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Despite what Oasis singer Liam Gallagher promised us 30 years ago, we are, sadly, not going to “Live Forever.” In fact, most of us didn’t think we’d live long enough to see the band perform again after they famously called it quits in 2009 due to the bitter sibling rivalry that both fueled and faltered […]
After earning a Grammy Award for best R&B performance with her 2022 R&B/pop breakthrough hit “Hrs and Hrs,” Muni Long is back with a new album, Revenge, today (Aug. 30) on The Muni Long Inc./Def Jam Recordings. The sophomore follow-up to Public Displays of Affection: The Album also arrives with two hits already in tow: “Made for Me” and “Make Me Forget.” The latter recently marked Long’s first No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay.
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The singer-songwriter describes the 14-track Revenge (listen HERE) in press materials as “one big diary entry.” Aside from its latest single, the soulful ballad “Ruined Me,” the project features more noteworthy songs like the introspective “30s” (“The first song I actually wrote for the album”), opening anthem “Superpowers” and uptempo BFF ode “Bessie.”
From start to finish, Revenge brims with frank, raw emotion and relatable scenarios. That’s thanks to Long’s insightful penmanship, like this line from “Superpowers”: “How come my superpowers don’t work on you and me.” There’s also Long’s appealing voice, for which she shouts out vocal producer Kuk Harrell: “We just mesh; he knows how to pull it out of me.” Additional Revenge collaborators include hitmakers Christopher “Tricky” Stewart (“Make Me Forget,” which includes an interpolation of D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”), Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman (“Ruined Me”) and Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox (“Made for Me”).
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Long had recently ended her opening act stint on Chris Brown’s 11:11 Tour, which wrapped in early August, when Billboard caught up with her during an airport layover. At one point in the phone interview, she said Revenge is going to be “the R&B album of the year.
“First of all, you have to be a bit deluded to do this [music],” she continued with a laugh. “But I have to believe that even before the album is finished. I had to know that’s what I wanted to do as I’m doing it because that energy and that frequency have to be infused into the music. That’s something a lot of music is missing on the energetic and confidence level — before anyone else validates you. You can tell that I didn’t just throw these tracks together. This project was well thought out and well-intentioned. People are going to appreciate that, and resonate with the music on a deeper level.”
What lessons did you learn as an opening act on your first arena tour?
It was like a big singalong every night. I’ve done three shows on my own since Chris’ tour ended and these crowds came with the expectation of hearing great songs. They want to hear R&B music. I understand it’s not normal for a new artist to be on their first tour doing arenas, right? So I don’t take that for granted. I learned a lot: how to work the crowd; how to coexist with the audience and not be up there like I’m separate from them. It felt like a masterclass working with Chris because he’s such an incredible live performer. I only had 30 minutes. So I don’t know how he was doing it for two-and-a-half hours at the energy level he was giving, dancing and full-out singing. It was a crazy, amazing experience.
What was it like working with Mariah Carey on the “Made for Me” remix?
The fact that she even said yes was just like, wow. I grew up listening to her, Whitney [Houston] and Celine [Dion]. So not only was it an honor but I got to have my name next to hers [laughs]. Mariah is also an excellent vocal producer, producer and songwriter. I don’t think she gets the credit she deserves. Working with her as an artist and, prior to that a songwriter, was probably one of the most memorable, precious experiences that I’ve had in music. But working with her, she never made you feel like she’s this big personality. It was always, “I have you here because I want your essence, your vibe. I want you to do what you do.”
Now you’re in promotion mode for Revenge. What sparked the creative direction behind this album?
Sometimes I’ll get the itch that I just need to write. Or I’ll hear a conversation or a piece of music that will inspire a lyric. I didn’t really have a specific theme as to what this album was going to be about. It was, “I like this song. It’s really good and I want to keep it.” From there it was about narrowing them down. I had like 18 songs when I first got with Tricky. So I let him shape the album and the track listing — something I normally would have done. But I kind of stepped back, allowing myself to make the art and let somebody else help me form the picture. This is the first time I’ve done that.
How did the title track come about?
