Music
Page: 143
08/13/2024
The recipient of the MTV lifetime achievement award is expected to be announced later this week.
08/13/2024
Rihanna‘s youngest son Riot Rose crawled his way onto the superstar’s Instagram feed recently.
In a video posted on Sunday (Aug. 11), the one-year-old speedily crawls across the floor, pushing a miniature Target shopping cart in an adorable cameo during one of her Fenty promo posts. Rih is known for dressing Riot and 2-year-old RZA — her first-born son with partner A$AP Rocky — in trendy outfits. In this case, the baby boy’s diaper peeks out of a chic grey sweatsuit.
The “We Found Love” singer also shared a photo of her posing next to the cart filled with travel-size versions of her Fenty Beauty products. “more minis are on the way to @ultabeauty in @target,” she captioned the post.
The adorable announcement comes about a week after Rih attended the Crop Over Festival in her home country of Barbados, stunning the crowd in a bedazzled carnival outfit complete with multi-color feathered wings. Before that, she watched Manchester City’s match against AC Milan at Yankee Stadium and met star players Christian Pulisic, Jack Grealish and Yunus Musah. While there, one young fan snubbed her by asking her to take a photo of him with the soccer pros, seemingly not recognizing the billionaire nine-time Grammy winner right in front of him.
Trending on Billboard
As some fans joked after a video of the interaction went viral, the fact that Rih hasn’t released an album in eight years could very well be the reason certain kids don’t know who she is anymore. The mogul herself previously addressed the matter in a hilarious message to GloRilla, a screenshot of which the “TGIF” rapper posted on Instagram in July: “I know dis wild hypothetical, but when the album drop?”
To date, Rihanna has been coy about a release date or vibe for her untitled ninth album, the follow-up to 2016 album Anti. In June, after fans got scared by a T-shirt she sported reading “I’m Retired,” the singer promised fans, “I’m not retired. I just like that dress. I got it as a gift and I loved it. They didn’t read the second line, I’m not retired, I’m just retired from dressing up — it’s a lot of effort.” She also noted at the time that she’s “starting over” when it comes to her music.
“But I don’t want to neglect the songs that I have, so I actually want to go back and listen to stuff with new ears, with my new perspective and then see what applies and what I’m still in love with,” she said.
Watch Riot Rose crawl like a champ below.
Nobody drew higher approval ratings than Snoop Dogg in his employee of the month campaign as a correspondent for NBC at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The Doggfather put a bow on his Olympic debut in Paris this weekend when hitting the stage at the Closing Ceremony where he performed Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and brought out his former Death Row Records running mate Dr. Dre as a special guest for “The Next Episode.”
H.E.R. sang the National Anthem at the ceremony, which served as the first transfer of power as the United States gears up to switch the scene to Los Angeles for 2028. Billie Eilish and Red Hot Chili Peppers also performed.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Elsewhere in the hip-hop world, Ye’s No. 1 album streak came to an end when Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department held atop the Billboard 200, with West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 2 album debuting at No. 2 on the chart with 107,000 total album units moved in its first week.
Trending on Billboard
Meanwhile, Latto delivered her Sugar Honey Iced Tea album on Friday (Aug. 9), which is loaded with 17 tracks and star-studded features to go along with some more apparent shots at rival Ice Spice on the project closer. And August isn’t going to slow down for the rap world, with albums still on the way from Big Sean and A$AP Rocky later this month.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Monaleo and Rob49’s tequila-fueled block party to Real Boston Richey and GloRilla’s raunchy strip club anthem. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Lexa Gates, “Provider”
[embedded content]
On the heels of the evocative “I Just Can’t Be Alone,” Lexa Gates returns a month later with her soulful “Provider” single. While the wins stack up in her ascension, the Queens rapper-singer candidly expresses the pressure that comes with being the family bread-winner. “I’m a provider/ Pay my mama rent, pay my sister phone bill,” she divulges. “Heat, gym, and electric plus the Wi-Fi.” A teaser for the track caught SZA’s eye, who lent her stamp of approval to Lexa: “Ionno what’s going on but yes to her,” the intrigued superstar singer captioned a repost of the clip to her Instagram Story. Gates will hit the stage for a one-off concert in Los Angeles this week.
