Music

21 Sep 2023

Billboard Exclusive: Hear Ingrid Michaelson Sing a New Track From Her Score for Broadway’s ‘The Notebook’

For nearly the past six years, singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson has been working on-and-off on a momentous new project — but it’s not a new album. Michaelson is the composer and lyricist behind one of the most highly anticipated new musicals coming to Broadway next year: The Notebook, based on the bestselling novel by Nicholas Sparks that inspired the beloved romantic movie of the same name.

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The material always felt like a natural fit for musical storytelling, Michaelson tells Billboard, “because of the time jumps. You can make that material magical and that means you can make it theatrical — and magic and suspending disbelief always leads to musical moments in my opinion.”

The Notebook begins Broadway previews Feb. 10 with an opening set for March 14, 2024, but tickets go on sale to the general public Sept. 26, with an exclusive Spotify pre-sale on Sept. 22 — and in anticipation of that, Michaelson is exclusively debuting with Billboard her cover track from the show, “Is This Love?”

“I don’t think it’s a linear line from my original solo stuff” to The Notebook’s score, Michaelson says, “but my inclination to lean on melody is the same.” This new track, she says, felt like an “exciting“ song to debut that also felt “authentic to me and my experience,” and thus “a natural choice” to introduce the public to the sound of the show.

Writing for Broadway has “been one of the most collaborative and exciting creative experiences of my life. It has also forced me to have patience! Something I have very little of,” Michaelson jokes. “But I am getting better. Slowly.”

Billboard debuts “Is This Love?” exclusively here.

21 Sep 2023

How the Distasteful Topic of Scotty McCreery’s ‘Cab in a Solo’ Still Ended Up Going Down Smoothly

Sometimes shadows conceal the truth, but often they reveal it.

Several of country’s historic songs have placed the singer outside of a house where the actions occurring inside — usually conveyed through shadows — announce the hard truth that a relationship is over.

Jim Reeves’ 1957 recording “Two Shadows on Your Window” and Wynonna’s 1992 single “I Saw the Light” each find the singer spotting two silhouettes in one embrace, a sign that the protagonist is a permanent outsider. Toby Keith’s 1994 drive-by “Who’s That Man” agonizes over the guy living with his former family and sleeping with his ex-wife. Rhett Akins’ “That Ain’t My Truck” spies the other guy’s pickup in the driveway and the “shadow on her wall,” and knows he’s lost a competition.

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The title of Scotty McCreery’s new single, “Cab in a Solo,” doesn’t obviously announce that scenario — on paper, its meaning is likely confusing to all but the most ardent wine connoisseurs — but as its plot unwinds, McCreery’s character is outside of his now-former girlfriend’s house, watching a kiss play out in the shadows on her bedroom wall. When she turns off the light, it doesn’t take much imagination to know what he imagines.

“It’s not a smiling song,” he says. “But I’m happy to sing it, because it kind of takes me back to what I grew up listening to.”

What McCreery listened to in his youth was ’90s country, and “Cab in a Solo” was an attempt to emulate the sound of that era. He hosted a writing retreat at his home in the North Carolina mountains this year with songwriter Brent Anderson (“Lonely Tonight”) and songwriter-producer Frank Rogers (“Five More Minutes,” “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)”).

The two guests did their homework ahead of the trip, trying to set up some ideas that would fit the bill. Rogers had a title that neither he nor Anderson loved — to this day, they don’t remember the original. But Anderson changed it, Rogers reshaped it, and it finally became “Cab in a Solo,” shorthand for “cabernet in a Solo cup.” Anderson got a laugh when he imagined the final hook: “Drinkin’ cab in a Solo/ Solo in the cab of my truck.”

“That’s the cool thing about co-writing,” says Anderson. “The point for me is to write something with somebody else that you wouldn’t write alone.”

They paired it with an almost grinding signature guitar lick. Then they brought it up to McCreery in North Carolina after writing several other songs with a scenic view from his back deck on March . McCreery was in on “Cab” from the beginning, but it required that they map out the story a bit. That was one of the easiest parts of the exercise.

“We have to be in a truck, and you have to have wine,” Anderson quips. “Your path is kind of laid out inherently in the hook already.”

They landed on a guy who realizes during a break in a relationship that he wants to move forward. He buys a quality bottle of red and heads to her house to rekindle the romance. And of course, he discovers when he arrives that, based on the shadows in her bedroom, she’s already moved forward with someone else. Instead of writing it in linear fashion, they bounced among different stanzas — “Maybe a little bit of the ADHD/squirrel thing happened,” suggests McCreery — and they settled on a Silver Oak 1998 as the brand at hand. The outdoorsy name has a country vibe, though more importantly, it’s an expensive option (about $115, according to several websites) for a blue-collar guy. And it fit Rogers’ taste.

“At some point, I just threw out Silver Oak because I liked the wine,” he says. “It was a little deeper detail with that point, and if he’s going to make up for something, it’s not going to be [Trader Joe’s] Barefoot or Two Buck Chuck. It’s going to be something pretty good.”

Once the protagonist realizes his plans are dashed, the guy addresses his options in verse two: Does he take the bottle back for a refund? He ultimately decides to drink it right there at the curb while his ex is making out in the house. It’s a tragic story, though told with tongue in cheek and with a melody that would appeal to George Strait.

After they initially uncorked “Cab in a Solo,” the song tumbled out in a scant 90 minutes. Anderson whipped up a basic demo with a recording rig on the back deck around 1 a.m., and McCreery gave it a quality vocal. Its finish was rich, too.

“This was the song that I just kept coming back to when I was in my truck running errands or if I put my earbuds in before bed,” says McCreery.

Rogers co-produced “Cab” with Derek Wells (HARDY, Maddie & Tae) and Aaron Eshuis (Ryan Hurd) at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios. Wells did a basic guitar part, knowing he would have overdub opportunities later, then spent the rest of the session in the control room with the production team. Steel guitarist Mike Johnson was given plenty of room to affect the texture, and drummer Evan Hutchings played snare on the rim during the verses, subtly re-creating the ’90s vibe amid some other modern textures. The arrangement was relatively spare compared with more contemporary productions, and the musicians were careful to make all the parts work together.

“When the tracks are less dense, everything has to match,” Wells says.

Later, Wells went to work on the signature lick. They had pitched the master recording higher than the demo, but in the new key, the original riff “didn’t have the gusto to it,” he says.

“We kind of overhauled it,” he adds. “It’s kind of stacked up and doubled, with some more lower octaves in some different positions, just to beef it up and make it feel like it was as impactful as it had been on the demo in the new key. I think there’s even a baritone [guitar] tucked in underneath it to make it feel really pronounced and strong.”

McCreery delivered the final vocal without complication under Rogers’ guidance, though they took one additional pass and experimented with some vocal ornaments at the end of a few lines that approximate Keith Whitley. “I haven’t really recorded a bunch of those songs where I can really do that kind of stuff,” says McCreery. “It was just me having fun with it, and it really turned into a signature part of the song.”

“They’re not easy at all,” Rogers says of those inflections. “I promise you, if I get to the point where I decide to do [“Cab”] on a writers night, I will not be doing that.”

With McCreery’s affinity for the song, its clever wordplay and the current interest in ’90s country, it was an obvious choice for a single. Triple Tigers released “Cab in a Solo” to country radio via PlayMPE on Aug. 18, and it floats at No. 41 on the Country Airplay chart dated Sept. 23. No one in the shadows took issue with the decision.

“It was a consensus,” says McCreery. “Doesn’t happen a bunch, but when we have consensus, don’t second-guess it.”

21 Sep 2023

*NSYNC Drop a Record Amount of F-Bombs, Wave ‘Bye, Bye, Bye’ to Taste Buds on Epic ‘Hot Ones’ Episode

Back in the day, promo tours for *NSYNC might have found the boy band visiting MTV’s TRL for some light grilling, or stopping by radio stations and network morning shows for a performance and chat. But this is 2023, so of course the guys — Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, Lance Bass and Joey Fatone — had to make the now-obligatory stop at the YouTube series Hot Ones, where the questions were easy, but the damage was real.

With 60 wings arrayed before them — and Timberlake and Fatone going rogue with no milk or water to soothe their aching mouths — the guys tried to answer some softballs from host Sean Evans while keeping their cool. Spoiler: it was not pretty.

For example, when Evans asked about the difference to approaching a song in 2023 versus 25 years ago, Timberlake said their plan for the reunion track “Better Place” from his Trolls Band Together threequel was “to try to capture both. For our fans that have been with us for so long, to give them something that felt not necessarily nostalgic, but familiar.”

Easy enough.

Kirkpatrick then dove into the mechanics of boy bands, saying, for instance, that a “put together” group like One Direction had “five guys that are amazing singers and great soloists,” which meant each had to fight for where their spot would be. “We kinda knew we sucked at singing certain things,” he added as an insulted Fatone said “speak for yourself!”

“So we just fell into our spots and we knew our place,” Kirkpatrick added, as the rest of the group broke out into a familial, easy laughter that hinted at their deep bond.

As the scoville heat levels began to rise and the five started feeling the burn, they had a good laugh about their technical difficulties back in the day, including Fatone getting his legs smashed in a “toaster” bit that was supposed to pop him up on to the stage, but instead almost folded him in half.

They kept it chill as they recalled hearing their song on the radio for the first time, girls breaking into JT’s hotel room and hiding in the closet and confirming rumors that three of them were cast as Jedi warriors (and later cut out) in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Timberlake and Bass, however, were “so butt hurt” that they weren’t asked.

Timberlake also confirmed that their Swedish producers — including Max Martin — insisted he pronounce “me” like “may” on “It’s Gonna Be Me,” which he said somehow made the song sound better and, of course, made for killer memes decades later.

By the time the scoville’s reached 135,000 the f-bombs started dropping and, well, they then came fast and furious as Timberlake — who had appeared on the show before, so should have known better — began to regret that no water thing as the guys tried to focus on their nuttiest looks from days gone by.

“Why is this a thing?!” JT wondered as Chasez asked what the “swearing quota” was for the show; for the record, chef Gordon Ramsay holds the high mark with more than 130, though they tried their best to beat the Hell’s Kitchen star at his f-bomb game. Timberlake and Fatone looked like they were dunked in sweat as Bass easily ticked off the band’s top five songs.

Watch the full *NSYNC Hot Ones episode below.

21 Sep 2023

Jada Pinkett Smith Shares Throwback Clip of Her & Tupac Lip-Syncing Will Smith’s ‘Parents Just Don’t Understand’: Watch

Will Smith’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand” is one of those songs that will always resonate with each new generation. For some, like his wife, Emmy-winning actress and talk show host Jada Pinkett Smith, the song holds myriad memories. On Wednesday (Sept. 20), Pinkett Smith shared an adorable throwback video of her and the late Billboard Hot 100-topping rapper Tupac lip-syncing to Smith’s 1988 hit single.

“Not in a million years would I have dreamed that the Fresh Prince and I would become, um, very acquainted. Not in a million years did I imagine three lives, their fates, would be so intertwined,” she wrote in a lengthy caption. “And… I never would have imagined that this video would become a tangible memory, of the last time Pac and I, were simply kids together. Pac and I lip syncing Parents Just Don’t Understand by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince during our Junior year in high school. Who would have thought?”

The caption appears to be an excerpt from a chapter from Worthy, Pinkett Smith’s forthcoming memoir. In the clip, she dons a collection of gold chains, a black top and grays shorts as she lip-syncs and dances along to the song with Pac, who sports a blank sleeveless tank, black shorts and similar gold chains. Era-appropriate hairstyles and visual effects help round out the vintage clip. In a second post, Pinkett Smith joked that the pair did a “terrible job” lip-syncing.

Smith, as one-half of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, released “Parents Just Don’t Understand” as the second single from 1988’s He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper. The song peaked at No. 12 on the Hot 100, and won the inaugural Grammy for best rap performance. Under her first post — Pinkett Smith limited the comments of the second clip — DJ Jazzy Jeff commented, “Absolutely amazing.”

Since Pac’s unfortunate passing in 1996, Pinkett Smith has often relived her memories with him in front of the public. In 2017, she revealed that she was a drug dealer when she first met him, and in 2021, she shared an unpublished poem from the “Dear Mama” rapper. While Pac was alive, Pinkett Smith appeared in his “Keep Ya Head Up” and “Temptations” music videos, and covered $100,000 for his bail after he was convicted for sexual abuse. While the two stars never officially dated, their incredibly close friendship has become a point of public debate, especially in light of her and Smith’s “entanglement” controversies — hence the feisty comment section under the first throwback clip.

Worthy is slated for an Oct. 17 publication date.

Check out Jada Pinkett Smith’s throwback Tupac clips below:

21 Sep 2023

Sophie Turner Sues Joe Jonas, Demands ‘Immediate Return’ of Couple’s Children

The divorce proceedings between Jonas Brothers member Joe Jonas and estranged wife Sophie Turner took a dramatic turn on Thursday (Sept. 21) when the former Game of Thrones actress filed a lawsuit in Manhattan demanding the return of the couple’s two minor daughters to her native England.

The Messenger was first to report the news that Turner’s suit — which Billboard has reviewed — requested the “immediate return of children wrongfully removed or wrongfully retained.” The legal filing claims the “wrongful retention” began on Wednesday (Sept. 20). The suit also notes that Turner, 27, and Jonas, 34, agreed last Christmas that despite having a “peripatetic lifestyle” due to their careers in entertainment, their “forever home” would be in England and that they would start looking for schools for eldest daughter, Willa, 3. The Turner filing lists more than a dozen rental properties the couple lived in between September 2022 and April 2023, including several in New York and London, as well as ones in Italy, Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas.

Both children have dual citizenship in the U.K. and U.S., and Turner’s suit claims that the couple found a “beautiful country property” in Henley on Thames in England during a nearly eight-month search for a U.K. residence, and “both agreed they would purchase the home for their permanent residence” with plans to move into their new house in December in time for the Christmas holidays.

The lawsuit claims the couple entered a contract to sell their Miami home on April 16 after relocating to England a week earlier, around the time when Turner began filming the mini-series Joan and Jonas launched the Five Albums. One Night. The World Tour trek with brothers Nick and Kevin. It also states that Jonas and Turner agreed “with hesitation” that Willa and their second daughter, born in June 2022 (whose name has not been revealed yet), would travel on tour with the singer (and the family’s nanny) because he had more free time during the day than the actress, but that the arrangement was only “temporary.”

“The children would then at least be able to spend some time during the day with one of their parents until the Mother finished her filming commitments,” the document claims.

Jonas filed a petition for the dissolution of the marriage on Sept. 5, stating that that “the marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken,” following what Turner described in her lawsuit as an argument on the singer’s birthday on Aug. 15. The day after Jonas’ filing, the couple released a joint statement on their respective social media accounts confirming the split.

“After four wonderful years of marriage we have mutually decided to amicably end our marriage,” their statement read. “There are many speculative narratives as to why but, truly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children.”

Turner’s suit also claims she found out about the divorce “through the media” on Sept. 5, and she has yet to respond to his filing. Two weeks later, the couple reportedly met up to discuss the separation plans, at which point Turner allegedly “reiterated” her desire to have the children move to England.

Jonas’ Florida divorce filing stated that the children had been living with him in Miami and other U.S. locations, but that “it is in the best interests of the minor children that the parties have shared parental responsibility.”

However, Turner claims in her filing that “the Father has possession of the children’s passports… he refuses to return the passports to the Mother and refuses to send the children home to England with the Mother.” According to her suit, she filed her action after Jonas’ attorney said the singer would not return the passports or consent to the move on Sept. 19. “The Father has prevented the children’s return to England, which is a breach of the Mother’s rights of custody under English law, England being the children’s habitual residence,” reads the Turner filing.

In a statement to Billboard, a representative for Jonas denied the actress’ claim that she learned about his divorce filing via the media, and said that the former couple had met Sunday in New York, where they agreed to “work together towards an amicable co-parenting setup.”

“Joe is seeking shared parenting with the kids so that they are raised by both their mother and father, and is of course also OK with the kids being raised both in the U.S. and the U.K.,” the statement continued. “This is an unfortunate legal disagreement about a marriage that is sadly ending.”

“His wish is that Sophie reconsider her … legal position and move forward in a more constructive and private manner. His only concern is the well-being of the children.”

Reps for Turner have not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.

Turner and Jonas began dating in 2016 and married in a low-key ceremony in Las Vegas in May 2019, followed by a lavish wedding at the Chateau de Tourreau in the south of France in June of that year.

21 Sep 2023

20 Questions With Fatboy Slim: What He’s Learned From David Byrne, a Lost Night Out With Cher & 25 Years of ‘You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby’

Sometimes, in the middle of a set, Fatboy Slim steps back from the decks — barefoot, because he doesn’t play with shoes on — and takes a moment.

“I look at the crowd and feel the atmosphere and the evening and take a little mental snapshot,” the producer born Norman Cook tells Billboard over Zoom from his home office in Brighton Beach, U.K. “Maybe everyone’s like ‘What the hell’s he doing? Is he having some sort of major panic attack?’ But it’s a good thing.’”

These instances are Cook consciously absorbing his work and his life and the general fun and power of what he does. It’s a habit cultivated amidst a four-decade career in which some moments have been lost in a haze of partying (Cook marked 14 years of sobriety this past March). As of late, there’s been a lot of to absorb.

A global star for decades now, Cook, 60, has been touring heavily, hitting Europe, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and beyond this year. In 2022, he celebrated the 20-year anniversary of his first Big Beach Boutique event — which in 2002 drew 250,000 people to the beach in Cook’s hometown of Brighton — and also launched his own festival, All Back to Minehead. That event returns to Minehead, U.K. this November.

Ahead of that, Cook is also playing a rare Los Angeles set this Saturday (Sept. 23), headlining downtown L.A.’s Pershing Square for a show produced by L.A. promoter Framework and featuring support from DJ Holographic and Francis Mercier.

The party continues next month, with the 25-year anniversary of Fatboy Slim’s massive 1998 LP You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby. One of the definitive albums of the big beat era, the project contained the crossover classics “The Rockafeller Skank” and “Praise You” and hit No. 34 on the Billboard 200 in May of 1999. In all, the Fatboy Slim catalog has aggregated 390 million on demand streams in the U.S., according to Luminate.

Funny, deep and affable over Zoom, Cook compares the heights of this album to “what being on top of a wave must feel like.” Here, he reflects on that period, shares what he’s learned from David Byrne (his collaborator on the currently running Broadway show Here Lies Love), and reflects on a forgotten night out with Cher.

1. Where are you in the world right now, and what’s the setting like?

I am on Brighton Beach. We’re experiencing a heat wave, which is very un-British. But it’s very British to have heat waves at the wrong time. It’s like, 32 degrees [90 degrees Fahrenheit] here.

2. What is the first album or piece of music you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?

The first album I ever bought was a cassette of Black and Blue by The Rolling Stones. That’s the first time I could afford to buy an actual real pre-recorded cassette. It was very groundbreaking, because it was the first time I got into production.

There’s a tune on on it called “Fool to Cry.” It’s a really beautiful song, and it started with this noise, and I became obsessed with finding out what this noise was, because it wasn’t a guitar. Then someone said, ‘Oh, it’s a Fender Rhodes played through a chorus.” That was the first time I asked, “How do you make that noise?” I’ve spent the rest of my career asking that same question. I’m a little bit more informed these days.

3. What did your parents do for a living when you were a kid, and what did they think of what you’ve done and do now?

My dad worked for a glass company, but he actually launched bottle banks. He launched recycling in England. It wasn’t his idea. He just got landed with that job. So he introduced the idea of bottle banks and glass recycling to the country and got the MBE for it, which is quite cool. My mum was a teacher.

My mum is very, very proud of me and always loved music and my capacity to enjoy and perform music. My dad, not so much. He was a negative influence, because he told me that pop music is rubbish and “you want to get yourself a proper job.” So I had kind of good cop, bad cop. One person telling me it was a terrible thing to do, which made me want to do it more. And then another person telling me that was a really great thing to do, which made me want to do it more.

4. What is the first non-gear thing you bought for yourself when you started making money as an artist?

Non-gear? Oh, right. Equipment you mean. Gear means something else in England. [laughs] Right. The first thing I bought was a car that worked and got you from A to B. I was the only one in the band with a car. It was my first luxury. It was a Chrysler Alpine.

5. If you had to recommend one album for someone looking to get into dance music, what would you give them?

I would say, just to not be obvious, Duck Rock by Malcolm McLaren. Malcolm McLaren was the manager of the Sex Pistols, okay. And he was like a svengali character and after the Sex Pistols split up, he was very much an arbiter of what was going on. He was working in New York and picked up on hip-hop really early, got invited to these the Bronx parties with Bambaata and everyone. And so he made this album called Duck Rock, and it had DJs and scratching and rapping on it. He also went to South Africa and worked with a lot of South African musicians and then he glued them on to the tunes he made with the DJs and with rappers, and then he did a song about double dutch skipping. It was like a snapshot of everything that interesting that was going on in the world of culture.

The cover was done by Keith Haring, and that’s the first time I’d ever seen Keith Haring’s work, and so that introduced me to the world of art and opened my eyes to the idea of sampling things from around the world and bringing them together and making dance music.

6. What’s the last song you listened to?

The last song I listened to, let me have a look… [he looks into his computer] .. a tune called “Beginners” by Angelo Ferreri. Just a tune for my sets. Didn’t listen to it for pleasure, though. It kind of is a pleasure, but it was like a work thing. Do you want to hear a bit of it?

Sure! [we listen]

So that’s why I spend most of my days doing, just trolling the internet looking for songs to go into my DJ sets… I’ll be honest, most of them I get sent. I’m kind of seen as an influential DJ, and so record companies send me stuff. I get about 30 emails a day with people sending me the new tunes, but I make it a point to give everyone at least five seconds listen. Most of them I dislike. Like, “Okay, that’s drum and bass.” “Okay, that’s EDM.” But if I get one new good tune a week… that’s why I get so excited when I find one I really like.

7. I understand you’re an art collector. What’s your collection like?

It’s expanding rapidly at the moment. It started with Keith Haring. Basically I dug what he did on the Malcolm McLaren album, and then when I travelled being in a band, first place we went to Amsterdam, and first show I saw was a museum with a Keith Haring exhibition. I’m like, “That’s the dude that did the album cover,” so I went, and it just blew me away. It must have been about 1985.

So I started collecting Keith Haring, and then I was really into mainly street art. I’ve always collected it, but over the years as I’ve diversified a bit I’ve started working with artists. I love it, because I’m a complete fanboy with artists. With other musicians, we’ll talk shop, and the magic is somehow lost because I know how they make the records. But with artists it’s like, “How do you do that? How do you come up with ideas?”

8. You’re doing your own festival, All Back to Minehead, in the U.K. in November. You obviously play around the world and see every type of event. What are you doing to make this one uniquely yours?

Obviously I curate all the acts and entertainment. But the main two things for me are that the venue is a classic British holiday camp. In the ’50s and ’60s, that was what English people did, we went to holiday camps. They’re kind of chalets — some of them are like borderline army barracks… There’s this whole culture about it. It’s where The Beatles cut their teeth, and all the bands used to go and play there. It’s a very British institution. A few of these holiday camps still exist, and they’re kind of [struggling], because now everybody can afford to go off to Ibiza and Spain.

The other thing is that the only thing uniting [the festival] is people who like my taste in music and my sense of humor. It’s all ages, very strange cross section of society, but then you put 5,000 of them in a little village where we all live together for a weekend, and it’s hilarious. It’s like the British version of Burning Man, only it’s not sunny or very picturesque. It’s quite down and everybody dresses quite stupid and we don’t think we’re very cool. But there is that feeling of community. I did it for the first time last year and didn’t know if it would work, and it just absolutely knocked my socks off how everybody got involved.

9. Next month is the 25-year anniversary of You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby. What are your strongest memories of the release of the time the album was released, and its insane success?

The main thing I remember is just the momentum of it all. I’m not a surfer, but I can imagine it was what being on top of a wave must feel like. There’s something behind you driving it along, and all you can do is try and stay on and ride it with a bit of style, because it’s going there anyway.

Musically, the whole big beat thing, everybody wanted a piece of us, because we were doing something different. I’d just gotten married to the most famous TV presenter in England, so we’d become the celebrity couple. All of these things were driving it along. We were just having a lot of fun trying to stay on and throw a few shapes before the wave crested.

10. Are you satisfied with how you did on that wave?

I’m still alive — which wasn’t a given, considering some of my behavior at the time. I survived it. I rode it to the shore, but I didn’t get on the next one.

11. By choice?

Yeah. It did freak me out somewhat. Because by that point, I’d already been in the music business for 10 or 15 years, so it wasn’t my first rodeo. But this just engulfs your whole life, and when you’ve got photographers following you wherever you go, and if you fart in the wrong place you end up on the front page of the newspapers, it was quite scary. It wasn’t quite what I was signed up for. You know I’ve always loved music, and I wanted to be a success and be appreciated for the music I made. But I never signed up for being famous. So I kind of took my foot off the gas, deliberately a bit — which, with the benefit of hindsight, 25 years later, here I stand. I still have a career, and I still have my health. So I think I did all right.

12. Do you see your career ever coming to a close? Is there a retirement plan, or does it just go in perpetuity?

No, I tried retirement during lockdown. I had an enforced retirement for a year. Didn’t agree with me at all. I think I’ve gotten to a point now where I can probably ride this one out until I drop. In some shape or form I think they’ll always be a place for me to be doing something. As long as I’m enjoying it and other people are still enjoying it, I don’t see any reason to stop.

13. Or even slowing down?

I mean, I don’t do it at the same pace I used to. I turned 60 this year. I can’t do the stupid things I used to, but I’m quite happy to play until I drop. Athletes have to retire early, boy bands have to retire early, but with DJs, it’s not about our looks or our fitness or anything like that. We can go gray and bald and fat, because we were never supposed to be pinups anyway.

14. You mentioned the forced retirement of the pandemic. I imagine the disparity between being onstage, then just being in the silence and quiet of your house, and how that gulf is so wide. What was that time like for you?

I’m all right with that. The thing I couldn’t deal with is not having an outlet for my joy of music, because my love of music involves sharing it with other people. If I hear a new tune, I’ve got to play it with someone. Like a tree falling in the forest, and no one hearing it — if I don’t share these tunes with people, for me, they don’t have a life. That’s what I noticed during lockdown. That’s why I did a weekly podcast, because I still had to play these tunes to people.

Obviously, I don’t want to live my whole life in that glamorous travel world, so I love coming home and doing the school run and being a quiet dad. But all the while I’m stoking the fire, getting tunes ready for the next weekend.

15. You’ve been touring around the world this year, Europe, all over the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and a few days in the U.S. Is there anything special about American audiences?

I’m always aware of the history. I played Chicago the other weekend, and just being in Chicago, where it all happened… I was in New York doing this show that I did with David Byrne, and Todd Terry turned up to the musical. To some of the Broadway producers, I was like, “F–king Todd Terry is here!” And they were like, “Who’s Todd Terry?”

I’m like, “God, he invented house music right under your noses 30 or 40 years ago.” In England he’s revered as God because of what he did, but he kind of had to come to Europe to get famous. So I’m very aware of going back to where things started, Detroit or Chicago or New York, where the music was was made.

16. Say more about that?

I’ve kind of had a bit of a checkered history [in the U.S.] I first came around 25 years ago, and things were going really well in America. I was over there a lot. Then EDM happened, and I didn’t want to be on that wave, so I let things slip in America. I probably don’t travel enough to America. There’s tons of stuff going on in Brazil and Argentina and Australia and Japan. And so yeah, America got a bit forgotten — which I do apologize for. But I like that I can come over and people are really not blown out, because they haven’t seen me for 10 years.

17. What’s been the proudest moment of your career thus far?

The gigs on Brighton Beach. I’ve had six enormous gigs on the beach in my hometown. It doesn’t get any much better than this, because I love the city that I live in. I’m very, very proud of it. And they seem to be proud of me. It’s a bit like a scene from the film, like the triumphant homecoming and local boy does good.

18. What’s the best business decision you’ve ever made?

Employing my manager. The first person I met who wasn’t my record company, in the music business, was a guy called Garry Blackburn. He was my plugger at first. That was 1985, and I’ve worked with him ever since. He’s only about six years older than me, but he’s like my dad. We’ve been through heaven and hell together. More heaven than hell, but he’s been there for me during the crunchy bits. He’s been really good for me, because he just allows me to do what I do and then translates that into business. I’m useless in business. I have no idea.

19. Maybe you just answered my next question, but who’s been your greatest mentor and what’s the best advice they ever gave you?

The person who’s most inspired me is David Byrne. He musically inspired me, then I worked with him writing this musical 15 or 20 years ago. Working with him really set me on a [path] of where I am today, doing other things outside music.

Look what he did: He started a record label and started putting out Brazilian music, then he does art things. He’s got such an inquisitive mind about everything, always asking, “How can we make it more fun?” I’ve just found him such an inspiration. He’s been the blueprint. After working with him, I looked at all the other things he’d done and said, “Well, that’s how you do longevity, by not being held back by, ‘I’ve got to make an album every three years and have hits.’

Once you’ve done enough albums to have hits and have a name, then it’s like, “Well, let’s flex some other muscles.” Let’s do an art project and other things in your life that interest you, let’s invite them into your life. If you’re respected enough, if your reputation is enough, then you get to hang out with other people and swap ideas and do things that aren’t necessarily just about having hit records. He does things that interest him, rather than just being on the hamster wheel.

20. What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self?

Apart from, “Try not to do that, or marry that” — you know, notable mistakes — I would say just try and savor and remember more of it. There are huge amounts of things I don’t remember from my partying days. Someone will say “What is Cher like?” and I’m like “I never met Cher,” and they’re like, “Yes you did, you spent an evening with her” and then they show me photos of me and Cher having a night out, and I’m like, “Oh my God.”

Someone said to me, when I got married, “Take time for the two of you to walk away from your guests for a couple of minutes and soak up the moment, because you want to remember your life.” That was really good advice — and it did work, because we remember that moment.

I just wish I’d done a bit more of that, rather than doing everything by instinct and adrenaline, that I’d sat back and took it all in, because I’ve had the most beautiful life. I’ve gotten to work my whole career in an industry I love, in and around music I love. Most people don’t get to do that. I’ve done some really excellent and excellently fulfilling things. I just wish I remembered all of them.

21 Sep 2023

Young Nudy’s ‘Peaches & Eggplants’ Springs Into Top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart

Young Nudy achieves a milestone feat as his song “Peaches & Eggplants” featuring 21 Savage pushes 14-7 to reach the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The track advances on the list dated Sept. 23 after the release of its remix with Latto and Sexyy Red on Sept. 8. (As the original version of “Peaches & Eggplants” contributes most of the week’s activity, the song’s chart listing is not updated to include Latto and Sexxy Red.)

“Peaches & Eggplants” becomes the East Atlanta, Ga.-native’s second Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs top 10 and matches his prior such hit, 2022’s “Umbrella” with Metro Boomin and 21 Savage, for his best career peak on the list. Unlike “Umbrella,” however, an album cut from Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains album that debuted at its peak and spent five weeks on the chart, “Peaches & Eggplants” has steadily worked its way up, cracking the top 10 in its 19th week on the list.

For featured artist 21 Savage, who is also Young Nudy’s cousin, “Peaches & Eggplants” is his 28th visit to the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs’ top 10, and his second debut in the region in 2023, following his and Rob49’s supporting spots on Travis Scott’s “Topia Twins,” which launched at No. 10 last month.

In the latest tracking week, Sept. 8 -14, “Peaches & Eggplants” garnered 11.7 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate, up 68% from 7 million in the prior week. The surge powers a 23-6 flight on R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs, where it captures the week’s Greatest Gainer tag for the biggest increase among the chart’s 25 titles.

In the radio world, the song also registered 11.7 million audience impressions across all formats, a 5% lift compared with the previous frame. On the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, “Peaches & Eggplants” scores another top 10 placement, moving 11-10 thanks to 9.6 million impressions from that format, up 8% in that sector. Plus, the song holds at No. 10 for a third week on Rap Airplay, with a 4% boost in the latest tracking week.

Elsewhere, “Peaches & Eggplants” rallies 11-6 on Hot Rap Songs and 51-33 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.

21 Sep 2023

How Nelson Albareda’s Fearlessness Made Loud And Live a Formidable Latin Promoter

The first time Nelson Albareda promoted a show at the Madison Square Garden complex in New York — not at the arena proper, but at the 5,600-capacity theater beneath it — everyone told him, “You’re going to lose your ass.” Albareda, a Miami-born Cuban, had assembled what to him was a dream lineup: a 50th-anniversary celebration of groundbreaking salsa artist and Fania Records co-founder Johnny Pacheco, featuring Pacheco and the Fania All-Stars. Still, his detractors were right: Albareda lost $200,000 on the 2006 show.

But after the music ended, the promoter was still buzzing. At midnight, he took his parents, who had attended, to a nearby deli, where his father asked, “How are you laughing? You lost 200 grand!”

“Well, it’s part of the business,” Albareda told him. “We keep moving on.”

Seventeen years later, Albareda, now 47, stands by that take. “In this business, you lose money, and it’s not how quickly you fall but how quickly you come back,” he says.

That fearlessness has helped Albareda become one of today’s most successful music executives. After nearly two decades working at labels and in radio, marketing and concert promotion, including as the leader of his formidable company Eventus, Albareda founded Loud And Live in 2017. The forward-thinking outfit’s flywheel-style model combines independent concert promotion — in 2022, it ranked at No. 14 on Billboard Boxscore’s year-end promoters chart with $96.5 million grossed, propelled by major tours including arena runs by Camilo and Ricardo Arjona — with marketing, brand partnerships and a content development studio. Loud And Live’s breadth reflects Albareda’s own guiding ethos, which emphasizes a broader culture and how disparate revenue streams fit into it, rather than focusing on just one or two of those streams.

“I was very proud of my culture and my heritage, and I wanted to give back,” Albareda says. “I got into music because of culture and because of pride, not necessarily because of the business — even though I ended up being in the business.”

For Albareda, who grew up in Miami during a “golden age” for music in the city in the 1980s, running Loud And Live is a natural fit. As a kid, he would listen to any cassettes or CDs he could get his hands on — he cites Cuban salsa singer Willie Chirino as a childhood favorite and inspiration — and he fondly recalls attending the Calle Ocho festival, where he saw Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine perform.

“I grew up in a moment where Miami defined different sounds within the music business and always wanted to be part of that, primarily because of culture and the heritage of my parents,” he says.

Albareda’s entrée into the industry, while circuitous, laid the foundation for his interdisciplinary career. As a Miami Dade College freshman, he scored a meeting with Bacardi executives and successfully pitched “a branded entertainment concept … mixing music and cigars and the whole lifestyle around a big band.” As the project of “creating a 1950s, 1960s tropical salsa band” commenced, the team enlisted Celia Cruz — and when executives from her label, RMM, got to know Albareda, they offered him a publicity job in-house. RMM was distributed by Universal, then affiliated with the Bronfman family, which owned beverage conglomerate Seagrams; Albareda shared office space with the spirits division and began consulting for the likes of Absolut and Chivas Regal. The experience was formative, and after leaving RMM, he logged time at advertising agency Sanchez and Levitan before landing in radio at Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., where he deployed his passions for music and marketing.

“I saw an opportunity to make money on everything but the radio,” Albareda says. “I started a team that would do events, concerts, festivals — and then we also would go to the brands and say, ‘Hey, you’re Procter & Gamble. How do I help you?’ ”

Albareda understood the deep bond between radio audiences, particularly Hispanic listeners, and their favorite stations — and how it could be harnessed to deliver returns to brand partners. “You listened to that morning show, and you trusted that morning show,” he says. “You trusted the conviction that those are your friends. You wake up every day with them; you drive home with them. That’s what I built: You had the relationship with the artists, you had the relationship with the brands, you have the relationship with the listeners.”

As the company underwent changes, culminating in its absorption into Univision, Albareda realized, “Hey, I can do this without radio. Let me go on my own and really focus on this.” His first, short-lived attempt, a company called Unipro Group, failed when the 26-year-old Albareda misjudged the viability of a Christmas event and lost $3 million. “It was a decisive moment in my life,” he says now. “You realize when you’re at the bottom, you don’t have that many friends.”

After regrouping, in early 2005, he founded Eventus, which would focus on marketing and brands — not just because he knew the area well, but because he now lacked the capital to put on events. Eventus’ first client was the Latin Recording Academy, then still relatively new and looking to grow its footprint. Albareda helped it do just that, particularly through the sponsorship-driven event property Latin Grammy Street Parties, which staged open-air festivals in major cities nationwide. Brands took notice.

“We became the go-to guys for corporate America to connect anything that was culture with brands, specifically in the multicultural market,” Albareda says. “Our core was Hispanic. One by one, we started growing, and we built a company that worked with 60 brands. McDonald’s, Walmart, Dr Pepper, Verizon … those were all clients of ours.”

El Alfa, Nelson Albareda, and Silvestre Dangond

From left: El Alfa, Nelson Albareda, and Silvestre Dangond photographed on September 5, 2023 at Loud And Live in Doral, Fla.

Melody Timothee

With 40% growth year over year, Eventus also had runway to enter concert promotion, and Albareda focused on the South Florida market. After selling Eventus, now one of America’s biggest multicultural marketing players, to Advantage Solutions in 2013, Albareda remained as CEO until 2016, when he struck out on his own (on May 20, Cuban Independence Day, he observes) with a noncompete clause and free time to boat, fish and develop the kernel of the idea that would become Loud And Live.

“We are marketers turned promoters — versus a lot of the entertainment companies out there, and a lot of the promoters out there want to become marketers,” Albareda says of launching his current company in 2017. Because he understood “what brands want,” he could facilitate the types of partnerships that help make tours profitable. But his decision to focus on touring at Loud And Live before branching out into agency work — effectively reversing his Eventus path — was also borne of necessity: His noncompete around live entertainment expired first.

“When we started, artists would pick up our calls because of brands, but they didn’t necessarily trust us with touring,” Albareda says. To build Loud And Live’s reputation, he deviated from the industry trend — “Everybody was going after urban,” he recalls — and decided to pursue “five or six iconic artists that we can make an impact [with] and that other artists look up to.” He began with Juan Luis Guerra and later added Arjona, Carlos Vives, Franco De Vita and Ricardo Montaner, who all then spread the gospel of Loud And Live. And once Albareda was able to reenter the agency space with Loud And Live, what the company could offer clients clarified.

“The businesses here are all synergistic,” he says. “The way that we treat artists, we are their partner when they’re touring and when they’re not touring. We’re not that promoter that signs a deal, puts a tour [on and says,] ‘See ya.’ ”

Loud And Live’s attentiveness to its clients runs “from the manager to the engineer all the way up to the manager to the artist,” Albareda explains, and while he’s emphatic that “in this business anybody can write a check; we can write a check,” it has helped the company compete with deeper-pocketed, more established competitors.

“They’ve bet a lot on me and will continue to do so,” says Colombian vallenato artist Silvestre Dangond, who will embark on his fifth Loud And Live-promoted tour in 2024. “We have a lot of love for each other. I feel like he’s not even my promoter because of the way he talks to me. He has created a team that’s a hybrid of who he is, with his personality, his positivity, good energy. He’s very decent and very human.”

Adds WK Entertainment founder/CEO Walter Kolm, who manages Dangond and other Loud And Live clients like Vives and Prince Royce: “Nelson is a promoter, but his advantage is that he also thinks like a manager. On top of being a hard worker and great at his job, Nelson is such a kind human, and [that] makes working with him the greatest pleasure.”

The pandemic interrupted Loud And Live’s growth, but now the company is firing on all cylinders. After orchestrating a partnership between McDonald’s and J Balvin in 2020, Loud And Live has continued connecting the restaurant chain with artists including Prince Royce, Nicky Jam and Manuel Turizo. The company’s brand portfolio now includes Pepsi, Walmart, Mattel and Michael Kors. When Becky G embarked on her first headlining tour on Sept. 14, she did it with Loud And Live as her promoter — and with a fresh Vita Coco partnership facilitated by the company. Other fall tours for the promoter include U.S. runs by Vives, El Alfa and Diego El Cigala.

With in-person concerts on pause during the COVID-19 lockdowns, Loud And Live was able to grow its content division more quickly than anticipated, and it won a Latin Grammy for its 2021 Juan Luis Guerra concert special. When Lionel Messi signed with Inter Miami CF, the soccer team (already a Loud And Live client) turned to Albareda to help roll out the superstar’s arrival — and Loud And Live assembled LaPresentaSíon, a concert featuring Camilo, Tiago PZK and more. (“All music artists look up to athletes; all athletes look up to artists,” Albareda says.)

And philanthropically, in keeping with his MO that his work place the culture, not business, first, Albareda announced a $1 million donation to the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation late last year; the funds, to be disbursed over five years, will go toward college scholarships, grants and educational programs.

“Throughout his career, Nelson has been an avid supporter of the Latin Recording Academy and our sister organization, the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, donating time and resources to our events as well as engaging as an advocate to share our mission and vision with artists,” says Latin Recording Academy CEO Manuel Abud. “Among [his] greatest professional strengths are the intangible qualities that are from the heart, particularly his passion for Latin music.”

But despite Loud And Live’s success, Albareda still possesses the scrappy drive that fueled him at his Garden debut nearly 20 years ago. The father of three says he works 18-hour days, adding that his “aspiration is to be the leading Latin promoter and entertainment company in the world.” Immediately before the pandemic, Loud And Live partnered with Move Concerts, a major Latin American promoter that works across genres, to increase its presence in Central and South America, and Albareda is now eyeing expansion into Europe.

And his vision isn’t restricted to Latin music: In November, Thomas Rhett and Sam Hunt will headline the inaugural Country Bay Music Festival, Loud And Live’s first foray into the country market and an attempt to introduce a major country festival in Miami. “Country is a genre that is very similar in culture to Latin,” Albareda observes. “It’s a tight-knit community of family, core values, every song is a story — and we also know that Hispanics overindex in country music. Over 30% of country music fans in the U.S. today identify of Latino origin … My great-great-grandfather came here in 1876. Why is it that I can’t do country music?”

As he navigates a turbulent industry and the attendant pivots, Albareda returns to essential traits like perseverance, determination and trustworthiness. “We don’t sell widgets,” he says. “We sell relationships.”

Additional reporting by Griselda Flores.

This story will appear in the Sept. 23, 2023, issue of Billboard.

21 Sep 2023

Ryan Hurd Defends Wife Maren Morris: ‘She Deserves to Be Celebrated, Not Just Tolerated’

Ryan Hurd is defending his wife, fellow singer-songwriter Maren Morris, after the star released her two-song project The Bridge and announced her departure from country music.

The Bridge contains two songs, “The Tree” and “Get The Hell Out of Here,” both of which delve into the challenges Morris has faced within the country music genre. In a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times, Morris said of country music, “I thought I’d like to burn it to the ground and start over. But it’s burning itself down without my help.”

On Instagram, Hurd supported Morris’s decision and music. “She deserves to be celebrated, not just tolerated,” he wrote in his message shared Wednesday (Sept. 20). “I love the response from people who don’t just love these two songs, they needed them. I knew it would strike a chord.”

Hurd also hit back against internet haters who have criticized Morris, her music and her support for greater diversity and inclusion of women, the LGBTQ community and people of color within the genre.

“Most people would just shut up and keep collecting the paycheck, because the wave of vitriol is real and it’s hard,” Hurd continued. “I’m so sick of watching my wife get the s–t kicked out of her by the internet. I’m sick of every talking head having some kind of stupid opinion about what she says. It’s the same every time, why are you surprised when she calls out something racist or homophobic, I’m sick of people getting rewarded for it.

“To me the Bridge is beautiful and so rock and roll. She deserves a little sunshine for the burden she has carried for every artist and fan that feels the same way,” he added. “I can’t wait for that first tour and to see all of the smiling and beautiful people who needed these songs and and also need HER. I can’t wait to make music that follows the same path, whatever that is.”

Hurd also had a message for the keyboard commentators. “Feel free to leave a comment below to express your hatred or love for whatever I said, they will be duly noted, filed, sorted, and discarded. Love you, MM. Keep on keepin’ on.”

In releasing The Bridge, Morris previously stated, “These two songs are incredibly key to my next step because they express a very righteously angry and liberating phase of my life these last couple of years, but also how my navigation is finally pointing towards the future, whatever that may be or sound like,” she said in a statement. “Honoring where I’ve been and what I’ve achieved in country music, but also freely moving forward.”

Morris — who posed for the cover of Billboard‘s Pride issue alongside drag stars — and Hurd have collaborated on occasion over the years, including the 2021 song “Chasing After You,” which reached No. 2 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart. The song and video also earned the couple CMA nominations for music video and musical event of the year.

Morris is set to perform at Joe’s on Weed Street in Chicago on Oct. 5, with proceeds from the show benefiting GLAAD, followed by performances in Washington and California later in the month.

See Hurd’s full message below:

21 Sep 2023

Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Bongos’ Drums Up Top 5 Debut on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion drum up a top five debut on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as “Bongos” starts at No. 4 on the list dated Sept. 23. The track, released Sept. 8 via Atlantic Records, begins as the genre’s best-selling and one of the three most-streamed tracks of the week, and becomes each artists’ highest debut on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list.

In the tracking week of Sept. 8 – 14, “Bongos” launches with 16.8 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. The sum prompts the collab’s No. 3 entrance on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart and yields Cardi B’s 14th top five effort and Megan Thee Stallion’s seventh such hit on the list. The song also sold 20,000 downloads in the same period and debuts at No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales list. Thanks to the chart-topping arrival, Cardi B nabs her ninth genre sales champ, while Megan Thee Stallion earns her second leader.

For its radio airplay, “Bongos” becomes both acts’ highest debut on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, thanks to 8 million audience impressions registered at the format and its corresponding No. 14 opening on the list. Before “Bongos,” Cardi B recorded her best start with “Up” at No. 24 in 2021, while Megan Thee Stallion’s prior high was at No. 27 with “Body” in 2020. Elsewhere, “Bongos” bounces onto Rhythmic Airplay at No. 23 and likewise outdoes “Body” (No. 24) to become Megan Thee Stallion’s highest debut on the list. It’s the second-best entrance for Cardi B, after “Hot Shit,” with Ye and Lil Durk (No. 17) in 2022. In all, “Bongos” logged 13.7 million total audience impressions in its debut week and kicks off at No. 45 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart.

Elsewhere, “Bongos” marches onto the Hot Rap Songs chart at No. 3 and the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 at No. 14.

“Bongos” reunites Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion for their second collaboration, following the megahit “WAP.” Their first teamup, released in 2020, was an instant smash: It debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, leading the former tally for four weeks and the latter list for 10 frames.