Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.
This week: a big new remix and bigger new video help a bonus Brat cut become the era’s biggest song yet, while a 2010 pop classic gets a bump from an unexpected fan and the Minions‘ esteemed musical representative strikes again.
Charli XCX’s ‘Guess’ Aiming for Big Hot 100 Bow After Streaming Boom
Among the many tidings of Brat Summer has been the return of Charli XCX as a fixture on the Billboard Hot 100, a full decade after she helped engineer top 10 hits like Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” Icona Pop’s “I Love It” and her own “Boom Clap.” Brat hits like “360” (No. 44) and “Apple” (No. 66) have been climbing the chart after achieving varying states of virality, while the Lorde-assisted remix of “Girl, So Confusing” powered the song to No. 63 upon its June release.
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Those tracks have yet to crack the chart’s top 40 – but “Guess,” which is featured on the deluxe edition of Brat, almost certainly will next week. That’s largely thanks to Billie Eilish hopping on the track for the bonus cut’s remix — capturing the attention of the Internet with lyrics like “Charli likes boys, but she knows I’d hit it,” as well as for Eilish joining Charli on a mountain of underwear in the new version’s official music video (10,000 pairs of which were donated to the charity I Support The Girls following the video shoot).
Following the release of the song and video last Thursday (Aug. 1), streams for “Guess” exploded: in its first four full days of tracking (Aug. 2-5), the song scored 12.27 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate, after earning just 651,000 streams during the same period the previous week (July 26-29) prior to the remix release. Meanwhile, Eilish’s “Guess” appearance is pumping up the other Brat songs around it, with the album (minus “Guess”) up 12% in streams over that same period (from 23.3 million streams to 26.2 million). Don’t be shocked if “Guess” crashes the top 20 of the Hot 100 next week — and if Brat stays strong in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Kodak Black Brings Back “Bulletproof” With La Roux Singalong Clips
Not many folks would’ve guessed Florida rapper Kodak Black as the artist to spark a revival of U.K. electro-poppers La Roux’s surprise 2010 crossover smash “Bulletproof.” But perhaps that’s why it created such newfound interest in the now decade-and-a-half-old pop classic, as footage of Kodak (who’d previously showed his love for the song and its video on an IG live) singing and beating his bare chest along to the cathartic chorus (while standing on his car and brushing his teeth) went viral across social media. Videographer Don James’ clip of the singalong, posted on July 21, attracted 2.6 million likes on TikTok, with countless fans complimenting the aura of the genre-crossing artist.
Many of those fans have seemed unable to get the song out of their head since, as evidenced by its ballooning streaming numbers in the past couple weeks. After “Bulletproof” amassed just under 700,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending July 18, that number spiked 147% to 1.7 million for the next week, according to Luminate – and another 101% for the period after that, with the song racking up nearly 3.5 million spins for the week ending Aug. 1. Now that the Kodak Black Bump is a real thing, maybe other turn-of-the-’10s alt-pop favorites will look to enlist his help – Kate Nash, perhaps? Neon Trees? – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Pharrell Eyes Another ‘Despicable Me’ Hit With ‘Double Life’
Pharrell Williams has been a dependable hitmaker for decades – and a fixture of the Minions-verse since his “Happy” (from Despicable Me 2) became one of the biggest pop hits of the 2010s. Both runs continue for Pharrell with “Double Life,” his breakout hit from the Despicable Me 4 soundtrack.
Originally released on June 14 – about a month before the film hit theaters — “Double Life” earned some early traction due to some listeners interpreting the track as a lowkey diss to Drake (who threw shots at Skateboard P with his verse on Travis Scott’s “Meltdown” last summer). During the week of the film’s release (July 5-11), “Double Life” rose a staggering 141% in streams versus the week prior (June 28-July 4), logging 2.57 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate.
A few micro trends helped the song continue to increase in streams week after week, including a dance trend courtesy of Dossan Bell & Oliver Hincy, and another small trend built on its “I know you heard the rumors/ You must get over to it right away” lyric. During the week of July 26-Aug 1, the song earned its biggest streaming boost since the film’s release, jumping nearly 40% to 5.2 million official on-demand streams. That boost was due in large part to yet another trend built around the song’s lyrics: In essence, users playfully pretend to be living a double life by sharing a screenshot that appears to confirm them running both their personal TikTok account and that of a celebrity or brand, like Kamala HQ or Mr. Clean. As the photo set transitions from either a stock image of a question mark or a selfie of the user into the accounts that they “run,” Pharrell croons, “Who will you be tonight? That’s the question.”
On TikTok, the official “Double Life” sounds boast a combined 486,000 clips, while two additional unofficial sounds built around the “that’s the question” snippet soundtrack a further 282,7000 clips. And on Tuesday (Aug. 7), shortly before announcing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris’ official campaign TikTok (@kamalahq) posted a teaser of her announcement using the “that’s the question” trend – with the clip scoring a whopping 2.2 million views. – KYLE DENIS
