Music

26 Apr 2023

16 Times Regional Mexican & Urban Artists Teamed Up for Game-Changing Collabs

Bad Bunny fans were in for a real treat when earlier this month he announced a collaboration with his “compas” (friends) in Grupo Frontera. To everyone’s surprise, Bunny — who has been on a musical break — unleashed a romantic cumbia-norteño track called “un x100to,” co-produced by Edgar Barrera and MAG. The song, about having one percent charge on the phone and using it for an important call, debuts this week at No. 3 on the Hot Latin Songs chart. 

But this isn’t the first time the Puerto Rican trap star dips his toes in the música Mexicana realm. In 2019, he teamed up with corrido tumbado pioneer Natanael Cano on “Soy El Diablo (Remix),” which incorporated hip-hop sensibility with rapping and chanting and narrating the story of a man who runs the streets. 

In recent years, other urban and regional Mexican stars have tested out the game-changing trend. Rising act Peso Pluma, for example, has already released collaborations with Colombian rapper Blessd (“Las Morras”), reggaetón hitmaker Ovy on the Drums (“El Hechizo”), and even Argentine star Nicki Nicole (the remix of his “Por Las Noches”).  

Farruko does not stay too far behind either. In 2020, he teamed up with T3R Elemento for the corrido sierreño track “Del Barrio a la Ciudad,” which was made possible thanks to DEL Records founder Angel del Villar, T3R Elemento’s label, and producer Alex Gárgola, who sent the song to Farruko.

Below, check out 16 urban and Regional Mexican collaborations, in alphabetical order of artist name.

26 Apr 2023

A Familiar Tyler, the Creator Favorite Finally Hits the Hot 100

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. 
 
This week: Tyler the Creator’s new material is overshadowed by an older favorite, TikTok goes “Narcissistic” and a contemporary Christian rock classic gets a boost from an unlikely corner.

“See You Again,” Again: Tyler, the Creator’s 2017 Single Back for a Hot 100 Run

While Tyler, the Creator recently charted a trio of new cuts from his Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale deluxe reissue on the Billboard Hot 100, this week his highest-peaking entry on the chart comes from several album eras earlier. “See You Again,” the Kali Uchis-featuring love song, originally appeared on Tyler’s 2017 Columbia album Flower Boy, and just missed Billboard’s marquee songs chart, peaking at No. 13 on the Bubbling Under listing. 

But the song has remained a steady streamer in the six years since its initial release, and in the past month, it’s crossed the threshold from “reliable catalog performer” to “legitimate new hit.” The song got a big boost from TikTok, of course, in particular via a trend of users lip syncing to, or commenting on, the section where Tyler’s “OK OK OK” and Uchis’ “La la la” hooks overlap, as well as a variety of other popular videos using the video over the last month. The star duo also gave the song a spotlight with a performance at weekend one of Coachella on April 16, with Tyler making a special appearance during Uchis’ set.

The combined result has been a surge over the past four weeks from 3.9 official on-demand U.S. streams (for the tracking week ending March 30) to nearly 8.3 million on the week ending April 20, according to Luminate – a gain of 112%. Consequently, the song debuts at No. 65 on the Hot 100 this week, belatedly making it the biggest hit on the chart from Flower Boy (passing the No. 87 peak of the A$AP Rocky-featuring “Who Dat Boy”), and also Uchis’ highest-charting entry since her breakout hit “Telepatía” hit No. 25 in summer 2021. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Odetari Opens Up & Scores an Unlikely Dance Hit

This week, rising producer Odetari scores his first-ever chart entry with “Narcissistic Personality Disorder,” which debuts at No. 11 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. “Lost for words,” the independent artist posted on Twitter upon finding out about the feat — but based on the weeks-long rise of the propulsive track, the dance chart debut is only the beginning for Odetari’s viral hit.

The Houston native has described the self-released song as “about me constantly being in battle with destructive habits and asking god/universe for forgiveness,” and has used his recent singles to document his multiple personality disorders. The frankness of the lyrics (“I’m so full of myself, I’m selfish / Everybody want some help, can’t help it”), paired with the unrelenting tempo of his production, has proven affecting to listeners, and “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” has blown up on TikTok, with positive reactions to Odetari’s own posts as well as clips using the song as a soundtrack to others’ personal issues.

