sexy era?
This was a while ago. Way before that. Like around 2017. Fast forward, I opened up a studio in New Jersey and he used to come to the studio. That’s how we really clicked. Him and Chow. That was around 2020-2021. We started making music and hanging with each other.
What was it like to see “Fisherrr” all over social media and blow up on TikTok?
We knew it was a fire song, but we didn’t know it was going to be the way it is. I feel like you never know. The songs you think is a hit don’t do nothing, but the songs you least expect [end up being] the one. It’s a blessing seeing all the kids, dancers and influencers dancing to it and having a good time. It really started a whole new dance. Shoutout Reemo. He started that s–t. It’s a whole new wave of music. It’s a whole new energy.
How did the feature with Ice Spice happen? Was it intentional to have a female rapper on the remix?
It just made sense. She’s the Queen of New York. I was super excited. I wanted to hear how she would come on it because that’s not the typical music she be dropping. She did her thing. Shout out Ice Spice.
Over the last year, you’ve been consistently releasing singles and helping spur this sexy drill wave. How are you putting your signature spin on this sound?
I call it being myself — and that’s a problem, too. A lot of people will try to do sexy drill and try to sound like someone, when you can just be yourself and that’ll make a difference. That’s why people will say it all sounds alike.
You’ve also mentioned in past interviews that New York artists are more united. How is it making music in this era of New York?
It’s good vibes. Especially right now, sexy drill is good energy. Even when we’re recording the music, it’s good energy. We’re dancing and we’re just having fun together.
In the past, drill has been criticized for its violent lyrics. How are you, Cash and Chow helping to rewrite that narrative?
We’re talking to the women. We’re telling them how pretty they are and how sexy they are. It’s a big difference. It’s fun. It makes you want to dance. We got the kids, elders, and the women, of course. We are trying to separate ourselves from that. We don’t want violence. We just want good vibes, good energy and good parties.
From your new project, it’s interesting you chose to release “Not Like Me,” because it’s the opposite of sexy drill and more vulnerable. What inspired that track?
On that song I was talking about the relationship I just got out of. I was rapping about how I felt when the relationship was ending. It lasted for like seven years, so I was describing how I was feeling during, after, and how I feel now.
How are you feeling now?
Amazing!
You also linked up with Sheff G for one of your features on the new project? How did you two meet?
I think it was on Instagram. One of us hit each other up. He told me to come to the studio and that’s how it happened. It was bound to happen because we were on a lot of the same shows together and would see each other a lot.
Are there any artists out right now that you want to collaborate with in the future?
I want to do music with a female artist. I like Latto. I like the music she drops. I like Sexyy [Red], SZA, Summer Walker. I really really like Dej Loaf. The female artists are doing their thing right now. I have to salute them.
You’re coming off a really big year. What do you have in store for fans this year?
I have merch coming with Barriers [Worldwide] and a lot of new music coming. I’ve worked with a lot of dope artists and I can’t wait for the world to hear it. I have a label called Nothing About Us Regular. And in 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, I want all my artists to be huge. I want my producers to have a great year. I’m building my label. I’m a young CEO. I want my artists to be bigger than me. I have so much in store for 2025.
While Diddy remains behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn awaiting his day in court, many of his alleged victims and those who knew him best throughout the rise and fall of Combs’ Bad Boy empire are speaking out. Investigation Discovery’s The Fall of Diddy docuseries premieres on Discovery+ at 9 p.m. on Monday […]
It goes without saying that on the upcoming third season of Max’s rich-people-behaving-badly-in-paradise smash, The White Lotus, things are not going great. As usual, director/writer/creator Mike White has gathered a yacht-load of A-list and character actor killers for the latest edition of the show, described in a release as a social satire set “at an exclusive Thai resort,” which once again follows the exploits of guests and employees over the span of a tumultuous week.
The new trailer for the eight-episode seasons slated to premiere on Feb. 16 also puts a further spotlight on BLACKPINK‘s LISA, who makes her acting debut in the series alongside stars Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walter Goggins, Sarah Catherine Hook, Jason Isaacs, Michella Monoghan, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Natasha Rothwell, the latter serving as the only known returning cast member from season two.
As in a previous sneak peek, we see Lisa (listed in the credits by her full name: Lalisa Manobal), as both a prim staff health mentor at the resort, as well as a dancer in a traditional glittering headpiece entertaining guests at a late-night beach party.
Trending on Billboard
Over a montage of sex, fireworks and screaming, an off-camera voice warns: “at the end of the week, you will be an entirely different person,” followed by the maxim/warning, “what happens in Thailand, stays in Thailand.” The eponymous resort is, of course, the real star, serving as a hedonistic playground for the rich and entitled, and, if the trailer tells us anything, as well as the site of at least one murder.
