Music

30 Jul 2024

Maren Morris Isn’t Holding Back on ‘Intermission’: ‘I Don’t Have to Protect Anyone Anymore’

Maren Morris‘ new EP may be called Intermission, but she says she’s actually pulling back the curtain on her true emotions on the project instead of drawing it closed.

In a video posted to Instagram on Monday (July 29), the 34-year-old singer-songwriter opened up about the title of her five-track mini-album, which drops this Friday. “Calling this project Intermission was intentional,” she told followers. “It’s a break in the act, and for me, it’s definitely an act break and new chapter of my life, and I’m so ready to see what’s on the other page.

“I just am so proud of this music,” she continued. “It wasn’t easy to write, because I’m going through a lot, and this is the diary of that. But it’s also the most fun music as well as the most heartbreaking because i’m allowing myself to go there — ’cause I don’t have to protect anyone anymore. It’s just about my feelings. So, I hope you love it.”

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Led by the single “Cut!” featuring Julia Michaels, Intermission marks Morris’ first proper batch of songs since filing for divorce from fellow songwriter Ryan Hurd, with whom she shares 4-year-old son Hayes, in October. At the time, Morris’ lawyers stated that the ex-couple was “unable to live together successfully as husband and wife,” and were “experiencing irreconcilable differences in their marriage.”

The Grammy winner touched on her split earlier this month ahead of the release of another Intermission single, “I Hope I Never Fall in Love.” “It’s pretty self-explanatory from the title, having just gone through a giant breakup,” she said of the track in an Instagram video. “Just not wanting to go down that path again, and wanting to keep things casual, and really just lean into the ‘situationship’ of it all.”

Morris’ new video comes about a week after Brittany Aldean rehashed their 2022 feud over gender-affirming healthcare in a podcast interview, calling the “The Middle” singer’s feminist views “bulls–t.” “She’s got a group of friends here in Nashville that, they just have it out for me for whatever reason,” the former NBA dancer said of the musician on Try That in a Small Town. “She started to make fun of my business, which at the time was hair extensions. Going back to the feminist movement … aren’t you supposed to be all peace, love and all inclusivity and all the things?”

Watch Morris talk about Intermission‘s title below.

30 Jul 2024

K-pop Accounts for the Top Two Spots on the Billboard 200 for the First Time: Here’s When Other Genres Accomplished This Feat

K-pop has been gathering commercial momentum in the U.S. over a decade, and this week it achieves a historic milestone on the Billboard 200. As Billboard reported on Sunday, this current chart (dated Aug. 3) marks the first time that the top two spots are both held by K-pop (Korean pop) albums. Stray Kids’ ATE debuts at No. 1, while Jimin’s MUSE, a solo album by the BTS member,opens at No. 2.

ATE arrives with 231,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending July 25, according to Luminate. That’s the largest week of 2024 for any K-pop album, and the sixth-biggest debut for any album this year. Of ATE’s 231,000 first-week units, album sales comprise 217,000, SEA units comprise 13,000 and TEA units comprise 1,000. With 217,000 copies sold, ATE is the top-selling album of the week. It also nets the largest sales week for any K-pop album this year and 2024’s second-largest sales week for any album of any genre (trailing only Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department). 

MUSE moves in with 96,000 units, and gives Jimin his second solo album to reach No. 2 (after last year’s FACE). Of that sum, album sales comprise 74,000, SEA units comprise 15,000 and TEA units comprise 7,000.

This historic week for K-pop made us wonder: When did nine other genres and recording configurations first occupy the top two albums on the Billboard 200 in the same week? (The chart originated as a regular weekly feature on March 24, 1956.) Read on to see our findings — with albums being defined as belonging to a genre if they also charted on that genre’s corresponding albums chart.

30 Jul 2024

Teddy Swims’ ‘Lose Control’ Keeps Winning, Topping Adult Contemporary Chart

Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” adds another No. 1 to its uncommonly impressive résumé of radio chart coronations, as it rises to the top of Billboard’s Adult Contemporary survey (dated Aug. 3).

The song, on SWIMS Int./Warner Records, rules a fifth airplay ranking, as it led the all-format Radio Songs chart, Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay and Adult R&B Airplay prior to its Adult Contemporary takeover.

(Also notably, the track halts Miley Cyrus’ record 57-week Adult Contemporary reign with “Flowers.”)

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“Lose Control” becomes just the fifth song to have reached No. 1 on the five charts, and the first in nearly a decade, after the first four led in 2014-16. Here’s a recap of the elite such crossover hits (dating to the early/mid-1990s, when the bulk of Billboard’s airplay charts began).

“Lose Control,” Teddy Swims:

  • Adult Pop Airplay, four weeks at No. 1, beginning March 23, 2024
  • Pop Airplay, two, beginning, April 13, 2024
  • Radio Songs, nine, beginning April 20, 2024
  • Adult R&B Airplay, three, beginning June 15, 2024
  • Adult Contemporary, one week (to date), beginning Aug. 3, 2024

“Hello,” Adele:

  • Radio Songs, 11 weeks at No. 1, beginning Nov. 28, 2015
  • Adult Contemporary, 21, beginning Nov. 28, 2015
  • Pop Airplay, four, beginning Dec. 5, 2015
  • Adult Pop Airplay, seven, beginning Dec. 5, 2015
  • Adult R&B Airplay, one week, beginning Feb. 20, 2016

“Stay With Me,” Sam Smith:

  • Radio Songs, six weeks at No. 1, beginning Aug. 23, 2014
  • Adult Contemporary, five, beginning Aug. 23, 2014
  • Pop Airplay, two, beginning Aug. 30, 2014
  • Adult Pop Airplay, two, beginning Sept. 6, 2014
  • Adult R&B Airplay, 13, beginning Oct. 11, 2014

“Happy,” Pharrell Williams:

  • Radio Songs, eight weeks at No. 1, beginning March 15, 2014
  • Pop Airplay, four, beginning March 29, 2014
  • Adult Pop Airplay, six, beginning April 5, 2014
  • Adult R&B Airplay, 13, beginning April 5, 2014
  • Adult Contemporary, six, beginning May 3, 2014

“All of Me,” John Legend:

  • Adult R&B Airplay, eight weeks at No. 1, beginning Feb. 15, 2014
  • Pop Airplay, five, beginning May 3, 2014
  • Radio Songs, seven, beginning May 10, 2014
  • Adult Pop Airplay, four, beginning May 17, 2014
  • Adult Contemporary, 10, beginning June 14, 2014

Prior to topping the five airplay charts noted above, “Lose Control” also ascended to a No. 2 peak on Adult Alternative Airplay in January. It joins only Adele’s “Hello” and Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” in having led Radio Songs, Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay, Adult R&B Airplay and Adult Contemporary and having reached the top two on Adult Alternative Airplay, reflecting rare support at formats ranging from pop and adult to R&B and rock. (“Hello” and “Stay With Me” each hit No. 1 on Adult Alternative Airplay.)

Meanwhile, as “Lose Control” led the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100 for a week in March, it and “Hello” are the only songs to have topped the Hot 100 and the five airplay charts listed above.

“Teddy Swims is a once-in-a-generation talent who defies genres, making him truly unique in today’s music landscape,” says Warner evp of promotion and commerce Mike Chester. “When we began promoting ‘Lose Control,’ our journey was carefully planned. From the start, we noticed that the song was resonating in various pockets of culture, creating a strong and diverse fanbase. Our digital department played a crucial role, setting the groundwork for the song’s growth; shoutout to [the division’s] Randall Telfer.

“We understood that ‘Lose Control’ needed time to evolve before we could successfully introduce it to other formats, like adult R&B,” Chester adds. “Special thanks to Ron Stewart, our head of urban radio, for crafting an ideal strategy, alongside Josh Reich [pop], Rob Goldklang [rock/alternative] and Michelle Babbitt [adult]. Teddy Swims has a timeless voice that breaks boundaries, and we wanted to ensure his music reached as wide an audience as possible without being confined to a specific genre.”

