Music

21 Dec 2023

Nicki Minaj Teases ‘Full Gag City Deluxe’ With Video of Rihanna Dancing to ‘FTCU’

Since Nicki Minaj formally transported the world to Gag City with the release of her Billboard 200-topping Pink Friday 2 album, the “Everybody” rapper has been basking in the glowing reception of her new music. In a video posted to her Instagram Story on Wednesday (Dec. 20), Minaj showed some love to her past collaborator and fellow island gal Rihanna, all while finding a way to tease a “full gag city deluxe.”

“The full gag city deluxe ain’t coming out until Queen Rih send her vocals. POW @badgalriri ??????,” Minaj typed over a video of the “Umbrella” singer turning up to “FTCU,” one of the breakout songs from Pink Friday 2. The video was taken at a launch party for Rihanna’s Fenty x Puma Creeper Phatty sneaker. During an impromptu Stationhead session, Minaj suggested that Rihanna could hop on “Pink Birthday” to “make it the full song.”

Both “FTCU” (No. 42) and “Pink Birthday” (No. 89), debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 (chart dated Dec. 23, 2023), following the release of the 24-track Pink Friday. Fourteen of the album’s tracks concurrently landed on the ranking, setting a new record for the most Hot 100-charting songs from a female rapper. In another stroke of history, with Pink Friday 2’s bow atop the Billboard 200, Minaj became the female rapper with the most No. 1 albums in history (3), breaking a tie with Foxy Brown.

Nicki Minaj and Rihanna have collaborated twice before, and both duets arrived in 2010. Thirteen years ago, the two Caribbean artists linked up on “Raining Men,” a track from Rihanna’s Grammy-nominated Loud album that peaked at No. 48 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The same year, Riri appeared on Minaj’s Pink Friday via “Fly,” the album’s final single, which peaked at No. 19 on the Hot 100.

21 Dec 2023

JID’s ‘Surround Sound’ Remains Atop TikTok Billboard Top 50, Timothee Chalamet Debuts

JID’s “Surround Sound” remains at No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 dated Dec. 23, holding off a challenge from a pair of Christmas songs in Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride.”

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The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity Dec. 11-17. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.

“Surround Sound,” which features 21 Savage and Baby Tate, maintains its reign on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, leading for a second week as the viral song continues to be used in a variety of ways, chiefly its Ceiling Challenge in which creators tape a phone or camera above them and do a choreographed dance below.

The Dec. 8-14 Billboard chart tracking week saw “Surround Sound” leap another 11% to 9.8 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.

Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (which concurrently returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as previously reported) and the PhatCap! trap remix of The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” rank at Nos. 2 and 3 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, respectively. Four of the top 10 are holiday tunes, with Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” at No. 6 and Wham!’s “Last Christmas” at No. 8 also appearing.

Six-week No. 1 “My Love Mine All Mine” by Mitski remains at No. 4, while the top five receives a new challenger for the top of the tally in Lana Del Rey’s “Let the Light In,” featuring Father John Misty, at No. 5.

“Let the Light In,” from Del Rey’s latest album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, has vaulted in streams in recent weeks via a trend that involves tying a pink bow to various people, animals or objects for what they call a coquette aesthetic.

It’s not the only song from either artist on the latest list. Del Rey’s “Margaret,” this time featuring Bleachers, appears at No. 13, while Father John Misty’s “Real Love Baby” ranks at No. 48. “Margaret” draws closer to the top 10 after initially scoring virality in October with users (mostly women) explaining what their “Roman Empire is,” referencing the trend in which women asked men how often they thought about the Roman Empire.

“Margaret” concurrently returns to the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart at No. 45, its first time on the ranking since its debut (at No. 43) in April.

The TikTok Billboard Top 50’s highest debut of the week belongs to Nicki Minaj’s “Everybody,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert, which bows at No. 9. The new song is the 11th track on Minaj’s latest album, Pink Friday 2, which simultaneously bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

“Everybody” isn’t the only song from Pink Friday 2 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50; “FTCU” debuts at No. 18. But “Everybody,” which samples Junior Senior’s “Move Your Feet,” has users doing just that on TikTok, with a variety of dancing clips among the sound’s top uploads of the week.