Bibb, Coon and Monoghan play a trio of longtime friends escaping on a girls’ trip, with Lisa making her first appearance as a smiling, waving guest greeter as the series stars arrive on a luxury yacht. “I hope you enjoy Thailand,” she says with a smile to Posey and husband, wealthy businessman Timothy Ratliff (Isaacs).
As in past seasons, the first trailer introduces us to the couples, families and friends looking for a reboot getaway, immediately setting up some of the simmering tensions/personality conflicts in their relationships. Lisa’s character, named Mook, gives a wan smile and joins a fellow employee for a traditional dance mid-way through the preview, with a voiceover intoning, “everyone comes to Thailand, they’re either hiding from someone or they’re looking for someone.”
When Isaacs’ character learns that his fortune has been wiped out things begin going haywire, with a masked gunman holding up a luxury shop, leading a White Lotus security guard to lament “I don’t want to hurt anyone” as he hits the gun range for practice.
“You have to be stronger than this to do this job,” Lisa’s Mook tells him in Thai. As tensions begin to flare cracks show in the various relationships, leading a final, chaotic montage of sex, partying, gunplay and, as usual, at least one bodybag. As with past seasons, White has kept the details of the plot a closely guarded secret so far.
Lisa follows fellow BLACKPINK member JENNIE into the acting lane, with the latter making her debut in the one-season-and-done HBO music drama The Idol, which starred Lily-Rose Depp and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye.
Watch the season 3 The White Lotus trailer below. The White Lotus season 3 debuts on HBO at 9 p.m. on Feb. 16 and will be available to stream on Max afterwards.
LISA couldn’t be more excited to paint the town red with Doja Cat, whom she called her “dream” duet partner ahead of the duo’s upcoming “Born Again” collaboration with Raye.
In a new interview with Capital Breakfast‘s Jordan North posted Monday (Jan. 27) — seemingly filmed before the BLACKPINK star announced her new project featuring Doja and the “Escapism” musician on Jan. 24 — LISA was immediately ready with her answer when asked which artist is her “dream” collaborator. “I want to team up with Doja Cat,” she said, smiling excitedly.
The Thai performer coyly said that she wasn’t sure if she could call Doja a friend just yet, but noted that they’re both “in the same company.” Both LISA and the “Woman” musician are signed to RCA Records, the former in partnership with her self-owned LLOUD company and the latter through RCA’s Kemosabe Records imprint.
Trending on Billboard
The interview comes three days after LISA announced that she was joining forces with Doja and Raye on “Born Again,” sharing a chic photograph of the trio posing in glamorous black cocktail dresses on Instagram. The girl group star also revealed at the time that the new track will drop 7 p.m. ET on Feb. 6.
A few weeks after “Born Again,” LISA’s debut solo album, Alter Ego, will arrive Feb. 28. So far, the K-pop phenom has released three singles from the project: “Rockstar,” which reached No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100, “New Woman” with Rosalia and “Moonlit Floor (Kiss Me).”
Recorded partially in Thailand while LISA was filming The White Lotus — “I don’t sleep,” she joked on Capital Breakfast of making her acting debut and music at the same time — Alter Ego will find the star exploring five different inner personas, each of which have their own names and character traits. Her favorite is one named Vixi, she revealed on the show, because “she’s the bada–, she’s a villain.”
“I was trying so many different kinds of music styles while I was recording,” LISA added of her album. “I was like, ‘Oh, well I’ve never done this kind of stuff before, but it sounds great. Why not just kind of like put all the different styles into the album and call it Alter Ego?’”
As for Doja, the Los Angeles native hasn’t dropped an album since 2023’s Scarlet, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Her most recent project wasn’t music-related at all, but rather a charitable undertaking supporting wildfire relief in her home city; earlier this month, the Grammy winner unveiled a line of custom merchandise that’ll funnel 100% of its proceeds to the American Red Cross’ efforts in Southern California as the L.A. area rebuilds from the deadly fires that have left tens of thousands of residents displaced with immeasurable damages to the city’s infrastructure.
See the “Born Again” announcement below.
Lady Gaga is getting ready to unleash mayhem on her Little Monsters, with the pop superstar finally announcing her highly anticipated seventh studio album Monday morning (Jan. 27). Shortly after fans woke up to find billboards in New York City displaying a black-and-white photo of the star with her new album’s title and release date […]
After BLINKs sniffed out a possible Valentine’s Day surprise two weeks ago when BLACKPINK’S JISOO shared a cryptic teaser hinting at a mystery project coming in February, the singer confirmed their suspicions on Sunday (Jan. 26). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The long-awaited details of JISOO’s debut […]