30 Jul 2024

Halsey Opens Up on Tumblr About ‘Hate’ From Fans: ‘I Regret Coming Back’

Halsey is more vulnerable than ever with her art, as seen in her most recent single “Lucky,” but the superstar is struggling with the backlash she’s receiving from people claiming to be their fans.

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The singer took to Tumblr this week to share a lengthy post about how she’s been feeling. “My own fans are hands down meaner to me than any other people on the planet,” they wrote. “Not speaking for all of you, of course. But it used to be just a minority that were awful to me and now it seems like a majority have only stuck around to chime in occasionally with their opinion of how much they hate me or how awful I am. it’s hard to want to engage in a space that is completely devoid of any kindness, sympathy, patience; or to be honest human decency. Especially after years of hiding from the interactions for fear that this EXACT thing would happen. I don’t know man. I almost lost my life. I am not gonna do anything that doesn’t make me happy anymore. I can’t spiritually afford it.”

Halsey concluded by noting, “When I got sick all I could think about was getting better so I could come back and be a part of THIS again, but I don’t even know what *this* is anymore and I want to crawl in a hole and I regret coming back.”

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See the post here.

“I shaved my head four times because I wanted to/ And then I did it one more time ’cause I got sick,” Halsey sings on “Lucky,” which also interpolates Britney Spears’ hit of the same name as well as Monica’s 1998 Billboard Hot 100-topper “Angel of Mine.” “I left the doctor’s office full of tears/ Became a single mom at my premiere/ And I told everybody I was fine for a whole damn year/ And that’s the biggest lie of my career.” 

In June, the musician revealed she’d been diagnosed with Lupus and a rare T-cell disorder two years prior. Last year, she split from partner Alev Aydin, with whom she shares 3-year-old son Ender. 

In a follow-up post, Halsey added that they’re on the way to a PET scan. “I’m a person. Not a character in a music video,” she wrote.

30 Jul 2024

Blackbird Presents Announces Robbie Robertson Tribute Concert ‘Life Is a Carnival’

Blackbird Presents is set to honor legendary guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of The Band, Robbie Robertson, with their new concert Life is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson, set for Oct. 17 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.

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Feting the late Robertson will be performers including Trey Anastasio, Ryan Bingham, Mike Campbell, Eric Church, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Warren Haynes, Bruce Hornsby, Jim James, Jamey Johnson, Noah Kahan, Daniel Lanois, Taj Mahal, Van Morrison, Margo Price, Robert Randolph, Nathaniel Rateliff, Allison Russell, Mavis Staples, Benmont Tench, Don Was, Bobby Weir and Lucinda Williams.

Robertson died in August 2023 at age 80. His songwriting credits include “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” and “Up on Cripple Creek.” When The Band’s 1976 farewell concert “The Last Waltz” was captured on film by Martin Scorsese (and included performances from artists including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Joni Mitchell), Robertson formed a strong bond with Scorsese. Robertson worked as a composer, music supervisor and music producer on many Scorsese films, including Raging Bull, Gangs of New York, Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street and most recently, Killers of the Flower Moon. Robertson is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and a recipient of a lifetime achievement honor at the Grammys.

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Scorsese, along with Jared Levine and Keith Wortman, will serve as an executive producer of Life Is a Carnival. Live Nation will serve as the event promoter for the concert. A portion of all proceeds from the event will be donated to The Woodland Cultural Centre, which funds and operates arts, history and education programs on the Sixth Nations Reserve in Canada.

Tickets for the event go on sale Friday, Aug. 2 at 10 a.m. PT through Ticketmaster.

30 Jul 2024

Polo G Announces ‘Hood Poet’ Album Featuring Future, GloRilla & The Kid LAROI

Polo G’s long-awaited Hall of Fame follow-up is finally on the horizon. The Chicago rapper announced plans for his Hood Poet album on Tuesday (July 30), with the LP set to hit streaming services on Aug. 9.

