Music
Page: 19
Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was found guilty in his 2023 federal fraud case, and he’s looking for President Trump to grant him a pardon. The Fugees rapper is accused of participating in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies that have spanned the last two presidencies. TMZ caught up with Pras earlier this week while riding around in his Lamborghini, […]
Before the April showers have even arrived to bring May flowers, luxury designers are bringing their latest looks to the fashion capital of the world for Paris Fashion Week Fall-Winter 2025, which runs from March 3 to 11. While fresh, luxe designs are a given on the runways, the event also always promises the biggest […]
Ye (formerly Kanye West) is giving the sound of his next album a new label, which finds the Chicago native digging his heels into a recent string of antisemitic remarks. “This next album got that antisemitic sound,” West posted to X on Thursday afternoon (March 6). “My new sound called antisemitic.” It’s unclear if this […]
Two months removed from his Billboard cover story, Vybz Kartel is effortlessly maintaining his comeback momentum.
After attending last month’s Grammys (Feb. 2) on the heels of his very first nomination (best reggae album for Party With Me), Worl’ Boss received the Impact Award at the MOBO Awards, where he performed a medley of “Fever” and “Clarks.” This summer (July 13), he’ll join three-day headliner Drake as a special guest alongside PARTYNEXTDOOR, Summer Walker and Burna Boy.
Of course, the Caribbean music scene has been buzzing outside of Karrtel and dancehall. Earlier this week (March 3-4), Trinidad celebrated its Carnival with a explosive collection of new soca anthems. Machel Montano’s “Pardy” was crowned the Road March winner, racking up 267 plays. Bunji Garlin’s “Carry It” — a heavy favorite for the title — landed in a close second with 253 plays. The Arima-born artist also placed in third with “Thousand.” Montano’s victory marked his 11th Road March title, tying him with the late Aldwyn “Lord Kitchener” Roberts for the most of all time. The King of Soca also claimed first-ever Chutney Soca Monarch title with “Pepper Vince,” but he came in fifth place at Calypso Monarch behing Yung Bredda’s third place-finishing “We Rise.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Naturally, Billboard’s monthly Reggae/Dancehall Fresh Picks column will not cover every last track, but our Spotify playlist — which is linked below — will expand on the 10 highlighted songs. So, without any further ado:
Trending on Billboard
Valiant, “Whole Lotta”
One of dancehall’s brightest stars, Valiant continues his streak of solid rap performances and trap dancehall offerings with “Whole Lotta.” Fingerpicked guitar introduce the track, eventually slinking into the background and serving as warm complement to the dark underbelly of the song’s dancehall soundscape. “Rick Owens beats currency/ Gyal, come with me cah yuh man n’ave no sense/ Travel ’round the world, we nuh travel inna comments/ Compare me and me take that as a offense,” he raps in the first, immediately establishing an arresting cadence that nods to the agression of classic gun chunes without visiting that space lyrically.
Kraff Gad, “Chant”
Leaning even more into trap than dancehall, Kraff Gad’s latest track is one that you can’t help but “Chant” along too. Kraff probably has the most interesting flow of his class; it shapeshifts effortlessly, going from rapid fire delivery one second to a more laid-back cadence that plays on the kick drum instead of the skittering hi-hats another. Less of a club track and more of a vibe, “Chant” offers an interesting look at what happens when you slow down the tempo and temper your trap with Jamaican patois.
Lila Iké, “Too Late to Lie”
One of the leading female voices in contemporary reggae, Lila Iké has been on a roll with her recent releases, including collaborations with Joey Bada$$ (“Fry Plantain”) and H.E.R. (“He Loves Us Both”). On this tender roots reggae ballad, Lila croons of the specific pain sourced from betryal and shattered trust. “I know my life will never be the same/ You made your choice and I will not complain/ Don’t raise your voice/ Please don’t speak my name,” she sings in the chorus. “Just say goodbye/ It’s too late to lie.”
Likkle Vybz, “Miss Independent”
Last month, we named Likkle Addi one of 10 Caribbean Artists to Watch in 2025. With the release of his Valentine’s Day-themed Love Lane EP, Likkle Vybz — Addi’s brother and fellow offspring of Vybz Kartel — lets it be known that he’s also one to keep an eye on. “Miss Independent,” a smooth, guitar-inflected dancehall midtempo dedicated to the baddest lady in the room, is a surprisingly solid showcase of Likkle Vybz’s vocal abilities. He tenderly sings the hook, bleeding into verses that echo his father’s cadence while opting for a notably lighter, flirtier tone.
Voice & Bunji Garlin, “Flatten”
Though he came up short for the Road March title at Trinidad’s Carnvial, Bunji Garlin was once again an inescapable voice and presence this season. Outside of “Carry It” and “Thousand,” “Flatten” stands as a winning tribute to the fetes of soca’s golden era. Anchored by relentless “Hand up, hand up, hand up” chants, vigorous drums and jaunty background brass, “Flatten” isn’t just a reflection of the road; it’s a reflection of the road before the commercialization of Carnival started significantly altering its vibe.
Lutan Fyah, “Pieces of Broken Soul”
“Abundance of weed, crack pipe and liquor so cheap, there’s a lot of hungry mouths to feed/ There’s a lot of hungry mouths to feed!” Lutan Fyah cries out in “Pieces of Broken Soul,” a heartwrenching reggae ballad that yearns for humanity to achieve some semblance of wholeness. Fyah’s voice is at once forlorn and cautiously hopeful, just like the horns that wail in the background across Zion I King’s lush roots reggae production.
Patrice Roberts, “The Great Escape”
“I’ll take you to a place not too far away/ Where all of your dreams come rushing in like a tidal wave/ You could be my Carnivl dahlin’/ And we gon’ fete till we fall in love,” sings soca queen Patrice Roberts. Written and produced by Tano alongside Kitwana Israel, Mical Teja Williams and Jovan James, “The Great Escape” is a classic, no-frills Carivnal jam. With her lyrics painting a gorgeous portrait of the road and Kyle Peters’ guitars adding a melodic touch to those pounding drums, “The Great Escape” is a welcome taste of musical escapism.
Yung Bredda, “We Rise”
This song helped Yung Bredda place third in his first-ever Calypso Monarch appeance — and it’s clear to see why. The Ato Williams-helemed track shifts Bredda away from soca and zess and toward classic calypso. His charismatic, animated vocal performance appropriately honors the message of the song: that Trinidad and her people will rise again despite the ever-changing forces of oppression that seek to keep them down. Written by Leeanna Williams, Kester Stoute and Ato, “We Rise” is calypso that you must listen and dance to — another stellar offering from Trinidad’s hottest new star.
Kes & Tano, “Last Drum”
Kes has been dominating the season with both the Full Blown-assisted “No Sweetness” and their own “Cocoa Tea,” and they’ve once again teamed up with longtime collaborator Tano for another anthem for the aunties. With his pleas for his lady to “show me your wild side,” Kes continues his streak of clean, digestible soca tunes that are perfect for all ages and audiences, while still maitaining the unbridled energy at the center of the genre.
Aidonia, “Waste Har Time”
Though Aidonia preceded the trap dancehall wave, he’s routinely proven that he can hang with the best of them in that space. As X-rated as the come, “Waste Har Time” is Aidonia’s personal lesson in seduction. “You don’t know what fi do with it/ She wine pon di cocky right to the tip,” he rhymes before slightly dipping in his falsetto for a hook that would make any avid reader of “spicy books” blush. “I get you wet, I make you cum/ She like when sex is fun/ We haffi go one more time when we done,” he proclaims.
Morgan Wallen gets personal about his anxieties on an unreleased song titled “I’m a Little Crazy,” a snippet of which the country superstar shared Thursday (March 6) on Instagram. In the short clip, Wallen’s crackling voice soars over resonant finger-picked guitar as he sings about the lengths he goes to in order to feel safe […]
Chappell Roan is talking two of her favorite things while in Paris this week: fashion and music. More specifically on the latter front, she revealed her favorite lyric of all time (and it happens to be an iconic Nicki Minaj bar).
While in the City of Light for Paris Fashion Week, the pop star modeled a couple of characteristically avant-garde outfits, including a silvery, textured dress — which she paired with dramatically winged eye makeup — for Rabanne’s runway show. In a clip posted to Vogue‘s Instagram Thursday (March 6), she showed off the look and chirped, “I’m at my first fashion show!”
“I don’t really look like me right now, which is kind of awesome,” she said of her look, which was designed by the brand of the hour, Rabanne. “I’m so excited!”
Trending on Billboard
In another video shared by Dazed from Rick Owens’ showcase Thursday, Roan showed off a self-described “weird and scary” second look — a form-fitting, geometric dress paired with white face makeup and black dots theatrically lining her eyes — while answering a couple questions. One of them challenged her to name her favorite lyric, to which she said, “That’s such a hard question!”
The Grammy winner then settled on an iconic bar from the Queen of Rap’s 2009 classic “Itty Bitty Piggy.” “I don’t f–k wit pigs like As-salamu alaykum/ I put ’em in a field, I let Oscar Myer bake ’em,” Roan recited, throwing her head back laughing.
As for what her favorite things to do in Paris are, Roan answered, “Museums and eating croissants.”
The singer-songwriter’s visit to France comes just one week ahead of the highly anticipated release of her new single “The Giver,” which will mark her first release in nearly a year. It’ll follow 2024’s Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Good Luck, Babe!,” which currently remains her only release since breakthrough 2023 album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
Roan has spent the past few weeks teasing the long-awaited country-tinged single — which she first debuted live on Saturday Night Live in November — by slowly rolling out a series of 7-inch vinyl variants named after various characters played by the Missouri native, including a construction worker, a plumber, a lawyer and a private investigator. “The Giver is my take on c–try xoxo may the classic country divas lead their genre, I am just here to twirl and do a little gay yodel for yall,” she wrote of the track on Instagram earlier this week.
See Roan at Paris Fashion Week below.
James Brown, the trailblazing Godfather of Soul who passed in 2006, places a new song on a Billboard chart for the first time since 1993 as his co-billed collaboration with 310babii, “Bad,” reaches No. 37 on the Rhythmic Airplay chart dated March 8. The new single samples Brown’s “The Boss” from his 1973 album, Black Caesar.
“Bad,” released on HIGH IQ/EMPIRE, is the fourth Rhythmic Airplay hit for rapper 310babii, born Kameron Milner. His debut entry, “Soak City,” ruled the list for two weeks in March-April 2024. His follow-up track “Rock Your Hips” peaked at No. 2 last December, and his collaboration with Jaydon, “Ah! Ah!,” reached a No. 19 best last week (it slides seven spots to No. 26 on the current list.)
Trending on Billboard
For Brown, who died in 2006 at age 73, “Bad” is the icon’s maiden appearance on the Rhythmic Airplay chart, which launched in October 1992. It’s his first new recording on any Billboard songs chart since 1993’s “Can’t Get Any Harder,” which netted a No. 76 high on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Some of his best-known recordings, including “I Got You (I Feel Good),” “Living in America” and “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” banked time on digital song sales or other charts in recent years due to commercial syncs or holiday-fueled consumption.
In addition, Brown charted for one week in 2012 on the now-defunct Hot Singles Sales chart with a Record Store Day-exclusive vinyl single release of two previously unreleased live recordings from 1972 — “There It Is” and “Pass the Peas.”
[embedded content]
“Bad” adds another piece to Brown’s legendary career on the Billboard charts. To scratch the surface of his many accomplishments, the oft-proclaimed “hardest working man in show business” logged 57 top 10 entries on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, a record that stood from 1969 until 2018, when Drake surpassed the mark. Among them, 17 titles topped the chart, a run that spans from “Try Me” in 1959 to “Papa Don’t Take No Mess (Part I)” in 1974 and contains classics such as “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)” and “Get on the Good Foot.” His crew of No. 1s is the fourth-most among all acts, with only Drake (30), Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder (20 each) above him.
From 1958-1986, Brown accumulated his 91 Billboard Hot 100 hits, with a No. 3 career high through “I Got You (I Feel Good)” in 1965. Thanks to his storied career, Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s inaugural 1986 class alongside legends such as Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley and Little Richard.
