State Champ Radio Music
Page: 146
Some people might be obsessed with time, but Mariah Carey thinks the concept is nothing more than a thing of fantasy.
In a recent interview with Capital FM posted Monday (June 16), the superstar once again stated how she refuses to acknowledge the passage of time. Carey has long said she doesn’t subscribe to the construct of days, weeks and years, and has also asserted that she doesn’t have birthdays — only anniversaries.
“Is it true you don’t acknowledge the passing of time?” one interviewer asked, to which Carey confirmed, “That is true.”
“I just don’t believe in it,” she continued. “No, no, just time. Let it go. I don’t have a birthday, no. Anniversaries, yes.”
Trending on Billboard
Carey’s belief system also means that coordinating a so-called “time” to meet up with someone is not a viable option for her. “Yeah, I would have somebody call you and figure it out,” she calmly replied when asked how she goes about making appointments.
Mimi’s commitment to being free from the constraints of time dates back years. In an old interview reshared by the singer in 2023, a younger Carey explains, “I don’t have birthdays … I decided to do that. And I’ve noticed that people who decide not to have birthdays, they just don’t have them.”
That said, the “anniversary” of Carey’s ethereal existence is on March 27 each year. This year, she marked the occasion by sharing a photo of herself on a jet ski and writing on Instagram, “Thank you lambily for the anniversary wishes and for always making me so happy!!!”
Carey’s interview comes on the heels of her new single, “Type Dangerous,” which marks her first proper release since 2018. The track just debuted at No. 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated June 21, 2025 — not that she would recognize such a time stamp — becoming her 50th career entry on the chart.
Watch Carey discuss her thoughts on time below.
There are certain things you never forget: your first kiss, wrecking your dad’s new car, the birth of a child and, definitely, that time you slept with Warren Beatty. Barbra Streisand might have some of those memories, but when it comes to bedding down with Beatty, well, things are a bit fuzzy for the Hollywood legend.
Speaking to the New Yorker about her upcoming duets album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, the 83-year-old star of stage and screen said she definitely remembered being propositioned by Marlon Brando back in the day, but, as she wrote in her 2023 memoir My Name Is Barbra, she just can’t remember is she and legendarily Casanova Beatty did the deed.
“I know I slept in the bed with him, but I can’t remember if we actually had penetration,” she said in answer to a question — more of a statement, really — about how no one in the “history of sex, or Hollywood, or anything” has ever written that line. “I swear to God, I can’t. There are certain things I block out,” Streisand said.
Trending on Billboard
Respectfully, New Yorker editor David Remnick couldn’t help calling b.s. on Streisand’s memory lapse, even as she doubled-down on saying she has no recollection of sex with Beatty. “But I know we’re still friends. Every year on my birthday, he calls me and we have a wonderful talk about our lives, our children, and so forth,” she said. “So we’re still friends. I met him when I was fifteen years old, and he was twenty-one, I think.”
In the memoir, Streisand first revealed that her memory is foggy about any intimate time with Beatty, who has been married to actress Annette Bening since 1992; Streisand married actor James Brolin in 1998. “Warren and I go back a long way (back to summer stock) and there’s some water under that bridge,” she wrote. “Recently, we were on the phone talking politics and who knows what else when he said, ‘I remember why we broke up.’ I said, ‘When were we together?’ Then I hung up and asked myself, Did I sleep with Warren? I kind of remember. I guess I did. Probably once.”
The book features details on the first time she met Beatty, when he was starring in a production of A Hatful of Rain in Connecticut. “He asked me to cue him on his lines. If that was a come-on, I missed it entirely,” she wrote. “He also played the piano. I was impressed. We used to eat together occasionally and talk about life. He was twenty-one, tall with movie-star looks, and women were already falling at his feet. I was sixteen.”
Streisand also chatted with Remnick about Bob Dylan after the New Yorker editor noted that in 1971 Dylan wrote a letter to one of his friends revealing that he’d written “Lay Lady Lay” about Babs, which was followed in 1978 by a letter/flowers exchange. Now, they are reconnecting on the Partners album, where they trade lines on the 1934 Ray Noble pop standard “The Very Thought of You.”
“The fun thing is that we were both nineteen years old, in Greenwich Village, never met each other. I was at the Bon Soir, and he was playing the guitar somewhere else,” she said. “I remember him sending me flowers and writing me a card in different-color pencils, like a child’s writing: ‘Would you sing with me?’ I thought, What would I sing with him? How could we get together on this? I couldn’t understand it at that time.”
But now that they’ve recorded “The Very Thought of You” she is delighted by the song choice that they both love. “He’s very shy, like I am. But he was wonderful to work with. I was told that he didn’t want any direction,” she recalled. “But when I talked to him about things that I suggested, he was so pliable — he was so open to suggestions. Everything I heard about him just went out the window. He stood on his feet for three hours with me.”
Also, for the record, when asked if she would ever tour or perform live on stage again after battling stage fright for much of her career, Streisand gave a clear answer: “Oh, my God! No!” The singer said that aside from when she was a teenager on her way up, she never really enjoyed live performance.
“I never wanted to be a singer; I wanted to be an actress. So I looked for material that I could act from Broadway plays — to be silly, you know, singing ‘Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?,’” she said. “I was open to the audience, and talking to them. Whatever I was doing was just about being in the moment, things that I was experiencing in acting class. It was never to be a singer; it was to be an actress.” That, and the fact that she’s had a lifelong battle with a bad back. “I’ve always had a bad back. So it’s not just age,” she said.
The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two is due out on June 27 and features a duet with Sir Paul McCartney on “My Valentine,” as well as guest spots from Hozier (the previously released “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”), James Taylor (“Secret O’ Life”), Tim McGraw (“I Love Us”) and Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande (“One Heart, One Voice”).
Karol G has teamed up with five telenovela giants for a new promotion clip of her forthcoming album, Tropicoqueta. Inspired by ‘90s Latin soap operas, the Colombian singer released a nearly two-minute Spanish-language video starring herself alongside actresses Anahí, Itatí Cantoral, Gaby Spanic, Ninel Conde and Azela Robinson. In true telenovela fashion, Karol and Anahí […]
Fuerza Regida isn’t done doing iconic things. After making history with 111XPANTIA — which become the highest charting Spanish-language album by a duo or group ever on the Billboard 200 when it debuted at No. 2 in May — the band from San Bernardino, Calif., is set to perform back-to-back shows at the Madison Square Garden and […]
The nearly 8,000 current members of Grammy U will be able to submit recordings during the upcoming Online Entry Process (OEP) period for the 2026 Grammy Awards. It’s the first time that Grammy U members have been allowed to enter recordings, though they still won’t be eligible to vote.
“We are thrilled to offer this opportunity to our members for the first time ever in Grammy U’s nearly 20-year history,” said Jessie Allen, Grammy U’s managing director. “We have so many incredibly talented members from all different backgrounds, fields and genres, and this special opportunity will not only give them firsthand experience with the Grammy Awards process, but also a coveted chance to be listened to, nominated and maybe even voted to win a Grammy Award by music’s best and most qualified creators. I can’t imagine a better way to kick off Grammy U’s upcoming 20th anniversary.
Grammy U members can submit any recordings, but the academy encourages them to use this opportunity to submit their own recordings.
Trending on Billboard
While the same OEP eligibility requirements will apply to Grammy U members’ submissions as for Recording Academy voting and professional members and registered media companies, there will be a shorter window for submissions, a $20 fee per entry and a maximum of five entries per member.
Voting and professional members are allowed five “courtesy entries,” after which they must pay a fee per entry, which climbs as the weeks go by. Early entry pricing (July 16-Aug. 1) is $40 per entry; standard pricing (Aug. 2-22) is $75; and final deadline pricing (Aug. 23-29) is $125. Grammy U members do not receive any gratis entries.
Grammy U member entries must be submitted between July 16 and July 30. By contrast, the entry period for voting and professional members runs from July 16 to Aug. 29.
“As the entry period progresses, so does the daily number of entries the awards team processes,” says an academy spokesperson, by way of explaining the different submission period. “A dedicated two-week window for Grammy U submissions at the beginning of the entry period allows for the awards team to provide some extra attention and help to these first-time submitters.”
Grammy U members pay a fee of $50 for four years of membership. After those four years, the renewal fee is $50 annually, if the person is still eligible. (They meet that test if they are a full-time student of any age or are between 18-29 and actively pursuing a career in music.)
By contrast, voting and professional members pay an annual fee of $150. Media companies pay an annual fee of $180 to register with the academy.
The Recording Academy hasn’t decided if this will be a permanent change or just a one-time opportunity for Grammy U members. “This opportunity for Grammy U members to submit product is something we are very excited to implement for this year,” said a spokesperson. “We are taking it one step at a time and are looking forward to assessing how it goes for future years.”
Notable Grammy U alumni include three Grammy winners: Scott Hoying (Pentatonix), producer/engineer Sarah Tudzin and classical conductor Michael Repper, as well as Grammy-nominated gospel singer Elyse Victoria Johnson and singer/songwriter Leland.
Grammy U members have specifically curated programming and opportunities year-round, geared toward emerging artists and music professionals.
In April, Grammy U hosted its second New York Conference, which included a series of panels and industry-focused networking and career development opportunities for Grammy U members. The event featured Grammy winners Coco Jones and Laufey as keynote speakers, and closed with an exclusive artist showcase headlined by Grammy winner Samara Joy.
In 2024, Grammy U implemented more than 100 national and chapter programs nationwide for Grammy U members. Programs included a Masterclass with Halle Bailey during Grammy Week; a New York conference with Ben Platt, Billy Porter, Remi Wolf and Beanie Feldstein; a Fall Summit with Charli XCX and Troye Sivan; and more than 50 Grammy U Soundchecks – where members get behind-the-scenes looks into how artists prepare for tours and concerts – with artists such as Joy, Laufey, Gracie Abrams, Kacey Musgraves, Twenty One Pilots, Will Smith and Young Miko.
Additionally, Grammy U facilitates a mentorship program that connects the emerging music community with industry players. In 2024, Grammy U facilitated more than 950 mentorship pairs, with 25 international participants in countries including Brazil, Canada, India, Nigeria, Romania and the U.K.
Read more about Grammy U member benefits here.
Sabrina Carpenter is setting the record straight after some critics accused her of taking inspiration from one of the most controversial stories of all time: Lolita.
In the comments of a recent TikTok, the pop star denied that she’d ever seen the movie Lolita, much less referenced it in a 2024 photoshoot for W Magazine. The original poster had compared one picture from the spread — featuring Carpenter lying on her stomach in a grassy lawn as a sprinkler goes off behind her — to a very similar still from Adrian Lyne’s 1997 film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel, which centers around a middle-aged man who becomes sexually infatuated with a 12-year-old girl.
The user who drew the comparison wrote that the supposed reference was “gross,” but Carpenter replied, “i’ve never seen this movie.”
Trending on Billboard
“it’s never been on my mood board and never would be,” the Grammy winner added.
The clarification comes as people online have been recirculating the W photoshoot in light of Carpenter’s newly revealed Man’s Best Friend album cover. Featuring the musician on all fours as a man grips her by her hair, the artwork has been slammed by some critics as objectifying and regressive for women, though others have argued that it’s harmlessly tongue-in-cheek or even an empowering embrace of sexuality.
Amid the discourse, people have also pointed out similarities between the Lolita movie and a special Man’s Best Friend vinyl — which displays a painting of her lying on a bed as a man in a suit dotes on her — available on her website. Both the Lolita book and film have been heavily criticized for decades for romanticizing pedophilia.
But as Carpenter said in her comment, Lolita has never influenced her visuals. It’s not the first time in recent history she’s shut down criticism of how she presents herself; in her June Rolling Stone cover story, the Girl Meets World alum also addressed certain people who accuse her of only singing about sex in her music.
“It’s always so funny to me when people complain,” she told the publication. “They’re like, ‘All she does is sing about this.’ But those are the songs that you’ve made popular. Clearly you love sex. You’re obsessed with it.”
Carpenter announced new album Man’s Best Friend earlier in June, less than a year after her last album, Billboard 200-topper Short n’ Sweet, propelled her to superstar status in 2024. The new LP was led by a single titled “Manchild,” which recently debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100.
In celebration of the feat, Carpenter wrote on her Instagram Story on Monday (June 16), “I can’t tell you how much this means to me … Thank you eternally for listening.”
Addison Rae announced the dates for her first-ever headlining world tour on Tuesday morning (June 17). The Addison Tour is slated to kick off on Aug. 26 at the National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland and keep the “Diet Pepsi” singer on the road through European gigs in England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany before […]
Nearly a decade before contemporary Christian music (CCM) star Brandon Lake was headlining arenas, topping Billboard’s Christian Airplay charts and winning Grammy Awards, he was a young church worship leader in Charleston, S.C., who just wanted to record an album — and took an unorthodox route to making that happen.
“I did a GoFundMe campaign. I said, ‘If you pledge a certain amount, I’ll tattoo your name on my leg,’ ” explains Lake, 34, as he sits across from me onstage in the sanctuary of Seacoast Church, the Charleston megachurch where he began leading worship as a teenager. He taps his left leg: “So I have 22 last names of folks who donated tattooed on my thigh.”
In 2016, he released the result of that campaign, Closer — and since then, his songwriting skill; gritty, full-throttle vocals; and willingness to address sensitive topics like anxiety and mental health in his music have made him one of the biggest stars in the CCM world. He has released four more albums and dominated Billboard’s Christian music charts, landing 43 entries on Hot Christian Songs, including 2023’s 31-week No. 1 “Praise,” recorded with the collective Elevation Worship.
But though he remains deeply committed to the Christian market, Lake is also looking beyond it. He recently earned his first crossover hit, making his Billboard Hot 100 debut in November 2024 when the raw, soulful “Hard Fought Hallelujah” bowed at No. 51. In February, he teamed with country hit-maker and fellow ink aficionado Jelly Roll for a collaborative version of the song.
“I just wanted to share this with somebody who really gets this story, who’s lived it,” he says of recording the song about hardship-tested faith with Jelly Roll. “Now to see him carrying this song and how we carry it together and it’s impacting so many lives — that’s the goal.” He adds, “We’re in a perfect time for this kind of collaboration to happen… The truth is, all of us are just as messed up — it’s just some of us are good at hiding it and putting a mask on. Everyone’s on a journey.”
Brandon Lake photographed May 22, 2025 in Charleston, S.C.
Will Crooks
Lake’s Hot 100 debut comes as CCM is having a major moment on the all-genre chart. “Hard Fought Hallelujah” and Forrest Frank’s “Your Way’s Better” appeared simultaneously on the chart this year — the first time in more than a decade that two CCM songs were on the Hot 100 at the same time. The last time a non-holiday song recorded by a primarily CCM artist reached the Hot 100 was Lauren Daigle’s “You Say,” in 2019.
Those breakthroughs occurred amid an overall rise in consumption of CCM over the past 18 months. According to Luminate, in the first half of 2024, sales of track-equivalent albums, streaming-equivalent albums and on-demand audio for the genre grew 8.9%, with CCM ranking as the fourth-fastest-growing musical genre after pop, Latin and country. The music’s broadening sounds, as well as increased collaborations between CCM and secular artists over the past several years, have helped CCM songs become more heavily integrated into mainstream playlists: Spotify has noted that during the past five years, CCM experienced a 60% growth rate globally and a 50% growth rate in the United States on its platform, as artists previously confined to the genre started to penetrate mainstream spaces.
That strong upward trajectory owes in large part to a new generation of CCM artists such as Lake, Frank, Josiah Queen and Seph Schlueter. They relish crossing genre lines: Frank’s music, for instance, is more rooted in pop and hip-hop, while Lake’s songs anchor worship lyrics aimed at church congregations in a range of sounds including rock, blues and country. And they are also digital natives who have been intentional in harnessing the power of social media and streaming to widen the genre’s audience; a viral TikTok dance clip, for instance, gave Frank’s “Your Way’s Better” a major streaming boost.
Lake was among Luminate’s top five CCM artists in the first half of 2024, and his star has only risen since then. During his appearances at CMA Fest, held June 5-8, a social media clip of him and Jelly Roll performing “Hard Fought Hallelujah” earned over 1 million views, while a clip of the audience singing Lake’s hit “Gratitude” a cappella during a separate CMA Fest appearance earned more than 3 million views in just over 48 hours. The success of “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” in particular, has put Lake — and his faith-centered message — before broader and more mainstream audiences than he ever dreamed of: performing on American Idol, joining Jelly Roll onstage at Stagecoach in front of 75,000 fans, playing the Grand Ole Opry and CMA Fest.
From the start, collaboration has been key to Lake’s success. Closer was circulated in church and worship music circles, leading him to some of his first songwriting connections, like Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Nate Moore and Maverick City Music co-founder Tony Brown, with whom he co-wrote Cobbs Leonard’s Grammy-nominated 2019 song “This Is a Move.” Other early co-writes included team-ups with worship music collectives Maverick City Music, Bethel Music and Elevation Worship; all helped Lake expand his sound. Alongside more traditional-sounding worship anthems, his 2021 album, House of Miracles, included the soulful rock song “I Need a Ghost.”
Later that year, Elevation Worship’s “Graves Into Gardens,” co-written by and featuring Lake, topped the Christian Airplay chart and was certified platinum by the RIAA. “That’s when the floodgates opened,” he recalls. “I was getting calls from everywhere, asking me to do a concert or do collaborations — I can’t even remember how many collabs I’ve done, songs I’ve written with other people that were like, ‘Let’s just do it together.’ ” At the time, Lake notes, he didn’t even have a manager. (Since 2021, he has been with prominent CCM management company Breit Group.) “I literally kept all of my dates I said yes to in my Notes app,” Lake explains. “My manager now has that framed, I think, because of how much we’ve grown. I learned so much being around so many of my heroes.”
In 2023, Lake cemented his solo hit-maker status when “Gratitude” topped Hot Christian Songs for 28 weeks. Since, he has continued notching solo and collaborative hits, including “Fear Is Not My Future” with Maverick City Music and “Love of God” with Phil Wickham. (He’ll tour arenas and stadiums with the latter this summer.) And on June 13, he released his fifth studio album, King of Hearts, on Provident Entertainment.
Sonically, the album finds Lake deepening his exploration of diverse genres, including country (“Daddy’s DNA,” “Spare Change”), gospel (“I Know a Name,” with luminary CeCe Winans) and hard rock (“Sevens”), and features additional collaborations with writer-producer Hank Bentley and Christian rapper Hulvey, among others.
And amid the run-up to releasing King of Hearts, Lake launched another major project. In early 2025, CCM supergroup Sons of Sunday debuted, featuring Lake alongside Moore, Steven Furtick, Pat Barrett, Chris Brown and Leeland Mooring. The group has already notched four entries on Hot Christian Songs, and its self-titled debut album bowed at No. 3 on the Top Christian Albums chart upon its release in May.
“My favorite things I’ve ever created were created in community, so I think that’ll be a huge piece of my future,” Lake says. “I’ll roll with anybody who wants to go after the same things, who has the same values as me.”
Brandon Lake photographed May 22, 2025 at Seacoast Church in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Will Crooks
As his star rises, he has stayed close to his South Carolina roots. Instead of moving to Nashville, the epicenter of the CCM industry, Lake lives with his wife, Brittany; their three sons; and a menagerie including cows, mini-donkeys and two dogs on a sprawling rural property just outside Charleston. Much of King of Hearts was recorded in a three-room Charleston studio owned by Lake’s longtime collaborator, producer-writer Micah Nichols. And even when he’s on the road, Lake makes a point of staying connected to his hometown: In 2022, he concluded the first leg of his first headlining tour with two sold-out shows at Seacoast Church; next May, he’ll wrap his 48-city King of Hearts tour at Charleston’s 12,000-seat Credit One Stadium.
But regardless of venue size or location, Lake’s goal remains the same. “When we go out on tour and it’s this huge production, huge lights and sound, I’m not doing anything other than just having church — just maybe a few more lights in cool moments,” he says with a chuckle. “It’s entertaining, but really, I want [concertgoers] to be able to say, ‘I went to the King of Hearts tour, and my life has forever changed.’ ”
What do you recall about your first time performing?
I’ve been a part of [Seacoast Church] since I was probably 13 or 14 years old. They encouraged me and gave me opportunity after opportunity to learn and fail and grow. This is where I learned how to write songs. Someone overheard me singing in a small group in someone’s living room and asked me to sing. I sang for the first time at church, and I remember feeling so vulnerable, which to this day I still do. It’s this love-hate relationship every time I step out on the platform, especially on tour — it’s like the weight of the night feels like it’s on my shoulders, but at the same time, I try to remember it’s not about me: People are coming to hear these songs and have a real experience with God.
Will Crooks
Early in your career, you started working with popular worship collective Bethel Music. What was it like making that transition from leading worship at your local church to being on a larger tour with a collective?
Going from local church to being on tour in front of thousands of people overnight was a dream come true and, in the same season, writing with all my heroes. Everybody that was on my bucket list of getting to write with them, it all happened in the span of a few weeks. What came quickly after that was a valley — I never expected what it would do when I came home and came off that high. That taught me a lot. I did a whole record around mental health [2022’s Help!]. I’d never experienced depression, anxiety, panic attacks ever in my life until I came home from all my dreams coming true, but my adrenaline was just totally shot. I just went into this super-dark place, and it wasn’t long, but it was long enough to be like, “I need some help.” I had to relearn to go to God first and most, to fix what was going on.
I’ve had to learn over the past few years how to tour and record and balance family and this career the healthy way. There’s a reason why I only tour on the weekends. [The King of Hearts tour comprises four-show runs that are booked for Thursdays through Sundays.] My wife and I discuss every opportunity I get to make sure that we’re on board as a family. I want to be 50 years old and still be able to tour. That’s why I have a health coach, a performance coach. I’m trying to get healthy in every aspect of my life.
Sonically, King of Hearts is the most varied album of your career. Why was that important to you?
Touching on different genres isn’t something I set out to do. I’ve been a sponge and soaked up the gold from people I’ve been surrounded by. Growing up, [I listened to] Christian music and James Taylor. I’d come home from school and turn on CMT [Country Music Television]. So I grew up around country [music] and discovered rock’n’roll later. I had a metal garage band for a little while and just loved all genres of music. I was trying to learn from all these different expressions of music … So now when I go write a song, I’m less focused on “What does this need to sound like?” and more on “What am I feeling right now?”
“Sevens” is the most rock-leaning song on the album. What was that writing/recording session like?
We went to a Royal Blood and Queens of the Stone Age concert down the street from this studio, and a few days later, I just wanted to write a big-riff rock tune. I picked up a guitar, started playing and [writer-producer] Micah [Nichols] and I started chasing it. The chorus that you hear is the demo vocal from the day we wrote it. I would say 70% of King of Hearts is filled with demo vocals.
How did Jelly Roll come to be on “Hard Fought Hallelujah”?
I released [the solo version of] this song, and then I felt like, “This is too special to not share this song with somebody.” Thinking about the lyrics, I was like, “Man, I think Jelly Roll would resonate with the story of this song.” I’ve been so inspired by his story, the things he’s overcome. I remember seeing him sing “Believe” with Brooks & Dunn [at the 2024 CMA Awards], and I just bawled my eyes out. It gave me all the faith to reach out. The craziest part of that is he had already heard the song on TikTok and loved it. We hopped on the phone, and we didn’t talk music for the first hour. We just instantly became like brothers and talked about life, parenting, touring, family. It was a real friendship off the bat. There’s a reason why he is on top of the world right now, and it’s not just because his songs are amazing — it’s because he’s amazing.
You have stayed close to your roots in Charleston. Have you been tempted to move to Nashville?
I love Nashville, but I like it being a home away from home. [Charleston] is where my roots are and being here with those that remember the 15-year-old Brandon, they know me the best. I want to make music that gives people faith and hope to keep going, and the people I’ve surrounded myself with, they get that the best. So it makes the most sense to stay here.
As your career has grown beyond CCM in terms of music listener recognition, has there been any kind of backlash or criticism from music listeners or the industry?
I think historically, any time something has shifted outside of what had been done previously, it can make people take pause and maybe be even a bit uncomfortable with it … or make it feel like it’s an either-or situation. And if you only are using Instagram as a metric, I can see why someone would maybe want to position it that way. But I don’t think of it that way … To me, this is a lifestyle and teachings that live through music, and however that is connecting and wherever that is connecting, I will always want it to be as much and as far as possible.
CCM is having a moment on the Billboard Hot 100, with “Hard Fought Hallelujah” and Forrest Frank’s “Your Way’s Better” charting simultaneously. Why do you think the genre is surging?
I think the reason why Christian music is probably more consumed now than years ago is because there’s a greater level of hunger for what’s real and what’s true. The fact that American Idol did a whole night around Easter, I think it just goes to show people are desperate for something that is going to lift their spirit. And I’ve got too many stories — I think what keeps me going, and I think what would keep a Forrest Frank going and what keeps a Josiah Queen writing these songs, is getting flooded with testimonies. People are hungry for authenticity. They’re not just looking for entertainment. They’re looking for an encounter with something that’s real. There’s nothing more real than God.
For the eighth week in a row, not a single soundtrack appears in the top half of the Billboard 200. That’s the longest such shutout since 2021, when the pandemic disrupted moviegoing and as a result, diminished the opportunities for hit soundtracks. For 13 consecutive weeks that year, from July 31 to Oct. 23, no […]
Nearly a decade before contemporary Christian music (CCM) star Brandon Lake was headlining arenas, topping Billboard’s Christian Airplay charts and winning Grammy Awards, he was a young church worship leader in Charleston, S.C., who just wanted to record an album — and took an unorthodox route to making that happen. “I did a GoFundMe campaign. […]