Monaleo & Rob49, “Don Who Leo (Añejo Remix)”
[embedded content]
Monaleo turns the Texas heat up a couple notche,s with Rob 49 torching the new Añejo Remix for her viral hit “Don Who Leo.” The 23-year-old throws a block party for the visual, which doubles as a commercial for the semi-titular premium tequila company Don Julio. Monaleo’s boisterous chorus remains the same which somehow welds 2Pac, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Judge Judy into consecutive bars. 49 flies in from New Orleans to match her freak with a steamy assist. “Ain’t gon’ lie, that p—y extra bald, look like 2Pac owned it,” he quips. The liquor-friendly video remained inside the top 30 of YouTube’s trending section all weekend.
Real Boston Richey feat. GloRilla, “Get in There”
[embedded content]
For artists looking for a hit record, there’s no better call to make right now than heading to Memphis and banging GloRilla’s line. Real Boston Richey hopes to make it two-for-two on the charts after “Help Me” made the Freebandz rapper’s Billboard Hot 100 debut earlier in 2024. Richey throws on his Cartier shades and lets any girl dealing with him know they gotta treat him like a king. Big Glo takes the baton to continue her hot streak while riding the gloomy production and keeping things raunchy, but still maintaining a street edge. “I be ready to get down on one knee, a n—a make me squirt,” she admits in candid fashion. It’s only right the duo made it rain dollar bills in the famed Magic City strip club for the music video.
Lynda Dawn, “Where You Are”
[embedded content]
Blending the worlds of soul, jazz and funk, R&B singer Lynda Dawn has opened a new portal to her artistry. The North West London native launches into a groovy era with the arrival of her luscious “Where You Are” single, where Dawn teams up with producer and co-writer Al Dobson Jr. to capture the essence of a sun-kissed summer afternoon stroll in Hyde Park alongside her soulmate. “If I lived a thousand lives, I’d never find no better,” Dawn coos. “Where You Are” will land on Lynda Dawn’s forthcoming 11th Hour EP slated to arrive on Sept. 27.
Leon Bridges, “Peaceful Place”
[embedded content]
While much of Leon Bridge’s upcoming Leon album was recorded in Nashville, the Grammy-nominated singer packs a punch of nostalgia taking it back to Bridges’ Forth Worth roots. As evidenced by the cover art featuring Bridges hanging lakeside in the open fields, the 35-year-old is in a “Peaceful Place.” A delectable guitar riff meshes with Bridges’ honeyed vocals for a serene lead single heading into the eponymous project, which is set to land via Columbia Records on Oct. 4.
Skylar Blatt, “Hold Me Down”
[embedded content]
Skylar Blatt is always cool, calm and collected. No matter the tempo of a track, the Cincinnati-bred artist remains in control of the steering wheel. Blatt follows up her Chris Brown-assisted “Wake Up” with the contemplative “Hold Me Down,” which finds her in cruise control while dishing out a hypnotic chorus about the power of the dollar. “You know they say that money make the world go ’round/ You know that I be up until you holding me down,” she sings.
Charli XCX’s “Guess,” featuring Billie Eilish, soars to No. 1, from No. 16, on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated Aug. 17).
The song surged by 758% to 20.4 million official streams and 515% to 5,000 downloads sold in the United States Aug. 2-8, according to Luminate. It also drew 182,000 in radio audience.
“Guess” gains following the Aug. 1 arrival of its remix with Eilish, which accounted for the bulk of the song’s overall consumption in the tracking week. The cut was first released by Charli XCX solo on June 10 on her Brat and It’s the Same but There’s Three More Songs So It’s Not deluxe version of her Atlantic Records album Brat, which was originally released on June 7.
Trending on Billboard
Charli notches her second No. 1 since Hot Dance/Electronic Songs began in January 2013, after Icona Pop’s “I Love It,” on which she’s featured, led for two weeks that May. Eilish reigns with her first entry on the chart.
[embedded content]
“Guess” concurrently debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 5 on Billboard Global Excl. U.S. On the U.S.-based, all-genre multimetric Billboard Hot 100, it opens at No. 12, marking Charli XCX’s highest rank (and first top 40 placement) since she arrived with three consecutive top 10s in 2013-14: “I Love It” (No. 7 peak, May 2013); Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” (No. 1 for seven weeks, beginning in June 2014); and “Boom Clap” (No. 8, October 2014).
Meanwhile, Charli’s presence on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs extends beyond “Guess,” as she boasts six songs in the top 10. Only Drake and Rihanna have each logged as many or more top 10s simultaneously, led by Drake’s eight on the July 2, 2022, chart, when his LP Honestly, Nevermind launched its 20-week run at No. 1 on Top Dance/Electronic Albums.
Brat rules Top Dance/Electronic Albums for a ninth week, having led in each week on the survey since its debut. It earned 56,000 equivalent album units, up 39%, and wins the list’s Greatest Gainer award for a third consecutive week.
Eight tracks from Brat have hit the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs top 10 to date. Here’s a recap, ranked by their peak positions:
No. 1 (one week to date), “Guess,” feat. Billie Eilish
No. 2, “360”
No. 3, “Girl, So Confusing,” with Lorde
No. 4, “Apple”
No. 5, “Talk Talk”
No. 7, “Von Dutch”
No. 8, “365”
No. 10, “Sympathy Is a Knife”
Also notably, Charli has claimed at least one of the Greatest Gainer ribbons on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in nine of the last 10 weeks, spread among five tracks from Brat:
Aug. 17: “Guess,” streaming & sales; “360,” airplay
Aug. 10: “Guess,” streaming & sales; “360,” airplay
Aug. 3: “Apple,” streaming & sales
July 27: “Apple,” streaming
July 13: “360,” airplay
July 6: “Girl, So Confusing,” streaming & sales
June 29: “Guess,” streaming
June 22: “360,” streaming; “Von Dutch,” sales
June 15: “360,” streaming & sales
As “Guess” takes the week’s top headlines among Brat songs, “360” continues its climb as the set’s promoted radio single. It bounds 35-27 in its second week on the Pop Airplay chart. Charli has tallied two No. 1s on the ranking: “Fancy” and “Boom Clap” led for three weeks each in 2014.
Jack White scores his seventh solo top 10-charting set on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart as his latest release, No Name, debuts at No. 8 on the chart dated Aug. 17. The effort was initially secretly released on July 19 as a free, unlabeled vinyl to unsuspecting customers at Third Man Records stores in Detroit, Nashville and London. It was then commercially released on Thursday, Aug. 1 as a blue-colored vinyl LP, exclusive to independent record stores, and then widely as a digital download album on August 2.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In the tracking week of Aug. 2-8 (all Billboard album charts reflect a Friday-Thursday tracking week), No Name sold 7,000 copies – with nearly 4,500 on vinyl. (In the week ending Aug. 1, the album sold about 1,000 copies – all on vinyl.)
Trending on Billboard
No Name will garner a wider release on Sept. 13 when a standard black vinyl and a CD are due out.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department returns to No. 1 for a seventh nonconsecutive week, Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 2 debuts at No. 2, Red Velvet’s Cosmic starts at No. 6, Orville Peck’s Stampede gallops in at No. 9 and X’s Smoke & Fiction launches at No. 10.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
The Tortured Poets Department jumps 6-1 on Top Album Sales with a 606% gain to 84,000 copies sold. The set’s sales were bolstered by a number of drivers during the tracking week. It was released in five new digital album variants via Swift’s official webstore for a limited time, each containing the standard album’s 16 songs, along with one exclusive bonus track for $4.99 each (one album contained a “first draft phone memo” version of “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” while the other four contained one live track each from recent stops during her The Eras Tour). In addition, for a limited time, the store restocked three previously available digital album variants with exclusive bonus cuts, and a signed CD edition. Her store also staged a brief sale pricing promotion, whereby 16 previously available physical variants of the album were all discounted by 13% (as 13 is Swift’s favorite number).
At No. 2 on Top Album Sales, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s delayed Vultures 2 lands with 60,500 sold in its first week. The set’s opening-week sales were aided by its availability across a widely available standard explicit edition, and a late-in-the-week-released clean edition (on Aug. 8), but no physical formats. Vultures 2 was originally slated for release on March 8, but was released with little advance warning on Saturday, Aug. 3.
Ye’s official webstore also issued five additional explicit digital album variants of Vultures 2 on Wednesday (Aug. 7) and Thursday (Aug. 8), each containing the standard album’s 16 tracks, along with one exclusive studio bonus track per album. All digital albums on Ye’s webstore sold for $5 each. The Vultures 2 album, both clean and explicit, was also discounted to $4.99 in the iTunes Store in the tracking week.
Stray Kids’ ATE falls 1-3 on Top Album Sales in its third week after spending its first two weeks atop the chart. ATE sold a little more than 26,000 copies in the latest tracking frame (down 41%). ENHYPEN’s Romance: Untold is a non-mover at No. 4 with just over 12,000 sold (down 20%).
Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft climbs 11-5 with nearly 10,500 sold and a 35% increase – the set’s first weekly sales gain in its 12 weeks of release. (The gain is largely owed to sales generated by non-traditional retailers, inclusive of Internet-based sellers like Eilish’s official webstore.)
Red Velvet claims its first top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales as Cosmic debuts at No. 6 with 8,500 sold – the group’s best sales week yet. The Korean pop ensemble previously got as high as No. 40 in 2020 with The Reve Festival: Finale. Cosmic was released as a digital download album, and through streaming services, on June 24. Its physical release, across five CDs, came on Aug. 2. The CD variants include collectible paper ephemera, including a photocard, sticker and a poster (some randomized).
Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess returns to the top 10 after three weeks, as the album bolts 17-7 with nearly 8,500 (up 34%). The album’s ascent comes after Roan’s rousing reception at Lollapalooza on Aug. 1.
Orville Peck notches his second top 10 on Top Album Sales as his new studio effort Stampede bows at No. 9 with 6,500 sold in its first week. The set’s sales were bolstered by its availability across eight vinyl variants, which collectively sold nearly 4,500 – enabling its debut at No. 4 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
Closing out the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart is X’s new studio album Smoke & Fiction, debuting at No. 10 with the veteran band’s best sales week in the modern era (since 1991, when Luminate began tracking sales), nearly 6,500 sold. It’s also the first top 10 for the act on the Top Album Sales chart. The new set is promoted as the final studio album from the band, which first dented a Billboard chart in 1981 when Wild Gift reached No. 165 in June of that year on the Billboard 200. Smoke & Fiction’s first-week sales were aided by the set’s availability across five vinyl variants, which collectively sold a little over 4,000 copies (enabling its debut at No. 6 on the Vinyl Albums chart).
Dr. Dre wants to represent the USA when the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028 and he’s looking for a tryout on the archery team. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Dre revealed his history with archery goes back to junior high school and he’s continued to hone his skills with target practice in his backyard. […]
Joe Jonas‘ next project is a solo album, but that doesn’t mean he worked on it by himself. In a new clip from an interview with Entertainment Weekly posted Tuesday (Aug. 13), the 34-year-old musician confirmed Music For People Who Believe In Love is filled with collaborations. “We packed it with features,” Jonas said. “I […]
Matt McBriar of U.K. electronic duo Bicep announced Tuesday (Aug. 13) that he underwent surgery for a benign brain tumor last week.
In a statement posted to the duo’s Instagram, McBriar wrote that doctors discovered a large tumor on his pituitary gland after a series of tests. This tumor was caught in the early stages, with McBriar writing that had the tumor been found later, “I might’ve lost some eyesight and a load of other problems due to the size and position of the tumour pressing on my optic nerves.”
McBriar continues that he continued playing shows while undergoing testing as it was “personally important to keep my mind busy!” He adds that the other half of Bicep, Andy Ferguson, will continue playing shows solo “until further notice” as he heals. Read the complete statement below.
Bicep’s upcoming dates include Creamfields in the U.K., Philadelphia’s Making Time Festival, The Brooklyn Mirage, Portola in San Francisco and San Diego’s Crssd festival, with all of these performances featuring the duo’s much-lauded AV show, Chroma.
Trending on Billboard
McBriar’s full statement:
Towards the end of 2023, I got some intense localised headaches matched with a weird fatigue that felt new. I got several blood tests in spring 2024 which came back indicating that something was wrong, so my GP arranged an MRI followed by a CT scan.
Unfortunately, they told me they had discovered a large, and pretty rare Craniopharyngioma tumour on my pituitary gland (in my brain). The good news is firstly, it’s almost certainly not cancerous and secondly, I’ve caught it in the earlier stages of damage. I’d been very lucky to get those initial blood tests followed by an MRI. Had it been much longer I might’ve lost some eyesight and a load of other problems due to the size and position of the tumour pressing on my optic nerves.
I’ve been through many many rounds of hospital appointments and tests since and finally had surgery on 9th of August.
I decided to carry on living life and playing shows as normal and it was personally important to keep my mind busy! The operation went well and I’m currently recovering in hospital. Recovery will be at least 6-8 weeks and a long road of aftercare but I’m feeling incredibly grateful and lucky.
I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the amazing consultants, surgeons, doctors and nurses at the NHS who have looked after me and been so amazing, kind and empathetic.
The support I’ve received has been incredible, I can’t say this enough. Appointments were arranged with sometimes only hours’ notice and communication incredibly fast and direct. Our healthcare system is very precious and worth fighting for!
Whilst I am in recovery Andy will be performing upcoming shows as Bicep solo until further notice. Thanks for understanding.
Finally, a heartfelt thanks to my family, friends and work colleagues who have been my absolute rock through this behind the scenes.
LONDON — Jorja Smith, CASISDEAD and Barry Can’t Swim are among the leading nominees for the 2024 Association of Independent Music (AIM) Awards, which recognize the achievements of the artists, labels, entrepreneurs and companies that make up the U.K.’s indie sector.
The 14th edition of the annual awards show is set for Oct. 17 at London’s Roundhouse venue. Nominees also include D-Block Europe, Kim Gordon, Actress, rapper Skrapz, Mount Kimbie, Anohni and the Johnsons and jazz nine-piece Nubiyan Twist, who are all in the running for the best independent album prize alongside Smith and electronic music producer Barry Can’t Swim, real name Joshua Mainnie.
Trending on Billboard
R&B singer Jorja Smith, a 2019 Grammy nominee for best new artist, is also listed in the best independent track category for her hit “Little Things,” which spent 22 weeks on the Official U.K. Singles chart, peaking at No. 11.
2023 Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective are on the best track shortlist, along with Fontaines D.C., KNEECAP, Hudson Mohawke and Nikki Nair, Sampha, NikNak, Matthew Halsall, Amy Gadiaga and CASISDEAD — who was crowned best hip-hop/grime/rap act at the BRIT Awards on March 2.
Other categories announced by AIM, which represents more than 1,000 U.K. independent labels, artists and music companies, include best EP/mixtape, best remix and best video.
The five contenders for the independent breakthrough award number London rapper CASISDEAD, Barry Can’t Swim, Bar Italia, Saint Harison and Wunderhorse, who all receive free access to studio time at London’s Metropolis Studios as part of their nomination.
AIM’s One to Watch category, which has previously been collected by Nia Archives and Arlo Parks, shines a light on spoken word artist Antony Szmierek, drum and bass MC OneDa, DJ Kitty Amor and artist/producers Lynks and Miso Extra.
Nominees and winners are picked by the AIM board and a panel of expert judges with the exception of the best live performer award, which is decided by a public vote.
In terms of most nominated indie labels, London-based Ninja Tune leads the pack with its artists receiving four nods across the categories announced so far (Actress, Barry Can’t Swim, Nabihah Iqbal and George Riley). XL Recordings, Heavenly Recordings and artist services company EGA Distro each have three acts up for prizes.
Nominations for the remaining award categories, including best boutique label and independent champion, as well as live performers at this year’s ceremony will be announced in the coming months, said AIM. Sponsors and media partners for October’s awards include Spotify, Vevo, Meta, Notion, Amazon Music and the BBC.
Gee Davy, interim AIM CEO, said that this year’s nominees “spans the regions and nations, genres and communities of the U.K.’s independent music scene, recognizing success, talent and artistry.”
Ruth Barlow, the not-for-profit organization’s chair, said in a statement that the 2024 awards shortlist provides “a great glimpse into the length and breadth of the U.K.’s independent sector and highlight a handful of the innovators, culture makers and commercial successes AIM’s outstanding community has to offer.”
According to figures released earlier this year from U.K. labels trade body BPI, independently released songs and albums accounted for almost one-third of all music consumption in the U.K. in 2023 with the equivalent of more than 53 million independently released albums streamed or purchased across digital and physical formats. The U.K. is the world’s third-biggest recorded music market in IFPI’s annual rankings behind the U.S. and Japan.