And while Brown more than merits his spot with the all-time greats, his legacy credentials only swell with his catalog’s prolific sampling for new generations. In the past few decades, Brown, via sampling, has collected songwriting credits on plenty of top 20 Hot 100 hits, including Mary J. Blige’s “Everything” (No. 24) in 1997, Jennifer Lopez’s “Get Right” (No. 12) in 2005, Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Otis,” featuring Otis Redding (No. 12) in 2011 and Beyoncé’s “Church Girl” (No. 22) in 2022.
Selena Gomez recently let Benny Blanco do her makeup — and let’s just say his artistic capabilities in the studio don’t quite transfer over to the salon.
In a hilarious Instagram video posted Thursday (March 6), the Only Murders in the Building star gave her enthusiastic fiancé free reign over her Rare Beauty products to give her a makeover. Blanco didn’t inspire a lot of faith in Gomez at the outset — the producer knocked their camera to the floor during an attempt at pressed powder — but after some repositioning and dusting of his partner’s face, the “Lose You to Love Me” singer complimented, “That’s good, babe! Now I’m proud.”
Things took a turn again, however, when Blanco held up a pigmented liquid bronzer, making Gomez shut her eyes in fear as he asked, “What is this called? What am I contouring?”
Trending on Billboard
“When you do it, it looks so good!” the “Eastside” musician griped as he tried and failed to blend far too much of the deep brown liquid into her skin, only managing to spread the color onto more of her face.
Several layers of liquid blush, highlighter and lip oil — and many grimaces from Gomez — later, Blanco got to a point where he was happy with his work. “I really think I’m onto something, like if I blend these two together,” he mused. “I think it looks pretty good. You look so hot.”
Going off the expression on Gomez’s face at the end, she didn’t exactly agree with him — but at least he had fun. In the comments, the official Rare Beauty account joked, “@bennyblanco you’re hired.”
Though Blanco may not be the best help to his fiancée beauty-wise, the pair did recently — and much more successfully — team up on an upcoming joint album titled I Said I Love You First. Arriving March 21, the 14-track project features previously released singles “Scared of Loving You” and “Call Me When You Break Up” featuring Gracie Abrams. Earlier this week, Gomez unveiled the rest of the project’s tracklist.
The couple first started dating in summer 2023, a year and a half after which Blanco proposed to the singer-actress. They announced their album on their second Valentine’s Day together, with Gomez later telling Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe that the project is “a little taste of what we are and how we made this together, and how much we loved it and how much we love each other.”
La Arrolladora Banda El Limón de René Camacho collects its 19th No. 1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart with “Una Historia Mal Contada.” The Sinaloans achieve the feat on the ranking dated March 8, as the song rises from No. 2 for its first week atop.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Reaching No. 1 on Billboard today confirms we are on the right path, that we are doing the great job instilled by (band founder) Don René Camacho, always moving forward,” Julio Haro, one of the act’s three vocalists, Julio Haro, one of the act’s three vocalists, tells Billboard.
“Una Historia Mal Contada” jumps 2-1 on Regional Mexican Airplay after an 8% improvement in audience impressions, to 6.2 million, earned in the U.S. during the Feb. 21-27 tracking week, according to Luminate.
Trending on Billboard
The song, composed by Horacio Palencia and Diego Bollella, and produced by Fernando Camacho, gives La Arrolladora its 19th champ in 24 years. The group breaks from a tie with Banda El Recodo de Cruz Lizárraga for the fourth-most wins since the chart launched in 1994. It trails only Calibre 50 (27), Banda MS (21) and Intocable (20) on the overall leaderboard.
“This new No.1 is for all our Arrollafans!” Haro adds. “‘Una Historia Mal Contada’ is a song that relates with us. We like facts, and with this achievement, it’s obvious that there is Arrolladora for a while.”
“Una Historia Mal Contada” also enters the top 10 on the overall Latin Airplay chart, at No. 7, for the group’s 24th top 10 there.
The song is the title track of the band’s upcoming album expected for March 16 release on Ferca/Disa/UMLE.
A First for Xavi:Xavi checks a career milestone as his Manuel Turizo collab, “En Privado,” debuts at No. 6 on the Tropical Airplay chart, marking the Mexican artist’s first appearance on the ranking and his first top 10 there.(Xavi has charted five entries on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart, including four No. 1s.)
The bachata “En Privado” gives Turizo’s his fifth straight top 10 and second of 2025, after “Que Pecao,” with Kapo reached No. 4 in February.
“En Privado” is the Hot Shot Debut of the week on Tropical Airplay with 3.2 million audience impressions earned in the week ending Feb. 27.
The song also debuts at No. 39 on the overall Latin Airplay chart.
BLACKPINK already accomplished the hard part. Over the past half-decade, the quartet has transcended the boundaries between K-pop and the global mainstream in ways that no other girl group had done before, turning the momentum from their 2010s singles and projects into a 2020s breakthrough, particularly in North America.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Since 2020, BLACKPINK has released a pair of albums, including their first Billboard 200-topper, 2022’s Born Pink; collaborated with Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez and Cardi B, among others; become the highest-charting Korean girl group in Hot 100 history, with a total of five top 40 entries; and racked up several Western awards, including a Billboard Music Award and multiple MTV VMAs. Their commercial might in the U.S. was best demonstrated with their live show, which had reached stadium levels by 2023 and included a headlining gig at Coachella that year, making BLACKPINK the first K-pop act in that night-capping slot.
All of which is to say: JENNIE, JISOO, LISA and ROSÉ have climbed a mountain together that no other commercial act like them has conquered before. Over the past six months, however, they’ve all set out to achieve something different — this time separately, and all roughly at the same time.
Trending on Billboard
This Friday (Mar. 7), JENNIE will release her debut album, RUBY, one week after LISA released her own, Alter Ego. Jisoo released her debut solo mini-album, Amortage, two weeks before that, and while ROSÉ issued her own debut album, Rosie, in December, its singles have been promoted throughout early 2025, including with a handful of live performances. Members of pop collectives releasing solo projects after their original groups achieved mainstream success is a practice that stretches back decades, from The Beatles to the Jackson 5 to the Spice Girls to One Direction. Yet we’ve never seen every member of a group attempt to establish themselves as individual stars quite so simultaneously, four voices flooding the zone across a three-month span.
To some degree, BLACKPINK’s members launching solo music at the same time can be chalked up to a scheduling quirk, based on when studio material is completed and promotional opportunities arise; each member is working with a different U.S. major label partner (Columbia for JENNIE, RCA for LISA, Warner for JISOO and Atlantic for ROSÉ), who all have their own plans for how to most effectively roll out a debut project. And because BLACKPINK’s return as a collective is imminent, with a new world tour scheduled to kick off in early July, those respective teams have been working with limited time frames to set up solo eras.
Still — that’s a lot of BLACKPINK solo projects, being released very close to one another. The output could risk alienating casual fans, whose music consumption might be cannibalized by competing projects from members of the same group. BLACKPINK fans were always going to support these solo endeavors, but JENNIE, JISOO, LISA and ROSÉ are trying to establish their own voices, and build individual fan bases. Even if they’re not in competition with each other, they are competing to command an unfamiliar listener’s attention.
Yet as these solo releases have played out over the past few months, the BLACKPINK members have not drowned each other out. Instead, this onslaught may have been the best thing for the group’s four stars — and also, for the group itself.
Let’s start with the biggest crossover hit of the solo releases so far: “APT.,” ROSÉ’s fizzy pop-rock chant-along alongside Bruno Mars, has become a legitimate smash in the U.S. and worldwide. Upon its October release, “APT.” became the first top 10 hit on the Hot 100 for any K-pop female act, and has since spent multiple months in the upper frame of the chart, along with reaching No. 1 on the Global 200 chart and staying there for a record 16 total weeks (and counting).
That huge single has been complemented by other chart achievements from the BLACKPINK members: ROSÉ’s debut album Rosie bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in December, while LISA has notched three Hot 100 hits from her Alter Ego project thus far, the same number as JENNIE from her RUBY album. Both of those albums have a solid shot at following Rosie into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 over the next two weeks.
The commercial wins have been accompanied by enviable co-signs and pop culture showcases. Just as ROSÉ corralled Mars for a team-up, LISA’s Alter Ego features collaborations with Future, Tyla, Megan Thee Stallion and Rosalía, among others; its lead track, “Born Again,” has guest spots by Doja Cat and Raye, both of whom joined LISA at the Oscars last Sunday, where they performed a medley of James Bond theme songs in front of nearly 20 million viewers. Meanwhile, JENNIE has already released collaborations with Doechii and Dominic Fike from RUBY, and the album’s track list also includes Dua Lipa, Childish Gambino and Kali Uchis.
JENNIE’s most successful single with a North American artist, “One of the Girls” with The Weeknd, resulted from her supporting turn on The Idol last year; a few months later, LISA is co-starring on the current season of The White Lotus. Along with different fashion spotlights and TV performances, the appearances in high-profile HBO dramas has helped increase the members’ visibility in the States – they’re more familiar to U.S. audiences now, totally outside the K-pop purview.
Those opportunities would be valuable at any pace, but combined with the rapidity of these solo rollouts, the BLACKPINK members have worked toward a type of ubiquity that has no doubt shaken some unfamiliar listeners awake. Did you know that in each of the past five weeks, Spotify’s flagship new-release playlist New Music Friday has had a song by a BLACKPINK member in the first five slots? They have highlighted songs like JENNIE’S “Love Hangover” with Fike, JISOO’s “Earthquake” and LISA’s “Fxck Up the World” with Future — and with RUBY out this Friday, that streak is all but certain to continue for a sixth consecutive frame.
Part of the reason why this rising-tide, all-boats model can work for the BLACKPINK members has to do with the circumstances of the group itself. These solo projects are taking place during a pause in group activity, not a hiatus; this is not a situation like an *NSYNC or a Destiny’s Child, in which one member of a group is clearly poised to ascend to solo fame and leave their cohorts behind, and it’s also not like a One Direction or a Fifth Harmony, in which one member has abruptly split to start their own career, while the others have to figure out how and when to catch up.
Instead, these concurrent rollouts have acted as a stopgap that’s been creatively fulfilling and drama-free — especially since a date has already been set for everyone to return to the BLACKPINK mothership for a world tour. In this way, the solo endeavors have functioned similarly to the group’s fellow K-pop superstars BTS (whose staggered military obligations has caused a more sprawling timeline of solo projects, but the promise of an eventual return remains), but also recalls rap groups of the late 20th century, whose members would peel off to record solo albums before linking back up for a group project. BLACKPINK probably didn’t examine the similarities between themselves and a post-36 Chambers Wu-Tang Clan, but that has unwittingly become a highly successful model.
In any regard, the members have offered nothing but praise for what their group mates have accomplished on their own. “We know each other so well and know how much energy we have to put into every single project,” Lisa told Billboard late last year. “So we want to support and say, ‘You did really well!’ … This is what we all wanted to do, so I just wanted to say that I really do love their songs.”
Ultimately, this release strategy has created a balance — giving each member room to shine on their own, and the overlapping campaigns underlining their different music styles. Alter Ego demonstrated LISA’s pop-rap versatility, JENNIE’S advance RUBY singles underlined her effortlessly cool hook deployment, JISOO’s Amortage was defined by a graceful pop sensibility, and ROSÉ’s Rosie took a playful approach to radio-ready singer-songwriter fare. Longtime BLACKPINK fans had located the nuances in the four members’ approaches – but when stacked separately against one another, their singular talents were made more evident to a wider audience. A generation removed from each Spice Girl getting tagged with a different look and nickname, the BLACKPINK members have gotten to establish their personas by more artistic, and less reductive, means.
And soon, those personas will have the opportunity to live in front of stadium audiences. With the BLACKPINK world tour kickoff less than four months away, we’ll see how the recent solo material is incorporated into the group’s live show. Beyond that, future BLACKPINK studio output will be driven by four women who have had their confidence grow as artists and performers, and whose respective skill sets have been given room to expand and strengthen. BLACKPINK was already huge before this recent period of solo releases, but there’s no doubt that they’ve scooped up at least some new fans for the collective with their individual efforts — new fans of “Apt.” or Amortage or Alter Ego diving further down the rabbit hole, and becoming full-blown BLINKs.