Music

19 Jul 2023

The Chemical Brothers’ 10th Studio Album Is Coming This Fall

The Chemical Brothers will release their 10th studio album, For That Beautiful Feeling, on Sept. 8.

The LP is the Brothers’ first since 2019’s No Geography, which won the 2020 Grammy for best dance/electronic album, with its lead single “Eve Of Destruction” winning for best dance/electronic recording.

The forthcoming 11-track collection includes the already released single “No Reason,” “The Darkness That You Fear” and “Live Again.” A video for this latter single was released on Wednesday (July 19). Dom & Nic directed the video, who with it deliver their tenth collaboration with the Brothers.

For That Beautiful Feeling was recorded at the Chemical Brothers’ studio on the south coast of England. In a press release, the album is described as “a record that hunts for and captures that wild moment when sound overwhelms you and almost pulls you under yet ultimately lets you ride its wave, to destinations unknown. It’s a record that pinpoints the exact moment you lose all control, where you surrender and let the music move you as if pulled by an invisible thread.”

The album’s release will be followed by Paused in Cosmic Reflection, a book coming October 26 that will span the Chemical Brothers’ nearly 30 year career. The book will feature new interviews with the band along with friends and collaborators including Noel Gallagher, Aurora, Wayne Coyne, Beth Orton, Beck, Michel Gondry and more.

The Chemical Brothers are touring the European festival circuit this summer, with upcoming sets at Electric Castle, Wilderness Festival, Fest Festival and more. The pair — Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons — will play a handful of standalone arena shows in the U.K. this fall.

The music video for “Live Again” above.

19 Jul 2023

Ice Spice Opens Up About ‘Karma’ Collaboration & Friendship With Taylor Swift: ‘We Text All the Time’

Ice Spice has shared her side of the story to how she came to be the featured artist on Taylor Swift‘s “Karma” remix, a collaboration which resulted in Ice getting her first ever Billboard Hot 100 No. 2, the chance to perform three times for a sold out crowd at MetLife Stadium and a long-lasting friendship with one of the biggest pop stars on the planet.

“I was home and my manager called me, and was like, ‘Oh, Taylor wants you on a record.’ And I’m like, ‘Taylor?’” the 23-year-old rapper recalled to Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1’s “Up Next” series. “I was having a really bad day also, I would like to say that. I was having a terrible day. I was crying all morning because I was just so mad at something. And then he called me with that news. And then I cried more, because it was good news.”

“My life is a rollercoaster,” she added. “How I started the day crying and I’m ending it crying, but for different reasons.”

Ice also took Lowe through the process of recording her parts on “Karma,” which she called “amazing.” “We went to the studio and [Taylor] is so humble and so nice,” she said. “I kid you not. I pulled up to the studio and she outside waiting for me. So she’s great. She’s so funny. We text all the time. She is f–king hilarious. I’m not going to lie. She’s the funniest person ever.”

At the first of three Eras Tour shows in East Rutherford back in May, Swift herself shared that she had been a major fan of Ice’s even before learning that the young star was interested in collaborating. “What she didn’t know at the time is that when I was training for the tour, I was listening to pretty much exclusively just her music every single day,” the “Anti-Hero” singer revealed before debuting the “Karma” music video at the show. “So we immediately went into the studio and I just not only fell in love with her, but just decided she’s the entire future.”

Later that night, Ice surprised the audience by taking the stage for the show’s finale, rapping her “Karma” verse before exiting the stage with Swift’s arm around her shoulders.

“The roar that you hear in a Taylor Swift show is unmatched,” Ice recalled to Lowe. “But her show was amazing, and I’m just so grateful. Like 200,000 people, I think we performed for.”

The Bronx native also touched on her relationships with mentors like Nicki Minaj, with whom she’s turned in two collaborations (“Princess Diana” and a remix of Aqua’s “Barbie World” for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie), and Drake. “I feel like I am absorbing advice from [Nicki] and learning from her and stuff,” she shared. And she’ll tell me, ‘Learn from my mistake, do this or don’t do that,’ or whatever. And I just really pay attention to what she’s saying. Because if there’s anyone I’m going to listen to it’s the queen.”