We were in the studio, and The-Dream came by just to visit. I remember looking around the room, and there’s Tricky, Kuk Harrell, Theron Thomas, The-Dream and me. There’s no way I’m about to have all these powerful people in this room and not get a song [laughs]. And if you’ve ever been around The-Dream, you know he loves to go back and forth. So we get to arguing about relationships, men and women and how we treat each other … what’s the angle? Somehow we get to where, at a certain point, all the tit for tat isn’t necessary: It’s I don’t even want revenge. I just want you to go on somewhere. That’s when we started writing the lyric. Actually, Dream texted what I said, went into a booth and freestyled the entire melody for the verse and chorus. He’s like, “OK, I’m done.” Then Theron and I took that and just basically wrote my story; like, this is what I’m going through right now. Because it’s so close to home I was like, “This is the title.” The best revenge is success.
In your press materials, you note the journey to this career moment took 17 years. Did you ever lose faith while pivoting from songwriter to singer-songwriter?
If I’d known that it was going to take this long, I’d have probably done something else [laughs]. I got super impatient. I was ready to quit many times. But I think there’s something to be said about listening to your gut. Every time I wanted to walk away, I was like, “No, what else am I going to do?” This is where my heart is and that really kept me going. I spent a lot of time writing songs for other people [Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson]. But I don’t regret that because I learned so much. That’s why I’m able to write songs the way that I do. So everything happens exactly how it should.
There’s a moment in Adam Sandler’s new comedy special, Love You, when the comedian picks up an acoustic guitar and very intently and fluently plays “Malagueña,” the classical guitar instrumental by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona, before he launches into “Mutterin’,” a comedic song about murmuring negative asides under his breath.
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In Sandler’s first Netflix special in six years, he finds humor in most things — whether it be a low-brow, scatological sketch about a wish-granting genie, or a clever riff on non-sensical word pronunciations as he toggles between spoken bits and songs. But one thing Sandler takes very seriously is his musicianship.
“When I was a kid, my dad had an acoustic guitar, and he would play ‘Malagueña.’ That song means a lot to me,” Sandler tells Billboard. One day, Sandler — who was already taking guitar lessons while growing up in Manchester, New Hampshire — came upon a Stratocaster in a store window. “I was in bands all through junior high and high school and I said, ‘Oh my God, I would do anything for that guitar.’ My dad said, ‘I’m not just going to get it for you, but if you learn “Malagueña” note for note, I’ll get that guitar for you.’ I practiced it for a year until my father was impressed enough he got it for me when I was 12. I think of that every time I pick up a guitar.”
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And he picks up the guitar a lot in Love You, which was directed by Josh Safdie, whom Sandler worked with to great acclaim on the 2019 drama Uncut Gems. Instead of the usual comedy special where the comedian walks out onto a brightly lit stage to applause, Love You opens with a decidedly more frantic, in-your-face tone. Sandler pulls up to the venue dealing with a shattered windshield, he’s then barraged by autograph seekers, he can’t find a clean hoodie to wear, his coffee order is wrong, and he’s running late. Once he gets on stage in the darkly lit small club — a deliberately disheveled Nocturne Theater in Glendale, California — things aren’t much better: there are technical glitches with the screens, and a stray dog even wanders onto the stage.
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When Safdie came to him with his slightly skewed vision for the special, Sandler says, “It definitely took me a little while to go ‘yes.’ I just thought we were going to shoot the show because I had been doing the show for a while and I had that down, so I was excited to do that, but Josh kept saying, ‘Let’s try to do something different.’” The special is a scaled-down version of the arena show Sandler took on the road last fall, which grossed $28.5 million in 27 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore.
Though Sandler knew some of the curveballs that were going to come his way at the Nocturne, Safdie’s plan kept Sandler on his toes, and gives the special a jagged edge. “That made it more exciting the days we were shooting,” Sandler says. “I definitely never knew when something was going to come at me and throw the rhythm off, and I had to try to react and keep the show going as smoothly as we could. It made it more of an electric vibe.”
As if there wasn’t enough disruption, an unplanned kerfuffle breaks out between some audience members. “It was kind of early on in the show, and then all of a sudden you felt some hostility in the crowd,” says Sandler, who quickly diffused the situation. “When you’re on the road, it’s going to happen. Things get out of control in the audience and you got to react to it and try to calm things down.”
Just as his 2018 special, 100% Fresh, ended with a sentimental, sweet musical tribute to the late Chris Farley, his friend and former Saturday Night Live castmate, Love You similarly concludes with “Here Comes the Comedy,” a warm salute to the healing power of comedy, as footage of the dozens of comedians who have influenced and delighted Sandler since his youth appear on the finally operational monitors. In the six-minute number, written by Sandler and his longtime musical partner Dan Bulla, Sandler plays the Stratocaster his father gave him when he was 12.
Sandler apologizes that he has to cut the interview short because he’s in the middle of pre-production on Happy Gilmore 2, his sequel to his 1996 comedy classic. The movie will start shooting in New Jersey next year and Sandler’s already teased that the new version will include a number of cameos, just as the original did, including Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who sported a Happy Gilmore cap at this April’s Coachella. “He’s gonna come by. He’s a very nice guy,” Sandler said on The Tonight Show on Aug. 20. “You guys would love him in real life. What a big, handsome guy. Funny and cool as hell. He’s a stud and he’s so funny.”
There’s no word on whether Kelce’s girlfriend, superstar Taylor Swift, will also make a cameo, but Sandler is an unabashed Swiftie. He and his family attended a Los Angeles show on the Eras tour in August 2023, as well as the Los Angeles premiere of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film. When asked his favorite Swift song, Sandler struggles to pick just one, but it’s clear he has plenty riffling through his head from years of being the ultimate girl dad.
“Everything [my two daughters] throw on I love, but one of the first ones they threw on when they were young was ‘The Best Day,’” he says of Swift’s sentimental track about her mom from 2008’s Fearless. “We connected with that when the kids were young. Every album, we listen the first day it comes out. There’s not a song they don’t know every word to.”
Like Swift, Sandler is no stranger to the Billboard charts. Between tunes like “The Chanukah Song,” The Wedding Singer’s “Grow Old with You” and “The Thanksgiving Song,” as well as his Grammy-nominated comedy albums, Sandler’s landed on 10 different charts, including topping the Comedy Albums chart in 2019 with his 100% Fresh album. It’s something he’s kept an eye on since his early days.
“When I was young and my albums came out, I worked with Brooks Arthur,” he says, referencing the renowned late music producer whom he collaborated with for nearly 30 years. “He used to talk to me about his charts and I’d ask him, ‘How are we doing on Billboard?’ I always wanted to know.”
It would not be an understatement to say that Emma Roberts has been training to play Britney Spears for more than half her life. In an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, 33-year-old Space Cadet star was asked about recent headlines in which Spears’ longtime assistant, Felicia Culotta, pitched Roberts as the perfect actress to portray the […]
LE SSERAFIM is back! The group dropped a vibrant new music video for their single “CRAZY,” and as expected, it features some great outfits and even better dance moves. The song is featured on the group’s freshly released mini-album of the same name, Crazy. The project contains five tracks: the title track, “Chasing Lightning,” “Pierrot,” […]
A$AP Rocky dropped his eagerly-awaited single “Tailor Swif” early Friday (Aug. 30) on streaming platforms.
The track, which first surfaced as a leak after Rocky’s live performance at Rolling Loud Portugal in July 2022, has sparked plenty of conversation, especially with its nod to Taylor Swift.
Rocky initially performed the song under the name “Wetty,” and after it leaked online, fans clamored for an official release.
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Though the rapper was initially hesitant about including leaked tracks on his upcoming album Don’t Be Dumb, he ultimately decided to give fans what they wanted. Rocky took to social media on Thursday (Aug. 29) to announce the release, cheekily writing, “SINCE U DUMMIES LEAKED IT ALREADY,” and sharing a snippet of the music video, which was shot in Ukraine.
While describing the project for his Billboard cover story, Rocky said he’s continuing his exploration of German expressionism.
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“In this very moment, it’s very grim. That’s an abbreviation,” he said. “It’s infusing German expressionism with ghetto futurism.”
The track’s title has drawn reactions from fans, particularly Swifties, who have mixed feelings about the playful reference to the “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” singer. Despite the reception, the release of “Tailor Swif” has only heightened anticipation for Don’t Be Dumb, which Rocky has pushed back to the fall.
