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This week in dance music: Empire of the Sun touched down in the Billboard News studio to talk about their new album, Ask That God; we announced that a refurbished Los Angeles grocery store will soon host sets by artists including Floating Points and Orbital, we spoke with Fred again..’s team at Wasserman Music about the artist’s “hugely risky” and wildly successful touring strategy, we reported from this year’s edition of Electric Forest and passed details on how to watch the debut of breakdancing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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And, of course, it all comes back to the music. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
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Chase & Status Feat. Stormzy, “Backbone”
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Still riding high on the career-renaissance whipped up by their 2023 Flowdan collab “Baddadan,” d’n’b legends Chase & Status return with what’s essentially a companion piece. Featuring U.K. grime royalty Stormzy, “Backbone” is basically a diss track directed at “p—y MCs” lacking in the titular department, with the rapper’s lyrical bullets matched by a crisp, walloping, characteristically booming production from the duo. The release comes nearly four months after Chase & Status brought Stormzy out during their Coachella performance for “Backbone”s debut.
Loud Luxury feat. Bobby Shmurda, “Cool Like That”
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There’s a dance music love story embedded into the beats of this collab from Loud Luxury and Bobby Shmurda, with the rapper reaching out to the duo after getting into dance music while serving time, as he wasn’t able to listen to music with explicit lyrics while incarcerated. Drawn to the positivity and euphoric tendencies of dance, Shmurda subsequently linked with Canadian producers in the studio for “Cool Like That,” a driving tech house-meets-big room track with layers of tough percussion that are built around Shmurda’s commanding, rapidfire flow. The trio recently stopped by the Billboard News studio to tell us the backstory behind the single, which they also performed last weekend at Lollapalooza last weekend, and which is out now on Armada.
Jayda G, “Feeling Alive”
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The feel of the song is right there in its name, with this sublime house track from Jayda G giving that feeling of joy and aliveness that so much of dance music specializes in. Out via Ninja Tune, the song comes amid a big summer for the UK producer, who’s coming hot off big performances at Tomorrowland, Glastonbury and Pacha Ibiza, and who’s also doing it all while pregnant. “’Guy’ was really me exploring and, you know, pushing my sound to the next level,” the artist says of her 2023 album. “‘Feeling Alive’ is me kind of taking that into a real pure dance music form. Knowing that my album was largely about loss and grief and death, this is me focussing on the joyful celebratory part of my life, because I know I have a lot of things to be happy for!” Turn this one up, because we assure it’s going to make you pretty happy, too.
Kelly Lee Owens, “Sunshine”
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Welsh producer Kelly Lee Owens delivers textural IDM as warm as its title suggests. That’s not to say that “Sunshine” doesn’t also hit hard, however — with the track ramping up to a lush, danceable swirl on which Owens’ own spare vocals add an extra flourish. The song comes in tandem with the announcement that she’s going on tour in Europe and the U.K. this fall.
Laidback Luke feat. Marlonbeats, “One On One”
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For “One On One,” Laidback Luke links with the producer marlonbeats, with the duo’s respective techniques likely syncing so well because they’re father and son. This undeniably effective house track marks Luke’s return to Dim Mak after a seven year absence, with the Dutch pioneer calling the song “my birthday gift to my son Marlonbeats for his 21st Birthday.”
He goes on to say his son is “what you would call a ‘Daddy’s Boy,’ but because of my intense career and abundant traveling, he has missed me most of his childhood. I’ve always tried to balance being a good dad with my DJ career, and it’s always been a juggling act. Interestingly, he started producing a few years ago and while figuring this out by himself, he soon realized his dad is a real producer. Furthermore, he also started to DJ recently and is only grasping now why I was always gone.”
Christoph x Sandy Rivera feat. Hayze, “Changes”
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U.K. producer Christoph links with the house legend Sandy Rivera (whose work you may also know from his Kings of Tomorrow project) as part of Defected Records’ Together project, which pairs newer artists with scene veterans as part of the label’s 25 year anniversary celebrations. The outcome here is the hypnotic, moody “Changes,” a track made for that moment when the dancefloor transitions from peaktime to cool down while still maintaining muscle.