“We talk all the time and we’re always just laughing about some things that go on,” she added of Drizzy. “And I’ll ask him, ‘What should I do with this? Or how’d you go about this? Or did you ever experience that?’ It’s like coach vibes.”

Listen to Ice Spice’s Apple Music 1 interview above.

19 Jul 2023

Taylor Swift Breaks Her Own Record on Streaming Songs Chart

Taylor Swift nets 22 songs on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart dated July 22, breaking her own record in the process.

With 22 appearances, Swift sets a new mark for the most songs on the survey at once by a woman since its 2013 inception, surpassing the 20 she achieved on the Nov. 5, 2022, ranking upon the release of her album Midnights.

This time, it’s her LP Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) that makes up the bulk of the songs, with 20 of the 22 from the new release. Leading the way is “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” which bows at No. 2 with 24.7 million official U.S. streams in the week ending July 13, according to Luminate.

The other two Swift tunes on Streaming Songs are Lover’s “Cruel Summer” (No. 10, 15.4 million streams) and Midnights’ “Anti-Hero” (No. 44, 10 million streams).

In all, Swift occupies six of the chart’s top 10. The next largest after “I Can See You,” “Mine (Taylor’s Version),” appears at No. 6 with 16.2 million streams. (Swift is one of two acts to hold down the entire top 10, having done so on the aforementioned Nov. 5, 2022, list. Drake has accomplished the feat twice: Nov. 19, 2022, and Sept. 18, 2021.)

Those five new top 10s (as “Cruel Summer” had previously reached the top 10) breaks Swift out of a tie with Lil Baby for the second-most top 10s in the chart’s history, now boasting 39. Drake leads all acts with 85 top 10s.

Most Top 10s, Streaming Songs

  • 85, Drake
  • 39, Taylor Swift
  • 34, Lil Baby
  • 29, The Weeknd
  • 26, 21 Savage
  • 25, Future
  • 24, Kanye West
  • 23, J. Cole
  • 23, Justin Bieber
  • 23, Post Malone

Only three times has an artist netted more than 22 songs on Streaming Songs at once. Morgan Wallen holds the all-time record, set earlier this year, with 30 (March 18), followed by Drake (28; July 14, 2018) and Bad Bunny (23; May 21, 2022).

Concurrently, as previously reported, “I Can See You” leads the crop of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) songs on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100, bowing at No. 5. And on the Billboard 200, the album starts at No. 1 with 716,000 equivalent album units earned.

19 Jul 2023

Can Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now’ Hold Off Morgan Wallen a Second Week?

The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming charts dated July 29), the two best-performing artists of 2023 battle again for the top spot, while new sets from a late rapper and a hip-hop star recovering from a near-death experience could make big bows.  

Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (Republic): Taylor Swift is in the midst of a Billboard 200 week for the history books. Not only does her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) debut at No. 1 with a 2023-best 716,000 units – the highest first-week number since her own Midnights last November – but it’s one of four Swift albums in the chart’s top 10 this week, along with Midnights (No. 5), Lover (No. 7) and Folklore (No. 10). The last living artist who had that many albums in the top 10 at the same time was Herb Alpert, way back in 1966.  

Now, Swift will try to do something she’s yet to do with one of her Taylor’s Version re-recordings: hold at No. 1 for a second straight week. Though both her Fearless and Red redos debuted atop the chart with massive first-week numbers, both were deposed in the next frame: Fearless by YSL’s label showcase Slime Language 2 and Red by Adele’s much-anticipated 30. (Fearless did return for a second week on top months later, following its release on vinyl and signed CD.)  