“Tailor Swif” follows Rocky’s August single “Highjack,” which debuted at No. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100.. With Don’t Be Dumb on the horizon, Rocky’s upcoming album is shaping up to be a major statement, both musically and visually.
Stream A$AP Rocky’s “Tailor Swif” below.
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Bands split up for all kinds of reasons: professional jealousy, money, stolen girlfriends, exhaustion, creative cul de sacs and just plain I-hate-your-stupid-face-and-I-can’t-do-this-anymore rage.
But stuffed animals?
According to the first official interview Noel Gallagher did promoting his shock Oasis reunion with brother Liam, the famously battling siblings broke up the band 15 years ago over a lovey. Oasis superfan Steve Sheward ran into Noel at the Stone Island Shop in London on Thursday (August 29) and while their meet cute didn’t exactly turn into what he said was his boyhood dream of walking into a pub for a pint with the Gallagher bros, it actually was way better than that.
“Trumped that with my children making memories and just hope I can get tickets next year,” Sheward wrote on X alongside a series of snaps with a smiling Noel, as well as a video of one of his sons laying the interview hammer on the band’s songwriter in search of the real reason he and Liam couldn’t work together anymore. After introducing his four children to Noel by saying “this is dad’s legendary band!” Sheward’s kids got right to work.
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His daughter asks, “Wait, is he getting back with his brother?” When Noel answers “yeah” about the 17 UK shows the group announced earlier this week, one of the other boys has a very pressing query.
“Why did you fall out with your brother?” he wonders. Noel, being Noel, deadpans, “‘Cause he stole my teddy bear.” The kids and their dad have a good laugh at that cheeky response.
Smelling a rat, the boy says, “You’re lying!” Noel swears it’s true, doubling down and explaining, “I’m not lying. He stole it in 1978.” One of the other kids isn’t having it, as Sheward’s son, holding a Winnie the Pooh teddy bear, walks away while blurting a perfect approximation of Gallagher attitude, “You’re a fake. See ya!”
The kids are then seen strolling with Gallagher outside the shop as they ask if the black Rolls Royce across the street is his car. Of course the luxury ride is, with Gallagher jokingly asking the youngster if he has his license. As Sheward writes of Gallagher in his post, “A true gentleman in scholar.”
Oasis will play their first shows since 2009 next summer as part of their Oasis Live ’25 world tour, though so far only the dates in England and Ireland have been announced. So far only the Gallaghers have been confirmed for the shows, with the rest of the band lineup not yet announced and other dates around the world promised but not yet formally unveiled.
Tickets for the shows will go on sale to the general public on Saturday (August 31).
See Sheward’s post below.
Bumped into Noel Gallagher Yesterday in the Stone Island Shop in London, boyhood dream to walk into a pub for a Beer with Noel & Liam, trumped that with my children making memories and just hope I can get tickets next year.A true gentleman in scholar 💪 pic.twitter.com/BLjzgK7XgZ— Steve Sheward (@sheward_steve) August 29, 2024
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have released their 18th studio album Wild God today, Aug. 30, marking the band’s first new album since 2019’s Ghosteen.
Wild God features contributions from The Bad Seeds’ core members, along with Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood on bass and Luis Almau on nylon string and acoustic guitars. The ten-track project was produced by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, with recording sessions taking place at Miraval Studios in Provence, France, and Soundtree Studios in London.
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“Frogs,” one of the singles from Wild God, features the first lines Cave penned for the album, referencing the biblical story of Cain and Abel: “Ushering in the week he knelt down and crushed his brother’s head in with a bone/It’s my great privilege to walk you home.” The multi-award-winning artist explained of the single, “The sheer exuberance of a song like ‘Frogs,’ it just puts a big f—ing smile on my face.”
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Discussing the band’s latest offering, Cave shared, “I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me. It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it. It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious.”
“There is never a master plan when we make a record. The records rather reflect back the emotional state of the writers and musicians who played them. Listening to this, I don’t know, it seems we’re happy.”
The album is described as a departure from the somber tone of previous works, with Cave noting, “Wild God… There’s no fucking around with this record. When it hits, it hits. It lifts you. It moves you. I love that about it.”
