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Tony Goldwyn took the stage as host for the opening night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday night (Aug. 19), and the actor sat down with Variety to share his thoughts about the evening and that he feels “confident” about Kamala Harris‘ chances to win the presidency in November. Explore See latest videos, charts […]
Benson Boone, Halsey, Lenny Kravitz and LISA have been added to the roster of artists slated to perform at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards live on Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. ET/PT from New York’s UBS Arena.
This will be newcomer Boone’s first VMAs performance; LISA’s first as a solo artist. She performed with BLACKPINK on the 2022 show singing “Pink Venom.”
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Halsey, who will be performing a new song off of her upcoming album, last performed on the VMAs in 2016. She teamed with The Chainsmokers for their collab “Closer,” a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Kravitz last performed on the VMAs in 1998, when he accompanied Madonna on her smash “Ray of Light.” Kravitz last performed on the show as a lead artist in 1993 when he sang “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” joined by John Paul Jones, formerly of Led Zeppelin.
LISA is nominated for four awards this year, Boone for three, Kravitz for one.
LISA, Halsey and Kravitz are all past VMA winners. In 2022, LISA became the first Korean solo artist to win a VMA when she took best K-Pop for “Lalisa.” Halsey won best K-Pop in 2019 as a featured artist on BTS’s “Boy With Luv.” Kravitz won best male video in 1993 for “Are You Gonna Go My Way.”
Boone is competing with a previously announced performer, Chappell Roan, for best new artist. The other nominees in that category are Gracie Abrams, Shaboozey, Teddy Swims and Tyla.
Taylor Swift leads the nominations for the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, with 10 nods. Her “Fortnight” collaborator Post Malone is second, with nine nods – eight in tandem with Swift plus one for his hit “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen. They are followed by Ariana Grande, Eminem and Sabrina Carpenter (six nods each); Megan Thee Stallion and SZA (five each), and LISA, Olivia Rodrigo and Teddy Swims (four each).
Other artists with multiple nominations are Anitta, Benson Boone, Bleachers, GloRilla, Dua Lipa and Tyla, with three each; and Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, Coldplay, Drake, Jelly Roll, Jessie Murph, Jung Kook, Latto, Raux Alejandro, Sexyy Red, Tate McRae, Usher and Victoria Monét, with two each.
Fans can vote for their favorites across 15 gender-neutral categories by visiting vote.mtv.com through Friday, Aug. 30. Voting for best new artist will remain active into the show on Wednesday, Sept. 11. Nominations in social categories will be announced at a later date.
Bruce Gillmer and Den of Thieves co-founder Jesse Ignjatovic are executive producers for the 2024 VMAs. Barb Bialkowski is co-executive producer. Alicia Portugal and Jackie Barba serve as executives in charge of production. Wendy Plaut is executive in charge of celebrity talent. Lisa Lauricella is music talent executive.
Wale and Nike have finally linked up. The rapper out of the DMV has been influential within the sneaker community over the years and has promoted Nike for free in his music from the start. His 2008 song “Nike Boots” was a hit during the Blog Era and helped him make a name for himself.
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Wale has been known for the sneakers he wears ever since, but for some reason, he and Nike hadn’t collaborated before. This is something that he’s brought up on multiple occasions, most notably in 2018 when he hopped on Instagram Live to show off his massive collection. While holding up an Air Mag sneaker from Back to the Future, Wale asked when the sneaker giant was going to hit him up. “When is Nike going to play fair, man? Just call me. Hello?” he said while using the sneaker as a phone. “They ain’t on the phone, they givin’ everybody else deals and s–t.”
That is until now.
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Wale is the face of Nike’s DMV Cherry Blossom Foamposite One campaign, and not only is he in the commercial, he’s rapping a new song in it. Produced by Emil and Tommy Black, “Ghetto Speak” is a somber love letter to the greater Washington, D.C., area. “From a land that far too well comprehends universal madness,” Wale raps. “Not too far from the symbolic architecture that masks it/ But all is fair, I guess/ ‘Cause broken glass, cherry blossoms, them bullet fragments don’t look as fantastic on the pamphlet.”
The song then comes to an abrupt end and the ad features underground king Big Lordy (formerly known as Ankhlejohn) sitting down on a stoop, saying, “Background checks, you know where it started,” as a nod to the conversation around the DMV’s overall influence on hip-hop sneaker culture, especially when it comes to Foams, New Balance and the Nike Air Max Goadome aka Nike Boots.