As a result, the song has skyrocketed on streaming platforms since its Apr. 1 release: from 65,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the week ending Apr. 6, to 1.33 million streams the following week, to 2.38 million the following week, according to Luminate. Considering its subject matter and under-two-minutes run time, “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” is an unlikely breakthrough hit — but the more listeners connecting with its powerful message, the higher it will climb. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

A Travis Scott Interlude Gets Its Due

With interludes an increasingly common fixture of major hip-hop and pop albums over the last couple decades, fans are always lobbying for their musical short kings to be given their due. In the streaming age, those songs are able to find their audiences like never before, with brief-but-captivating cuts like The Weeknd’s Lana Del Rey-featuring “Stargirl Interlude” and Paramore’s “Interlude: I’m Not Angry Anymore” becoming among the most-listened-to cuts on their respective full-lengths. 

In truth, Travis Scott’s “sdp interlude,” from 2016’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, isn’t even that short – over three minutes, practically prog rock by this era’s standards. But fans have still made the case for it being underrecognized on TikTok over the past few months, saluting the original and also sharing clips of an unreleased fuller version with more of Scott’s actual rapping on it. As a result, fans have returned to the proper McKnight version on streaming, with official on-demand U.S. plays of the song raising from 1.1 million for the week ending March 30 to nearly 2.0 million for the week ending April 20, according to Luminate – a gain of 81%. – AU

Hillsong’s ‘Oceans’ Becomes a Streaming Knockout

While boxing and worship music aren’t the most natural fit together, a much-ballyhooed heavyweight bout in Las Vegas last Saturday night (Apr. 22) caused a streaming uptick for one of the biggest Christian music hits of the past decade. Before taking the ring for his match against Gervonta “Tank” Davis, 24-year-old lightweight fighter Ryan Garcia used “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail),” the 2013 smash from Hillsong United, as his walkout music, causing an eruption of chatter about the decade-old song from fans surprised by the choice as well as unfamiliar listeners newly discovering the track.

Although Garcia ultimately lost the fight, “Oceans” won a healthy streaming gain: the song rose 56% in daily streams from Saturday to Sunday, up to 360,000 streams, according to Luminate. That’s a nice boost for the winner of the Top Christian Song prize at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, which spent a record 61 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Hot Christian Songs chart. – JL

Q&A: Alex Tear, VP Music Programming at SiriusXM + Pandora, on What’s Trending Up in His World

What’s been the most interesting pop trend over the first four months of 2023, in your opinion?

As we rolled into 2023, David Guetta & Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good” sampled Eiffel 65’s “Blue,” and Metro Boomin with The Weeknd & 21 Savage have a chart-leading presence with “Creepin,” that’s maximizing Mario Winans’ 2004 hit [“I Don’t Wanna Know”]. We’ve now got several new sample-led entries at pop radio, from [songs that use] Haddaway’s “What Is Love” to La Bouche’s “Be My Lover” to Alice Deejay “Better Off Alone” to Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You.” What’s old is new, and we’ll keep close to audience reaction to amplify or minimize our latest artist/industry appreciation or short-cut for appeal to the masses.

We’re getting close to Song of the Summer territory. What are some tracks you’re keeping an eye on?

I feel we’re still a few rollercoaster clicks from reaching our song(s) of summer vision, but I do like the continued mass appeal movement with Pop Country artists finding their way at top 40. Although a remake, Luke Combs kills it with “Fast Car.” Kane & Katelyn Brown and Morgan Wallen continue to rise up the pop charts. No doubt, there’s more to be had! Let’s not forget Dan + Shay, who’ve had great success at mainstream pop and are currently climbing the chart with Charlie Puth [collaboration “That’s Not How This Works”]. We’re also embracing Avery Anna on HITS 1: her track “Self Love” is reacting well with our SiriusXM audience.   

We’ve seen multiple years-old songs, from The Weeknd’s “Die For You” to Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” to Miguel’s “Sure Thing,” push toward the top of the charts in recent months. How has that trend affected how you consider your programming?

These are all welcome additions that are in the moment of pop culture for one reason or another. We’ll continue to track fatigue with our SiriusXM listeners who will tell us enough is enough.

– Fill in the blank: the artist I’m most interested to see how the rest of their year plays out is ______.