It bows at No. 26 on the Hot 100, the top debut from Pink Friday 2, via 16 million streams and 6,000 downloads.

Finally, Timothee Chalamet makes an appearance on a Billboard chart thanks to his rendition of “Pure Imagination” from the movie Wonka, which debuts at No. 27 after the film’s Dec. 15 premiere. Usages of the song include footage of the movie, the red carpet at its premiere, reviews of Chalamet’s singing voice and more.

See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here, also featuring debuts from NLE Choppa, Jhene Aiko, Trippie Redd and more. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.

21 Dec 2023

Chart Rewind: In 1985, George Strait Took a Seat at No. 1 With ‘The Chair’

On Dec. 21, 1985, George Strait’s “The Chair” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. It became the seventh of his record 44 career leaders on the list.

Strait tallied 18 Hot Country Songs No. 1s in the 1980s, 17 in the ‘90s and nine in the 2000s. He first led with “Fool Hearted Memory” in 1982 and most recently reigned with “River of Love” in 2009.

Hank Cochran and Dean Dillon co-wrote “The Chair,” released as a single from Strait’s album Something Special, and Strait and Jimmy Bowen produced it.

“I’ve always had a knack for picking good songs for myself,” Strait mused in a 2013 Billboard cover story. “I’ve always said that it’s hard to put my finger on what it is exactly that tells me that a song is right for me, but it comes down to the melody first. You can have a really well-written song, but without a great melody it’s probably not going to go too far. On the other hand, a great melody can do a whole lot toward making a lyric better. Great songs have both great lyrics and a great melody. Thank God for all the great writers whose songs I’ve been fortunate enough to find and record.”

Strait also boasts a record 86 Hot Country Songs top 10s, having most recently ranked in the region with “Give It All We Got Tonight” in 2013.

Strait, who was born May 18, 1952, in Poteet, Texas, made history on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in October 2019, becoming the first artist to tally 100 entries with the debut of “The Weight of the Badge,” which he co-penned with son Bubba Strait and Dillon. The song’s parent set, Honky Tonk Time Machine, became Strait’s record 27th No. 1 on Top Country Albums.

Strait, 71, is set to headline a string of stadium concerts starting May 4 in Indianapolis, with Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town.

21 Dec 2023

Nicki Minaj Says She’d Collaborate With Taylor Swift ‘In a Heart Beat’

Nicki Minaj is manifesting a collaboration with Taylor Swift. After congratulating the pop star for her successful year, the “Super Freaky Girl” rapper revealed on X that she wouldn’t hesitate to get in the studio with the 12-time Grammy winner. 

Replying to a Barb who asked Wednesday (Dec. 20), “Would you ever collab with Taylor Swift ?” Minaj simply wrote, “In a heart beat.” 

The Queen of Rap had previously shared praise for Swift on the platform, prompting the fan’s question about a potential duet between the two artists. “The [SAGITTARIUS] QUEEN TAYLOR DESERVES!!!! PERIOD!!!!!” Minaj tweeted. “She takes months & years off then comes back with great music & fans who’ll never leave her!!!!” 

“The point is that we have something to aspire to as we watch the SAG QUEEN Taylor & the swifties & Republic Records,” she continued in a follow-up tweet. 

In many regards, a team-up from Minaj and Swift is long overdue. The pair have supported each other publicly for years, and the rapper has even thanked the “Anti-Hero” singer for boosting the success of “Super Bass” by promoting it back in the day. And while they had some short-lived beef in 2015 over a VMAs-related miscommunication on what was then known as Twitter, it was quickly resolved with the two women performing together at that year’s ceremony.  

Earlier this year, many fans thought that the two hitmakers were finally teaming up for a shared track on Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version), although hopes were squashed once the pop superstar shared the album’s track list. The fruitless theories had emerged from a Swift-themed word puzzle sponsored by Google leading up to the record’s release; one of the answers was “Sagittarius,” the astrological sign of both Swift and Minaj. 

“That’s my favorite Sagittarius over there,” Swift said of the Queen Radio host at September’s VMAs. 

See Minaj’s tweets below: 

21 Dec 2023

A Timeline of Taylor Swift’s Generosity

The musician has a long history of donating her earnings.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift durante un concierto de la gira “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” en el SoFi Stadium, el 3 de agosto de 2023 en Inglewood, California.

Emma McIntyre/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Taylor Swift is one of the world’s richest and most powerful women, crossing over into billionaire territory in 2023 thanks to her blockbuster Eras Tour and record-selling Taylor’s Version releases. In fact, Billboard estimated earlier this month that Swift earned nearly $2 billion this year through her music, tour and accompanying tour film and merch — before even accounting for additional revenue from things like synchs and sponsorships.

Now, the “Anti-Hero” singer definitely puts her hard-earned wealth to personal use. She’s spent hundreds of millions of dollars on properties in New York City, California, Nashville, Rhode Island and more. She frequently travels via private jet, reportedly owning not just one, but two Dassault Falcon aircrafts. And her much-studied sense of style is aided by pricey, oftentimes designer pieces.

But luckily for those who have crossed her path, Swift has also long been generous with her riches. Through the years, the pop superstar has supported various causes, donated to charities and struggling individuals alike, and showered her fans with lavish presents in a 2014 gift-giving extravaganza known by her fandom as “Swiftmas.”

She’s also been known to be generous with her time, whether it’s meeting fans after almost every show of her pre-Eras tours completely free of charge, or making surprise appearances at unsuspecting Swifties’ weddings, bridal showers or engagement parties. There have also been times where fans have opened their front doors to find the musician waiting outside, as well as days spent dropping in to cheer up patients at hospitals.

Keep reading to see some of Swift’s most notable acts of generosity below:

21 Dec 2023

Ashley Cooke Dumps a Cheater, and Stakes Out Her Own Artistic Turf, With ‘Your Place’

Some of the most important learning experiences happen outside of the classroom, in a school of life where people trade hearts and dreams and bodies — and find out that not everyone deserves those gifts.

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Ashley Cooke knows more about the school of romantic hard knocks than she prefers.

“As a young person growing up and falling in and out of love — and what you think is love, and what actually isn’t love — I think it’s easy to get so caught up in it,” she says. “I put up with a lot of stuff in different relationships that, if you listened to my whole debut album, it’s a lot about relationships and about toxicity.”

Shot in the Dark, which Big Loud released July 21, amasses two dozen songs in that general vein. One of those tracks — “Never Til Now,” featuring a guest appearance by Brett Young— earned Cooke her first gold award from the RIAA on Dec. 5. But “Your Place,” inspired by a major disappointment, has real potential at becoming her first radio hit. It boasts an easy, singalong hook; the kind of lyrical flip that historically plays well in country; and an innate believability, thanks to its connection to one of her harshest real-world lessons.

Cooke dumped a boyfriend when she discovered he had cheated on her, and even though she was definite about closing that particular door, he kept pestering her about maybe getting back together. Cooke had a hook, “It ain’t your place,” logged into the “note graveyard” — as she calls it — on her phone, and the idea lined up perfectly with the boundary-drawing abilities that she was developing.

“You basically kind of regain your power,” she observes, “by saying, ‘Hey, you know, you don’t get to know those things anymore. You’re the reason this thing broke. You should already know that this isn’t your place anymore.’”

“Your Place” was the first idea she offered during a co-write with Jordan Minton (“Best Thing Since Backroads”) at the Nashville studio of songwriter Mark Trussell (“Good Time”) on Aug. 16, 2022. It was that rare moment when an idea was immediately obvious, but surprisingly untapped.

“It felt like something that we hadn’t heard before,” says Minton. “But also we could see the road map for the whole song when she said it.”

Cooke had a melody in mind even before she introduced the idea, so when they buckled down, starting with the chorus, Trussell began developing a chord progression beneath the topline. The passage never quite resolved, moving from the four chord through six-minor, five and the one, though Trussell played a different note on bass, keeping the sound unsettled. Played on acoustic guitar, it sounded unintentionally like it derived from 1990s alt-rock. “I liked the emotional intensity of those chords,” Trussell says.

The chorus started with three half beats — “It ain’t your…” — before Cooke found her “place” on the downbeat of the measure, leading the singer from a hazy uncertainty into defined firmness. Thus, “Your Place” melodically mirrored the lesson the song embodied.