Nick Cave, an ARIA Hall of Fame inductee, has made a notable impact on the Billboard 200 with albums like Skeleton Tree and Ghosteen. In the U.K., his adopted homeland, Cave has firmly established himself as an alternative rock superstar, achieving seven top 10 albums, according to the Official Charts Company.
The album is now available for streaming on all major platforms, as well as in CD and vinyl formats.
Tracklist for Wild God:
Song of the Lake
Wild God
Frogs
Joy
Final Rescue Attempt
Conversion
Cinnamon Horses
Long Dark Night
O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)
As the Waters Cover the Sea
Listen to Wild God below.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of his mixtape Days Before Rodeo, Houston-born rapper Travis Scott has dropped a special edition titled Days Before Rodeo – Live from Atlanta: Chopped & Screwed – Vault 1 & 2.
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The limited-edition release, available exclusively on shop.travisscott.com, features previously unheard snippets from the Days Before Rodeo era and a full live set from Scott’s recent anniversary performance in Atlanta. Alongside the music, vinyl bundles, exclusive merchandise, and other limited-edition items are also available.
Released in 2014, Days Before Rodeo was Scott’s second mixtape, setting the stage for his debut album Rodeo in 2015.
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The mixtape featured standout tracks like “Mamacita,” featuring Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug, and “Don’t Play,” featuring Big Sean and The 1975. The tracks, along with production from Metro Boomin, Lex Luger, and Travis Scott himself, introduced a moody, atmospheric style that has since become a hallmark of the trap genre.
The release comes following following Scott dropping the music video for “Drugs You Should Try It” more than a decade after its original 2014 release.
La Flame released the trippy “Drugs You Should Try It” visual on Aug. 18 after DBR came to streaming services on Aug. 23. The clip kicks off with an homage to Virgil Abloh, who designed the neon-lit smoking cowboy sign that makes an appearance. Scott starts free-falling into a pool of despair and allows his mind to drift into the depths of his conscious.
Scott’s chart success includes his sophomore album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, which topped the Billboard 200, and the Astroworld album, which spent three weeks at No. 1. His hit single “Sicko Mode” became a staple on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 1, while his collaborations with artists like Drake and Young Thug have secured multiple top 10 hits
Big Sean has returned. The Detroit native delivered his first album since 2020 with Better Me Than You on Friday (Aug. 30).
Sean Don’s sixth studio album boasts 21 tracks in total with features from Gunna, Charlie Wilson, Kodak Black, Bryson Tiller, DJ Premier, Cash Cobain, Teyana Taylor, Larry June, Eryn Allen Kane and more. There’s even a cameo from the iconic WWE superstar-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Adding some comedic relief, Big Sean sampled Ray J’s iconic call into The Breakfast Club while he was feuding with Fabolous in 2011 on the same track that also samples 2Pac’s “I Ain’t Mad at Cha.”
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Prior to delivering the LP, Sean admitted in an emotional Instagram Live that he was apprehensive about releasing the project.
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“I’ve been having a hard f—king time, dawg, I’m not gon’ lie,” he said. “Been in this b—h trying to finish a album, and I’m kinda tired of overthinking it. … And, by the way, n—a, like me, I’ve been trying to be on some sober s–t so a n—a out here raw-dogging his emotions, bro.”
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He also made sure to credit his mother for helping him power through those creative insecurities.
“I appreciate my mom for being that guardian angel always giving me that advice,” he added. “She really talked me through it for real. Like I said, I haven’t been sleeping a lot. I been giving this s–t my all. I’m burned the f–k out. I’m tired. I do do this s–t for the people that f–k with me.”
Big Sean heated up with a handful of singles in 2024 including The Alchemist-helmed “Together Forever” as well as “On Up,” “Yes,” “Ya Don’t Stop” and “Precision.” He also guested on Eminem’s The Death of Slim Shady single “Tobey” featuring BabyTron.
Sean has put up three consecutive No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 with his most recent coming in 2020 with Detroit 2. Better Me Than You was originally slated to land on Aug. 9 before being pushed to the end of the month following a leak.
Stream the album below.