First: so proud of SZA’s continued breakthrough. She’s been a force, but 2023 feels to have solidified her dominance. I’m keeping close to the continued K-Pop movement. XG’s “Left Right” & FIFTY FIFTY’s “Cupid” are topping Shazam and streaming very well. NewJeans is lurking, Stray Kids are making noise, and of course Blackpink had a solid 2022 U.S. pop presence. Let’s also keep a close watch on BTS’s Jimin, coming off a recent No. 1, and Jin, who’s climbing the U.S. charts. – JL

Season’s Gainings: Up in Smoke & Up in Streams

Whether they were celebrating the annual stoner holiday or unwinding from the blue check purge on Twitter, listeners unsurprisingly flocked to a variety of smoking- and weed-themed anthems this past 4/20. Among the bigger gainers were Sublime’s “Smoke Two Joints” (up 114% to 161,000 in official on-demand U.S. streams from April 19-20, according to Luminate), Rick James’ “Mary Jane” (up 92% to 142,000), Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It” (up 149% to 49,000) and Afroman’s “Because I Got High” (up 164% to 250,000). But if you were more concerned with the blaze outside your home than the blazing inside, you might’ve instead turned to Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” – which, with temperatures spiking nationwide, rose 23% to nearly 7.1 million streams for the week ending April 20. – AU

26 Apr 2023

Lizzo Shakes Her ‘Tailfeather’ in a Bikini Ahead of St. Louis Concert

Lizzo stripped down to nothing but swimwear to dance it out ahead of her show in St. Louis on Tuesday.

In the clip posted to TikTok, the singer wears a blue-and-white tie-dyed bikini, pink swim cap and oversize black shades as she gets down to “Shake Ya Tailfeather,” Nelly, P. Diddy and Murphy Lee’s 2004 single from the Bad Boys II soundtrack. In the background from her rooftop view, the famous St. Louis arch is clearly visible as sirens blare and the song starts with the rappers chanting, “We do it for fun/ We just do it for fun/ We Derrty ENT/ We do it for fun/ Bad Boy/ Nelly, Diddy, Murphy Lee!”

Lizzo is currently back on the road for another leg of her ongoing Special Tour, which has recently kicked off again with stops in Knoxville, Tenn. — where she trotted out drag queens Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, Kandy Muse, Aquaria and Asia O’Hara to protest the state’s discriminatory anti-drag and anti-LGBTQ+ laws — and Lexington, Ky. Next, she’s headed to Canada for a show at Montreal’s Bell Centre on May 4 before continuing on to Hartford, Conn.; Baltimore; Raleigh, N.C.; and beyond.

The pop star’s carefree dance moves prove she continues to remain determinedly unbothered by the recent onslaught of fat-phobic insults and other body-shaming commentary sparked by conservative commentator Candace Owens and perpetuated by swarms of online trolls.

Over the weekend, Lizzo emerged as the big winner at the 2023 Detroit Music Awards by taking home four awards and sweeping the night.

Watch Lizzo’s bikini-clad dance to “Shake Ya Tailfeather” below.

26 Apr 2023

Taeyang Says New Album ‘Down to Earth’ Let Him Find ‘Joy in Creating Music Again’

It takes three different people to help perfect the translation, but Taeyang is eventually satisfied with the explanation of his Down to Earth album title. Almost two decades after his music-industry debut, a time that’s included historic accolades such as being the first K-pop soloist to send a Korean-language album to the Billboard charts, the singer-songwriter-dancer emphasizes the details because now, more than ever, it’s personal.

Until last year, Taeyang and his generation-defining group BIGBANG (which BTS’ Suga recently cited as having “practically made” his chart-topping band) hadn’t released new music since 2018. TY’s last solo album, White Night from 2017, spent two weeks atop the World Albums chart and after the single “Louder” was released in conjunction with the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea, the star began his mandatory military service for the country.

In what should have been a routine enlistment required for all able-bodied men, unforeseen events such as the departure of original bandmate Seungri and the COVID-19 pandemic canceling BIGBANG’s comeback performance for Coachella 2020 complicated a simple musical return. Frustrated with an inability to address the situations or express himself musically during enlistment, it nearly turned the star off from music entirely.

“It was a pretty devastating time for me,” Taeyang tells Billboard during a morning call from Seoul the weekend before Earth‘s release. “Five years ago, I couldn’t make music in the military. But it wasn’t just the outside limitations like the army or COVID. It was also internal and things going on in my personal life that were out of my control that made me even more anxious and that much harder to deal with the situation. At one point, I even thought, ‘Maybe this is the end of my career as an artist.’”