Grace Kelley, the 28-year-old daughter of country star Wynonna Judd, was arrested in Georgia last week on three misdemeanor counts. Per Carroll County Jail records, Kelley was booked on Aug. 3 for driving while license suspended or revoked, motorcycle equipment not used properly and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer. She was released a day later on $2,750 […]
Spuds of the world unite! Everyone’s favorite devolution merchants, Devo, popped in to NPR’s Tiny Desk studio recently for a raucous four-song set for the public radio series that featured one obscure track they hadn’t performed live in more than four decades.
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With founding singer/keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh leading the charge alongside brother and longtime guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh and original bassist Gerald Casale, the group bounded out of the gate with the bluesy, bouncing rarity “It Takes a Worried Man.” The song — inspired by the folk/roots classic “Worried Man Blues” — was originally recorded for the little-seen 1982 nuclear panic comedy Human Highway, which was directed by Neil Young, who also co-starred alongside Dean Stockwell, co-writer Dennis Hopper and Devo, who played radioactive waste garbage men in orange outfits and hard hats accented by plastic tubes that snaked down into the band member’s noses.
In addition to Mothersbaugh’s sermon-like breakdown about how everyone is just going for that “big ice cream cone in the sky,” the song featured a wiggy keyboard solo from the frontman, who ,alas, was not wearing the band’s signature yellow flower bucket hat.
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“Wasn’t that uplifting?” said Casale. “See? De-evolution isn’t depressing.” The band then dipped into 1979’s twitchy “Blockhead” from their second studio album, Duty Now For the Future. “Never tips over/ Stands up on his own/ He is a blockhead/ Thinking man full grown/ He comes well-prepared,” Mothersbaugh bellowed in the song about the titular, boring character who he also describes as a “Cube top/ Squared off/ Eight corners/ 90 degree angles/ Flat top” kind of guy.
Joking that he was looking to get spiritual, Casale then set up the buzzing, frenetic surf punk burner “Praying Hands,” which appeared on Devo’s iconic 1978 debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Shouting the lyrics through a megaphone, Mothersbaugh yelped, “You got your left hand/ You got your right hand/ You got your left hand/ You got your right hand/ While the left hand diddling/ While the right hand goes to work.”
Mothersbaugh, 74, wasn’t content to just blast his hand jive from behind the desk, so he went into the audience to ask NPR staffers what their hands were doing at that very moment before dropping to his knees and putting on a sailor’s cap he’d found in the NPR closet earlier. After rummaging around in the Tiny Desk closet to find some alternate headgear for the 17-minute show, Devo ended the set with another song from their debut, the galloping, herky jerky “Come Back Jonee.” During that one, Mothersbaugh swiped through a series of other hats he pilfered from the public radio storeroom, but, alas, none of them in the shape of the band’s iconic yellow bucket chapeaus.
Devo, who celebrated 50 years of devolution last year, will play the Ohana Festival in Dana Point, CA on Sept. 24.
Watch Devo’s NPR Tiny Desk show below.
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André 3000 has weighed in on the Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud. Three Stacks shared he was disheartened when looking back at the aftermath of the battle’s carnage.
“I got a little sad, at a certain point,” he told Crack Magazine in a new interview. “In early rap battles, you had kids in the park rapping against each other. But it’s not just people rapping now. You got people with 100 employees. You have livelihoods, empires, companies, deals — all of it can be jeopardized.”
With rappers serving as brands — and in Drake and Kendrick’s case, worth hundreds of millions of dollars — the Outkast legend questions whether the juice is worth the squeeze with that much at stake in battle. “If you don’t have anything to lose, sure, go for it,” he said. “But if I already made it, I’m not sure it’s even worth it any more”
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Drake expressed a similar sentiment on “4PM in Calabasas,” which arrived in 2016 and saw Drizzy sniping at Joe Budden, Diddy and more. “I got a lot to lose ’cause in every situation I’m the bigger artist/ Always gotta play it smarter,” he shrewdly raps about being militant in battle.
