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Looking for some motivation to help power you through the start of another work week? We feel you, and with some stellar new pop tunes, we’ve got you covered. These tracks from artists including Jeremy Zucker & Chelsea Cutler, Mt. Joy, Yukimi and more will get you energized to take on the week.
Coolest Pop Song of the Week: Bishop Briggs, “Good For Me”
“I’m dreaming of all I ever wanted,” Bishop Briggs sings, stretching out the word “dream” to glide a little bit longer before following falling back down with, “was it ever good for me?”
The chorus to “Good For Me,” a darkly pretty meditation on achieving longtime goals as your identity evolves, buttresses Briggs’ tone with a dream-pop arrangement built around a driving beat and gradually deepening guitar chugs. Her voice, which has often been deployed as a hurricane-level force in the past, bends and lilts here, simmering in the question rather than finding a declaration.
Eight years ago, the UK native hit it big with “River,” a soul-rock anthem that crossed over to alternative radio and reached the top 5 on the Rock Airplay chart. Briggs continued finding success at the format, with seven entries on the Hot Rock & Alternative chart across her first two studio albums (2018’s Church of Scars and 2019’s Champion) on Island Records; a half-decade later, the singer-songwriter is now in her thirties, a new parent, still grieving the tragic loss of her sister, Kate McLaughlin, and operating outside of the major label system, while delivering the most revealing and emotionally resonant songs of her career.
“Good For Me,” the latest offering from new album Tell My Therapist I’m Fine (out this Friday through Virgin Music Group), crystallizes the album’s compelling juxtaposition of Briggs figuring out the possibilities of the next phase of her career while simultaneously settling into her skin. Songs like “My Serotonin” and “Shut It Off” allow Briggs to keep rocking out, but she now turns up the volume to emphasize her lyrical darts rather than shout over them. Meanwhile, Briggs mourns her sister and also utilizes her grief to push herself forward — in “Mona Lisa on a Mattress,” for instance, she doubles her voice and sings about a broken romance, “Kate would always say, I should run away,” as a means of finding resolution through a memory.
In the center of the album is “Good For Me,” the subtleties of its production and the maturity of its lyrical perspective slowly blooming and hooking the listener. Briggs has experienced several life changes since her last album, and is wondering what she’s even chasing anymore — but the care given to that exploration makes the song, and its host album, worth absorbing in full.
Here are some more new pop songs worth checking out this week…
Jeremy Zucker & Chelsea Cutler, “A-Frame”
Jelly Roll hasn’t had the easiest road to success, but he hopes to heal the hurt he might have caused along the way.
In a vulnerable, in-depth interview with Jay Shetty on the latter’s On Purpose With Jay Shetty podcast, the “Need a Favor” singer opened up about wanting to reach out to the people he robbed over weed when he was a teenager. Jelly was subsequently charged as an adult with aggravated robbery and was facing a potential 20-year sentence, though he ultimately served over a year for the charge, followed by more than seven years of probation.
“I really want to have a conversation with them. I’ve thought about reaching out,” he told Shetty. “This has been 24 years ago now. I just don’t know how that would even start, or, you know, how I would go about it because sometimes I wonder if they might have even seen me in passing or are aware of my success. I wonder if they’ve even correlated. I mean, I’ve obviously dramatically changed. I was 15, dude, you know what I mean? I couldn’t grow facial hair at all. I hardly hit puberty. I still had my high voice when I did that robbery. So, I’ve thought about that a ton and they’re definitely on my list.”
He added that he would apologize, take accountability and ask for forgiveness. “I had no business taking from anybody,” Jelly explained. “Just the entitlement that I had, that the world owed me enough that I could come take your stuff. It’s just what a horrible, horrible way to look at life and people. What a horrible way to interact with the Earth.”
