Music
Page: 111
Coincidence or not, it was a full moon Tuesday (Feb. 11) in Rio de Janeiro. The sky was clear, without stars, as the biggest star got ready to shine at the Nilton Santos Stadium, also known as Engenhão. Accompanied by her army — correction: her pack — She-Wolf Shakira marched toward the stage, focused on performing the greatest show of her life for the kickoff of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour. She delivered, showing once again why she’s considered one of the greatest Latin artists in history.
Even with technical problems — including faulty monitors and a problem with screens — Shak remained calm and in good spirits.
“This is the first show, of course, something had to happen,” she said, laughing. With everything resolved, Shakira began the concert with “La Fuerte” from her latest album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, which gives its name to the tour.
The Colombian artist performed for more than two hours, playing a setlist that included the biggest hits from her 30-year-plus career. With the help of highly realistic projections made with AI, the singer brought visuals that told key moments of her personal and artistic journey.
In addition, the competent band and dancers put on a show of their own. Shakira made sure to thank each member of her team and introduced each one by name on stage. The she-wolf seemed to be overflowing with joy, like a child. At the end of each act — difficult to say which was the best — she had a huge smile on her face.
“This is a true encounter between a little she-wolf and her pack,” Shakira said.
Proving that women cash in — and how! — Shakira made a heavy investment in this tour. She was accompanied by cameras that showed every step of the show on a giant screen. Her speed in changing outfits was impressive: I counted eight, but there were definitely more. In some of her acts, she recreated scenes from music videos like “Te Felicito” (with Rauw Alejandro), and also recreated the atmosphere of the “Chantaje” video (with Maluma), where she sang from her dressing room — and the audience followed everything, including the costume changes.
Adjectives fall short to explain the magnitude of the singer’s performance; she seemed like a force of nature on stage. According to her: “Falls are not the end, but the beginning of the highest flight.” And after her turbulent period, today she shines with tranquility — with each passing day, time is becoming her ally, just like a fine wine.
Below, see Shakira’s 10 best moments at the first concert of her Las Mujeres No Ya Lloran World Tour.
The opening
Ask the members of Horsegirl — Nora Cheng, 21, Penelope Lowenstein, 20, and Gigi Reece, 22 — to describe each other using a single word, and it quickly becomes apparent that their hive mind is strong.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“I would say that Penelope is strong-willed,” says Reece, the band’s drummer.
“I was going to say that!” Cheng, Horsegirl’s guitarist and vocalist, interjects.
“You a–hole!” Reece replies with a laugh, then adds, “I would say Nora is charming.”
Trending on Billboard
“I was going to use charming for you,” Cheng says to Reece. “Strong-willed and charming in their own special ways.”
Lowenstein shakes things up. “For Gigi, I’m going to say hilarious, and Nora, I would say, is quirky.”
Cheng: “Are you serious?”
Lowenstein: “Yep.”
Cheng: “Okay, Penelope — rude.”
Lowenstein: “Dude, quirky is sweet.”
Spend some time with the Chicago-spawned indie rockers, and you’ll conclude that all three are strong-willed, charming, quirky, wicked smart and in sync. Although Reece is Zooming in separately from Cheng and Lowenstein, who are roommates and finishing up their studies at New York University, they bounce ideas, jokes and opinions off each other with the kind of joyous ease and musicality that defines their new album, Phonetics On and On, which Matador Records will release on Feb. 14.
The album’s sound has been described as “spacious” compared to the fuzzy, saturated ’90s-style tones of their 2022 debut, Versions of Modern Performance. It is: Phonetics On and On — which was produced by Cate Le Bon and recorded at Wilco‘s headquarters and recording studio — is also lyrically and musically elemental in a way that inspires playing it on repeat. “Julie,” “2468” and “Switch Over” are among the reptile-brain pleasers — fun to sing, hard to forget — that are certain to grow Horsegirl’s fan base in the coming weeks.
Below, the trio talks about the making of Phonetics, as well as some song inspirations, and about the differences between trying to be creative in New York and in Chicago.
Where were your heads at when you were making this album?
Reece: We were thinking a lot about this period of adjusting to something new, and adjusting to something new with each other. We came from a place of being so close – in high school we were almost inseparable, and so similar as people. I feel like we’ve all gone on our own tracks, and we’ve been adjusting to those changes.
Are you all in New York?
Reece: Yeah, I live 15 minutes away from them.