Elsewhere in the Crack profile, André 3000 gave his reaction to receiving a shout-out from Kendrick Lamar on the explosive “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin. “If he walk around with that stick, it ain’t André 3K,” K. Dot rhymes.
“As a 49-year-old rapper, you’re just happy to get a shout-out,” the Atlanta artist responded. “But as a rapper, I’ve noticed myself walking around with this stick. So it was a line for me, too, and I was trying to find a way to use it. But Kendrick used it, so I had to say ‘Yeah, he got it.’”
A trio of records Lamar was involved with that were integral parts of the battle with Drake are still holding strong on the Billboard Hot 100. K. Dot’s “Not Like Us” sits at No. 3, while “Like That” is in the top 20 at No. 18. Even the unnerving “Euphoria” is still on the chart at No. 78.
As for Three Stacks, he’ll be performing nine sets across three days at the Blue Note Jazz Festival’s Black Radio Experience 2024, which is going down in the Estate Wine Cave at The Meritage Resort & Spa in Napa, Calif., happening Aug. 30-Sept. 1.
Green Day will cap off the summer-long celebration of their Grammy-winning 2004 opus American Idiot by releasing a massive box set edition of the album this fall. The American Idiot 20th Anniversary deluxe edition is due out on Oct. 25 and will feature unreleased demos, rare b-sides, bonus songs and previously unreleased live tracks.
The limited edition super deluxe version will be available in 8-LP vinyl and 4-CD configurations, with each coming with two Blu-Ray discs, one of which features the 2015 Heart Like a Hand Grenade documentary about the recording of the album, along with a BBC: Top of the Pops “mini gig” and their Later With Jools Holland appearance. The second disc will contain the new 110-minute documentary 20 Years of American Idiot.
The collection will also be released in an 2-LP limited-edition colored vinyl edition, as well as an audiophile “one-step” version.
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You can listen to the first three tracks — an unreleased demo of “Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” the fan-favorite b-side “Favorite Son” and a live version of “Minority” — on streaming services now (see below). Both the limited-edition sets will feature the original 23-track concept album, as well as 15 previously unreleased American Idiot demos, a 15-track 2004 concert recorded at Irving Plaza in New York and nine previously unreleased live recordings from the era, including a take on Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” as well as 14 songs previously available only as b-sides and bonus tracks.
The set commemorates the album that became the groups first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 on its way to rocking the chart for more than 100 weeks. It will also feature new liner notes from producer Rob Cavallo and Rolling Stone writer David Fricke and a 48-page book, enamel pin set, sticker sheet and cloth patch; the vinyl version has a 36-page book, a large Green Day flag and the signature American Idiot red tie.
To date, the album featuring such landmark songs as “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Holiday,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends” and “Jesus of Suburbia” has sold more than 23 million copies, spawned a Broadway musical of the same name and earned spots on many “best of” lists.
Green Day are performing the album in its entirety — along with their breakthrough major label disc Dookie — on their Saviors world tour, which plays Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Friday night (August 9).
Listen to the first three tracks and see the full track list (slide 2) below.
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Latto keeps hip-hop fans on their toes, Shawn Mendes returns on his own terms and J Balvin brings a ton of friends to the party. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Latto, Sugar Honey Iced Tea
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Time and again over the course of her career, Latto has zagged away from expectations, lobbing out pop tracks as an underground star then turning in ferocious verses instead of catering to radio; similarly, new album Sugar Honey Iced Tea abides by Southern rap touchstones but refuses to be pigeonholed, as Latto offers up old-school bars while tinkering with her own image and that of popular hip-hop.
Shawn Mendes, “Why Why Why”
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“I stepped off the stage with nothing left / All the lights were f–king with my head,” Shawn Mendes admits on “Why Why Why,” a highly compelling piece of folk-pop that finds the singer-songwriter vulnerable to the point of sounding haunted, two years removed from cancelling a tour due to mental health purposes — lucky for us, the next line goes, “But here I am, singing songs again.”
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J Balvin, Rayo
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Only four of the 15 tracks on J Balvin’s new album Rayo are solo cuts, with the guest-heavy project boasting visits from Feid, Carin Leon, Zion and Bad Gyal, among many others — yet Balvin never gets overshadowed as he hopscotches across genre exercises, keeping the tempo up and sounding at ease within trap, reggaeton, Mexican and electro-pop compositions.