Last year, Wale and Jim Jones got into a back-and-forth about which region started the Nike Boot trend. On the track “Fine Lines” from the Rick Ross and Meek Mill album Too Good to Be True, Wale throws a subtle jab at the Harlem rapper. “North Faces and Foams, we grew up in that jawn,” Wale raps. “We was ballin’ in Goadomes before we could Jones.”
Wale and his label, Universal Music Group, are hosting a giveaway in which fans submit pictures of themselves wearing their favorite pair of Foams for a chance to win. You can submit pics here.
There’s no word yet on whether or not “Ghetto Speak” will hit streaming.
While the pop music world has been buzzing the past three months about everything from Brat summer to Kendrick Lamar’s Juneteenth takeover to Post Malone’s country pivot, Taylor Swift just keeps racking up weeks atop the Billboard 200.
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The Tortured Poets Department, which first reigned on the Billboard 200 dated May 4, enjoys a 15th week at No. 1 on this week’s chart (dated Aug. 24). She continues to hold off the ascendant Chappell Roan, who climbs 3-2 on the listing this week with her breakout The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess album, and she is now just four weeks away from tying Morgan Wallen’s 19-week mark for the longest-ruling No. 1 album of the decade.
Will Swift match that Wallen mark? And why has the pop discussion seemingly sidestepped Swift while her album remains this dominant? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.
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1. While the pop discussion this summer has largely revolved around Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department has now reached 15 weeks atop the Billboard 200, one of just two albums this decade to reach that mark. Why do you think Swift’s dominance has felt so (relatively) quiet this season?
Rania Aniftos: While nothing Swift does is ever really quiet, we’re in a new era of pop music where there isn’t just one artist dominating the charts at a time, which I think music fans have been craving for a long time. While Swift has been holding steady on the Billboard 200, the Hot 100 has given us a look into the next generation of pop. That’s why the rising popularity of stars like Sabrina, Charli and Chappell is getting so much attention this summer, while Swift maintains her reign as expected.
Katie Atkinson: Taylor’s loudest moment came when the album debuted in April, and then when she kicked off the European leg of her Eras Tour in May, so she was more so the pop story of the spring instead of summer. But her Eras Tour hasn’t slowed down in the months since, with the Euro leg wrapping Tuesday (Aug. 20) back in London. So even if she wasn’t getting all the headlines that Chappell, Sabrina and Charli were, she was still plugging away weekend after weekend, debuting new Tortured Poets songs onstage, releasing new physical versions of the album, and quietly staying the conversation, racking up 15 weeks at No. 1 along the way.
Rylee Johnston: I think it comes down to two things: Taylor Swift’s level of superstardom vs. Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX’s and the type of music that was released. When looking at Roan, Carpenter and Charli, this summer has been monumental for their careers and arguably a pivotal moment for them as artists. Swift has already solidified herself as one of the biggest artists out there — so much so that it’s almost expected that she have a big opening due to the span of her reach; a flop on the charts would attract higher attention. When looking specifically at the music released, The Tortured Poets Department doesn’t have that “summertime” feel quite like the music off Brat, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and the two singles we’ve gotten from Carpenter’s upcoming Short n’ Sweet. If Swift had created a more summer-feeling album and marketed it in that way, there may have been a more prominent presence than what we see now.
Jason Lipshutz: While Chappell, Sabrina and Charli are exciting new stars whose respective rises have invigorated popular music with new (or renewed, in Charli’s case) perspectives and fresh aesthetics, Taylor Swift remains the commercial pinnacle, a superstar in a class of her own when it comes to consumer interest. As such, our collective focus as pop purveyors has naturally gravitated toward the new crop of A-listers, while Swift has remained dominant in the relative background. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Swift has been on top for so long that it makes sense for the cultural conversation to slightly shift to other subjects, even as she logs more weeks at No. 1 and continues breaking records (in some cases, her own).
Andrew Unterberger: The other artists released and/or developed major hits more recently than Swift has from Poets — which certainly helps them feel more current, in additional to the natural excitement surrounding them as artists on the come-up rather than artists maintaining their throne. Also worth noting that Swift has mostly kept on the sidelines so far as far as election season is concerned, while Chappell and Charli both got huge exposure bumps from being involved (directly or not) with vice president Kamala Harris’ early presidential campaigning.
2. Speaking of Roan, her Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess album climbs to No. 2 on the chart this week. Do you think it will pass Tortured in the next week or two, or will Poets be able to hold it off until the album begins to lose momentum?
Rania Aniftos: Knowing Taylor, she’ll stay on the top of that chart no matter what. Maybe she’ll drop another music video or release another special edition vinyl, giving the album the boost to stay at that No. 1 spot.
Katie Atkinson: Looking ahead at the album release calendar, Swift might be the least of Chappell’s worries. Post Malone put out his first country album last week and fellow summer “it” girl Sabrina Carpenter puts out Short n’ Sweet this week – not to mention Travis Scott’s 10th-anniversary mixtape reissue coming Friday too. Roan’s little-album-that-could making it all the way to No. 1 would have been a great cherry on top for her star-making summer, but taking it to No. 2 alone, almost a year after its initial release, is still a massive accomplishment.
Rylee Johnston: Honestly, Roan’s album could stand a chance unless a new set of TTPD variations comes out for Swifties to collect. It’s also worth noting that Swift’s album has already begun a descent in album units compared to Roan’s rise this week. And, if the latter decides to drop the new music she’s been teasing on the road, she could find herself with a top spot — as it seems her fanbase only continues to grow with every live performance she puts on.
Jason Lipshutz: The next few weeks on the Billboard 200 should be pretty topsy-turvy, with the debuts of new albums from Post Malone and Sabrina Carpenter, among others. I’m not sure if and when Rise and Fall will shift above Tortured on the chart, either at No. 1 or elsewhere lower in the top 5 — Chappell has the new-school momentum, while Taylor has the longstanding commercial power — although I am rooting for Chappell to log at least one week atop the Billboard 200, to cap the remarkable ascent of a singular artist. Now that it’s reached the runner-up spot, I’m hoping Rise and Fall can hit No. 1 sometime in the next month or so.
Andrew Unterberger: I think Chappell will get there eventually, but it may have to take it by force — with a deluxe version or reissue or some other method of actively boosting consumption. If Roan’s team just expects she’ll grow into the No. 1 naturally based on her pre-existing momentum…. Taylor Swift doesn’t really lose by default very often, y’know? It’ll have to be a specific push, maybe centered around the album’s one-year anniversary in late September.
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3. While Tortured Poets doesn’t have the singles-based propulsion of some of the other albums defining the pop summer, it does have a single that’s grown in recent weeks in “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” which continues to rise through the chart’s 30s this week. Do you see it continuing to swell into a big enough hit to extend Tortured Poets’ chart shelf life, or do you see it fading along with the album in the weeks to come?
Rania Aniftos: I see it fading only because I have a feeling she’ll be announcing Reputation (Taylor’s Version) very soon, giving other songs time to shine.
Katie Atkinson: This was the song that originally stuck out to me when the album was released, mostly because (despite its heartbreaking lyrical content) it was the happiest, poppiest track among a more, well, tortured project. I’m not surprised to see it rise as the favorite on radio and streaming in the months since, and maybe it could have a similar Eras Tour-fueled journey back to the upper reaches of the Hot 100 (following its debut-week No. 3 high) like “Cruel Summer” did last year. Looking at the Adult Pop Airplay chart, where it sits in the top 10 this week at its No. 8 peak, there’s still room to grow.
Rylee Johnston: It helps that the Eras tour is still going on, but with how long the album has been out now, timing is really going to need to be on her side. One way she could most likely get a jump on the chart would be a surprise appearance during “Broken Heart,” similar to what she did with Travis Kelce joining her to do the number on stage. If another big single comes out, then it’s very possible that it’ll overshadow “Broken Heart” and prevent it from reaching the top. We can’t forget that Carpenter’s album is dropping this week, and that will also certainly have an impact on the charts.
Jason Lipshutz: The chart prospects of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” have been tricky to nail down. I expected the song to go full “Karma” on the Hot 100, quickly growing into a top 10 Hot 100 hit and radio mainstay once lead single “Fortnight” had subsided a bit — and while “Broken Heart” hasn’t gotten there yet and might not at all, the song has slowly been rising, a top 40 hit that’s now 16 spots above “Fortnight” on the tally. At this point, I think it will keep climbing into the top 20 and make a strong imprint on pop radio but fall a little short of the top 10 — something closer to a “Delicate” this time around.
Andrew Unterberger: The song climbing back into the top 40 is already more than I was expecting, to be honest. I like the song but it seemed like the moment had passed for it, and I wasn’t really convinced that massive radio airplay was ever in the cards for it. But if “Broken Heart” gets a new remix, with the right guest? I still don’t see it challenging for a second Tortured Poets No. 1 hit, but it could probably get top 20 at least.
4. With its incredible endurance atop the Billboard 200 and its historic first-week performance, do you think we will look back at The Tortured Poets Department as Taylor Swift’s peak of popularity a couple decades from now?
Rania Aniftos: Yes, but there’s nuance here. I don’t think Poets on its own will stand as peak of popularity in Swift’s career, but Poets in the context of the Eras Tour will. Dropping a 15-week Billboard 200 chart topper in the midst of a massive, record-breaking tour with your Super Bowl-winning boyfriend cheering you on from the crowd is definitely a peak I’d like to stand on.
Katie Atkinson: I think that the concurrent Eras Tour will be remembered as the symbol of Swift’s stratospheric popularity right now more so than this album. To me, this album’s domination is because of all the attention and goodwill and community that has been built up by this once-in-a-lifetime tour. She has an unparalleled opportunity to immediately share these new songs with stadium crowds, and unlike a lot of veteran acts whose fans don’t want to hear the new stuff and just want the hits, she’s able to give them both and they eat up both voraciously. So Tortured Poets has become the 15-week No. 1 phenomenon that it is with the weight of the biggest tour possibly ever behind it.
Rylee Johnston: Maybe if the Eras tour wasn’t going on at the same time, but I think her tour will overshadow the album. Even when TTPD was released, the buzz wasn’t just about the music, but whether she would incorporate it into her tour and how the drop would impact her set list. I would even group the album more underneath the tour’s umbrella whereas her previous albums had air to breathe and a moment for itself. I don’t really see this period as her TTPD era, like I would with albums like Reputation or Red, and think her next album would potentially be more impactful, as it would be singular and not lumped in with a decade-spanning tour.
Jason Lipshutz: My guess is that we will view these past three years as that peak — from the first re-records to Midnights to the Eras tour to The Tortured Poets Department — an incredible cultural force that extended into all facets of popular music, from the touring industry to awards ceremonies to social media reach (don’t forget that “Cruel Summer” went viral, all the way to No. 1, in the middle of that span!) to studio output. And to that lattermost aspect, The Tortured Poets Department may serve as the crown jewel, as a sprawling, idiosyncratic, highly vulnerable project that scored the biggest first-week debut, and has now spent the most weeks at No. 1, of any Swift album. She has blown away the competition on her own terms.
Andrew Unterberger: It’s possible the history books will paint it as such — and it would certainly fit, with the numbers and everything — but having lived through both years I don’t think there’s really any question that Taylor Swift’s 2023 was much, much bigger than her 2024. Which isn’t to take away from Swift’s 2024, which has still been massively successful on every conceivable level. But her 2023 was a once-in-a-lifetime pop year, not to ever be repeated — by her, or possibly by anyone else either.
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5. Yes or no: Does Tortured Poets ultimately match One Thing at a Time’s 19-week run atop the 200?
Rania Aniftos: Yes. Team Taylor!
Katie Atkinson: I wouldn’t count Swift out, like, ever, but she has a much more challenging road ahead to snag four more weeks. I think there’s a strong chance she could get a few more – especially with some physical shipments still looming and the potential for an Anthology vinyl release – but I predict she’ll fall shy of 19.
Rylee Johnston: No, but mostly because the two albums are in different categories. What’s impressive about One Thing at a Time’s success is how the country album has been able to overshadow pop music. Whereas Swift’s global reach has enabled her to generate a level of stardom that results in immediate domination of the charts for a longer period. What’s worth calling out though, is that both artists have very loyal fans, and I think they all are willing to put in the work to help both artists remain at the top.
Jason Lipshutz: I’m going to say yes, because, even if other projects sneak into the top spot in the coming weeks and months, I have to imagine that The Tortured Poets Department will remain a massive physical product around the holidays. Who needs a shiny new toy from Santa when you can have “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” on vinyl? My prediction is, before the end of 2024, TTPD will have notched 20+ weeks at No. 1.
Andrew Unterberger: Do you remember that One Thing at a Time racked up its 17th, 18th and 19th weeks this year — most recently in March? I don’t think we’re anywhere near Swift reaching the end of her run here; she could go 10 straight weeks without hitting the top spot and still be a considerable threat to hit it in Week 11. Bottom line: I’d be pretty surprised if she doesn’t get to 19 at some point.
Though 14-time CMA Award winner Miranda Lambert is gearing up to release her upcoming Sept. 13 album, Postcards From Texas — her first under her new deal with Republic Records — she’s also learning to relax. In an interview on Bunnie XO‘s Dumb Blonde podcast that arrived Monday (Aug. 19), Lambert opened up about how she’s learning to balance work with living life.
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The musician discussed how she and husband Brendan McLoughlin recently took two weeks off and traveled to Italy. “It was like a little panicky, but then once you settle into it, you really need to do it. You just don’t know you need to until you get the chance,” Lambert said.
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The past year has been a hectic one for Lambert, who concluded her Las Vegas residency last year. Earlier this year, she also inked her new label deal and is preparing for her new album release.
She also revealed, “I reached a pretty high level of burnout last summer and I didn’t realize what it was until I was like, I think this is what we call burnout, from just not taking a break or a long enough one. Just a couple of days at a time just wasn’t enough for the amount of busyness, and so I feel like we have to learn to balance. It’s really hard when you’re so driven, to like relax into doing nothing. If you don’t recharge, it’s like you’re only operating at 50% anyway. Recharging is so important — it’s just hard to do.”
Lambert also noted the importance of living life to help inform her music. “As a creative, if you don’t let go and live your life, there’s nothing to write about,” she told Bunnie, who is married to Jelly Roll. “There’s no fuel. You know what I mean? If you just constantly are going to the next goal.”
Bunnie XO noted that Lambert has been in the music industry for almost 25 years, saying, “That’s a long time. So for you to just have reached burnout last year? You’re a savage. Like, you are an animal!”
Lambert responded, “It wasn’t the burnout where I’m like, ‘I’m quitting forever.’ It was just one of those moments — I’ve had those over the years. Honestly, a lot of it for musicians — as you know, because you’re on tour [with Jelly Roll] — is August, when you’re doing summer tours. By the time August comes, I’ve been hot all year. You’re playing outside. August is usually [when] everyone is like, ‘I don’t wanna tour anymore.’ But then you take a break and you’re like, ‘OK, I’m ready again.’”
Lambert also noted that at 40, she’s more interested in being selective in pursuing things that are beneficial. “You just go,’ I really just wanna go after the good s–t, and not deal with any of the other noise that doesn’t really matter in my life.’ And also spend my time, whether it be personal or professional, on things that really add to my life,” she shared. “I do love what I do for a living — that’s why I’ve done it for so long. But you can’t love it all the time.”
For Lambert, getting away often means being around her beloved animals and riding horses. “It’s taking moments and also chasing hobbies, and like, doing other forms of art. I need to just sit down. I don’t paint. I’m terrible at it, but I should try. I ride horses and like, I love that, and it’s physical, and it’s good for your mind and spirit. So taking time to do those things is important.”
She also noted that she goes antiquing, saying, “I go to this place called Round Top in Texas twice a year and its just miles and miles — the biggest flea market ever … my friends Junk Gypsy, they’re a lifestyle brand and are the staple of this whole vibe and they have a bed and breakfast called the Wander Inn. We go around in golf carts and drink wine and buy old s–t. It’s heaven.”
Listen to Miranda Lambert chat with Bunnie XO on Dumb Blonde:
Legendary R&B singer Patti LaBelle will perform at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday (Aug. 20) in Chicago at the United Center, the Kamala Harris campaign confirms to Billboard. The multiple-Grammy winner follows country singer Mickey Guyton and Americana artist Jason Isbell, who played the opening night (Aug. 19) of the four-day event. Longtime Democratic supporter and […]
Singer-songwriter Koryn Hawthorne earns her third chart-topper on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay survey as “Look at God” rises to No. 1 on the list dated Aug. 24. During the Aug. 9-15 tracking week, the song increased by 19% in plays at the format, according to Luminate. The 26-year-old Hawthorne, who hails from Abbeville, La., co-authored “Look […]
Nicki Minaj still has some tricks up her sleeve in her Pink Friday 2 era. The superstar took to X on Tuesday (Aug. 20) to announce a deluxe version of her latest album, though she noted that she’s going to keep fans “posted” on the release date. “I love it so much. I’ll be performing […]
Beloved dance duo Sofi Tukker stopped by the Billboard News studio to talk about their longstanding professional relationship, their new album and much more.
“The truth is we never stopped going to the studio, so we’re just always making things,” the group’s Sophie Hawley-Weld says of the period between the last Sofi Tukker album, 2022’s Wet Tennis, and their new project, Bread, out this Friday (Aug. 24) through Ultra Music.
The other half of Sofi Tukker, Tucker Halpern, adds that they know a new project is forming “once we feel like the songs are telling a story and once we feel like, ‘OK there’s something cohesive here that feels like they need to belong together,’ then we make the album.”
Halpern calls Bread, a 10-track collection that includes features from Channel Tres, Kah-Lo and MC Bola, “a return to who we are when we started. When we started, I had just finished playing basketball, we were in college, Sophie was a jazz musician playing mostly Brazilian music. I was into house music, playing house parties, she brought everything from her world, and I brought everything from my world, and we kind of mashed them together, and I think [with this album], we did that harder and deeper than we’ve ever done before.”
There are indeed layers of meaning in the project, with the title referencing much more than baguettes and sourdough. The title track and the, Hawley-Weld says, “abundant, fun, ridiculous, over the top, sexy, playful world” they created around it with its sumptuous visuals, was partially inspired by the 2009 book The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession With Virginity Is Hurting Young Women.
“Basically it’s about how this idea of virginity and purity is so harmful to women, and the less we have experienced pleasure, the more value we have. It’s just not OK,” says Hawley-Weld. “So we wrote the song ‘Bread’ about owning your appetite — sexually, for food and it’s also a symbol for abundance and owning that as a woman as well.”
“We also don’t want to be preachy when we’re saying things we want to say,” adds Halpern. “We also want it to feel fun and light, because that’s also what people often go to our music for, but there is a lot of meaning there.”
In keeping with this theme, Heidi Klum stars alongside the duo in the recently released video for album track “Spiral.” The trio linked after first meeting the supermodel at Paris Fashion Week, later enlisting her to be in the video, an invitation Klum agreed to under the condition that Hawley-Weld and Halpern appear in it as well.
“There’s just not that many examples of woman who are totally owning their sexuality,” Hawley-Weld says of working with Klum, “and being around that was really heartwarming and awesome, because I don’t want to feel like my sexuality will decline as I’m getting older, and she proves that doesn’t have to happen.”
Watch Sofi Tukker’s interview above.
Not sure if you’ve noticed, but “here’s the thing” has become an overused thing. The old expression is suddenly the go-to for anyone from influencers to politicians to news correspondents trying to make a point. “Here’s the thing,” like “at the end of the day” or “wait, whaaat? before it, has become a hackneyed verbal tic. But here’s the thing: “Here’s The Thing” also happens to be the title of a strong contender for Greatest Song of 2024. It’s the rip-snorting third single from Romance, the glorious fourth album from Fontaines D.C., out Friday (Aug. 23), on which the Irish post-punk band breaks with its past in almost every way.
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“I think change was just generally a very enticing thing for us,” says Grian Chatten, Fontaines’ poet-cum-frontman, who in only a half a decade has become one of the most compelling figures in rock. “We wanted to really indulge in something new, and we didn’t want to risk it being only a half-step. And I think the more changes there were around us, the better.”
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It’s early May, and I am sitting on the patio of a hotel in Brooklyn with Chatten — who is sporting a city-appropriate Yankees jersey and wraparound shades — after he suggests we talk outdoors so he can smoke a couple roll-your-owns over the hour. The band is in town to do a one-off underplay gig to jump start the record’s cycle, and to play the television debut of “Starburster,” the LP’s biting, driving first single, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Launching into an animated mid-morning chat, the singer is palpably pumped to be starting up the Fontaines engines once again – maybe more so than in years, as this time the band is riding on a very different vehicle. Yes, Conor Curley and Carlos O’Connell’s alternately chime-y and crunchy guitars are still there; bassist Conor Deegan III and drummer Tom Coll have lost none of their drive; and Chatten is still there with his supple voice, wordplay and can’t-look-away presence.
But everything about Romance feels breathlessly bolder, eclectic and carpe diem, caution to the wind and all that. They’ve changed producers (James Ford, in place of Dan Carey), labels (XL Recordings, rather than longtime home Partisan), and aesthetics, with a series of arresting music videos underscoring the new era.
“There’s an element that feels maybe a little like playing a character,” Chatten concedes. “But with this record and everything around it, we’re drawing a lot from the inspirations we had when we were really young. For me, it was always very theatrical bands like The Cure. It was a very complex and very rich world. Almost Tim Burton-esque. And I think that drawing from that is something that feels genuine, but it also has the fun that comes with playing a role.”
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Shaking things up, no matter the risk, felt like an imperative in 2023 to Fontaines D.C. While the band had made leftward moves over three albums — from the spitfire of their 2019 debut Dogrel through a dreamier A Hero’s Death in 2020 and toward something more internal on 2022’s Skinty Fia — there’s nothing gradual about the creative leap taken on Romance. “We always think that we’re pushing the boat out, or taking some new turn, with each record,” Chatten explains. “And I think probably the reality is that it was a lot less of a turn than we thought. But this time, I feel good about it being a full f–kin’ turn.”
Surely the most significant change on Romance was bringing on James Ford as producer. Post-punk A-lister Dan Carey had become synonymous with Fontaines over the band’s first three LP’s; he helmed Chatten’s debut solo LP, 2023’s warts-and-all thriller Chaos For the Fly; and Chatten admits Carey was disappointed by news of the split. But the band had been suggested Ford as a collaborator several times, and after a studio session intended to record only one song ended up yielding two and a half, the die was cast. “It just worked really well,” Chatten says. “It was just such a fluid and easy process that it just made sense.”
Ford’s production resume includes nearly 50 albums in 20 years by the likes of Foals, Klaxons, Blur, Gorillaz and Depeche Mode. But he is most indelibly associated with Arctic Monkeys, and Ford’s facility with bands “expanding” their sound is evidenced on the Monkeys’ recent LPs. Soon after coming off the road opening for Arctic Monkeys last fall, Fontaines D.C. went into the studio with Ford, and there are places on Romance that are signatures of the producer, including the string-filled drama of centerpiece “In The Modern World.”
As it happens, Monkeys frontman Turner was one of the boldfaced names in attendance when, two nights after my interview with Chatten, Fontaines D.C. played to a packed-out Warsaw Ballroom in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, delivering a set that included a handful of Romance tracks. Watching Chatten command a stage with more confidence than ever – certainly more than in Fontaines’ early days – it reminded me of the way that Turner, too, was initially an onstage introvert and very much grew into (or adopted) a rakish onstage swagger over the years. Chatten doesn’t dispute the comparison.
“In my experience, it can be frustrating to be reading yourself saying the same answers over and over again in interviews in that reserved way,” he offers. “And I feel like I’ve been doing that a lot over the past couple of years where it got to be a habit. I just got bored with what I was saying. So, you know, to allow a little bit of a character in, maybe, to change the way you present yourself, it makes it more interesting for yourself. So I totally relate to him leaning into that. And in terms of the singing thing, I think I just like my voice more now than I used to. I think I was probably quite uncomfortable with it, but I like it more now.”
Fontaines D.C.
Deanie Chen
Chatten uses that voice in more varied ways than ever on Romance – bright and melodic, droll and sardonic, dreamy and reflective, desperate and urgent. It’s all in service of a record that does have a specific thesis, expressed in the last line of the title track: “Maybe romance is a place for me, and you.” The tracks “Desire” and “In The Modern World” first gave Chatten the idea for the album title; a touchstone that inspired the latter song was the 1988 cyberpunk anime classic Akira.
“I think I really wanted to write a song that felt like the romance that blossoms in that film,” he explains. “That dystopian, everything crashing around you, and drifting further and further away apparently from a sense of humanity. But still therein blossoms a relationship, a romance. A romance that is necessary to cling onto something, and not give up hope in a world like that. I really related to that. Especially these days, you know?”
He’s quick to add, though, that it’s a form of denial as well. “I’ve always been interested in the argument, or the perspective, of seeing delusion and romance as one and the same,” he says. “And I think the place of romance that I spoke about, in the title track, it’s that place, it’s that refuge. And I think there’s a denial, maybe, involved. You’re dressing your life up in this romantic way. And I think there’s a line to blur between madness and this denial, which is necessary in order to get on. The world is absolutely f–ked, and it’s difficult to know which way to turn.”
Though Chatten tends not to write too on-the-nose about his own life experiences, they are woven throughout the new LP. The sweeping “In The Modern World,” which was written during a sabbatical to Los Angeles, opens with the line “I feel alive” then alternates calling it “the city that you like” and “the city you despise.” The first word that comes to my mind about the song, and the whole album, is “cinematic,” though I tell Chatten I hate to be reductive. “That’s okay!” he assures me with a laugh. “It is! You can reduce the record!” “I find it interesting,” he adds of the City of Angels. “And that’s as close as I get to saying I really like a place: I find it interesting and it intrigues me and stimulates me creatively. Which L.A. can do, at least in short bursts. I think I wrote that maybe with something like the ghost of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, or maybe Lana Del Rey’s voice was ringing around in my head as well. I don’t know, but maybe it’s a song to Lana Del Rey?” He chuckles. “I don’t know.”
In marked contrast to that song’s grandeur is “Horseness Is the Whatness,” a sweet late album gem with a fractured lump-in-the-throat innocence, which asks plaintively, “Will someone / Find out what the word is / That makes the world go round / ‘Cause I thought it was love.” The track’s childlike quality is no accident, Chatten says, explaining that it was written by Fontaines guitarist Carlos O’Connell, an occasional guest lyricist.
“I think that’s the second time someone’s said that to me!” Chatten says when I express affection for the song. “It’s Carlos’ line, and I’m really glad his lyrics are getting that kind of attention, ‘cause I think they’re incredible. And it’s a really vulnerable song in that way, which I think partly comes from him having a child and seeing the world through their eyes.”
Chatten has no kids of his own, but he is nearly six years into a relationship, and says of his girlfriend, who manages bands and sang on Chatten’s solo LP, “We’re good,” though by his own admission he can be “a lot” to deal with. The singer has spoken candidly in the past about serious struggles with anxiety that intensified in 2022 as Fontaines D.C. toured Skinty Fia. That album’s harrowing “Nabokov” remains emotionally challenging to perform live, while “Starburster,” the first single from Romance, was inspired by a devastating panic attack that the singer experienced in London’s St. Pancras Station during a period when such episodes were frequent.
“I was having like three, four a day around that time,” he recalls. “It got really out of hand for a while. And I got a handle on it when I got my ADHD diagnosis. Things gradually became a bit easier. And the upshot, I think, is that I’ve become a better friend and a better partner to my missus, and a better son to my folks. And if I have 10 minutes now between trains, I’ll give someone a ring and ask them how they are. Because – I’ve always wanted to know, but I’ve always had my head up my ass, do you know what I mean? So that’s the real benefit for me. Now being in a better place, I get to extend my concern to other people.”
Fontaines D.C.
Deanie Chen
Still, being in a long-term relationship seems to have surprised even him. Two tracks on Romance, “Bug” and “Death Kink,” seem to refer to what a challenging partner he can be. The latter tune opens with “When you came into my life I was lost / And you took that shine to me at what a cost.” “I can be a bit of a freight train, in a way that I can be unchangeable,” he admits. “I’m very rigid in what I like and what I don’t like. And I think that song ‘Bug’ is somebody who doesn’t yield, or is just leaving a trail of destruction, and that is how I feel sometimes. But we’ve been together five and a half years, and we’re incredible happy. We’re in a really good place. But I am inclined to be independent, just generally speaking, but it just so happens that I fell in love. So it’s difficult for me to divert from the path.”
Chatten is remarkably open-hearted throughout our chat. He’s a touch acerbic and is not above some good-natured teasing of a journalist he’s just met. But for the most part, he’s warm, thoughtful and seemingly principled. “I’m a sensitive little soul,” he says by way of explaining why he can’t marinate in the awful news that the world dishes out daily. In other words, to me at least, he’s quintessentially Irish, giving something not unlike the vibes I got when I twice talked to the late great Sinéad O’Connor. We lost O’Connor in July 2023, just months before the passing of another Irish legend, Shane MacGowan. Both artists were fierce, suffer-no-fools forces of nature who lived their lives at 11, and MacGowan was one of Chatten’s longtime heroes.
“We were in the middle of recording the album when Shane died,” he recalls. “And I had to f–king take a break. I was really, deeply affected by it. Partly because he enhanced my relationship with my family! You know, he connected me to my Irishness maybe in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to do without him.” As for Sinéad, “I was a big fan,” he says. “I feel like she gave an awful lot more than what was required of her, in her life. And I really respect and admire that. It means a lot. My mom is a massive Sinéad O’Connor fan, and many is the time that she had a few glasses of wine, and she would try and sing one of her tunes. In a quiet room of largely polite people!”
Romance feels destined to propel Fontaines D.C. to yet another level of attention and acclaim: the band’s fall North American tour will play mostly 1500-3000 capacity rooms, followed by European dates that includes arenas. More significantly, it’s an explosion of lush, bold new colors. Hopefully the Fontaines day ones, rowdy as some may be, will be open to the expansion. If some still long for the ragged punk of early favorites like “Liberty Belle” or “Boys In the Better Land,” those songs are out there. “I mean, if somebody wants to listen to ‘Boys In the Better Land’ for the rest of their life,” Chatten says with a shrug. “Then I envy their ability to find something that interests them for so long!”
Whatever comes next, he doesn’t plan on making the same music at 50 that he made when he was half that age. “I wouldn’t be comfortable doing it, and I probably wouldn’t be that interested in listening to it,” he flatly states. “I accessed that part of myself very thoroughly around the time that we wrote it, so I don’t know if I will be hungry to access that kind of thing, in the same way, ever again. But who knows? I am skeptical about the idea of going into grandiosity and wider themes and deeper into yourself, and then snapping back into social commentary that’s like a snappy 4-4 punk beat. I’m not sure it’s an artist’s right to do that after going so deep. So I think, stay basic for as long as you can, and then maybe get more complicated.”