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The Grammy-nominated star continued, “I hope that they would see that I’ve made it my life’s mission to change and to change people because that’s what I’m representing the most in what I do. I think people cheer for me because they see a little bit of me in them, or they see their cousin — I’m a family member, they relate, and I speak for an unspoken group of people, and I hope they would know that. […] I’m trying to diligently prove myself that I’ve not only changed but also I took the platform serious and that it’s making me change more every day. I hope they would forgive me.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Jelly opened up about how he doesn’t relate at all to the person he once was. “I look back at those years, and I’m so embarrassed to talk about them,” he revealed. “I was still a bad person in my early thirties, but I mean, I was a really horrible kid all the way into my mid-twenties. People are always like, you’re the nicest dude I’ve ever met. I’m like, I’m so glad y’all haven’t met nobody that knew me 20 years ago.”
He added, “I took zero accountability for anything in my life. I was the kid that if you asked what happened, I immediately started with everything but me. And it took years for me to break that, like years of work, solid work to just like break that. It also has taken years of work for me to even forgive that kid.”
Watch Jelly Roll’s full On Purpose With Jay Shetty interview below.
Soulja Boy is typically one to brag about being the first rapper to do something, but he’s had to retract one of his latest claims.
On Oct. 12, Big Draco posted a clip to social media of himself in the cockpit of a plane with a pilot gearing up for takeoff. “I was the first rapper to fly an airplane. Let’s go, we bout to get in the air,” he said in the video. “You ready to do this? Let’s do this.”
The “Crank Dat” rapper must’ve not been familiar with Snoop Dogg’s pilot work as Captain Mack in 2004’s Soul Plane.
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Ludacris, who has posted clips of himself flying planes while working on his pilot license dating back to 2021, hopped into Soulja Boy’s comments section with a simple message to correct his fellow rapper, leaving a thinking emoji with the hand over its chin. Plenty of fans backed up the rapper-turned-actor’s claim and Soulja took note. Big Draco did some research and bent the knee to Ludacris while handing over the rap pilot title belt.
“I just saw ur video you did it first,” Soulja Boy wrote back to Luda with a gold medal emoji.
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Back in June 2021, Ludacris joined The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he cleared the air about his flying videos and clarified that although he owns a plane, he doesn’t have a pilot license.
“That’s something that’s called a ‘nickel ride.’ That term goes back to the military days. So, it’s my first time actually flying,” he told the comedian at the time. “I actually own a plane, but for all of these years, I’ve never wanted to become a pilot, because you can’t drink alcohol within eight hours of flying. Who would want to go on a vacation and not drink before they leave?”
Ludacris continued: “Long story short, that’s the first of many, but I do plan to get my pilot’s license soon. It’s a work in progress, it takes some time.”
Watch Soulja Boy’s video of himself in a plane’s cockpit below:
Director Martin Scorsese is among the producers on an upcoming documentary about the Beatles‘ legendary first trip to the United States slated to stream exclusive on Disney+ starting Nov. 29. According to Variety, Beatles ’64 will feature never-before-seen footage of the band and its rabid fans at the height of Beatlemania.
Scorsese produced the doc directed by David Tedeschi (Personality Crisis: One Night Only), which will also feature new interviews with living Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The film follows McCartney and Starr and late bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison as they land in New York in Feb. 1964, promising to reveal “a more intimate behind the scenes story” of the group’s iconic debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as footage of the Fab Four’s first American show at the Washington D.C. Coliseum.
The quartet made their debut appearance on Sullivan’s variety show on Feb. 9, 1964, a performance that was seen by a record-breaking 73-million people and is often cited by musicians of a certain vintage as their inspiration for starting a rock band. Variety reported that the doc also features rare footage shot by documentarians Albert and David Maysles (Gimme Shelter).
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A synopsis of the film reads: “On February 7, 1964, The Beatles arrived in New York City to unprecedented excitement and hysteria. From the instant they landed at Kennedy Airport, met by thousands of fans, Beatlemania swept New York and the entire country. Their thrilling debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show captivated more than 73 million viewers, the most watched television event of its time. Beatles ’64 presents the spectacle, but also tells a more intimate behind the scenes story, capturing the camaraderie of John, Paul, George, and Ringo as they experienced unimaginable fame.”
In addition to Scorsese – who also directed 2011’s George Harrison: Living in the Material World doc — other producers of the doc include McCartney, Starr, Harrison’s widow, Olivia Harrison, Lennon’s son, musician Sean Ono Lennon, and others.
The new Beatles doc will be accompanied by the Nov. 22 release of all seven American Beatles albums in a vinyl reissue collection entitled The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums in Mono; the albums will be available individually as well as in a box set. According to Variety, the reissue will include 180-gram albums that have been out of print on vinyl since 1995, including Meet the Beatles!, The Beatles’ Second Album, A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Sound Track), Something New, The Beatles’ Story, Beatles ’65 and The Early Beatles.
J. Cole offered up his response to ducking the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud with his “Port Antonio” track last week, which sparked plenty of debate on X and other social media platforms. One person not feeling Cole’s reply was Joe Budden, who ripped into the Dreamville boss during the Oct. 13 Joe Budden Podcast episode for his alleged lack of accountability when it came to the “big three” and the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef that he played a role in.
“What do you mean you finally free? That dismisses all accountability from the part that he has played in the big three debacle,” Budden stated on his show. “What do you mean you finally free as if you never wanted parts of the big three conversation? That is a load of crap and I’m not going to let you n—-s just piss on me and tell me it’s raining. Get the f–k out of here.”
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But he wasn’t done there. “Don’t pop back up and say, ‘If I would’ve I could’ve, but then I would’ve lost a [bro].’ N—a, no, not over ‘Dead Presidents.’ You ever heard ‘Dead Presidents?’” the rapper-turned-podcaster continued. “The n—a was holding his man’s hands at the hospital bed saying, ‘I’m going to kill them n—-s for you.’ Get the f–k out of here with this soft s–t. I hate this soft hip-hop s–t. It’s soft.”
Budden’s caveat being that Cole is rapping at an exceptionally high level, but the points are made separate of each other.
It’s been just more than six months since J. Cole initially jabbed at Kendrick with his “7 Minute Drill” diss track in April, before taking the stage at his Dreamville Festival days later and apologizing.
Budden compared the move to a UFC fighter throwing a punch and leaving the ring seconds later. “He did get in the octagon and do it,” he said on his podcast. “And climbed out. If we saw it in a UFC fight, we’d laugh at the n—a… He don’t get to come in and repurpose some s–t and reframe what we forgot about.”
Cole opens up about the feud with added perspective on “Port Antonio,” which arrived Oct. 9, claiming he wouldn’t have lost the battle, but lost “a bro.”
“I pulled the plug because I seen where that was ’bout to go/ They wanted blood, they wanted clicks to make they pockets grow/ They see this fire in my pen and think I’m dodging smoke/ I wouldn’t have lost a battle, dog, I woulda lost a bro/ I woulda gained a foe,” he raps.
Cole then even showed love to Drake while looking to inspire him to keep his head up. “They say I’m pickin’ sides, don’t you lie on me, my n—a to start another war/ Ay, Drake, you’ll always be my n—a/ I ain’t ashamed to say you did a lot for me, my n—a/ F–k all the narratives/ Tapping back into your magic pen is what’s imperative,” he rhymes.
Watch the episode below. The J. Cole discussion starts around the 37-minute mark.
If it’s anything but a spotlight, Mariah Carey wants nothing to do with your overhead bulbs. In a clip from the superstar’s upcoming guest appearance on Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’ Las Culturistas podcast posted Sunday (Oct. 13), Mimi went on a hilarious tirade against a certain interior design choice. “I can’t with the overhead […]
K-pop boy band ENHYPEN will look to keep their chart winning streak going next month when they drop their second studio repackage album, ROMANCE : UNTOLD -daydream-. The collection due out on Nov. 11 from singers Jake, Jay, Heeseung, Jungown, Sunghoon, Sunoo and Ni-ki is the follow-up to July’s ROMANCE: UNTOLD, the group’s second full-length […]
Chris Brown’s headed to South African for a pair of concerts in December, but a women’s rights advocacy group has launched a petition seeking to ban him from taking the stage due to his history of alleged abuse.
Women for Change started a petition Oct. 2 on Change.org that boasts more than 28,000 signatures as of press time, hoping to stop Brown — who pleaded guilty in 2009 to assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna, and was sentenced to probation and community labor — from performing in South Africa, which the BBC reports has a long history of abuse and one of the “highest rates of femicide and gender-based violence in the world.” According to the petition, the group wants the promoters, the South African government and organizers to “reconsider” allowing the artist to perform at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium in mid December.
“His concert is scheduled just days after the global commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, making this event a direct insult to the millions of women and girls affected by violence in South Africa and worldwide,” reads the petition.
“When I saw the news that Chris Brown was coming to South Africa, I was shocked and deeply disappointed,” Women for Change executive director Sabina Walter told the BBC. “The petition was started to send a strong message that we will not tolerate the celebration of individuals with a history of violence against women.”
She continued: “When someone like Chris Brown is given a platform in a country where GBV is at crisis levels, it sends a damaging message — that fame and power outweigh accountability.”
Billboard has reached out to Brown for comment.
The fan demand for Brown’s initial concert at FNB Stadium was so overwhelming — tickets sold out in under two hours — that a second show was added at the 94,000-capacity stadium.
Brown has faced issues for performing in the past due to his legal history in countries such as New Zealand, Canada, Australia and more. The pair of South Africa shows are currently set for Dec. 14 and Dec. 15.
A documentary surrounding Chris Brown’s alleged history of abuse is coming to the Investigation Discovery network later this month. Chris Brown: A History of Violence will land on ID on Oct. 27 as part of the network’s “No Excuse for Abuse” campaign, which will further explore his legal issues. The doc features an unidentified victim who is coming forward to tell her story of alleged abuse from Brown for the first time.
Megan Thee Stallion’s Hotties will have another reason to celebrate Hottieween this spooky season. Amazon MGM Studios announced on Monday (Oct. 14) that the feature length documentary Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words documentary will be released on Amazon’s Prime Video on Oct. 31. In Her Words will offer fans “unprecedented” behind-the-scenes access into the […]
Ariana Grande was working late on Saturday Night Live this weekend, ’cause she’s a singer — not that you would’ve been able to tell from her hilarious spoof of Sabrina Carpenter‘s “Espresso” during the live comedy show Saturday (Oct. 12).
And one day after the sketch — which featured the Wicked star stumbling through parody lyrics set to the tune of the summer smash as part of an awkward bridesmaid tribute — the “Please Please Please” musician shared her reaction. “Very nice and on pitch,” Carpenter sarcastically joked on her Instagram Story, reposting a clip of the skit and adding a couple heart emojis.
The Girl Meets World alum also tagged Grande and the SNL cast members who played bridesmaids alongside the “We Can’t Be Friends” artist in the wedding reception-themed sketch: Heidi Gardner, Sarah Sherman and Ego Nwodim. While toasting a bride played by Chloe Fineman in front of her groom, played by Andrew Dismukes, the quartet reveals through their rendition of “Espresso” that their bachelorette party trip wasn’t exactly innocent.
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“Now we’re back in the house in the hot tub/ She’s there with Domingo,” the bridesmaids sing to the chorus melody of Carpenter’s Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit as Dismukes watches in horror. “Asks us to leave, get a hotel/ She’s vibing with Domingo.”
Sharing the “Feather” singer’s appraisal on her own Instagram Story, Grande replied, “tysm we tried.”
The “Espresso” skit was just one of several hilarious moments in the Grande-hosted episode Saturday. Though she made a concerted effort not to show off her usually fabulous vocals in the bridesmaid toast, the three-time Grammy winner did get to put her talents to use in a couple other scenes — despite Stevie Nicks appearing as musical guest instead of her.
In her opening monologue, for instance, Grande belted out a few runs in front of a kick line moments after pledging to keep her appearance on the show low-key. Elsewhere, the pop star impersonated Celine Dion, sang an ode to the singular scent of one’s best friend’s house and flexed her opera chops while portraying a young Italian music prodigy named Antonio.
Grande’s second time hosting comes eight years after she first led the show in 2016, and seven months after she appeared as musical guest earlier this year to perform tracks from her Billboard 200-topping album Eternal Sunshine. In May, Carpenter made her SNL debut, singing “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” on the Jake Gyllenhaal-hosted program.
Watch Grande’s “Espresso” spoof on SNL below.