Katy Perry, “Lifetimes”
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Katy Perry teased “Lifetimes” as a new single aimed at listeners who “want to rave,” and indeed, the follow-up to “Woman’s World” contains a more club-ready thump and outsized hook — but “Lifetimes” also marks the return of Perry’s emotional intensity, with her passion and undying devotion now directed at her daughter, Daisy.
Asake, Lungu Boy
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Nigerian superstar Asake has put in quick work to become one of the biggest Afrobeats artists in the world, and Lungu Boy, his third album in three years, is designed to keep his momentum intact: the Travis Scott team-up “Active” is a deserving mainstream shot that will get plenty of party spins, but the quieter moments on songs like “My Heart” and the Wizkid collaboration “MMS” make for a more well-rounded project.
Ravyn Lenae, Bird’s Eye
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After grabbing hold of R&B diehards on 2022 debut HYPNOS, Ravyn Lenae has honed her approach on Bird’s Eye, which features Childish Gambino and Ty Dolla $ign but is defined by the airiness of Lenae’s melodies — from the excellent opener “Genius” onward, she sounds like a sorceress, conjuring hooks out of the atmosphere around her.
NIKI, Buzz
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88rising breakout NIKI has earned a large following with subtly drawn pop songs that swell up in front of sprawling festival crowds; Buzz, her latest full-length, tweaks her atmospheric approach and drills down on its personal touches, revealing more from the rising star even on instances in which her voice is distorted or evaporating.
Beabadoobee, This is How Tomorrow Moves
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Light years removed from her breakthrough thanks to Powfu’s “Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head),” Beabadoobee continues carving out a singular alt-rock path on third album This is How Tomorrow Moves, with Rick Rubin helming the new full-length and helping streamline the guitar chug and wistful hooks on songs like “California” and “Beaches.”
Oso Oso, Life Till Bones
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Whether he’s working in the emo, indie-rock or pop worlds, Jade Lilitri remains a towering songwriting force — and Life Till Bones, his latest Oso Oso project, may be his finest moment to date, an accessible update to the aesthetic that made 2019’s Basking in the Glow so essential while also reflecting on personal tragedy and the strength that can unexpectedly result from such sorrow.
Editor’s Pick: Amos Lee, Transmissions
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After settling into his skin on 2022’s Dreamland, Amos Lee continues operating in a winning mode — with even more introspection — on Transmissions, a collection of gentle, jazzy Americana-pop amalgamations that include some of Lee’s strongest songwriting to date, particularly the poignant self-examination of “Beautiful Day” and “Carry You On,” a lump-in-throat tribute to a fallen friend.
Nikki Glaser and her sister didn’t get to see Taylor Swift perform “Cruel Summer” at the pop star’s canceled Eras Tour shows in Vienna, so they had to improvise.
While stranded in an airport en route to Austria — where the pop star’s three previously scheduled shows were canceled after authorities discovered a terrorist plot targeting Ernst Happel Stadium — the comedian and her sister, Lauren Glaser, showed off their own spoof version of “Cruel Summer” while waiting for a delayed plane to Europe in a TikTok posted Wednesday (Aug. 7).
“We’re stuck at an airport gate/ On our way to Vienna on a flight that was late/ Planning outfits and singing songs/ We had no idea how things could go wrong,” they sang to the tune of Swift’s Billboard Hot 100-topping hit, taking turns with each line. “Then we get a text from our mom/ That the shows have been canceled ’cause a threat from a bomb/ And we screamed in a Hudson News / What the hell do I do with these sparkly shoes/ I dyed my hair pink for nothing, we’re f–ked!”
The comedian has previously shared that she’s a super Swiftie, revealing in an October 2023 visit to The Kelly Clarkson Show that she had spent $25,000 on tickets to the Eras Tour that year. “I just want to say that it was a conscious decision because I went to nine Eras Tour shows this year,” she told Clarkson at the time. “Like, when I’m not on tour, I go to her tour. It just fills my life up with so much joy.”
The Glaser sisters did eventually make it to Vienna, where a crowd of Swifties gathered in the streets Thursday (Aug. 8) to trade friendship bracelets and sing the 14-time Grammy winner’s songs together in place of attending the shows. At one point, Nikki joined in on the fan-led event, sharing a video on her Instagram Story of the crowd belting out “All Too Well” in unison.
“Sang All Too Well with thousands of displaced Swifties in Vienna,” she wrote, adding in another post that the other people in her group left to go shopping while she stayed behind to sing “about 7 more songs alone.”
The gathering occurred on the same day Swift had been scheduled to take the stage for the first of three back-to-back Eras shows at Ernst Happel. The performances were canceled one day prior when authorities took two teenage Austrian citizens into custody for allegedly planning to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue” with knives or homemade explosives. One 19-year-old suspect had previously pledged allegiance to the Islamic State after being radicalized online, according to officials.
The next day, a third suspect — an 18-year-old man — was detained in connection to the terrorist plot. Swift and her team have not yet issued a statement on the situation.
Watch Nikki and Lauren Glaser spoof “Cruel Summer” below.
The 2024 Summer Olympics have given Snoop Dogg so much, and he’s returning the favor while spreading the love in Paris. While Snoop was hanging with Simone Biles and her family on Thursday (Aug. 8), the star gymnast’s dad was celebrating his 75th birthday. Snoop Dogg came bearing gifts and gave Mr. Ronald Biles a […]
In spite of Taylor Swift canceling her Eras Tour stop in Austria due to the discovery of a terrorist plot targeting the concerts, two fans were able to find a moment of joy when they got engaged in Vienna among a huge gathering of Swifties Thursday (Aug. 8). In clips captured by fellow fans who […]
The closing ceremony of the Summer Olympic games will feature a performance from H.E.R. The five-time Grammy winner will take the stage at the Stade de France on Sunday (August 11) to sing the U.S. National Anthem as part of the elaborate handover to the next host city, Los Angeles in 2028.
NBC’s most viral special correspondent, Snoop Dogg, announced the news on Thursday night (August 8), when he chatted up Olympics broadcast host Mike Tirico about LA28. “We got a lot of super talented people that’s going to be gettin’ down, doin’ what they do, makin’ it come true… for the red, white and the blue,” Snoop said.
Snoop then said he’s a fan of H.E.R. and he would love for her to perform the “Star Spangled Banner.” “Yeah, H.E.R. will also be performing the National Anthem,” Snoop said of the 27-year-old who is already just a Tony away from notching EGOT status.
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A statement from LA28 confirmed the news on Friday morning (August 9), along with the news that LA28 has revealed the new custom LA28 emblem that has been designed to celebrate the next host city’s vibe. The colorful logo features the Olympic rings underneath a bold black L and 28 with a purple guitar adorned with blue sunglasses making up the A portion.
“I can’t wait to bring this experience to Los Angeles,” said Long Beach native Snoop, who has been having the very best time in the City of Light learning the ins-and-outs of equestrian competition and fine French dining while hopping in the pool with Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps, carrying the Olympic torch and hanging with pal Martha Stewart.
“This was amazing, but I just feel like L.A. is gonna be a supersize version of what we just did,” Snoop said of the city’s third go hosting after first bringing the world to the west coast in 1932 and then again in 1984.
The closing ceremony begins at 3 p.m. ET live and will then re-run at 7 p.m. ET. Unlike the unique opening ceremony that took place along the Seine River with performances from Lady Gaga, Celine Dion and French metal band Gojira, the closing will be in the stadium that has hosted the track and field and other events. Team USA swimmer Katie Leadecky and rower Nick Mead will be the flag bearers at the closing, which will be heavily focused on the hand-over to the L.A. games.
The closing ceremony will also reportedly include performances from Snoop, as well as fellow L.A.-based stars Billie Eilish and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in a mix of live and pre-taped bits. Tom Cruise is also reportedly slated to rappel from the top of the Stade de France with the Olympic flag and skydive onto the iconic Hollywood sign in a pre-taped segment.
Check out Snoop’s announcement here and the LA28 logo below.