Before the project arrives, Polo is feeding fans with a final single to warm up the streets as “3 Headed Goat” collaborator Lil Durk will join the 25-year-old on “We Uh Shoot,” which arrives on Friday (Aug. 2). “Hood Poet August 9th … The Wait Finally Over + Me & Smurk This Friday #weuhshoot #freetrench,” he wrote to Instagram.

The purple cover art features Polo G at the mic with a pair of affiliates in ski masks and bullet-proof vests behind him protecting a goat — which plays off his 2020 The Goat album.

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Polo G is billing the album as a cinematic experience or “music documentary” where he’ll enlist Future, GloRilla, 42 Dugg, Offset, The Kid LAROI, Lil Durk, G Herbo, Hunxho and Fridayy as his co-stars.

While plenty of fans were hyped that the album is finally coming, there was a contingent disappointed that his frequent collaborator Lil Tjay wouldn’t be making an appearance. “Bro how is there no tjay,” one person wrote.

The “Pop Out” rapper’s Hood Poet album will include previous singles “Barely Holdin’ On,” “Distraction” and “Angels in the Sky.” The effort comes complete with 18 tracks in total and was previously said to be fully-produced by 808 Mafia’s Southside.

It’s been over three years since Polo G’s last album, Hall of Fame, which was released in June 2021 and gave the rapper his first No. 1 album atop the Billboard 200.

Check out Polo’s Instagram post below:

30 Jul 2024

October London’s ‘Mulholland Drive’ Cruises to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart

October London scores his second consecutive No. 1 single on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart as his song “Mulholland Drive,” featuring Snoop Dogg and Latoiya Williams, glides 3-1 to rule the list dated Aug. 3. The singer’s previous release, “Back to Your Place,” reigned for 10 nonconsecutive weeks between August and December of 2023.

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“Mulholland Drive” parks atop Adult R&B Airplay after an 11% jump in plays that made it the most-played song on U.S. monitored adult R&B radio stations in the tracking week of July 19 – 25, according to Luminate. The new champ unseats J. Brown’s “If You Could See You” after its one-week rule.

As both of October London’s first two Adult R&B Airplay appearances have yielded No. 1s, he’s the first act to achieve the feat since Tems last year. The Afrobeats and R&B singer’s first leader came through a feature on Wizkid’s “Essence,” which dominated for 14 weeks in 2021. The second, her own “Free Mind,” posted nine weeks in charge beginning in February 2023. (An extra dimension to Tems’ achievement – “Essenc”” was the year-end No. 1 for the Adult R&B Airplay chart for 2022 and “Free Mind” took the honor the following year.)

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For Snoop Dogg, his guest credit on “Mulholland Drive” gives the veteran rapper his first Adult R&B Airplay No. 1. He came close to the summit in 2018, when he and Ball Greezy featured on Lil Duval’s “Smile (Livin’ My Best Life),” which stopped at No. 2. Snoop Dogg has racked up 12 Adult R&B Airplay entries in his career; as a lead act, his best showing was a No. 20 peak for “California Roll,” featuring Stevie Wonder, in 2015.

Singer Latoiya Williams, meanwhile, grabs her first Adult R&B Airplay champ through her first time on the list.

Elsewhere, “Mulholland Drive” speeds 20-12 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. There, the track swells to 6.2 million in audience, a 16% improvement over last week.

30 Jul 2024

Lil Yachty Confirms Karrahbooo Has Split From Concrete Boys

Fans speculated Karrahbooo was no longer affiliated with Lil Yachty and his Concrete Boys collective when some noticed she was no longer included in their Instagram bio. Fans also peeped that she unfollowed group members on Twitter and didn’t perform with them at Broccoli City over the weekend.

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Well, it looks like their suspicions have been confirmed, as Lil Yachty went on Instagram Live Monday (July 29) to formally announce he and Karrahbooo have parted ways. “I’mma say this s—t one time,” he told fans. “We have split ways with Karrah as far as this Concrete s—t. I have nothing bad to say, nothing negative to say about Karrah. I wish her the best in her career.”