Swift’s primary competition will be – of course – Morgan Wallen, still at No. 2 with his 15-week chart-topper One Thing at a Time. The album continues to post weekly units in the six digits, and will likely have the streaming advantage over Swift with its 36 tracks (including the long-reigning Streaming Songs No. 1, “Last Night.”), as Swift’s massive first-week sales numbers take the usual second-week drop. However, Swift is following her biggest Taylor’s Version debut yet, and a second week even 15% as strong as her first week would still have been enough to get past Wallen’s most recent One Thing total.  

IN THE MIX 

King Von, Grandson (Only the Family/Empire): Chicago rapper King Von only released one album during his lifetime, 2020’s No. 5-peaking Welcome to O’Block, but he was well on his way to hip-hop stardom when he was shot to death that November. He’s already released one posthumous album with 2022’s No. 2-debuting What It Means to Be King, and he may hit the top 10 a third time with last Friday’s (July 14) Grandson, featuring guest appearances from hitmakers like Polo G, Lil Durk and Moneybagg Yo. 

Lil Tjay, 222 (Columbia): New York rapper Lil Tjay’s promising career was derailed in June 2022 when he was shot multiple times during an attempted robbery. He survived the shooting, and on Friday released his first album since getting out of the hospital, 222. The album includes features from Summer Walker, The Kid LAROI, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and more, plus the first-person narrative “June 22,” named after the day of his ‘22 shooting.  

Lauren Spencer-Smith, Mirror (Republic): The early-2022 viral breakout of teenage singer-songwriter (and former American Idol contestant) Lauren Spencer-Smith‘s heartbreak ballad “Fingers Crossed” earned her Olivia Rodrigo comparisons, and a deal with Republic Records. Subsequent singles haven’t fared as well, but Smith hopes to make good on that early promise with debut album Mirror – which she released on Friday as a “Fan Pack” (with vinyl and a shirt), as a boxed set (CD and shirt) and as a signed CD. 

19 Jul 2023

Kelsea Ballerini to Screen & Discuss ‘Rolling Up the Welcome Mat’ Short Film (Exclusive)

On Feb. 14, Kelsea Ballerini released a salve for the brokenhearted via her surprise EP and short film release, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which chronicled the complex emotions circling the dissolution of her previous marriage and the intense public scrutiny that surrounded it. Music fans fell hard for the project’s unvarnished vulnerability and cathartic songs, singing them back boldly to Ballerini during every subsequent concert she performed.

Rolling Up the Welcome Mat followed swiftly on the heels of Ballerini’s previous project, Subject to Change, which fueled her current Billboard Country Airplay chart hit “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too).” But according to Ballerini in a press release, “There’s never been a moment to stop and talk about what the response to Welcome Mat has meant to me. Everything moved so fast after the release, and I never really got to just be in the moment with this film, these songs – but I heard you all loud and clear every night onstage, I promise! So, while Subject to Change was out there doing everything it’s supposed to do, you supported me with this project that I needed to make for me in that moment. I can’t thank you enough.”

Ballerini will soon open up about the short film and project directly with fans, when she hosts three intimate conversations and screenings for her short film Rolling Up the Welcome Mat in August.

The trio of events launches Aug. 1 at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, where she will screen the short film that she wrote and directed. Ballerini will take fans behind the scenes, through her vision and process of crafting the film. She will also discuss the writing and recording process for her Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP, from the incisive opening track “Mountain With a View” to the clean-slated denouement “Leave Me Again.”

From there, Ballerini will host another screening/discussion at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame on Aug. 8, followed by a final screening/conversation at New York City’s Whitby Theater on Aug. 10.

The events will lead up to Ballerini’s Today show Citi Concert Series performance on Aug. 11 at Rockefeller Center, where she will sing her current country radio single, “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too),” as well as select songs from Rolling Up the Welcome Mat.

“Sometimes I write songs to figure out where I am, how I feel,” Ballerini, who just closed a sold-out headlining run as well as being the sole support on Kenny Chesney’s 2023 tour, continued in her statement. “I write to honor my feelings and get them out because that’s the purest way I know how. The purpose of this EP and short film was to release those very naked, honest feelings in hopes anyone feeling similar highs and lows would have a few songs to feel not alone to. Every step of this Rolling Up the Welcome Mat chapter has been a new experience, which you helped make feel not scary by being alongside me every step. Now, I need to move on now – and maybe you do, too – but before we do, these three events are all about being in one space, together, sharing all of it. I want to bring you deeper into how it all came to be and why you’re such an important piece of all of this. I want to say ‘thank you’ so, if you’re in Los Angeles, New York or Nashville, please come join me.”

Tickets will be available beginning July 20 on her website.

19 Jul 2023

Watch Harry Styles Join the Circus & Dress In Bird Cosplay for ‘Daylight’ Music Video

The sun is shining on Harry Styles fans. At high noon ET Wednesday (July 19), the Grammy winner dropped the music video for his latest Harry’s House single, “Daylight.”

In the Tanu Muino-directed video, Styles walks through circus grounds, interacting with acrobats, stilt-walkers and clowns in between demonstrations of his impressive weight-lifting, horseback-riding and tightrope-walking skills. At one point, he takes the form of a magnificent yellow bird, flying through the sky in a feathered leotard after being shot out of a giant cannon.

If this news is causing a bit of déjà vu, don’t be alarmed: Styles did in fact already make a music video for “Daylight,” although the most recent take is probably a bigger budget project than the first. Last year, the pop star teamed up with James Corden to make a “Daylight” video in three hours with just $300, using a random apartment of unsuspecting fans as the set.

“I can’t stress this enough: This was all James’ idea,” the Dunkirk actor joked behind the scenes of the May 2022 Corden-directed project. “I was in a Christopher Nolan movie. Should we just scrap it? Is it too late to just do a ‘Carpool Karaoke?’”

The new and improved version of “Daylight” follows music videos for “As It Was,” “Late Night Talking,” “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” and, most recently, “Satellite.” All five of the tracks hail from Styles’ third studio album, Harry’s House, which arrived in May 2022 and debuted atop the Billboard 200.

Styles is currently on the cusp of finishing his Love on Tour trek following a near two-year run starting in September 2021. He has just one show left on the schedule: Saturday (July 22) in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Watch the “Daylight” music video above.

19 Jul 2023

Lizzo Rocks Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ at Karaoke After Special Tour Concert

As Lizzo nears the end of her globe-trotting Special Tour, the “About Damn Time” singer is offering glimpses of how she unwinds after a night of entertaining an arena packed with thousands of screaming fans.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday (July 16), Lizzo posted a lighthearted photoset with the caption, “What does Lizzo do after her shows…” The answer? More singing, of course! In the second slide of the carousel, the “Truth Hurts” singer shared a clip of her singing Radiohead’s “Creep” at a karaoke bar. Packed with her trademark soulful belts and emotive vocal inflections, Lizzo’s rendition of the beloved track drew affirmations and applause from the room of onlookers. “Creep” is Radiohead’s highest charting entry on the Billboard Hot 100 (No. 34).

This isn’t the first time that Lizzo has expressed her love for Radiohead. In a Vanity Fair interview in October, Lizzo revealed that while in school, she kept her love for Radiohead’s OK Computer hidden because all of her friends were “listening to what was on the radio” and she “didn’t want to be made fun of.”

The Special Tour is in support of Special, Lizzo’s 2022 LP that spawned hits including “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)” and the Grammy-winning “About Damn Time,” which peaked at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Special opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 69,000 units, becoming Lizzo’s highest charting and fastest selling album to date.

By the end of its run, the Special Tour will have visited North America, Europe, Asia and Australia across 80 shows. Support acts for the tour included “Put It On Da Floor Again” rapper Latto and “Material Girl” rapper Saucy Santana.

19 Jul 2023

Kierra Sheard & Pastor Mike Jr. Top Gospel Airplay Chart With ‘Miracles’

Kierra Sheard’s “Miracles” featuring Pastor Mike Jr. rises to No. 1 on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart (dated July 22). In the July 7-13 tracking week, the song increased by 16% in plays, according to Luminate.

“Miracles” marks the fifth Gospel Airplay No. 1 for both Sheard and Pastor Mike Jr. (real name Mike McClure Jr.).

Sheard wrote the song with her brother J. Drew Sheard II and Marcus Johnson. It’s the first single from her LP due later this year. Its content relates to a series of miscarriages that Sheard endured. She is currently pregnant, expecting her first child with husband Jordan Kelly.

“I’m a walking miracle, and I’m sure we all have some kind of miraculous story of God moving in our lives,” Sheard tells Billboard. “It’s only right for these lyrics to be our anthem and I’m grateful that so many are listening.”

“Miracles is more than a song,” adds Pastor Mike Jr. “Kierra and I really wanted to inject the world with hope, and we’re seeing so many lives changed with this positive message.”

With “Miracles,” Pastor Mike Jr. adds his record-extending fifth consecutive career-opening No. 1 on Gospel Airplay. It follows “Impossible” featuring James Fortune (a two-week leader in April); “Amazing,” (two weeks, May 2022); “I Got It” (four weeks, beginning in March 2021); and “Big Rock City” (10 weeks, beginning in February 2020).

Pastor Mike Jr. also ties for the longest streak of Gospel Airplay No. 1s overall, regardless of career-launching runs, with Todd Dulaney and Jonathan McReynolds. All three acts’ streaks are active, with Dulaney currently charting a potential sixth leader in a row, as “It’s Working,” with Bishop Hezekiah Walker, climbs 22-21 for a new high.

Sheard, the daughter of Karen Clark Sheard of The Clark Sisters, tops Gospel Airplay for the first time since “Something Has To Break,” featuring her mother, led for two weeks in October 2021.

Before that, Kierra Sheard’s solo song “It Keeps Happening” dominated for a week in September 2020. In April 2017, GEI’s “Hang On,” on which she’s featured, dominated for a week, after Mary Mary’s “God in Me,” featuring Sheard, ruled for seven weeks beginning in August 2009.

Sheard has an additional song on the latest Gospel Airplay survey, as “God Is Good,” with her mother, Stanley Brown and Hezekiah Walker, ranks at No. 27 (up 2% in plays).

19 Jul 2023

Odetari Is One of the Biggest Dance Artists of the Year — So, Who Is He?

This past February, Taha Othman Ahmad was substitute teaching at a high school in his native Houston. But instead of executing lesson plans, he was at his desk uploading the music that would, over the next few months, make him one of the most successful electronic producers of the year thus far.

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“The students were like, hitting their dab pens in class, secretly under their sleeves,” says Ahmad. “The teachers walked in and smelled it and were like, ‘You should have been supervising the class better.’”

Ahmad was fired from the job. That same week, his landlords threatened to sue him to get him out of the condo he’d been renting. “I literally had no idea what I was gonna do,” he says. “I had like, negative hundred dollars in my account.”

Then his songs started blowing up.

The first was March’s “I <3 LATINAS>

Having made a plan for what to do if any of his music hit, he started “rapid-fire dropping” the catalog of music he had at the ready: May’s “YOU’RE TOO SLOW” and “NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER” June’s “LOOK DON’T TOUCH” and last week’s 3×3 EP, a three-track collaboration with the producer 9lives that clocks in at six minutes. (The all caps styling on the songs is meant, he says, as an “attention grabber.”)



The early success wasn’t a fluke: Odetari’s first three releases all hit the top 10 of Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, tying him with Marshmello and David Guetta for the third-most top 10 hits on the chart for 2023 so far. (The trio trail Rihanna at No. 1 and Bizarrap at No. 2) Last week, “YOU’RE TOO SLOW” entered the chart at No. 40, and this week (dated July 22) sits at No. 37.

Together the songs have more than 13 million on-demand streams in the U.S., according to Luminate. He’s also currently the No. 1 position on Dance/Electronic Songwriters, a chart he’s been on for the last nine weeks.

But while Ahmad has become one of the year’s top-charting dance artists over the last five months, he’s been making music for a decade. He started producing beats and rapping ten years ago, when he was 13, taking inspiration from SoundCloud rap. By 2018 he was making “generic trap stuff,” but found he didn’t like the industry people or “toxic competition” of that scene.

After a years-long break from music, he and his manager decided they needed to find “our own thing, our own sound,” with Ahmad starting on music again this past January. He settled on a quick-hit style inspired by his primary passions — anime and video games like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy and Metroid. Ahmad calls the genre “ODECORE,” the definition of which on Spotify is music for “late night gaming, gym sessions, and anime binging.” Written and produced entirely by Ahmad, it’s hectic and woozy and strange, altogether giving a feeling like being at a rave happening inside the internet.



He played his first-ever show this past June, with management currently lining up more sets for later this year. (For these shows, Ahmad is envisioning “light effects and fog,” “super crazy visuals” and “animatronics.”) His first solo EP is scheduled to drop this August.

While major labels are generally taking a more cautious approach to signing viral artists, Odetari’s string of hits have demonstrated his early successes weren’t just a fluke. He recently entered into a multi-album partnership with Artist Partner Group.

“Upon hearing ‘NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER,’ I was immediately intrigued,” says APG CEO Mike Caren. “Odetari is creating an entirely unique world around his music. Learning that Odetari produces and writes everything in its entirety, I knew he was a truly extraordinary artist with a career-long vision.”

“Odetari’s prolific output of quality music and content have sparked explosive growth on all platforms, building the foundation for a career artist,” says Jesse Wylde, who works in Artist Development at APG. “Early growth started on SoundCloud and Spotify. We’ve fostered a core online community in his Discord server that shares a multitude of interests spanning gaming, anime, music and beyond. He’s a visionary artist, crafting the overall world of ODECORE that aligns with his fans interests. The live strategy is to grow a hard-ticket headline business in his primary streaming markets, bridging online and real-life fandom.”

Five months after losing his job and having less than zero money to his name, Ahmad is now living in the three bedroom Houston townhouse he recently purchased. He spends most of his time hanging with his girlfriend, going out for meals and making as much music as he can without burning out. His substitute teaching days already feel like a long time ago, but he does still have a presence in the classroom where he first uploaded his now famous tracks.

“I used to sit in class and the students would do TikTok dances to songs that were trending,” Ahmad says. “Now occasionally I see kids at that same school dancing to my songs. It’s pretty fire.”

19 Jul 2023

Harry Styles Brings Wet Leg Onstage to Sing ‘Wet Dream’: Watch

Harry Styles just made countless dreams come true — wet ones included. At his Tuesday (July 18) concert in Lisbon, Portugal, the star invited tourmate Wet Leg to join him onstage for a surprise performance of their 2021 single “Wet Dream.”

Wearing a spangly vest and pants combo, the 29-year-old pop star first introduced the indie rock duo, comprised of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, to the crowd. “It has been the most wonderful, wonderful tour watching them play every night — they’re one of my favorite bands,” Styles gushed.

He and Teasdale then took center stage, both of them playing guitar and trading off on lead vocals. During each call and response of the song’s chorus, Styles followed Teasdale’s lead, echoing her lyrics back to her.

Afterward, Wet Leg posted footage from the performance on Instagram, writing that it was a “wet dream come true.” Styles also shared a blurry photo with the pair on his account, marked “Love On Tour. Lisbon. July, 2023.”

It’s not the first time Styles has payed homage to either Wet Leg or “Wet Dream.” Last year, the Grammy winner covered the track for BBC Radio’s Live Lounge, after which Teasdale and Chambers shared their excitement by retweeting a clip of the performance and adding a smiling, melting emoji.

Styles is just one show away from completing his blockbuster Love on Tour, which has been running since September 2021. Wet Leg has served as opener for the trek throughout 2023, and will be at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia, Italy, Saturday (July 22) for the “As It Was” singer’s finale show.

Watch Harry Styles perform with Wet Leg below: