Music

09 May 2024

Nick Jonas Joins amfAR Cannes Lineup

amFAR is returning to Cannes International Film Festival this month, and the AIDS research foundation announced exclusively via Billboard on Thursday (May 9) that Nick Jonas will perform at the amfAR Gala Cannes on May 23.

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The exclusive black-tie event, which will also promises a “special musical moment” with Cher, will be hosted by Demi Moore and has raised $264 million for amfAR’s lifesaving AIDS research programs to date.

According to a release, the amfAR Gala Cannes will take place at Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc and will feature additional special performances and a live auction of luxury goods, experiences and art led by auctioneer Simon de Pury. Carine Roitfeld will also, once again, curate the annual fashion show, featuring looks from the world’s top designers. 

“We could not be more excited to add the amazing Nick Jonas to our Cannes lineup this year,” said amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost in a press statement. “We are grateful to him for recognizing the importance of amfAR’s work in the fight against AIDS and we know that, together with Demi Moore and Cher, he will make this an unforgettable evening.” 

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Nick recently had to reschedule several Jonas Brothers The Tour dates after revealing he’s suffering from influenza-A. “Hi guys. I have come down with the nasty strain of influenza-A that’s been going around, and I’m not able to sing at the moment,” he wrote on Instagram. “We always want to be able to give you guys the best show and I’m just not able to do that for these shows in Mexico at this time.”

He informed fans that the shows, which were scheduled for the beginning of May, will now take place on Aug. 21 and 22 in Mexico City and Aug. 24 and 25 in Monterrey.

Produced by Live Nation, The Tour is the Jonas Brothers’ most ambitious run to date, with 98 shows in 26 countries. According to a statement from their promoters in Mexico, “Each night is a celebration of five albums and features their greatest hits from over the years, including a variety of deep cuts spanning their entire career and favorite hits.”

09 May 2024

Chart Rewind: In 1964, Louis Armstrong Halted Beatlemania Atop the Hot 100

On the Billboard Hot 100 dated May 9, 1964, Louis Armstrong ended the most dominant run at No. 1 in the chart’s history to that point.

The Beatles had ruled the Hot 100 for 14 consecutive weeks, via three singles in a row, neither feat of which had previously been achieved: Their landmark U.S. breakthrough hit “I Want To Hold Your Hand” began a seven-week reign on the Feb. 1, 1964-dated chart, followed by two weeks on top for “She Loves You” and a five-week No. 1 stay for “Can’t Buy Me Love,” through the ranking dated that May 2.

The following frame, amid The Beatles-led British Invasion, famed New Orleans-born trumpeter and vocalist Armstrong’s “Hello, Dolly!” rose to No. 1. The title song from the hit musical was written by Jerry Herman and produced by Michael Kapp. It went on to win song of the year and best vocal performance, male at the Grammy Awards in 1965, while Armstrong’s recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.

Despite The Beatles’ onslaught of hits at the time, Armstrong’s Hot 100 conquest with “Hello, Dolly!” had momentum thanks in large part to its parent musical.

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As researched in-depth by Grammy Award-winning author and Armstrong historian (and musician) Ricky Riccardi for a 2021 piece, “Hello, Dolly! Opens; Critics Toss Hats” a headline read in the Jan. 25, 1964, Billboard issue. “The critics flipped,” the story noted. “‘Don’t bother holding onto your hats,’ said Walter Kerr in The Herald Tribune, ‘because you won’t be needing them. You’d only be throwing them into the air. A musical comedy dream.’ ”

Per Riccardi, Arvell Shaw, who played bass with Armstrong, told documentarian Ken Burns, “Three or four months [after “Hello, Dolly!” was recorded], we were out on the road [in early 1964] doing one-nighters in Nebraska and Iowa, way, way out. And every night we’d hear from the audience, ‘Hello, Dolly!,’ ‘Hello, Dolly!’ The first couple of nights Louis ignored it, and it got louder … ‘Hello, Dolly!’ Louis looked at me and said, ‘What the hell is ‘Hello, Dolly!’?’ We had to get the music and learn it and put it in the concert. The first time we put it in, pandemonium broke out. We were so far out he didn’t even realize he had a big hit.”

“Hello, Dolly!” entered the Hot 100 dated Feb. 15, 1964, when “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was No. 1 and the typically copy-heavy front page of the issue and showed The Beatles behind Billboard’s logo, above three stories devoted to the band. (“U.S. Rocks & Reels From Beatles’ Invasion,” read the main headline.)

Noted Riccardi, Armstrong drew front-page Billboard ink of his own a week later in a story headlined “Broadway Lights Up Labels; Diskers Aim for Peak Year.” “The music and drama of Broadway is making solid impact on the record company scene this season,” Mike Gross wrote. “Not since the heyday of My Fair Lady have the diskers looked to Broadway product with such bullish attitudes.”

As “Hello, Dolly!” scaled the Hot 100, Armstrong further realized its impact. Riccardi sourced a story by columnist Jimmy Breslin quoting Armstrong: “People keep coming up to me about ‘Dolly’ and sayin’, ‘You’re doing all right. You’re selling records right behind The Beatles.’ I’m with The Beatles. Music is music. There’s all kinds. But it all come from the same place. It all come from old, sanctified churches. I don’t care how they change it … old, sanctified churches is the essence of it.”

By mid-April 1964, according to Riccardi, Armstrong told Newsweek of his impending Hot 100 No. 1, “I like that tune. It’s got a good feeling, it’s a good, happy one.” Of its recording, he said, “We didn’t have no arrangement or nothin’. We just scat out our parts. I played it the way I am, Satchmo’s way. The people don’t forget that old beat. They know the essence, and it’s Satchmo.”

As for the acts then occupying the Hot 100’s upper reaches, added Armstrong (whom Ed Sullivan praised in a May 15, 1964, New York Daily News column for “that famous gravel-velvet voice”), “It’s awful nice to be there among all them Beatles.”

The Beatles, meanwhile, reciprocated, Riccardi pointed out, by playing a bit of “Hello, Dolly!” – on kazoo – in a 1964 holiday message.

Chart Rewind

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Beyond its notable journey to No. 1 on the Hot 100, “Hello, Dolly!” made history for Armstrong, who at 62 became the most senior artist to lead the list. The mark stood until last December, when Brenda Lee, then 78, jingled to No. 1 with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (although she was 13 when she recorded the carol, originally released in 1958).

Plus, by dethroning The Beatles after 14 weeks atop the Hot 100, Armstrong put a stop to the longest continuous command for an act in the chart’s history to that point, one that stood solely until 1993, when Whitney Houston tied it, via “I Will Always Love You.” Boyz II Men surpassed the mark with a 16-week No. 1 run in 1994, while The Black Eyed Peas currently hold the record: 26 consecutive weeks, thanks to “Boom Boom Pow” (12 weeks) and “I Gotta Feeling” (12) in 2009.

Following the reign of “Hello, Dolly!,” Armstrong remained prominent on Billboard’s charts. The song’s parent album of the same name crowned the Billboard 200 for six weeks beginning in June 1964, while he added two more Hot 100 entries that year.

“Hello, Dolly!” also became Armstrong’s first of five Adult Contemporary top 10s, ruling for nine weeks – with “What a Wonderful World” reaching No. 7, as well as No. 32 on the Hot 100, in 1988, the 1967 recording revived thanks to its spotlight in the box office hit Good Morning, Vietnam. In 1999, a remake of the latter song by Kenny G featuring Armstrong hit No. 22 on Adult Contemporary.

Armstrong, who died in July 1971, has additionally logged 12 top 10s on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. Most recently, his retrospective Gold hit No. 7 this March, with its 40-song tracklist including “Hello, Dolly!”

09 May 2024

The Killers’ ‘Mr Brightside’ Snags U.K. Chart Milestone

Though it never produced a chart crown, The Killers’ “Mr Brightside” is a record-breaker in the U.K.

Two decades after release, the U.S. alternative rock act’s signature song is anointed as the biggest-ever single which didn’t snag a U.K. No. 1.

The Killers were originally discovered by and signed to U.K. independent Lizard King, and were embraced by Brits as one of their own. “Mr Brightside” was initially released in 2003 with a limited-edition 500 CD run, and was reissued in May 2004, peaking at No. 10.

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The track failed to set the charts on fire but has proven a slow burner, notching 408 weeks on the Official U.K. Singles Chart – almost eight full years.



Since its release, “Mr Brightside” has accumulated 5.57 million combined units, including 1.066m sales and 530,340,000 streams, the Official Charts Company reports, good enough for third place on the all-time list of biggest songs, behind Elton John’s “Something About the Way You Look Tonight”/”Candle in the Wind 1997.” That streaming tally sends it to No. 5 in the list of most-streamed songs of all time in the U.K.

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The biggest week (across all formats) for “Mr Brightside” in the U.K. was July 2019, when it amassed 17,700 chart units following the Las Vegas act’s headline set at Glastonbury Festival, while its biggest week of sales was registered in 2012, when the single was bought and downloaded 125,200 times.

On its 20th anniversary, “Mr Brightside” eclipses Oasis’ 1995 ballad “Wonderwall” for the unusual honor. “Wonderwall,” lifted from the Manchester rock band’s sophomore album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory), peaked at No. 2.

The OCC crunched the numbers and declared “Mr Brightside” is actually gathering pace. Last year saw the track generate its biggest volume of streams, with 79.97 million plays, the OCC reports, and in 2024, combined weekly sales and streams are up 23% year-on-year.

The Killers will dish out the hits for the Rebel Diamonds Tour of the U.K. and Ireland this summer, which includes 16 arena shows.

08 May 2024

Olivia Rodrigo & Daniel Nigro Named ASCAP Pop Music Songwriters of the Year for 2024

Olivia Rodrigo and co-writer Daniel Nigro are the 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Songwriters of the Year. It is the second award in the top category for Rodrigo, who first received the honor in 2022.

Chappell Roan, who has a fast-climbing hit with “Good Luck, Babe!,” which she co-wrote with Nigro and Justin Tranter, was scheduled to present Nigro with his award on Wednesday (May 8) at an invitation-only event in Los Angeles celebrating this year’s ASCAP Pop Music Award winners.

Rodrigo and Nigro have shared two Grammy nods for song of the year (for “Driver’s License” and “Vampire”) and one for best rock song (for “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl”). In less than three and a half years, Rodrigo has amassed 17 top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including three songs – “Driver’s License,” “Good 4 U” and “Vampire” – that entered the chart at No. 1.

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“Calm Down,” performed by Rema and featuring Selena Gomez, wins ASCAP Pop Song of the Year. Co-written by Rema, Gomez, Michael “LONDON” Hunter, Amanda “Kiddo AI” Ibanez and Andre Vibez, the song reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 and rode the chart for 57 weeks. “Calm Down” is published by Hook Like Behavior, Kobalt Music Publishing, Livelihood Music Company, SMG Tunes, Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner Chappell Music.

Publisher of the Year goes to Universal Music Publishing Group for songs including “Calm Down,” “Cuff It” (Beyoncé), “Dance the Night” (Dua Lipa), “Barbie World” (Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice with Aqua), “Lavender Haze” (Taylor Swift), “Paint the Town Red” (Doja Cat), “Star Walkin’ (League of Legends Worlds Anthem)” (Lil Nas X) and “Sure Thing” (Miguel).

Other 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Award-winning songwriters include Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff (their holiday evergreen “All I Want for Christmas Is You”), Noah Kahan (“Dial Drunk”), St. Vincent (“Cruel Summer”), Meghan Trainor (“Made You Look”) and Leon Thomas (“Snooze”).

As previously announced, Charli XCX received the ASCAP Global Impact Award. Charli is gearing up for the release of her sixth solo album, BRAT on June 7 and a North American tour with Troye Sivan, who was set to present her with the award.

The ASCAP Pop Music Awards honor the songwriters and publishers of ASCAP’s most-performed pop songs of 2023. The winners are determined by data on terrestrial and satellite radio and for programmed and on-demand audio streams, all provided by Luminate Data LLC.

More information on the 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Award winners is available here.

08 May 2024

Marc Anthony Makes Top 5 Debut on Tropical Albums Chart With ‘Muevense’

Marc Anthony adds a 15th top 10 to his Billboard Tropical Albums chart career as Muevense, his 11th studio album, starts at No. 4 on the ranking dated May 11. The 10-track set, released April 24 via Sony Music Latin, enters with 3,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 2, according to Luminate.

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Sales and streaming activity contribute to Muevense’s first week sum: albums sales comprise 1,500 units, while 1,500 units derive from streams, equaling 2.2 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs. Track-equivalent album units comprise a negligible sum of the album’s first week.

On the Tropical Latin Albums chart units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

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May is a month for celebration for Marc Anthony, who in addition to banking his 15th top 10 on Tropical Albums, launched his new Sirius XM channel, Muevense Radio, on May 1. Running for a limited time, through May 31, the channel features a best-of-playlist, plus music from his influences and favorite artists, and stories surrounding the breadth of his over three-decade tenure.

Muevense arrives on Tropical Albums two years and two months after Marc’s previous album Pa’lla Voy reached No. 3 in March 2022. Plus, the new album extends his span of 15 top 10s to 31 years, dating to his first week in the top 10 on Feb. 17, 1993, when Otra Nota debuted and peaked at No. 2.

Further, Muevense joins two other Marc Anthony albums on Tropical Albums: 3.0 and Sigo Siendo Yo. While the latter claims its 280th week on the tally, 3.0 banks its 509th week and extends its record for the set with the most weeks overall since Tropical Albums began in 1985.

Beyond its Tropical Albums arrival, Muevense, encompassing eight salsa tracks, one bachata, and one regional Mexican ballad with Pepe Aguilar, also opens at No. 50 on Top Latin Albums.

The set was preceded by three songs. “Ale Ale” flies 16-3 on Tropical Airplay with a robust 227% gain in audience impressions, to 4 million, earned in the U.S. during the same tracking week. The song likewise opens at No. 22 on Latin Airplay as the Hot Shot debut of the week. The song was premiered live at the Latin American Music Awards on April 25.

Back on Tropical Airplay, with the new visit to the upper tier, Marc collects his 57th top 10 entry, and extends second-most record among all acts behind Victor Manuelle who continues to lead with 65 top 10 career hits. The bachata “Punta Cana,” meanwhile, dips 4-6 due to a 34% dip in audience, to 2 million.

Lastly, over on Regional Mexican Airplay, thanks to his co-billed “Ojala Te Duela,” with Pepe Aguilar, the Puerto Rican scored his first entry ever on a regional Mexican chart in Nov. 2023.

08 May 2024

Cardi B Responds to Backlash After Referring to Met Gala Designer as ‘Asian’ Instead of His Name

Cardi B is defending herself after forgetting the name of Sensen Lii, the Chinese fashion designer who created the rapper’s jaw-dropping, black tulle look at the 2024 Met Gala on Monday night (May 6).

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On the red carpet, when asked by Emma Chamberlain for Vogue who the creator of the look was, Cardi hesitated and forgot his name in the moment, noting instead: “They’re Asian and everything.”



Cardi then received online backlash for her comments, slammed by critics for being racially insensitive. Vogue‘s former managing director Gilbert Cheah also called out the “Bodak Yellow” rapper in a comment section on Instagram, writing, “For the record and recognition, and no thanks to Cardi B, the designer of her gown is Sensen Lii who’s Chinese. The gown took two months to make. I personally think it’s boring and not even on theme but she chose it and should have at least remembered his name and not just that he’s ‘Asian’ [eye roll emoji].”

In response, Cardi took to Instagram to defend herself, explaining that she “had a lot of things on” her mind and was “very scared” since she was being rushed to the front of the line at the Met Gala. “I kind of forgot how to pronounce the designer’s name because his name is a little bit complicated… my mind was just racing,” she recalled. 

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Cardi said she wasn’t trying to “be offensive,” adding, “I feel like the designer and my stylist worked really hard for this theme, so for you to be kind of shady because she feel offended or whatever, it just proves why you’re the former director. You’re trying to offend me but you’re actually offending the people behind-the-scenes.”

Watch her full explanation via TMZ here.

08 May 2024

Grupo Frontera & Christian Nodal’s ‘Ya Pedo Quien Sabe’ Tops Regional Mexican Airplay Chart

Grupo Frontera and Christian Nodal‘s first collaboration, “Ya Pedo Quien Sabe,” glides 3-1 on Billboard‘s Regional Mexican Airplay chart (dated May 11). The new joint champ marks the eighth No. 1 for Grupo Frontera and 17th for Nodal. All eight of Grupo Frontera’s leaders are collaborations.

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The duet crowns Regional Mexican Airplay after a 17% gain in audience impressions, to 7.8 million, earned in the U.S. during the April 26-May 2 tracking week, according to Luminate. “Ya Pedo Quien Sabe” was released March 7 via the Grupo Frontera label. The song is the second cut from Frontera’s forthcoming album, Jugando A Que No Pada Nada (slated for May 10 release).

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“Ya Pedo” was composed by Edgar Barrera, Horacio Palencia, Nathan Galante and Diego Bollella and produced by Barrera.

As the dynamo collaboration takes the lead on Regional Mexican Airplay, it becomes the fourth team-up by a group and a soloist in 2024 to top the list. Here’s the recap:

Chart Date, Title, Artist, Weeks at No. 1
Feb. 3, “Harley Quinn,” Fuerza Regida & Marshmello, one
March 2, “Alch Si,” Carín León + Grupo Frontera, one
April 13, “La Cumbia Triste,” Los Angeles Azules y Alejandro Fernández, one
May 11, “Ya Pedo Quien Sabe,” Grupo Frontera & Christian Nodal

With “Ya Pedo,” Nodal extends his record for the most No. 1s among soloists, with 17 champs in his account since the chart’s inception in November 1994. Plus, he enters a tie with La Arrolladora Banda el Limón de René Camacho for the fifth-most rulers in the Regional Mexican Airplay’s chart’s nearly 30-year history. They trail Calibre 50 who remains at the lead, way ahead of its next competitor, with 25 No. 1s, Banda MS de Sergio Lizárraga with 20, Intocable (19) and Banda El Recodo de Cruz Lizárraga (18).

Grupo Frontera picks-up its eighth No. 1; a collection that began a little over a year ago, when “Que Vuelvas,” with Carín León, topped the Regional Mexican radio ranking for six weeks starting the Jan. 28, 2023-dated list.

Further, “Ya Pedo” takes the crown from Calibre 50’s “Días Buenos, Días Malos” after the latter’s one week in charge. The song drops to No. 14, marking the biggest fall from No. 1 since Los Temerarios’ “Sin Que Lo Sepas Tú” equally tumbled 1-14 in 2007.

With the Regional Mexican Airplay locked, “Ya Pedo” next looks to give each act a new No. 1 on the overall Latin Airplay chart, where it climbs 10-5 with a 16% gain, and adds 8 million in audience.

08 May 2024

Hot Since 82 Details Terrifying Car Chase With Gunmen In Brazil: ‘We’d Been Set Up’

In a video statement posted to Instagram over the weekend, longstanding English DJ Hot Since 82 shared the story of a terrifying carjacking attempt he experienced after a gig in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend.

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“Left the club at 5 a.m., still dark, 10 minutes into the car journey to the airport, we were being followed and pursued by a gang of jackers, murderers, I don’t know what they are, wearing AK-47s with full magazines” the producer born Daley Padley said in the clip.

“We’d been set up,” he continued. “They knew exactly where we were, what car and exactly where we were going to be at which time. Which leads me to believe that we were set up.”

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He continues that if not for “the heroic maneuvers of our driver, I don’t even know if we’d even be alive right now. I really don’t. We were on a busy motorway, pitch black, the car in front have pressed the brakes for us to stop, and then the people hung out of the car windows with balaclavas and AK47s.”

At this point, the driver put the car in reverse and says, Padley, “we were flying down a busy motorway going the wrong way, weaving in and out of traffic. If the AK-47s shooters didn’t get us, we’re lucky we didn’t have a really bad car crash, because we were weaving in and out of oncoming traffic going 60/70 miles per hour with the car full of AK-47s following us. They were adamant that they were going to get us; they wouldn’t stop. We had to go miles and miles down a motorway in reverse to try to get away from the shooters.”

Padley joked that the situation was like a Fast & Furious movie, but added that “I’m giggling about it, but I’m f—ing broken inside… It makes you lose faith in humanity, knowing that someone has told these shooters where we were going to be. To be honest, I don’t know if I’ll ever come back to Brazil now.”

He continued that after the incident, he changed hotels in case he was still being followed and booked a flight out of the country, missing his scheduled appearances at Warung Day Festival in Curitiba on May 4 and Timewarp Brazil on that same day.

He added that he “can’t risk being in positions like this” given that he has children, adding that his wife is set to give birth to the couples next baby in six weeks. He added that he sympathizes “with the people of Brazil who have to live their lives in fear.”

In the comments, a large group of DJs including Tiësto, Anabel Englund, Honey Dijon, Jamies Jones, Amelie Laens expressed their support and gratitude that Padley made it out alive and unharmed. Vintage Culture, who is Brazilian, commented that “We work hard to get artists here and those things happen. Hope you are safe; our country is not at all like that, let’s get you back in a better opportunity. Love ya mate. A few bad apples put Brasil in a very difficult position.”

08 May 2024

Ice Spice Shares Smoky Video Snippet of ‘Gimmie a Light’ Single

Ice Spice gave her beloved Munchkins a sneak peek of her upcoming single “Gimmie a Light” Wednesday (May 8) with a super smoky video clip.

In the 15-second snippet, Spice is riding in the back of a hot pink Range Rover — which is sporting a “Y2K” license plate in honor of her upcoming debut studio album — while thick clouds of marijuana smoke rolling out of the side windows. The sample of Sean Paul’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 7 smash “Gimme the Light” from his 2002 sophomore album Dutty Rock starts off the clip before she raps (with a joint in her hand, of course), “Hotbox in the V like gimme a light!”

“Gimmie a Light” arrives this Friday, May 10 via 10K Projects and Capitol Records, four months after Spice’s last solo single “Think U The S— (Fart),” which debuted at No. 37 on the Hot 100 — making it her highest-charting solo single to date. She debuted the song during her Coachella festival performance last month. She’s slated to drop her first full-length album Y2K later this year, following her debut EP Like..? that she released in January 2023. The project (which got a deluxe release last July) reached No. 15 on the Billboard 200.

She also recently hopped on the remix of Cash Cobain and Bay Swang’s viral song of the summer contender “Fisherrr,” which debuted at No. 11 on Bubbling Under Hot 100 this week (chart dated May 11).

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Watch the snippet of Ice Spice’s “Gimmie a Light” below.

08 May 2024

Angelina Mango’s ‘La Noia’ Advances Italy’s Odds to Win Eurovision 2024

Italy has been in the habit of sending male singers to the Eurovision Song Contest. Perhaps it is because one of the most successful Eurovision songs of all time is Domenico Modugno’s “Nel Blu, Dipinto di Blu,” also known as “Volare,” a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958. (More recently, the co-ed, male-fronted rock band Måneskin won Eurovision for Italy in 2021, propelling them to the global stage and Billboard chart success.)

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Angelina Mango is the first female to compete for Italy since Francesca Michielin placed 16th in 2016 with “No Degree of Separation.” Mango has moved up in the bookmakers’ odds this week, with Italy now the third favorite to win the 2024 contest, behind Croatia and Switzerland. Billboard met up with her in Malmö, Sweden, host city to this year’s competition, to talk about her entry, her career and what’s next.

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What is your own personal history with Eurovision?

I always watched Eurovision with my mom when I was a child because she’s a fan. It was really [not my thing], I have to be honest. I’m not talking about taste or music. I’m talking about experience. It was a surprise when I won the Sanremo Festival and understood the possibilities to come here. [The winner of Italy’s annual Sanremo Festival has the option to represent the country at Eurovision.] I’m very young and I just started a music career, so everything is new. I’m trying to learn a lot from everything and everyone, because this is an experience that happens once in your life. I want to live it all and not forget anything.

As a child, do you remember seeing any particular Eurovision songs or artists that stood out for you?

I really loved MARO from Portugal [with “Saudade, Saudade” in 2022]. Obviously, Loreen with “Euphoria.” We would always watch the TV program and talk about music, because I lived in a house of musicians.

Your father Giuseppe, who went by Mango, had a very successful career, releasing over 20 albums in his lifetime.

My mom was also a professional musician and my brother. When I was two years old I learned how to communicate through music. Music is like a language. When I did pre-promotion for my Eurovision song “La Noia,” I heard other people sing it with different accents and it was spectacular for me, because it doesn’t matter which language you are speaking, it’s just energy. Music really unites people everywhere. Eurovision is an opportunity for people to share music. You can do it alone, but I want to share it and learn from others in different countries.

Along with Eurovision, the Sanremo Festival is one of the world’s best-known song competitions. Why did you decide to enter?

In Italy, Sanremo is like Christmas. Everyone waits for Santa. I wrote “La Noia” and then I thought this is a song that has no regrets. I can take it on the stage with everything in me. So it’s perfect for Sanremo, because Sanremo is a celebration of music and a mirror of what has happened with music in Italy. But I honestly didn’t think about winning, so that was a surprise.

The winner of Sanremo has the option to represent Italy in Eurovision. Was that a difficult choice to make?

I didn’t have to think about it a lot. For me, it was obviously a good choice.

“La Noia” is a great pop song that sounds like a big hit. When did you write your first song?

I was five years old when I wrote my first song from the beginning to the end. The title was “I Fell in Love With Me” and I wrote it about myself, that I could be a woman without a man and without marriage. These were my thoughts at five.

Did you write the words and the music?

Yes, everything.

And you kept writing songs?

Yes. From that moment on, I couldn’t stop.

What inspired “La Noia”?

I wrote “La Noia” in the studio with Madame and Dardust [Dario Faini], a songwriter and a producer that I really love. I decided to talk about my life and my story. For me, it was very important to have a positive message. Dancing with a crown of thorns is something very important because everyone has a crown of thorns, something bad that has happened in your life, but we can always smile and we can always see positive things and this is something that I learned and I want to share with everyone, especially teenagers who listen to my music.

Is there an album on the way with “La Noia” on it?

I’m very proud of my album because I worked on it a lot. The title is Poké Melodrama. It is a reflection of my personality at this moment. It will be out May 31, and I can’t wait.

When you write songs, what comes first, the music or the lyrics?

It’s totally random. I can’t stop writing during the day. I always think about music. It’s difficult to explain. When I go to the studio, everything is ready in my mind. It’s strange, but it’s beautiful.

Aside from your parents, were there any musicians who inspired you when you growing up?

When I was six years old, I heard Woodstock for the first time and I learned about rock n’ roll. I went to see the Rolling Stones when I was 13. When I was in high school, I started listening to urban music, mostly from Italy.
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What have you learned about yourself from your Eurovision journey so far?

Today I’m more self-confident. I understand this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

What can you tell me about your upcoming tour?

It’s a long tour, beginning this summer. I’ll do some festivals with my band, both in and out of Italy. In October, we will do a club tour in Italy, and in November, a club tour in Europe. That’s a big thing for me because it’s the first time I have played music with my band since I was 13 years old. We grew up together and now we are in Malmö. It’s very strange, but it’s beautiful.

Mango will perform “La Noia” in the second semi-final of Eurovision 2024, although she will not be competing on Thursday (May 9). As one of the “Big Five” countries that contribute the most to the production budget, Italy is automatically qualified for the grand final. The second semi-final will be seen in the U.S. on Peacock at 3 p.m. ET on May 9. The grand final will air on May 11 at that same time.