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Boat also said that he’s “never going to speak on this again,” and mentioned that he’s not looking to replace her with another female rapper.

Karrahbooo started as Yachty’s assistant and eventually showed interest in rap because she wanted to turn that into an acting career. “I’m only rapping because I saw Boat doing a movie when I was his assistant, and that’s the day I was like, ‘I want to be a rapper,’ because you can just be an actor from being a rapper if you’re fly enough. That’s how Boat did it,” she said in an interview with Montreality in November. Her rap career started to take off after she had the standout verse on the Concrete Boys’ appearance on the freestyle YouTube show On the Radar.

Karrahbooo has yet to respond to Yachty, but still refers to herself as “Concrete KB” in her Instagram bio.

30 Jul 2024

Watch Charli XCX Bring ‘Brat’ Summer to Ibiza in Her Complete Boiler Room Set

Brat summer touched down in the Balearic Islands earlier this month when Charli XCX brought her Partygirl party night to Ibiza’s legendary club Amnesia for a very packed and very buzzy Boiler Room set on July 13.

The artist of the summer launched the set with Brat‘s “365,” then blazed through the album — with tracks like “Guess,” “Club classics” and more — while the crowd writhed behind her. Wearing a chic cream colored top and occasionally clutching a glass of champagne, the artist also welcomed guests including The Dare, Zoe Glitter, Alex Chapman and George Daniel, who altogether incorporated songs including Rico Nasty and Boys Noize’s “Arintintin,” Troye Sivan’s “Rush,” Da Hool’s “Meet Her at the Loveparade” and an edit of Robert Miles’ 1995 club classic “Children.”

The night’s lineup also featured Shygirl, Romy and Ladies of Leisure, the latter of whom delivered us very FOMO-inducing footage directly from the event. Watch the complete 95 minute performance below.

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“The reason I love electronic music and clubs and DJs so much is that everything is endless,” XCX said in her recent Billboard cover story. “Everything can be repurposed, reimagined. As a pop writer, I find that exciting. It was cool to use Boiler Room as a space to demonstrate that artists often make five different versions of a song and the song that is put out is not the only one.”

Two Brat tracks are currently on the Hot 100, with “360” at No. 55 and “Apple” at No. 81. The album is also dominating Hot Dance/Electronic Songs with 16 tracks on the chart, the highest of which, “Apple,” is at No. 4. Brat currently sits at No. 14 on the Billboard 200.

30 Jul 2024

Jelly Roll Sworn in as Deputy Sheriff in Michigan: Watch

Jelly Roll has added several new titles to his resume over the past few years, among them Billboard chart-topper, Grammy nominee, CMA Award winner and concert headliner. But earlier this week, he added a new role: Jelly Roll cut the ribbon on the Jelly Roll Music Studio at Genesee County Jail in Flint, Mich., and was sworn in as a deputy with the Community Cares Task Force.

Audacy 99.5 WYCD captured the moments as Jelly Roll was presented with an official Sheriff’s ID and a badge on July 27. “From convict to deputy,” Jelly Roll said, with the former Billboard cover star referencing his own time spent in a juvenile correctional facility as a teen. His journey from prison to stardom includes time behind bars for a felony, when he was arrested for aggravated robbery at age 16.

After swearing Jelly Roll in with the Oath of Office, Sheriff Christopher Swanson told the singer-songwriter, “This is the real deal. You walk into any facility now, you can tell them you’re a Deputy Sheriff from Genesee County.”

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Jelly Roll has worked with Sheriff Swanson for several years, working with the I.G.N.I.T.E. Program and encouraging inmates to pursue their GED while serving time, in order to increase their skills level to aid in obtaining employment when released.

In June, he had a celebratory headlining set in his hometown, when he closed out a night at CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium.

Jelly Roll recently teamed with MGK for the new collaboration “Lonely Road,” and launches his headlining Beautifully Broken Tour in August. The tour will run through October, and features openers Warren Zeiders and Alexandra Kay.

Watch Jelly Roll get deputized below: