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Kelsea Ballerini has been in therapy since she was 12 years old, but she wasn’t always so open to the idea of working on her mental health.
The country superstar say down for a wide-ranging cover story for Women’s Health, where she revealed that she first went to therapy as mandated by the court after her parents’ divorce as a pre-teen. “I was young, and I was sad and confused, and I didn’t want to talk to a stranger that someone else was making me talk to,” she revealed of her hesitancy towards therapy, which continued a few years later when she was once again mandated to attend counseling after witnessing a shooting at her Knoxville high school. “Being a Virgo, being very strong-willed, especially when it comes to things that are tender, like mental health, I need to feel like it’s my decision.”
That’s why, when she turned 24, she decided to take her me tal health in her own hands and experience therapy the way she wanted to. “I’d been on the road for four years, and I was exhausted. I was married [Morgan Evans], and I was looking around at all my friends who have 9-to-5 jobs and still live in my hometown, and I was realizing I felt really removed, really different,” she recalled. “I was starting to have questions like, ‘What is driving me? Is missing Mom’s birthday worth it? Am I okay? And am I happy?’ I couldn’t answer these fundamental questions I should have been able to answer, so I got back into therapy, by my choice, and fell in love with it.”
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Ballerini added of a healing, day-long therapy session she experienced, “My therapist asked me to bring in letters, journals, and pictures from my childhood that are significant to me. I went in having no idea what I wanted to talk about. I just wanted to dig deeper. We started in the morning, and it lasted seven hours. [By the end], I was exhausted, but I had a better understanding of a lot of things. I had the time to really untangle them.”
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Now, she’s moving forward in a positive way. “I’m happy, and I’m in control of that happiness,” she says. “I feel grateful to have the people in my life that I do and to be able to put out a record on this level and play the rooms that I’ve always wanted to and also go home to my dogs.”
Ballerini is set to release her upcoming fifth studio album, Patterns, on Oct. 25.
With the first quarter of the 21st century coming to a close, Billboard is spending the next few months counting down our staff picks for the 25 greatest pop stars of the last 25 years. You can see the stars who have made our list so far at the bottom of this post — but first, we remember the century in Adele, a powerhouse presence and unlikely superstar who emerged from a pop golden age to put up numbers most of her peers could only dream about.
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No one could have possibly seen Adele coming.
By the year 2010, Adele was already a Grammy-winning global hitmaker, so you couldn’t really say she came out of nowhere. But during a period of pop music that was quintessentially BIG – in sound, in scope, in ambition and in commercial returns – for the biggest artist by a near-exponential magnitude to turn out to be the British singer-songwriter with all the weepy breakup ballads was borderline-unthinkable, even as it was becoming an increasingly obvious reality. And for her to get even bigger from there, until she was putting up stats no other pop phenomenon had achieved before or has matched since – even as the music industry around her was supposedly in failing health – remains dizzying to think about a decade later.
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How did she do it? With a singularly mighty voice, an industrial-strength artistic identity, an unexpectedly earthy sense of humor, and of course, a handful of no-doubt five-star pop songs. And somewhat counter-intuitively, also with good timing: Most of early-2010s pop music consisted of futuristic dance-pop jams pushing a pro-partying agenda with a pre-apocalyptic undercurrent, making Adele’s retro-leaning soul-pop a much-needed breath of fresh air. Perhaps more importantly, though, her albums were also simply a breath – stripped-down, emotionally raw sets that invited you to hit pause on the urgency of the present and the anxiety of the future and spend 40-plus minutes in the gentle thrall of an artist tapping into something truly timeless.
Adele
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Adele
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But before she was a record-setting world-beater, Adele was simply one breakout artist from the latest British Invasion – and not the moment’s biggest or flashiest. Multiple soulful U.K. singer-songwriters were making waves on U.S. shores in the late ‘00s, a mini-movement largely kicked off by Amy Winehouse’s unexpected 2007 global breakthrough with her Back to Black album. Winehouse’s massive success, larger-than-life personality and perpetual tabloid presence towered over her peers of the time, and Adele’s 2008 debut album 19 was dogged with comparisons to Back to Black and press insistence on dubbing her “The New Amy.”
Even still, 19 managed to make a major impression on both sides of the Atlantic. In the U.S., the album drew strong reviews for Adele’s strong songwriting and strikingly rich voice; Billboard wrote that she “truly has potential to become among the most respected and inspiring international artists of her generation.” The album started slow commercially in the States, but was boosted by Adele’s head-turning October performance on a much-watched Saturday Night Live episode, which hoisted the album to the Billboard 200’s top 10 and helped its heartbroken “Chasing Pavements” become her first stateside crossover hit, reaching No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Recording Academy also took notice, awarding her a pair of Grammys at the 2009 awards: best new artist and best pop vocal performance (for London ode “Hometown Glory”).
Still, nothing could have prepared fans for the breakthrough that was to come. “Rolling in the Deep” arrived in November 2010, and immediately signaled a raising of the stakes: While “Chasing Pavements” had been despairing in its heartache, “Deep” mixed that anguish with tension, fury and outright vengefulness, supported by a taut, stomping folk-soul groove (helmed by producer and co-writer Paul Epworth) that made the song incendiary from Adele’s first “There’s a fire…” insistence. Peaking with a frayed, chorus-introducing vocal hook (“We could have had it AAA-ALLLLLL…..”) that hit as hard as any EDM beat drop of the time, “Rolling” quickly proved Adele’s most undeniable single yet, reaching the Hot 100 before 2010’s end and topping the chart the next May. “Deep” made for a stark contrast with the No. 1s on either side of its run, by turbo-pop artists Katy Perry, Pitbull and LMFAO, but it also had enough of a pulse and a vitality to it that it didn’t feel totally out of place among those hits, either.
The late-cycle momentum of 19, the growing popularity of “Deep,” and strong pre-release buzz over its heart-rending lyrics and expanded musical palette all helped Adele’s second album, the stunning 21, bow atop the Billboard 200 with a very strong 352,000 in first-week sales. But more impressive than its debut was its endurance: The album would enjoy eight separate reigns at No. 1 over the course of 2011, totaling 13 weeks in all, and remained in the top five for its first 39 weeks on the chart. Over the course of that 2011 run, the album also produced a second smash in the tear-jerking power ballad “Someone Like You,” which followed “Deep” to No. 1 on the Hot 100 – the first No. 1 in the chart’s history to feature no instrumentation beyond voice and piano – after a spellbinding performance at that year’s MTV Video Music Awards. By year’s end, the album had sold 5.8 million copies, enough to help boost the entire industry’s year-over-year sales numbers into the positives for the first time since 2004.
While enormously impressive, the numbers only capture part of the cultural impact of 21 in 2011. The album and its singles became such obvious shorthand for heartbreak music that it was featured in an SNL sketch where various cast members (and guests Emma Stone and Coldplay) play co-workers enjoying a cathartic cry together over various life sadnesses to “Someone Like You.” Meanwhile, countless other artists – contemporary hitmakers and legends alike, from all over the musical spectrum – were inspired to try their hands at Adele’s new entries to the all-time pop canon; in that year alone, “Deep” was covered or remixed by John Legend, Patti Smith, Linkin Park, the Glee Cast, Mike Posner, Jamie xx, a teenage Ariana Grande, Lil Wayne and dozens more. That cross-demographic, cross-generational appeal was a huge key to Adele’s success; while Lady Gaga and Drake might’ve enraptured as many teens at the time, Adele was the classic pop star you could listen to with your parents, or even your grandparents.
By 2012, 21 was still showing no signs of slowing down. The set spun off a third Hot 100 No. 1 single in the betrayal anthem “Set Fire to the Rain,” which topped the chart in February – just a week before Adele would perform at that year’s Grammys, her first live appearance since emergency throat surgery forced her to cut her Adele Live Tour short the prior October. Unsurprisingly, she also cleaned up at the awards, winning in all six of the categories in which she was nominated, including album of the year for 21 and song and record of the year for “Deep.” Meanwhile, 21 had resumed its domination of the Billboard 200, topping the chart for another 10 weeks from January to March, with an extra 11th week in June bringing its two-year total to 24 weeks at No. 1 – tying Prince and the Revolution’s Purple Rain for the longest stay atop the 200 since Michael Jackson’s Thriller spent a historic 37 weeks there in the early ‘80s. In November 2012, the set was also certified Diamond by the RIAA, the first new album to officially break eight digits in units shipped since Usher’s 2004 blockbuster Confessions.
Adele’s victory-lapping 2012 extended to one more musical release – the Bond theme “Skyfall,” which debuted in the Hot 100’s top 10 and would win Adele a best original song Oscar the following year – and another relatively minor hit off 21 in the No. 16-peaking “Rumour Has It.” And then, Adele headed back to the sidelines: While other pop stars of the era would keep at least one foot in the spotlight in between album cycles – with one-off singles, feature appearances, late-night and festival performances and/or consistent social media presence – Adele established the precedent in her post-21 era of a more-or-less full mainstream retreat when she was no longer in album mode. For most of 2013 and 2014, Adele was rarely seen or heard from, as she eventually set to work on the album that would become 21’s follow-up.
By the time Adele returned in late 2015, anticipation for her new music had crescendoed to an arguably unmatched pitch among 21st century releases. Her approval rating was near-unanimous among pop fans of all stripes, and while other U.K. singer-songwriters with big voices and big choruses (Sam Smith, Emeli Sandé, Labrinth) had emerged in her absence, none quite matched her raw power or all-consuming appeal, artistically or commercially. Luckily, the song that she returned with met all expectations: “Hello,” the yearning megaballad that was to serve as lead single for her then-upcoming third album, was not the artistic leap forward that “Deep” was, but it scratched the itch Adele had left her fans with: It was massive, it was cathartic, it was deeply satisfying and it was instantly unforgettable. Helped by a dramatic black-and-white music video (and a newly glammed-out look for its singer), “Hello” debuted atop the Hot 100 and stayed there for 10 weeks.
Halfway through that run, the entirety of 25 was released. Coming off the absurd sales performance of 21 and the stellar reception to “Hello,” commercial expectations for the set were exceptionally high – and though by late 2015, streaming had largely been accepted as the now-dominant form of global musical consumption, 25 was held from DSPs in its first weeks to ensure maximum performance. That maximum performance was reached, and then exceeded, and then exceeded some more: By the end of its first week, 25 had sold 3.38 million copies.
That 3.38 million number was so inconceivably gargantuan that it practically defied being put in context; you had to go to sports-world records like Barry Bonds’ 73 homers in one season or Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points in a single game to express just how brain-scramblingly far ahead of the pack it was. Not only did it beat the previous single-week record-holder – *NSYNC’s 2000 blockbuster No Strings Attached, which sold an unrivaled-for-15-years 2.4 million in its debut frame – it passed it within the first three days of its release, and then essentially added on an extra million for its troubles before week’s end. The record has gone unmatched in the nine years since 25’s debut; even Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, coming off perhaps the biggest year any pop star has had this century, with the benefit of 31 tracks’ worth of streaming consumption and untold numbers of vinyl variants for purchase, topped out at 2.6 million – an impossibly high number for literally any other artist in all of pop history, but still not even a full week’s work for mid-2010s Adele.
Adele
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The debut was beyond historic, and 25 spent the next six weeks at No. 1 – moving another seven-digits’ worth in two of those frames – before adding another three weeks atop the chart to its tally in February and March 2016. But while 21 essentially ruled the world for a full two calendar years, the cultural reign of 25 was shorter; wistful second single “When We Were Young” stalled at No. 14 on the Hot 100, and while the more upbeat third single “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” reached No. 8, it would be the only song from the set to follow “Hello” to the top 10. The album was still certified Diamond that September – after just nine months of release – and Adele again swept album, record and song of the year at the 2017 Grammys, where she also performed a heartfelt tribute to the late George Michael. But for the first time in her career, Adele was ending an album era with less momentum than she started.
Following the 2017 Grammys, Adele once again disappeared from the public eye, staying out of sight for most of the decade’s remainder. In 2021, she began to tease a return with new album 30, announcing a November release date for lead single “Easy on Me.” The song – another classic Adele piano ballad – debuted atop the Hot 100 and ultimately matched the 10-week No. 1 run of “Hello.” 30 arrived a month later and spent its first six weeks of release at No. 1, attracting some of the strongest initial reviews of her career. But this time neither the album’s debut nor its endurance would match its predecessor; the album entered with 839,000 first-week units, still easily the best number of any album that calendar year, but not even a quarter of 25’s stratospheric bow. When 30 also struggled to produce an enduring hit beyond its lead single, it seemed to confirm that Adele’s period as a one-of-one commercial force had likely passed.
Adele
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Nevertheless, Adele remains one of pop music’s top draws, both on record and in concert – with her Weekends With Adele residency at the Colosseum in Las Vegas attracting rave reviews and spending a full two years (from 2022-24) as one of the hottest tickets in live entertainment. While Adele’s presence in her hit songs and albums is most associated with melodrama, introspection and general seriousness, she’s managed to amass and retain a great amount of good will as a public figure by being a down-to-earth, cheeky and often downright hilarious presence in her live appearances – in 2020, she even surprised fans by signing on as a non-performing SNL host, in a well-received turn. The famously album-inspiring romantic turmoil of her personal life has also taken a turn for the less-dramatic in recent years, as she’s been linked with sports super-agent Rich Paul since 2021, revealing their engagement in August.