Lowenstein: We were grappling with a change of place which had brought us a lot closer together, as you were saying, Gigi. I also think we had just toured on the first record for a whole summer and experienced together what being in a professional band was like. I think we were feeling really excited to reconnect with what the band is separate from all the noise — to tune everything out and find something on our own, which maybe has to do with the different sound that we ended up naturally coming across.
Cheng: Yeah, I think that a lot of the character of this album was from that break. We did a lot of growing up and having new experiences in that time just by nature of how old we were. That’s definitely part of that record.
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. How did you arrive at that title for the album?
Lowenstein: We were really excited about using the rudiments of language, and the first things that you’re taught when you’re taught language and reading. Lyrically and instrumentally we wanted to go back to the building blocks, both in the “dah, dah, dahs” and the “do, do, dos ” of grade school and in the standard tuning of the guitar — the open E and open A chords — which were things that we were not excited about in the same way as teenagers. We thought there was something exciting about trying to make a rock record or something dancy or experimental or poppy out of those components that make up every song.
Reece: We were sitting together being like, “OK, we need a title.” We had “On and On” as something that we wanted to be part of it, and we were like, “OK, we just need a great word before that.” The reason we were drawn towards using “On and On” was because of the way those sounds went with the repetition that’s on the record. “Phonetics” immediately seemed like the perfect word.
Is the song “Julie” about an actual person?
Lowenstein: Yeah. Someone I had a crush on back in the day.
Reece: Julie is me.
Seriously?
Reece: No. I was just thinking earlier today that it would be funny if I said that.
Does Julie know the song is about her?
Lowenstein: I don’t know how into it I want to get — I wish I could tell you what you want — but Julie is me. The song is about a boy, and I feel like, yes, they know. But I’m not dying to get, I don’t know…
Granular?
Lowenstein: Yeah, totally. If you know, you know, I would say.
In terms of repetition, I also noticed that the line, “they walk in twos” appears twice. Is there any symbolism to that?
Lowenstein: It kind of happened by accident, but it was also the idea to connect two songs — one of which, “2468,” is about phonetics. Writing a rock song with repetition and basic elements. Then, the song “In Twos” is like a classic love song, with more standard lyrics. We all might have different ideas around this, but I loved the idea of connecting these two types of songs.
Reece: As we were making the record, we were thinking about the ways that different songs played off each other. The lyrics for “2468” weren’t written until we got into the studio, so it was really a moment of let’s be self-referential. It feels like it was intentional even though it was a moment that could have just passed us by.
This album is sparer compared to the last album. How much of that was your decision and how much was Cate Le Bon’s influence?
Reece: In retrospect, if I wasn’t in Horsegirl, I’d be like “Oh, my god, Horsegirl got spacious because of Cate Le Bon.” But it really was that we chose Cate Le Bon because we had so much space in the songs we were writing and demoing. We were also experimenting more with percussion than we had before. We were playing on a glockenspiel and different tambourines and different shakers. We were clearly getting at something very playful, and our songwriting had more space in it. That was intentional. In that regard, Cate made perfect sense. She didn’t have to push us very much in terms of that because we got there on the same page about it.
Cheng: She carried our vision.
Lowenstein: She gave us confidence about our vision. When the three of us are united in an idea, no one is telling us otherwise. But because we admire this woman beyond anything else we were able to make weirder decisions with a lot of confidence because she was like, this sounds really good you guys.
Cheng: Her outside perspective was very valuable. In the studio, I had this feeling that Cate can see the future. She understands how this can work out.
Reece: We were like, “Cate is Cate. She knows everything.”
Horsegirl
Courtesy Photo
Why did you go back to Chicago to record the album when you were all here in New York?
Lowenstein: Part of it was just straight up logistics. We’re in school, and we wanted to do it during winter break. It’s nice to go home and see your family. But I also think we wanted an environment where you can tap out of everything else going on in New York. It would be crazy to imagine going to the studio and then social life resumes. We wanted to turn all of that off, and there’s nothing like going back to where the three of us are from and staying with your family. That kind of rhythm of life is really conducive to cozy, creative energy which is what we wanted. And Chicago is just — it’s really grounding for us to go home there. And we’re very lucky that Cate was down to go to Chicago in the worst month to possibly be in Chicago.
I read that the heat had to be turned off there so it wouldn’t interfere with recording?
Reece: It was so cold, but the opportunity to record at The Loft made perfect sense for us. It felt really cozy, even though we had to turn the heat off. The Wilco team seems to function like a huge family with offices. All the pieces fit together. Cate had already recorded there.
You are a truly collaborative band. That’s not easy. How do you write lyrics, for example?
Lowenstein: We are truly collaborative, which I think is rare, and I realize that the longer we’ve been in this, how rare it is. Lyrically, we work individually. The lyrics that I sing, I wrote. The lyrics Nora sings, she wrote. But the fact that we’re often singing at the same time I think speaks to [our collaborative] nature. Also, we’ve lived together so we know what each other is talking about. When we are writing lyrics, we will ask each other for advice. I think it’s sweet that both of us singing together is such a part of Horsegirl. Even though the lyrics are individual, the melodies are completely collaborative. It all comes from a place of joy, playing together which has always, I think, been the core of this band.
You’ve said in the past that you’ll return to Chicago after school is finished. Do you still feel that way?
All three: Yeah.
Why come to New York at all?
Reece: We had something so special in Chicago, but we didn’t want to remain stagnant in that. That we left at such an exciting time that came with a lot of growing pains. But I think that it made us make the record we made and brought us so much closer together. It helped us realize things about life and being a musician and being young women and being friends with each other. Maybe that would have happened if we didn’t move to New York, but I think that we wanted to come somewhere that felt bigger than Chicago because we felt very comfortable in Chicago. We needed to push ourselves.
Lowenstein: If I still lived in the same city as my family and my dear friends, I wouldn’t have been pushed to develop in the ways that I have moving away from home. I am glad that we made that choice instead of the tour-tour-tour-go-live-at-home kind of grind that you can get into when you become professional at 17. The move was important in our development as people, which impacts the music. But Chicago is a special city.
Do you feel it’s harder to be creative in New York than where you’re from?
Reece: Oh my god, yes. That’s also a huge part of why we won’t live here much longer. It is unsustainable unless you have the means for it. As indie rockers it is not our reality, at least at this point. It makes sense to come here to study and to have these experiences at this young age, but later into our 20s we want to get more into sustainable living and creative practices. Also, it’s harder to be creative in New York, just because of the social environment of it. There’s so many people, so many different cliques. In Chicago it felt like we have this scene, and it feels like an umbrella for a lot of people. Here, it feels like there’s a million different little sections. It’s hard to break in, and it feels like everybody doesn’t want to come together. Which kind of breaks my heart sometimes.
Lowenstein: It’s hard to come together here.
Reece: Yes. And then that inherently gets a little competitive. We are much more for friendly competition [as a form of] motivation.
Are you celebrities at NYU? Do your fellow students say, “That’s Horsegirl!” on campus?
Lowenstein: It doesn’t feel like we’re well known. If we are, well known, people are cool-guying us left and right. I mean, there have been moments where I had to miss class to play Coachella or something, and my teachers are like, “Wait, what?” Then my classmates are like, “Oh, I’ve heard of you,” or whatever. But beyond that, no one cares at all which is I think so healthy and important. I feel very thankful for that separation in my life. [To Cheng] Do you agree?
Cheng: Yeah, totally.
Lowenstein: Nora and I have had several classes together now at this point.
Cheng: People just think that we’re roommate friends. They don’t know about the other dimension to it. I accidentally started playing one of our songs on full blast yesterday.
Lowenstein: Last night Nora did secretly leak a Horsegirl song to the class. No one cared. It’s humbling. It’s like no one cares — and it’s important to remember that as an indie rocker. Otherwise, you start to get a big head.
Reece: When all three of us walk around, then things get a little weird. Especially if we’re at a show or something. But genuinely, these are my best friends. These are who I want to go to things with. So, it’s like — everyone else is making it weird.
Where do you see yourself in a couple of years where you’re done with school and you’re back in Chicago? Have you thought about how Horsegirl evolves?
Lowenstein: This band has been such a source of joy and creativity for us that once we graduate, we [want to] tour for real in a way that we decided not to when we chose to go to school. It’s important for us to do that and to try to live off of this, but also continue to preserve how fun it is and put our friendship first.
I also think, “Maybe one day I’ll just be a Chicago public school English teacher” — which would be a great life. Or I’ve recently been like, “Maybe I’ll go to grad school.” I don’t really know. I feel like we have a lot of different lives. Or maybe we’ll Yo La Tengo it, and be like a touring indie rock band forever.
As long as we all still feel like it’s fun. I feel like we could continue to play music together forever — just take it down a notch professionally — and I would be totally happy with that. Or maybe we’ll take it up a notch professionally. I think we’re all happy to ride it in any direction, and get another job if there needs to be another job.
Reece: Our ultimate plan is that we just want to remain friends and remain in each other’s lives in this familial way. Because there’s nobody else I have gone through or will go through what I’ve gone through with Penelope and Nora. What we have as friends is something that is really worth holding onto. If the band or anything starts to get in the way of that, then that would be the time for a change.
Are you able to support yourselves solely with your music at this point?
Cheng: It depends on the season. Penelope and I are still in school, so we are grateful to still be supported by our families.
Lowenstein: Gigi has a side job.
Reece: Oh yeah. I’m a babysitter. The most rock-and-roll babysitter in Brooklyn.
You’re on one of the most legendary indie labels of all time. Have you gotten advice from any of Matador’s veteran artists?
Reece: Advice, no. We also honestly haven’t met that many other people. But we played a Hanukkah show with Yo La Tengo, and we kicked it in the green room with them for a little bit. I felt like that was one of the most special moments we have had, because Yo La Tengo was the band we’ve all seen live the most, and it’s what we wanted to be when we started our band.
Lowenstein: Those guys knew how much their band meant to us, and they let us sit on the stairs of the stage, so we were visible from the audience. They were really thoughtful in how they treated us. They have been doing it for so long, and for the Hanukkah shows, they are playing night to night to night, and there was still such joy between the three of them.
It can be hard on tour to even introduce yourselves to the local opener who you’re running in and out. Their behavior was advice enough in terms of, I would really love to age like that as a musician. I would love to be thoughtful through and through until the very end. I hope that we can. It is challenging on tour and in this industry to maintain that. But it’s important.
Village People frontman Victor Willis is clearing the air after he sent a cease and desist to Jim Jeffries, after the comedian joked on his At This Moment podcast that the 1978 classic “Y.M.C.A.” is about men “f—ing in showers in a hostel.”
Willis joined TMZ‘s 2 Angry Men podcast this week, where hosts Harvey Levin and Mark Geragos asked the singer about his song being a “gay anthem.”
“He went over the line when he got into saying it had to do with men having sex in the bathroom,” Willis said of sending Jeffries a cease and desist for what was described as an “obscene, derogatory and false description” of the track. “There is nothing in my lyrics that says anything about that. We approached him and he apologized and said he was going to rephrase what it was he said and say it differently, because the way he said it as worded was defamatory.”
Trending on Billboard
However, Levin then followed up by noting that a number of lyrics in “Y.M.C.A.” could be interpreted in different ways, including the chorus: “It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A./ They have everything for young men to enjoy/ You can hang out with all the boys.”
In response, Willis pointed out that the dual meaning was his intention. “That was something that I credited myself on is writing my songs with what is called a double entendre,” he said. “I would write a song to where you can take it any kind of way you wanted it. If you’re straight, you can take the lyrics for somebody straight or if you were gay, you could take it for somebody gay.”
When Willis insisted that “there’s like 10% of the gay community that have been coming to my shows and have been there over the past 10 years,” Levin and Geragos insisted that the number would be higher.
Last month, Village People performed at the Liberty Ball during Donald Trump’s inauguration celebrations, as both “Macho Man” and “Y.M.C.A.” were popular song choices at Trump campaign rallies during his 2020 and 2024 campaign rallies.
In December, Willis doubled down on why he chose to let the president-elect play “Y.M.C.A.” at rallies and events, saying he “didn’t have the heart” to block the usage — despite originally asking Trump to stop in 2020 — upon realizing that the politician seemed to “genuinely like” the track and was “having a lot of fun” with “Y.M.C.A.” Plus, as Willis noted, the dance tune has only “benefited greatly” in terms of chart placements and sales since Trump incorporated it into his campaign.
In the same post, Willis denounced the song’s status as a “gay anthem,” threatening legal action against news organizations that referred to the song as such. “Get your minds out of the gutter. It is not [a gay anthem] … such notion is based solely on the song’s lyrics alluding to [illicit] activity for which it does not,” he said.
There’s a new Mobb Deep album in the works. The Alchemist made an appearance on The Breakfast Club on Wednesday (Feb. 12) to promote his new album, Life Is Beautiful, with Larry June and 2 Chainz, where he broke the news after praising the late Prodigy‘s work ethic and writing skills. “They did so much […]
EDC Las Vegas will host more than 250 dance acts at the festival this May.
On Thursday (Feb. 13), EDC Las Vegas producer Insomniac Events announced the festival lineup, which is once again stacked with the who’s who of the dance world. The bill features big names including Dom Dolla, Alesso, Afrojack, Alison Wonderland playing b2b with Kaskade, Illenium playing b2b with Slander, Sara Landry, Horsegiirl, Gesaffelstein, RL Grime, Martin Garrix, DJ Snake, Interplanetary Criminal, Rezz, Fisher, Eric Prydz and many, many more.
Happening at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 16-18, this year’s EDC Las Vegas will feature 16 stages, the most in the festival’s history. Two of the festival’s key stages, CircuitGrounds and NeonGarden, will feature new designs, with the festival also set to debut a new stage called Ubuntu.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Created in collaboration with South Africa’s Bridges For Music Academy, which provides young people from underserved communities with access to programs focused on creative entrepreneurship, well-being and music, Ubuntu will feature Afro house, a genre that’s skyrocketed in popularity in the U.S. over the last few years. The stage will host performances from rising students artists and established South African acts.
Trending on Billboard
In a statement, Insomniac Events says that EDC Las Vegas 2025 is currently sold out. EDC moved to Las Vegas from its original home in Los Angeles in 2011, and in the 14 years since, has established itself as the country’s biggest dance music festival, drawing 125,000 attendees a day.
Get out your magnifying glass and check out the complete 2025 lineup below.
EDC Las Vegas 2025
Courtesy Photo
Following the success of his first project, Culture Jam with NBA superstar Kawhi Leonard, founder Essean Bolden returns with the second compilation, but with a twist: Enter 23-year-old NBA wunderkind Anthony Edwards. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “We are beyond excited to partner with Anthony [Edwards], […]
Macklemore is once again criticizing the United States government, this time taking President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to task in a scorching new protest song titled “F–ked Up.”
In the track posted to his YouTube channel Wednesday (Feb. 12), the rapper weaves his way through verses connecting racial injustice in America to the twice-impeached POTUS’ administration, which now includes the Tesla billionaire. Macklemore also calls out the United States’ financial support of Israel throughout the country’s ongoing war against Hamas, a conflict that has killed at least 45,000 Palestinians between the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks — which left more than 1,200 Israelis dead and about 240 people taken hostage — and the temporary ceasefire the two sides reached in January.
“New era ushered, but white supremacy is still in charge/ Talking colonizing Gaza from the White House lawn/ But the people mobbing, and we ain’t backing off/ Finally see the oligarchy and the men that control us all,” the Washington native spits over a dark, intense beat. “Tax breaks for the elite and then they taxing y’all/ Killing Palestinian kids and we getting hit with the cost.”
Macklemore paired the song with a video compiling footage of American and Palestinian protestors, including a clip of the rogue dancer who waved a combination Palestine-Sudan flag during Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show Sunday (Feb. 9). It also shows numerous clips of Trump, Musk and fellow billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos corresponding with lyrics about rich men in power suppressing the American people.
One clip the music video repeatedly comes back to is of the X CEO doing a Nazi-like salute at one of Trump’s inauguration events in January. “They got us f–ked up,” Macklemore rages in the song’s chorus. “And Elon, we know exactly what that was, bruh.”
Billboard has reached out to reps for the White House, Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos for comment.
“F–ked Up” is just the latest protest song the hip-hop star — who has been vocal in both his support of Palestine and his disappointment in the U.S. government — has released in the past year. In May 2024, he ripped into then-president Joe Biden while advocating for Gaza on a track titled “Hind’s Hall,” the proceeds of which went to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s assistance and protection programs for Palestinian refugees. The following September, he dropped a sequel to the song with assists from Gazan rapper MC Abdul and Palestinian-American singer Anees, featuring the chant, “From the river to the sea/ Palestine will be free.” (The American Jewish Committee has deemed the phrase antisemitic.)
When Macklemore performed “Hind’s Hall 2” that month at Seattle’s Palestine Will Live Forever Festival, he also led the crowd in a “F–k America” chant, after which Las Vegas’ 2024 Neon City Festival dropped him from its lineup. Later, the “Thrift Shop” hitmaker said in a statement, “My thoughts and feelings are not always expressed perfectly or politely. Sometimes I slip up and get caught in the moment.”
“I’ve slipped in front of the world before,” he continued at the time. “I’m sure I’ll do it again. But they will not silence my voice, and they will not close my heart. I’ve lost endorsements, I’ve lost shows, I’ve lost business ties. I am still here, unwavering in my support for a Free Palestine.”
A three-time Grammy winner and a two-time CMA female vocalist of the year winner, Trisha Yearwood has forged a reputation as a friend to songwriters over the years, an artist who respects the craft of music creation. She’s made enduring classics with her renditions of songs such as “The Song Remembers When,” “This Is Me You’re Talking To” and “Georgia Rain.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
But on her upcoming album, Yearwood is delving more into her songwriting skills. The 10-song project is the first in her career on which she co-wrote each song; she also co-produced the project with audio engineer/producer/writer/musician Chad Carlson.
Yearwood gave a preview of the as-of-yet-untitled project with a show at Nashville’s intimate songwriter haunt, the Bluebird Cafe, on Wednesday (Feb. 12). She was joined by her co-writers including Carlson, Erin Enderlin, Leslie Satcher, Sunny Sweeney and Bridgette Tatum.
Trending on Billboard
The evening served as a preview not only for the album, but also Yearwood’s upcoming seven-city theater tour, which launches April 30 in Austin, Texas, and wraps May 17 in Lancaster, Pa. The shows will feature Yearwood performing a mix of her own hit songs as well as tracksw from the new album, and will also highlight the talents of artist-writers Sweeney and Enderlin.
Yearwood previously previewed the album with a performance during the 2024 CMT Music Awards, where she performed “Put It In a Song.” On Feb. 21, Yearwood will offer another glimpse into the album when she performs the song “The Wall or the Way Over” — a meditation on the power of words to both elevate and destroy those who hear them — on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
Tickets for Yearwood’s tour will go on sale starting Friday, Feb. 21, with a presale launching Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. local time on her website.
In addition to touring, Yearwood is also set to appear on NBC’s Opry 100: A Live Celebration on March 19 to honor the Grand Ole Opry’s centennial anniversary.
See the full list of Yearwood’s tour dates below:
April 30: Austin, Texas @ Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater
May 1: San Antonio, Texas @ H-E-B Performance Hall – Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
May 2: Grand Prairie, Texas @ Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie
May 3: Stillwater, Okla. @ The McKnight Center For the Performing Arts
May 15: New York City @ The Town Hall
May 16: Glenside, Pa. @ Keswick Theatre
May 17: Lancaster, Pa. @ American Music Theater
It was a few weeks ago that Max McNown’s agents at Wasserman Music told the country upstart that his Feb. 11-12 sold-out Bowery Ballroom shows in New York City needed to move to accommodate another artist.
The agents, Jonathan Insogna and Lenore Kinder, initially pushed back against the highly unusual move until they discovered a few days later that it was because Sir Paul McCartney was playing surprise gigs at the 575-capacity room those nights. Ultimately, McNown’s management team, Live Nation, the Bowery and Wasserman quickly went into action to shift McNown’s two shows to the 1,200-capacity Irving Plaza in Union Square the same nights, and McNown ended up with an amazing story to tell.
When his agents were first asked to move the shows, “Honestly, we were a bit confused,” McNown tells Billboard. “My agent told me this was an unusual situation that a venue would ask you to move so we kind of knew there was something bigger going on, but our first response was, ‘I’m sorry you want us to do what?’”
Trending on Billboard
Shortly thereafter, when he and his team put the pieces together to realize he was getting bumped for the legendary Beatle, it all made sense at that point. “Paul wanted to play in a smaller venue and make it special. We had sold out Bowery months ago, so moving into a bigger venue and being able to accommodate more fans was great for us. A win-win in every way,” McNown says, but joked, “I am disappointed we weren’t able to get him to open for us.”
Though McCartney’s team didn’t give a reason for the specific date, Feb. 11 marked the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ first gig in the U.S at the Coliseum in Washington, D.C.
McCartney’s team was extremely gracious and did offer McNown tickets, but he was unable to go since he was doing his own shows a mile up the road. McNown admits he was tempted, though. “I honestly really wish I could have pulled it off” to go to McCartney’s show, he says. “I always say touring is a job and there were too many people counting on me to play my own show to skip out on it. But yes, the term ‘tempted’ is an understatement.”
The Oregon singer-songwriter, who was Billboard’s November Country Rookie of the Month and topped Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart, first hit the Hot Country Songs chart last year with “A Lot More Free,” which reached No. 29, as well as peaked at No. 15 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. His new album, Night Diving, came out Jan. 24. His new single, “Brown Eyes (Better Me for You),” is at radio.
Though he’s only 23, McNown is a lifelong Beatles fan. “My elementary school teacher would always sing ‘Yellow Submarine,’ ‘Let It Be’ and ‘Hey Jude’ every single Friday in my fourth and fifth grade class,” he says. “He always felt it was important to keep the younger generations educated on the true icons of musical history. Because of him, I know every word to those songs, and each of them now hold a level of nostalgia in my heart that’s pretty unmatched.”
His favorite Beatles song is the gorgeous “Blackbird,” which McNown may, in homage to Sir Paul, now record and post on his Instagram, he says. “I discovered that song on my own after being introduced to [The Beatles’] music in school at a very young age, which made it extra personal/special for me.” He’s also a big fan of “Yesterday,” “Here Comes The Sun” and “Twist and Shout.”
Since attending the shows wasn’t possible, McNown would love some merch or even an autograph, he says, but he’ll settle for an amazing story of the night he was bumped for a Beatle. “It is definitely something I’m sure I’ll be talking about for some time,” he tells Billboard. “This last few years have felt like one dream sequence, from going viral, to Kelly Clarkson covering my songs and now swapping venues with a Beatle. It’s unbelievable.”
Though McCartney is playing his third show at Bowery tonight, McNown couldn’t attend because he’s on his way to Boston for his show Friday night (Feb. 14).
When Chappell Roan won best new artist at the 2025 Grammys, she used her platform on Music’s Biggest Night to demand that labels provide “a livable wage and healthcare” for artists. While her speech was greeted with applause from many artists and industry players at the ceremony, not everyone was cheering — the most outspoken case being an op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter where former music exec Jeff Rabhan called Roan “too green and too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today.”
The op-ed was widely shared — and widely criticized, leading to a backlash to the backlash as artists like Charli XCX and Noah Kahan came to Roan’s defense, speaking up in her favor and joining her in donating to healthcare support for developing artists. (Various industry organizations have donated as well.)
Trending on Billboard
“It is clear that young people, artists and/or writers, have had enough of record labels and tech companies taking advantage of them,” Justin Tranter tells Billboard. The songwriter, who co-wrote hits for Justin Bieber (“Sorry”), Imagine Dragons (“Believer”) and Roan (“Good Luck, Babe!”), had an immediate, visceral response to the THR op-ed in a comment on Instagram: “Please delete this. Now.”
Roan’s critics doubled down on their grievances, too, and the discourse — which has clearly hit a nerve in the industry — continues.
“Songwriters have been ringing this alarm for years,” says Michelle Lewis, a songwriter and executive director of Songwriters of North America (SONA). “When her speech started, my phone blew up. Everyone knows this is my fight. [Roan] said ‘healthcare’ or ‘health insurance’ like three times.”
Lewis, whom Tranter recommended Billboard speak to about this topic, says, “It’s in the industry’s best interests to jump in” on the healthcare discussion before it reaches a head, particularly with so many artists and songwriters struggling to make it in a streaming economy that pays some creators a fraction of what they would have made in the physical media era. Lewis acknowledges that Roan using terms such as “employee” and “livable wage” opens up a “hornet’s nest,” but she says it’s time to find “inter-industry solutions for more vulnerable” people working in music. “Let’s stick with health insurance,” she says. “That’s something I think we can find a workable solution around.”
“No change is going to happen right now, but I can promise you that serious conversations are being had. I can promise you labels, managers, executives in our business are going, ‘We need to figure this out,’” insists Tranter. “If you don’t follow young people’s lead, at some point you will lose. That is the huge takeaway from this conversation.”
Here, Tranter speaks to Billboard about Roan’s speech, the “misogynistic” THR op-ed and why healthcare options that do exist for artists come with asterisks.
When Chappell was giving her acceptance speech for best new artist, what were you thinking?
First off, her getting the award is such an honor. I feel it’s the greatest honor of my career to be the tiniest, tiniest part of her journey. What she chose to speak about in this unbelievable moment — not gonna lie, it brought a little misty tear to my eye. I was blown away and inspired at her fearlessness. It’s genuinely moving.
When you read the op-ed criticizing her for the speech, what were you thinking?
I thought it was such a pro-corporation, pro-old guard, old person [take] and extremely misogynistic. For him to think that because she is a young woman she has no clue what she’s talking about is so gross. And to find out this person has apparently worked at educational [institutions] for young artists and musicians? And this is the energy he is putting toward his students, the energy of ‘let the corporations continue to treat you terribly’? The whole thing was heartbreaking, to be honest. His article was heartbreaking. Also laughable to be that out of touch. Gen Z has had enough. It’s never been a good idea to not support young people.
Do you think this is a case where the old guard sees change potentially coming and is trying to stop it?
Whether its artists or songwriters being taken advantage of, it’s reaching a boiling point. When it comes to artists, labels need artists to do more work than ever. And that’s no one’s fault, it’s just how technology has changed. The artist has to be the head of their marketing department, it’s just a fact. Now the labels need the artist to write, sing, record, tour and be the head of their own marketing department. The industry is asking for us to do more and more and yet don’t want to give them more and more. Luckily, Gen Z knows better and is going to fight for themselves. It’s amazing to see.
There’s also the mental health component of healthcare. Being an artist on a major label comes with an occupation hazard most jobs don’t entail – national scrutiny about your work, your appearance, your opinions.
In most jobs whether you do good or bad is not in the court of public opinion. It’s very stressful to be a professional creative where the whole world gets to watch and see how you did at your job that day.
From your perspective, as someone who works with artists and industry insiders, what’s the tone of the conversation around this since the Grammys?
Everyone feels excited that with Chappell opening that door and with Raye speaking out for songwriters at all the different awards she’s won. Everyone finally feels like young artists are using their voices to help everyone. This business is old and a mess — there aren’t overnight solutions to any of these conversations — but the fact that these conversations are being had by such public figures is such a joy and will lead to change finally. Michelle Lewis and I speak frequently about healthcare for songwriters. There have been brilliant people fighting this fight in the darkness for a while now, so for someone like Chappell or Raye to say it in bright spotlights is very exciting.
Artists signed to major labels are sometimes eligible for healthcare through SAG-AFTRA. Can you walk me through your experience with that?
In SAG-AFTRA, you have to make a certain amount a year [$27,540 in covered earnings to qualify] to be eligible for their health insurance. So the year you sign your deal and the year you get your advance, you can probably afford health insurance. If you know it exists. If your deal was big enough and you have a good enough lawyer and a good enough business manager and they can walk you through all of these things. Very real chance you might have a manager who is amazing but they were your friend in college and you busted your asses together and you’re learning [the industry] together. That’s no shame to that manager — they probably are the right manager for you — but they might not know these things because it is so hard to figure out.
Then in year two, maybe your advance is gone and you’re not earning. You’re back in the studio and figuring out your next step. And it has to be specifically money that’s going through SAG-AFTRA. A brand deal isn’t going to count toward that, a touring gig isn’t going to count toward that. If you don’t make that your second year, all of a sudden you lose your health insurance. But you’re still signed to one of the largest entertainment companies in the world.
I have my health insurance through SAG-AFTRA and lucky for me there are songs like “Believer” from Imagine Dragons and “Cake By the Ocean” by DNCE that get so many continual film and TV syncs that my health insurance is covered. But if you’re a songwriter or artist that doesn’t have a song that gets used in film and TV over and over, you might be an artist that most people know of — or a songwriter that most of the industry has heard of — but if you don’t have a song that is getting synced like crazy and has money going through the SAG-AFTRA system, all of a sudden you don’t have health insurance.
That’s why it’s so beautiful for Chappell and Raye to be raising their voices. They are not fighting for themselves. They have broken through; they are now fighting for the next generation of writers and artists. That’s why it felt so condescending for him, the writer, to be like, well, when Prince and Tom Petty took on the industry, they were decades in. Well, no – that’s why it’s so beautiful that Chappell did it on what some might consider her first night of household-name status. To me, that is so much more inspiring. To fault her for that is wild.
You do see a tendency for people to celebrate activism that happened decades ago while decrying contemporary activists for ‘doing it wrong’ in some way. What do you think the next steps are?
The big win a week later is look how many conversations are happening. And I’m honestly kinda grateful that very misogynistic article was written because it’s kept the conversation going longer. We live in such a quick news cycle and here we are still talking about it. Okay, boomer, thank you for booming so hard, now we’re even angrier. By the way, I’m old – I’m Gen X — but I think like a young person when it comes to equality. I’m so glad this boomer boomed because now we have something to be even angrier about, and anger is going to fix this problem.