“It has a little runway into it,” observes Minton. “It makes the whole chorus feel more conversational. She’s not belting the melody out. It’s a very kind of subdued, conversational melody, which makes it just felt like she was talking to the person.”

When they attacked the opening verse, they populated the story with loads of furniture — both songwriter “furniture” (physical objects that create a sense of scenery) and literal furniture. They included a spare key to the guy’s front door, a Jeep in the driveway, a toothbrush on the bathroom sink and a whole neighborhood reference: “Haven’t been to your side of town in weeks.” It ranged from the intimate lavatory to the larger community, those details strengthening the double meaning when she scolds the guy at the chorus: “It ain’t your place.”

Verse two shifted from objects to behaviors, with the singer warning her ex to stop reaching out to her family or to her, because, of course, “it ain’t your place.”

Finally, they fashioned a bridge, determining that they needed to reinforce the song’s message a little more strongly. Cooke wanted to do something with the cliché “You made your bed, now lie in it,” and they batted around ideas for a bit until Minton blurted out the solution: “You made your bed, and I ain’t sleeping in it.” In addition to emphasizing the song’s message, it served a full-circle function, returning to the literal furniture concept from the opening verse.

“The bed is just even closer zoomed in to that same point, ‘I’m not staying at your place,’ ” Trussell says. “Sometimes on a bridge, you want to say something different. And sometimes in a bridge, there’s not something else to say, but maybe you can say it in a more cutting way or a deeper way. In this case, I guess it is a little bit more cutting because it’s more zoomed in.”

Trussell developed a demo with several guitars, a simple drum part and an atmospheric keyboard —  a spare production that showcased the crafty lyrics but wasn’t particularly hooky. Many members of the team weren’t immediately enthusiastic about it, but as Cooke piled up tracks for the album, she kept insisting “Your Place” was important. She finally cut it during the last session for the project, on Nov. 14, 2022, at Nashville’s Ocean Way.

Producer Jimmy Robbins (Kelsea Ballerini, Maddie & Tae) endeavored to keep the final recording pared back, much like the demo, pulling it together while fighting a bad case of food poisoning. “It was horrible,” he recalls.

Drummer Nir Z, bassist Jimmie Lee Sloas, guitarists Kris Donegan and Ilya Toshinskiy, and keyboardist David Dorn used tremolo tones and pulsing parts to create a sense of movement without distracting from the message. They increased in intensity at just the right moments to enhance the song’s development.

“There’s not a ton of tracks on the record, but there’s enough there that the chorus lifts and kind of helps you feel the dynamic change,” says Robbins. “It’s not a super-rangy song where the range does all that work for you.”

Cooke recorded her vocal at Robbins’ place in one of the first sessions he held after moving to a new location. “She’s so good on the mic, and gets everything she needs to so efficiently,” Robbins says. “But this one in particular, I think we did, top to bottom, like probably three or four takes and probably most of it was the third take. She’s very good.”

Big Loud released “Your Place” to country radio via PlayMPE on Oct. 29, setting Dec. 11 as the official add date. It’s been satisfying on both a creative level and on a personal one.

“In a weird way, writing ‘Your Place’ was kind of my line in the sand of ‘Hey, I’m going to turn a new leaf and not deal with those kinds of relationships anymore,’ ” she says. “Singing that song every night on my headline tour, you feel that power kind of being put back into who you are and your worth and your respect for yourself. And it’s cool to see people in the crowd also responding to that.” 

20 Dec 2023

Joey Fatone Joins Pentatonix to Sing *NSYNC’s ‘Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays’

Pentatonix is getting into the holiday spirit during their live concerts, and to show fans just how much, the group brought out none other than Joey Fatone for one of their recent shows — part of the group’s The Most Wonderful Tour of the Year trek — to sing *NSYNC‘s holiday hit, “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.”

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The video starts with the a cappella group singing the title of the song on the into, until member Scott Hoyin takes a moment to tell the audience, “And we have special guest, *NSYNC’s Joey Fatone, everyone!” Fatone then came onto the stage in a red leather jacket to sing the track’s first verse: “We’ve been waiting/ All year for this night/ And the snow is glistening on the trees outside/ And all the stockings/ Are hung by the fireside/ Waiting for Santa to arrive.”

“This was ICONIC!!! Thank you @realjoeyfatone, you are amazing!,” the group captioned the video, shared on Wednesday (Dec. 20) to Instagram.

Fans were equally excited to see Fatone on stage — one fan in the comments section of the post wrote, “Just as my old teenage “*NSYNC mania” self was about to calm down after being revived after the VMAs and Trolls, y’all just want to make me act up again!!!” Another excited fan added, “Omg how did Joey not get more solos when he was in *NSYNC? Amazing!!!”

There may have been a bit of a generational divide amongst audience members, as one shared, “I was here and absolutely lost my mind. I almost cried. The younger girls behind me said ‘Who is that!?’”

Watch Fatone join the members of Pentatonix in the the video below.

20 Dec 2023

Frank Sinatra Ranks in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 20 for the First Time Since 1967 With ‘Jingle Bells’

A song written in 1857 by an artist born in 1915 makes its first appearance in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023.

Frank Sinatra’s version of “Jingle Bells” dashes from No. 28 to No. 20 on the Hot 100 dated Dec. 23. The song drew 16.9 million official U.S. streams (up 19%) and 15.3 million in all-format radio audience and sold 1,000 downloads Dec. 8-14, according to Luminate.

The late Chairman of the Board adds his fourth top 20 Hot 100 hit – and his first since 1967. He previously reached the region with “Strangers in the Night,” which topped the July 2, 1966, chart; “That’s Life” (No. 4 peak, December 1966) and “Somethin’ Stupid,” with daughter Nancy Sinatra (No. 1 for four weeks, beginning in April 1967).

Sinatra, who passed away in May 1998 at age 82, appears in the Hot 100’s top 20 for the first time since the chart dated June 3, 1967, when “Somethin’ Stupid” ranked at No. 16.

Sinatra initially hit the Hot 100 in October 1958, after the chart began that August, although he was on Billboard’s first song sales chart, published in July 1940 – as the vocalist at No. 1, on Tommy Dorsey’s “I’ll Never Smile Again.”

Sinatra’s version of “Jingle Bells” was originally released in 1948, and his remains the only recording of the festive favorite, written by James Lord Pierpont and published in 1857, to have hit the Hot 100.

Among the carol’s more relatively recent history, Kimberley Locke’s “Jingle Bells” sleigh-rode to No. 1 on Adult Contemporary in 2006; the Glee Cast’s cover hit No. 10 on Holiday Digital Song Sales in 2010; and Lauren Daigle’s interpretation reached No. 3 on Christian Airplay over the 2016 holidays.

Meanwhile, Meghan Trainor’s newly-released take on “Jingle Bells” rises to No. 74 on the Dec. 23 Holiday 100 chart.

20 Dec 2023

Finneas Says Billie Eilish’s Next Album Is ’85 Percent Done’

Fear not, Billie Eilish fans — the pop star’s next record is close to completion. Eilish’s brother and right hand producer Finneas spoke with Mr Porter in a Tuesday (Dec. 19) interview and revealed that his sister’s next album is “85 percent done.”

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While the percentage offers a concrete update for fans, Finneas noted that the process of creating the album was not an easy one. “I don’t think Billie was particularly sure about how she actually felt about the things we were trying to write about,” he explained. “Making a thing that you feel really connected to – it can really evade you.”

Finneas, who works with Eilish often on songwriting, additionally shared that mapping out the time between his own busy schedule for writing was difficult as he performed 88 shows in a year’s time: “I think I got a little rusty. And that was scary. It was discouraging to realize that if I take time off, my songwriting muscle atrophies. I had to get back in shape.”

Eilish’s last album, Happier Than Ever, arrived in 2021 — the set, which marked her sophomore release, crowned the Billboard 200 for three weeks and has spent a total of 124 weeks on the all genre tally. In the time since, Eilish and Finneas worked together on “What Was I Made For?” as part of Barbie: The Album; the track is up for a total of six Grammys ahead of the 66th annual Grammy Awards, including the song and record of the year categories.

Read Finneas’ interview in full here.

20 Dec 2023

RBD Closes its Soy Rebelde Reunion Tour in Mexico City: ‘We’ll See What Destiny has in Store for Us’

RBD will end a long-awaited reunion that took 15 years to come to fruition on Thursday (Dec. 21), a tour that took the famous Mexican pop group through stadiums and arenas in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and the United States for more than 50 dates. The Soy Rebelde Tour was a successful journey that surprised everyone, including its members, who never imagined what their music represented for millions of people.

“It’s beautiful,” band member Maite Perroni tells Billboard Español. “Now we see children who get excited and sing, who are the children of our fans. They make their parents come to the concerts because they want to be part of that history.”

The end of this cycle for Anahí, Dulce María, Christian Chávez, Maite Perroni and Christopher von Uckermann — which began in August in El Paso, Texas — will be at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, a forum for over 80,000 people that has welcomed icons such as Vicente Fernández, Madonna and U2. Previously, RBD filled the Foro Sol for six nights starting November 30, attracting a total of 390,000 fans, according to promoter Ocesa.

While the Soy Rebelde Tour, produced by Live Nation and T6H Entertainment, became the second most lucrative tour by any Latin artist in 2023 (only behind Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito,) the impact generated by the reunion of RBD and its fans is huge at a time when reggaeton and regional Mexican music dominate the streaming platforms.

Five (of six) returning members sat down together in an exclusive cover interview with Billboard Español shortly before hitting the road, and Perroni recounts what returning to the stage with her colleagues has meant for her and the group.

What assessment do you make of this long-awaited RBD reunion? What has been the most surprising thing about it all?

It has been very nice to meet again with so many people who have been part of our history for so many years now, 20 years, which is easy to say, but there’s a lot of loyalty, love, affection. It has been a great surprise to meet new generations — is no longer just one generation, it’s three generations! All of this has made me come to the conclusion that RBD is that powerful, loving, positive energy that moves the project. We have simply become the vocalists, the representatives of what this group is, but the truth is that the magnitude, the strength, the power, the energy, the love, the dedication, have been given to us by the audience. And we realize that RBD is today and always.

What has been the main achievement of this reunion?

That we managed to make history! That is something that was questioned in the past because RBD is a project that came out of a TV show (Rebelde,) a pop group, one of those that already existed in the world. They told us that pop music is easy, that pop bands disappeared easily, and many of us were classified in that place, and also for a long time we received, within the industry, from other colleagues, singers, songwriters, criticism, ridicule, parodies. And despite that we moved forward, building what RBD was. We believed in Rebelde and what we did. And the most beautiful thing is to see that 20 years later our history transcends to another place and that we can feel very proud that this went down in history within Latin music, pop music, and that is thanks to the people.

What was the biggest challenge?

RBD has been a project that has filled us with challenges, with many emotions, a lot of commitment. For me, RBD is more than a group of artists; for me we are brothers and sisters, with our defects and our qualities, with our good and our bad things. We love each other and understand each other. Regardless of that, for me, it has represented being able to balance three worlds: The first one with my baby, my family unit to join this dynamic; two months after my daughter was born we were already flying to Los Angeles to get to the tour rehearsals and to join a tour of almost five months and my husband’s support has been fundamental for me.

On the other hand, and it is something very personal but very important to me, is that in a very short period I had to be on stage, after giving birth, with many extra pounds on me, I had to be on a stage where there were many emotions, hopes and a lot of love, but with a very large magnifying glass to see how you look and what you do — you’re pregnant, you’re fat, you’re skinny, if you didn’t make it — and say, “I don’t care what they say, I don’t care what happens. I am on a stage sharing and being able to carry this.”

What difficulties did you encounter in this process?

The first thing was to commit ourselves in a much more adult way to our project, to commit ourselves to creating a company, a society, to get involved from the administrative and the legal side, and to make decisions that were decisive so that we could continue our tour, take the reins of our history, do things the right way. But I can say that today I leave with my heart full, knowing that the effort was worth it — RBD is worth it — and that together we will always be better and stronger.

What’s in RBD’s future?

The reality is that our last concert is on December 21st. We have hopes, desires. It has been beautiful! Of course the hope of being able to continue building something together remains. We’ll see what destiny and life have in store for us; we don’t know today. We are in a different process, in this closing cycle, finishing this tour in Mexico, at the Estadio Azteca, very excited and tremendously grateful.