While Adele will likely never again be as culturally central a figure as she was when she rose from the shadows in the early 2010s to cast her own shadow over the rest of popular music, it’s equally unlikely that she will ever totally fade from the mainstream – she’s too good, too likable and too impossible to replace. And she remains a valuable reminder that while some pop greats seem like they’re destined to rule the world from the opening seconds of their first single or video, it can be even more rewarding when an artist who seems to come from humble roots quickly flowers into an icon, striking a chord entirely of their own thanks to serendipitous timing, impeccable artistry and unquestionably all-time pop songs.
Read more about the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century here — and be sure to check back next Thursday as we reveal our No. 9 artist!
THE LIST SO FAR:
Honorable Mentions
25. Katy Perry24. Ed Sheeran23. Bad Bunny22. One Direction21. Lil Wayne20. Bruno Mars19. BTS18. The Weeknd17. Shakira16. Jay-Z15. Miley Cyrus14. Justin Timberlake13. Nicki Minaj12. Eminem11. Usher
Rimas Entertainment is celebrating 10 years in business and its executives — including Noah Assad (CEO), Junior Carabaño (vp) and Raymond Acosta (general manager, Habibi) — reflected on their successes in the past decade.
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During a panel that took place on Tuesday (Oct. 15) and was moderated by Billboard‘s Leila Cobo, Assad, Carabaño and Acosta gave the first public interview as a team and talked about the evolution of the company, which launched as a label with Jowell & Randy as their first signed artist, and later became a powerhouse company home to global star Bad Bunny, with new divisions including Habibi (management company home to Karol G and Grupo Frontera) and Rimas Sports.
“I do what I like to do,” a soft-spoken Assad said. “I named the company Rimas obviously because of rhythms, but it has another meaning. My brother’s name is Samir and he loves music. Rimas is Samir spelled backwards.”
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Carabaño went on to explain that the company first focused mainly on monetizing music videos on YouTube. “We started to monetize digitally, with YouTube videos, we would monitor and call each other all day. One day we made $100 dollars and another day $1,500, that’s when we said we can make a living from this.”
And the rest is history, with marquee clients Bad Bunny and Karol G going on to become two of the biggest music stars over the past four years.
Below are the best quotes from the Ten Years of Rimas Entertainment panel.
The Role of Facilitators
Noah Assad: “We started as, and still are, facilitators to our clients in all the businesses we do, but we started kind of like a back office, and we were facilitators for complaints from artists who needed help resolving these issues. We do the same thing now but on a larger scale. And back then our only income was doing shows, or from videos on YouTube, it was a new era of people making money. We were learning to go from physical to digital, we were there early on.”
Working With Bad Bunny
Assad: “Benito [Bad Bunny’s real name] was a blessing and opened a lot of doors for us to show the world what we can offer. He helped paved the way and helped us build what we have today.”
Right People, Right Time
Junior Carabaño: “More than sitting down and planning what we wanted to do, we were the right people at the right time. We saw an opportunity where we also got to share our passion with the industry. Today, we see it as 10 years ago, but it doesn’t seem like it for us because every day, we do what we want. We found there was a way to make a living working in what we love.”
The Importance of Accepting to Keep Learning
Raymond Acosta: “Fifteen years ago, I worked as a security guard at the Choliseo. Our individual journeys are important. There will come a time when you will start to criticize the work of others, even when you have not gone through what they have. But once you are willing to learn about every aspect of the business, you can understand a team member, help them and say, ‘Don’t worry because I went through that as well.’ It’s about empowering ourselves.”
Assad: “I’m 34 now but I really started when I was 15 years old. I can say today that I can do any job in the industry. Really, I can. I can help set up lights, DJ, record vocals, I have worked in every area, and that’s important for anyone who wants to work in the industry. Wanting to learn is important and accepting to learn.”
Working With Karol G
Acosta: “We’re proud of what Karol has achieved. She is a woman who works every day, she does not rest, she wants to keep growing in what she does, she opens her heart. She challenged us when she told us she wanted to do a stadium tour. All you can do for an artist like that is clear the way for them to run.”
What They Look for in an Artist
Assad: “In terms of management, Raymond tells me, ‘Here is this opportunity.’ And I respond with, ‘What do you think?’ And if he says I love them, then so do I. Sometimes I don’t see the vision, but someone else on the team will. If that person believes in an artist, we know there’s a reason. We trust that team member who identifies an artist and says, ‘I can do this for this person.”
The 2024 Billboard Latin Music Week coincides with the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards set to air at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 20, on Telemundo. It will simultaneously be available on Universo, Peacock and the Telemundo app, and in Latin America and the Caribbean through Telemundo Internacional.
Lizzo‘s break didn’t last long. While participating in a panel at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit Monday (Oct. 14), the star shared that she’s not really taking a gap year as she works hard on her Yitty business and new music.
“‘Gap year’? Girl, who said ‘gap year’?” Lizzo began, laughing. (Spoiler alert: She did!) “I launched my company Yitty in 2022 at the same time as my album, Special … As soon as I stepped down home from tour — I may not be as public-facing — but I went straight to Yitty headquarters, and I’ve just been working, working, working. You may not see me, but I’ve been working.”
“It ain’t a gap year, it’s a grind year,” the “About Damn Time” musician noted.
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The panel comes less than two months after Lizzo shared footage of her trip to Bali and wrote, “I’m taking a gap year & protecting my peace.” The Grammy winner has been open about how her mental health has suffered in the aftermath of her ex-dancers filing a lawsuit against her over claims of sexual misconduct and hostile work conditions, all of which Lizzo has emphatically denied. While speaking at the Fortune event, she declined to speak on the matter twice: “This isn’t the space for it, we’re celebrating CEOs and powerful women.”
Lizzo has also been open about how she’s taken refuge in making music and working out, both of which she touched on during the summit. Of the former, she teased that she’s “very close” to being done with her fifth studio album — “I’m really really proud of the music I’ve written,” Lizzo added — and of the latter, explained that she’s leaning into body neutrality instead of body positivity.
“One inevitability we all have to face is that our bodies will change … it’s a beautiful thing,” she said of her recent fitness journey. “My body is nobody’s business, other than me, my doctor, my trainer and my man.”
Plus, the businesswoman joined numerous other artists in praising one of 2024’s biggest breakout stars: Chappell Roan. “I see a lot of parallels … we had the same kind of rise, and it was so quick,” Lizzo said of the “Good Luck, Babe!” musician. “I watch how she handles her relationship to public and fame. If I had one thing to say to her: Call your therapist. I wore my therapist out when I was becoming famous. I respect her a lot for how she handles herself.”
There was no better way to kick off the second day of the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Week on Tuesday (Oct. 15) than with Grupo Frontera‘s Making the Hit Live!, during which the group from Texas worked its magic to create a brand new song.
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As is tradition, during Making the Hit Live!, an artist will take the entire panel time to write and produce a song from scratch. But instead, this year, Grupo Frontera — who shot to stardom in 2022 thanks to ots cover of “No Se Va” — received lyrics from the band’s go-to producer and songwriter Edgar Barrera ahead of time, and added ots signature cumbia sound to the lyrics during the panel. Unofficially titled “Ya No,” the irresistible, hip-swiveling song was indeed created in a span of 40 minutes.
“Before we met Edgar Barrera, I would write songs for the group,” Payo, the band’s frontman, said enthusiastically. “We released, like, two songs that were penned by me, and I wrote four other ones, but those didn’t come out because that’s when we met Edgar and were like, ‘OK, we’re good,’” he added with a laugh.
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Now, when they’re in the studio with Barrera, Frontera’s Juan, Payo and Beto will contribute to the songwriting process, but Payo pokes fun at his bandmates. “They just say one word hoping it sticks,” he shared. “One time, they were obsessed with the word ‘gafas’ and they just kept repeating it, like, chill bro.”
When it comes to production, that’s where all six of them contribute with their respective instruments.
Part of the process of creating a song also includes setting time to think about content for social media to complement the song’s essence. The group’s presence online, whether it’s recording a dance or acting out a scene using part of a song’s lyrics, has made Grupo Frontera go viral more than once on TikTok. “We don’t create a song thinking it will be a hit on TikTok,” Juan explained. Payo added, “When we record a song, we always think the chorus will go viral, but we always get it wrong, so we have to record all of our social media content all over again.”
While setting the cumbia rhythm for “Ya No,” Frontera shared the story of when the members recorded “No Se Va.”
“We didn’t have money to rent a studio to record, well we didn’t have money, period,” said Beto. “So when we did record, we’d have to do everything in one take — even if we made a mistake, we’d leave that in there. We recorded ‘No Se Ve’ at a friend’s apartment building and every resident there was fine with us using the space — except for this one lady who complained.”
That song scored Frontera the group’s first ever Billboard chart entry. The song peaked at No. 3 on the Hot Latin Songs chart. While they’re not sure yet if they’ll release “Ya No,” the song they created during the panel, the track has hit potential. Check out a sneak peek below:
The 2024 Billboard Latin Music Week coincides with the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards set to air at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 20, on Telemundo. It will simultaneously be available on Universo, Peacock and the Telemundo app, and in Latin America and the Caribbean through Telemundo Internacional.
Little Simz, Elyanna and Tini each earn their first career entry on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Oct. 19), thanks to their collaboration with Coldplay, “We Pray.”
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Released Aug. 23 as the second single from the band’s album Moon Music, the song (which also features Burna Boy) debuts at No. 87 with 8 million in airplay audience (up 11%), 3.3 million U.S. streams (up 103%) and 3,000 downloads sold (up 109%) in the Oct. 4-10 tracking week, according to Luminate.
Radio-wise, the song concurrently rises 16-15 on Adult Pop Airplay and 24-23 on Pop Airplay.
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The song’s gains are tied to the album’s release on Oct. 4, with Moon Music debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 120,000 equivalent album units earned. The band earns its fifth No. 1 and first since Ghost Stories in 2014.
TikTok has also been a factor in the song’s growing profile. Multiple snippets of the track highlighting the artists featured on the song have broken through on the platform. There’s the “We Pray (Elyanna Version)” and “We Pray (Tini Version),” plus a “Blank Verse Version” that allows users to add their own verses (with all three posted to Coldplay’s official account).
Little Simz, from Islington, London, first appeared on Billboard’s charts in November 2017 via her feature on the Gorillaz song “Garage Palace.” The track debuted and peaked at No. 37 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. She earned her first solo appearance in 2021 with her fourth studio album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. The set reached No. 33 on the Top Album Sales chart, plus No. 22 on Vinyl Albums. Across the pond, it peaked at No. 4 the Official U.K. Albums chart.
Little Simz has released four other albums: A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons (2015), Stillness In Wonderland (2016), Grey Area (2019) and No Thank You (2022). Outside of music, she starred in the Netflix drama series Top Boy.
Elyanna, a Palestinian-Chilean singer-songwriter from Nazareth, also reaches the Hot 100 for the first time thanks to “We Pray.” The song marks her first appearance on Billboard’s charts. Elyanna has been releasing music since 2019 and dropped her first full-length, Woledto, in April, via Universal Arabic Music. In February, she appeared on the cover of Billboard Arabia. “I’m on a Billboard cover, and we have a sold-out tour, and I have an album coming,” she told Billboard Arabia at the time. “It feels insane to me. I’m doing things I dreamt of my whole life.”
Elyanna also performed at Coachella in April, making history as the first artist at the festival to perform in Arabic.
Argentinian singer-actress-dancer Tini also arrives on the Hot 100 for the first time via “We Pray.” Tini (full name Tini Stoessel) is already a household name in Argentina, having begun her career as a child actress in the Disney Channel Latin American telenovela Violetta. She reprised the role for the series’ sequel film Tini: The Movie in 2016. She became the first Argentine act to sign with Hollywood Records in 2015. Since then, she’s released five studio albums: Tini (Martina Stoessel) (2016), Quiero Volver (2018), Tini Tini Tini (2020), Cupido (2023) and Un Mechón de Pelo in April.
Cupido reached No. 45 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart. Tini has charted 41 songs on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100, including five No. 1s: “Miénteme,” with Maria Becerra; “Bar,” with L-Gante; “La Triple T”; “La_Original.mp3,” with Emilia; and “Pa.”
Elanna and Tini both performed “We Pray” with Coldplay on NBC’s Saturday Night Live on Oct. 5 when the band was the musical guest.
The Voice season 26 contestant Camryn Brooks provided living proof on Monday night (Oct. 14) that you should never give up on your dreams. Three years after washing out of season 21 after getting no chair turns, the California native made a triumphant return that elicited four chair turns.
After impressing the judges with her soaring cover of Maggie Rogers’ “Light On,” Brooks, 24, brought down the house and got Gwen Stefani out of her chair, inspiring the solo star and No Doubt singer to brag, “I was first!”
“I’m literally crying right now because this is like, absolutely unreal. I was a contestant on season 21 and I didn’t get any chair turns,” Brooks told coaches Snoop Dogg, Reba McEntire and Micael Bublé after her performance. “I didn’t ever envision I was going to get four so this is literally a dream come true.”
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McEntire, who praised Brooks’ “beautiful” voice, was elated by the redemption story, reminding viewers that the show’s judges often tell singers who don’t get a chair turn to “please come back.” Bublé also had high praise, adding that he hit his button because of FOMO, with Snoop giving the Mt. Shasta native props for her tone, composure and stage presence.
She and Bublé also bonded over their early gigs singing the National Anthem, though the Canadian crooner couldn’t get Brooks to join him on a chorus of his native “Oh Canada” as Snoop repeatedly trolled him for singing the “wrong” anthem. He got his own redemption, though, when Brooks noted that when she attended a performing arts school the only song she sang to earn money in competitions was Bublé’s rendition of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good.”
Despite the mutual admiration, Brooks ended up going with Stefani, who said her new team member’s voice reminded was pleasantly reminiscent of her favorite 1970s singers. “There are so many singers that are good, but there’s certain ones that just like touch you because of their tone or just little taste things that they do,” Stefani said. “That’s what I was feeling from you. I would listen to that voice on a record. It’s round, it’s soothing, it would be really fun to work with you ‘cause I feel like we could pick some really cool songs and define who you are.”
Not for nothing, Brooks’ story was even wilder because after her no-turn 2021 audition she noted that her plans to finish school and start performing professionally were derailed when she was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. “It was really scary because I couldn’t get out more than three words at a time,” she said. “The first thought that came to my mind was, ‘Am I going to be able to sing again?’ In that moment, you just think, ‘Am I gonna die? I’m too young to have this happen.’”
Though frightening, Brooks said the ailment really put into perspective what mattered to her and made her fight harder for her dreams. “I’m just so blessed to even be here,” she said.
New episodes of The Voice air Monday and Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC, and then stream on-demand via Peacock the next day.
Watch Brooks perform “Light On” below.
Drake and Dennis Graham enjoyed a father-son outing over the weekend for a night out at a Toronto jazz club. The duo even hit the Reservoir Lounge at one point after being invited to join Shane Philips’ set. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news With the Band of […]
Japanese dance & vocal group BE:FIRST spoke with Billboard Japan for its Monthly Feature interview series highlighting today’s leading artists and works. The hugely popular boy band released their second album, 2:BE, on August 28.
Ever since its formation three years ago through an audition by BMSG, the record label headed by SKY-HI, the group has created countless hits and appeared on numerous music TV shows and festival stages. In 2024, they performed two solo shows at Tokyo Dome and two solo shows in Kyocera Dome Osaka. The seven members of SOTA, SHUNTO, MANATO, RYUHEI, JUNON, RYOKI, and LEO are shaping up to be an undeniable juggernaut of a group. Their fandom and the scope of their activities is constantly growing, but since their debut, they have shown a consistent dedication to their singing, rapping, and dancing, and they’ve been actively and enthusiastically involved in songwriting, lyric-crafting, and choreography.
Their musical journey is reflected in their second album, 2:BE. Billboard Japan spoke to all seven members of the group about what went into the creation of the new album.
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In the three years since your debut, what kind of group do you feel that BE:FIRST has become?
LEO: We’ve always been a group that really enjoys the music. We don’t think of music as work, it’s more like we’re just doing what we want. Personally, none of it has ever felt like a burden for me. I’ve never once thought “I don’t really feel like doing this now.” I think that’s because of the kind of team we are.
I feel like that’s one of the notable features of BE:FIRST, because all of you are actively involved in the group’s creative process. But that usually involves growing pains, right? I’m sure you’ve had slumps.
LEO: Of course, there are times when I’ve found myself butting up against an obstacle, or I’ve felt anxious. But those never made me dislike what we’re doing. After all, I’m here because I love music, and I want to become a better artist. No matter how scared I might feel, it’s fun to hold that mic up on stage, and I feel full of joy when I’m listening to music. That’s always true, no matter what the situation.
SOTA: Our agency also puts music first, so we’re never given work that would interfere with our ability to focus on music. We keep on doing what we want to do. Our work environment is stress-free, and the more songs we create, the more our musical appetite grows, so it’s a lot more common for us to find ourselves struggling to choose between lots of different options than for us to be hitting a wall. I think all of our struggles are positive struggles. I feel very grateful to be able to work in this kind of environment.
That’s truly one of BE:FIRST’s strengths.
SOTA: When we released “Mainstream,” there was a time when we were trying to figure out how to best showcase ourselves as a group. But our agency let us make the kind of music we wanted to make, and all seven of us are united in giving 100% to whatever we want to do. These will continue to be our strengths, and I truly feel that over the past three years we’ve become a group that’s completely focused on music.
MANATO: THE FIRST was an audition focused on each person’s abilities and individuality, so everyone came to the group with their own personal strengths. Over the past three years, we’ve evolved into a group where each of these strengths passes through the filters of our individuality to produce our group’s output. Initially, Hidaka (Mitsuhiro Hidaka/SKY-HI) defined our group’s approach, but from around 2023, we started to think about what we ourselves wanted to do. We became more involved in the creative side, and as soon as we finished a song, we were like “okay, now what should we do next?” I think that was a big transformation.
How do you think that you, as individual artists or as a group, have evolved since your last album, BE:1?
RYUHEI: Our new album, 2:BE, has a mixture of songs that Hidaka wanted BE:FIRST to perform and songs that we wanted to perform. We tried a lot of new things, and I think we’ve become a lot better at reproducing what’s in the recordings. I feel like, through the process of everyone working on their own singing, we’ve taken things to a higher level.
JUNON: Compared to our first album, on this second album, there’s a much smaller difference between the way we sound live and the way the album sounds. Also, we did a lot in the recording process to reflect aspects of our performances in the music, which you can hear even now (before we tour), so I think it’s the kind of album that will make people look forward to seeing our live shows. That’s one way we’ve evolved since our first album.
So you feel you’ve made solid progress.
RYOKI: We’ve already got songs done by sub-units of the group, there are lyrics that we’re finally in a position to write, and the album has a raw feel to it. That’s because BE:FIRST has always lived in the moment—we’re always in an environment where we can do what we want. I think 2:BE reaffirms that sense of freedom to live in the moment. “Blissful” personifies it. When we debuted, it was all we could do just to take care of whatever was right in front of us, but lately we’ve been able to relax a bit, in a good sense.
So you’ve been able to express yourselves more naturally?
RYOKI: Yes, I think so. That’s true musically, and I think also in our day-to-day lives, we’ve now got some breathing space. Thanks to that, we can focus on our music, which I think has created a positive feedback loop. Being in an environment that provides us with freedom also creates responsibilities, but then all you need to do is make an environment in which living up to your responsibilities is itself also enjoyable. I think BE:FIRST can do that.
SHUNTO: A lot of the songs on the new album have a strong message. It’s an album in which these can also serve as our strengths. The new album is really packed with what it means to be BE:FIRST. I think it’s a well-balanced, highly listenable album.
“Hush-Hush” is a collaboration between yourselves and ATEEZ, right?
SOTA: A long time ago, Hidaka talked about how there was a K-pop group that he particularly liked. It was shortly after our debut, but he was saying “there’s an artist I’d like you to collaborate with one day.” There are certain ways in which we’re alike, so I guess he realized that we’d be a good match.
What did you feel like you had in common?
SOTA: How well we all get along, and the mood within our teams. We feel like hometown friends.
RYOKI: We both have a very down-to-earth feel. ATEEZ has a really warm vibe. That’s something that BE:FIRST also places a lot of importance on.
SOTA: Right. That focus sets ATEEZ apart from a lot of other K-pop groups. As far as music, another similarity is that we both write our own lyrics and take part in the creative process. I feel like there’s a lot of overlap in the core parts of what we focus on.
In closing, then, could you share your vision for the group in the future?
RYOKI: The musical direction we want to go in is always changing. But, no matter what, I want to keep this “Avengers” feel.
SHUNTO: But you can’t really produce that Avengers feeling on purpose. That variety in the way that we shine comes from us all combining our varied strengths.
RYOKI: Everyone’s so impressive. I love everyone in our group.
SOTA: But if we stopped enjoying creating music together, all seven of us working as one, then we wouldn’t need to keep that seven-person approach. Our strength isn’t really a group-focused approach in which, for example, we’re using synchronized choreography or we’re separating singing parts to give songs different feels. Instead, for us, it’s more important that we’re enjoying the vibes together. When we’re doing anything, whether it’s hip-hop or funk, it’s like all seven of us are jamming. One of the things that makes a group so fun—one of its qualities—is the feeling of bouncing the music off of each other. I think the best thing would keep on making the kind of music we want to make, all seven of us.
So it has to be the seven of you.
SOTA: That’s right. If we just did synchronized dancing, it wouldn’t make a difference if one person left.
Everyone: (Laughs)
SOTA: I think it’s when we’re having fun ourselves that it becomes fun for other people to watch. That’s our greatest point of appeal, the way we spread the enjoyment of our music.
—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan
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