See below for a full list of the nominees for the 2024 AIM Independent Music Awards announced so far:
Best Independent Album (in association with Spotify)
Actress – LXXXVIII (Ninja Tune)
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was a Bridge For You to Cross (Rough Trade Records)
Barry Can’t Swim – When Will We Land? (Ninja Tune)
D-Block Europe – Rolling Stone (EGA Distro)
Jorja Smith – falling or flying (FAMM)
Kim Gordon – The Collective (Matador Records)
Mount Kimbie – The Sunset Violent (Warp Records)
Nabihah Iqbal – Dreamer (Ninja Tune)
Nubiyan Twist – Find Your Flame (Strut Records)
Skrapz – Reflection (EGA Distro)
Best Independent Remix
P-rallel Remix – Aluna, Jayda G – Mine O’ Mine (Mad Decent Under Exclusive License to Because Music)
Olof Dreijer Remix – Björk – Oral (feat. Rosalia) (One Little Independent)
L BEATS Mashup – Jorja Smith – Little Things x Gypsy Woman (FAMM)
Egyptian Lover Remix – Sudan Archives – Freakalizer (Stones Throw Records)
Ezra Collective, Sampa The Great – JOY (Life Goes On) (Partisan Records)
One to Watch (in association with BBC Music Introducing)
Antony Szmierek (LAB Records)
Kitty Amor (Defected Records)
Lynks (Heavenly Recordings)
Miso Extra (Transgressive)
OneDa (Heavenly Recordings)
Best Independent Track (in association with Meta)
Amy Gadiaga – “All Black Everything” (Jazz re:freshed)
CASISDEAD – “Venom” (XL Recordings)
Sampha – “Spirit 2.0” (Young)
Fontaines DC – “Starburster” (XL Recordings)
Ezra Collective – “Ajala” (Partisan Records)
Jorja Smith – “Little Things” (FAMM)
KNEECAP, Grian Chatten – “Better Way to Live” (Heavenly Recordings)
Matthew Halsall – “An Ever Changing View” (Gondwana Records)
NikNak – “1200RPM” (Accidental Records)
Hudson Mohawke & Nikki Nair – “Set the Roof” (Warp Records)
Best Independent EP/Mixtape
George Riley – Un/limited Love (Ninja Tune)
Headie One & K-Trap – STRENGTH TO STRENGTH (One Records and Thousand8)
JGrrey – If Not Now? (PACE, a subsidiary of Marathon Music Group)
Potter Payper – Thanks for Hating (EGA Distro)
HONESTY – BOX (Partisan Records)
UK Independent Breakthrough (in association with Amazon Music)
Bar Italia (Matador Records)
CASISDEAD (XL Recordings)
Wunderhorse (Communion Records)
Barry Can’t Swim (Ninja Tune)
Saint Harison (Platoon)
Best Independent Video (in association with Vevo)
Gia Ford – Poolside (Chrysalis Records)
Khruangbin – A Love International (Dead Oceans)
Master Peace – I Might Be Fake feat. Georgia (PMR Records)
Mitski – My Love Mine All Mine (Dead Oceans)
Sampha – Only (Young)
Sugarland’s Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles had no plans to release new music — until their longtime friends Little Big Town came calling.
“I think the fun part for us at our age and stage of the game is that we do things for fun — and we’ve always done it for fun and art and heart,” Nettles tells Billboard. “But as you get older, you get different options. And we love Little Big Town so much, so when they asked, ‘Hey, do you want to go on tour?’ we had to say yes.”
“When they start singing, they’re like angels,” Bush adds.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In October, Little Big Town and Sugarland will launch their Take Me Home Tour with another harmony-driven act, the family trio The Castellows.
Trending on Billboard
To celebrate, Bush and Nettles dusted off a quartet of unreleased recordings from 2019 to make their new EP, There Goes the Neighborhood, which came out Aug. 9 via Big Machine Records. The EP comes six years after Sugarland’s 2018 album Bigger.
Bush and Nettles contributed writing to all five of the duo’s No. 1 Country Airplay hits, such as “Want To” and “Settlin,’” as well as nearly all of the original songs on their albums, except occasional tracks such as the 2018 Taylor Swift collaboration “Babe,” written by Swift and Train’s Pat Monahan, and “Just Might (Make Me Believe),” a solo write from former Sugarland member Kristen Hall.
So, it is notable that on There Goes the Neighborhood, Nettles and Bush recorded outside songs from some of Nashville’s top-shelf writers and artist/writers. The result is the pair lending their voices to songs including the keen-eyed criticism of gentrification “There Goes the Neighborhood” (written by Maren Morris, Ryan Hurd and Connie Harrington), and the torch ballad “Georgia Is Yours” (written by Thomas Rhett, Rhett Akins, Sam Ellis, Josh Kerr, Eric Olson and Emily Weisband).
“That was absolutely intentional,” Nettles says of recording outside songs. “We approached this with the question of, ‘What would happen if we recorded an EP of other people’s songs that we did not write on? What would that creative process be? How would that feel?’ It has been a few years and Kristian and I, when we were playing around with the idea of putting this out, we went back and listened to it. The funny thing is I feel like sometimes Kristian and I have been sort of pioneers. I think we’ve been a few years ahead sometimes of what is current [sonically].”
[embedded content]
“When we recorded ‘There Goes the Neighborhood,’ they would have thought it was a little too honky-tonk for the time, except now Lainey Wilson’s happened,” Bush adds. “I listened back to this song, and I remember texting Jennifer and I was like, ‘You should listen back to these. I’m producing current Megan Moroney stuff, and our stuff is not too far off.’”
As Bush was producing other artists, he was hearing the songs being pitched to those acts that he never heard as part of Sugarland.
“Jennifer and I have never really been pitched a song [that we have recorded]. No one really knew what to send us, or they would send us stuff that sounded like [the duo’s 2010 hit] ‘Stuck Like Glue.’ The machinery of these incredible craftsmen in Nashville is based around what they know of you as an artist already, and because Jennifer always kind of leaned forward, no one really knows where we’re leaning.”
While the prospect of challenging themselves as artists was one aspect of choosing to record outside songs, Bush says there was an additional motive.
“I remember at the time we were looking at these songs there was a real concern about females on country radio, and one of the excuses that was being passed around a lot was, ‘There’s just no songs.’ I was interested in finding out, ‘Is that really true, or is that just something somebody would say?’ It turns out great writers are writing great songs for women’s voices all over the place. And if this isn’t a testament to that, I don’t know what is.”
[embedded content]
With the release of There Goes the Neighborhood timed to support the upcoming tour, the duo doesn’t have any plans for another project — but stresses never say never.
“We’re not working on anything right now,” Nettles says. “The joy of this [EP] was doing it the way we did it. I would be open to exploring the same process again, in terms of other people’s songs.”
“Knowing us, we would write them,” Bush interjects with a laugh, while Nettles adds, “Yeah, if we were going to be thinking toward a new album, it would be something that we would write.”
Meanwhile, the pair remain busy on non-Sugarland pursuits. Nettles wrapped up filming the television series The Bondsman with Kevin Bacon, which is set to begin airing next year. Bush has wrapped production on projects for the Indigo Girls and Matt Nathanson, as well as music for Megan Moroney and Runway June.
“We both throw ourselves into things that we love, and I don’t see that stopping,” Nettles says. We’re going to keep doing more of yours, mine, and ours.”
“Neither of us are in retirement,” Bush adds, with a laugh.
In addition to producing other acts, Bush has been intentional in helping artists care for their mental health.
“I think the machine now needs to be fed so many songs that it’s unbelievable what’s being kind of asked of these artists,” Bush says. “I’m empowered to try to help to protect them the best I can. I’m imploring labels to spend the amount of money and energy they would on a stylist, on the mental health of their artists,” Bush says. “That would be a wonderful amount of insurance they could buy themselves to support their artists, even while they’re pressurizing them.”
He adds, “When Megan [Moroney] came to ask me to produce her records—I had been helping her, but to officially do it—I said, ‘I’ll do it as long as you get a therapist.’ She started going and once she started going, she started thanking me. [When] you’re 25, 26 years old, the pressures of the label, the pressure of friends, all that stuff—there’s no outlet. When you go through this pressurization of becoming an artist in front of people–for us at least, we didn’t have the internet taking pictures of us every day. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a woman and doing that. I happen to be in a place where I can help you make a better recording, but while I’m in the room, I want to make sure that you’re okay.”