Not confident he’d find his voice as a more mature, now-married K-pop star with a boy band shaken up while serving his country, Taeyang struggled to find a viewpoint.

“I was unsure about what messages to put in the music,” he says, not naming any specific instance that affected him, but an overall unease during the period. “I couldn’t create a song with a ‘We are the best’ kind of message, and I also couldn’t make heartbreaking music. It was really awkward and weird. I had a lot of thoughts and was having quite a difficult time getting started. I contemplated a lot on the direction and story of the music, so I was stuck for a period of time where I could barely do anything.”

An unconventional approach was able to pull him out of his hole thanks to producers and other creatives at THEBLACKLABEL (the subsidiary agency under mega-label YG Entertainment, whose roster includes a range of Korean talents such as Zion.T, Jeon Somi, LØREN and, now, Taeyang), the star began to find his groove again.

“THEBLACKLABEL producers started making some music for me, really fun songs where we were just messing around with the music almost in a joking type of way,” the singer explains. “That’s how the process started, very organically. I was going through so much and I was being so serious about music, but the producer would throw out these funny melodies and lyrics. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really fun.’ I’d respond to them like, ‘Oh, what about this? Like that?!?’ and we’d just be playing. I found the true joy of making music then. I was like, ‘This is really fun — let’s just start this way.’”

His super catchy, trap-heavy new single “Shoong!” with Lisa of BLACKPINK, Back to Earth‘s international focus track following Taeyang’s signing with Interscope Records, was created in this style and set the path for the project. “The song that played the most important role in making the album was ‘Shoong!’” he says. “That’s how the album process started.”

It all speaks to his all-important album title, Down to Earth, which Taeyang (whose real name is Dong Young Bae) landed upon for his most personal yet.

“Whenever I started the ideation for an album, I really did think it was important to use the sun as a main starting point,” he says, referencing his stage name (Taeyang means “sun” in Korean, and he performs in Japan as SOL, or sun in Spanish) as well as past solo records (Hot, Solar, Rise, White Night).

“But for this album, instead of it starting for ideation and choosing a concept necessary for the album, it really stemmed out of my life experiences,” he shares.

“There are a lot of limitations as to what you can do in the army. One of the things I found was to go for a run around the time the sun was setting. It wasn’t like I always loved running, but that was all I could do; I wasn’t really in control. One day, I saw a beautiful sunset I had never seen before in Korea, and a lot of thoughts crossed my mind. The sunset meets the darkness, right? It meets the night and I saw myself as the sunset because that was how my life was at that time. The setting sun can’t complain; it has no say in where it’s going. I found solace in that and realized that I could also meet my darkness in a similar way, and I decided to be more peaceful throughout these stressful experiences. I wanted to create a new morning, which meant resetting my approach and mindset.”

In the process of coming down to Earth, and returning to music, Taeyang notes how “going back to basics and going back to my core” during his time in the military comes through in new songs like the moving piano ballad “Seed,” a throwback to ’80s and ’90s South Korean music to let TY’s vocals shine unaccompanied, and the surging feel-good anthem “Inspiration” with clever references to his biggest artistic influences. Undoubtedly one of Taeyang’s tightest collections to date, Down to Earth not only sounds like an artist refreshed and reminded of his superstar abilities but also one who’s back to expressing himself in the only way he knows how.

Read on for more from Taeyang’s journey, including his favorite new song, reaction to hitting the Hot 100 and comforting news on what’s next.

First, congratulations on entering the Hot 100 with “Vibe” earlier this year. It was both your and Jimin‘s first entry. Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?

Taeyang: I was at home eating lunch with my family when I first heard the news. I was pretty startled at first and didn’t quite understand what that meant because, well, I had been away for so long. It didn’t hit me that hard — not that I wasn’t thankful, but I wasn’t sure about the degree of successfulness. I had to call my producers and ask what it meant. They said, “Oh, this is such an amazing result,” and that’s when I really realized.

It’s been a long time since my last comeback and, thankfully, K-pop and the industry have grown a lot, so I was unsure to what the new standard of how a track does well. But I put all my best in it and to be able to get such a nice result with Billboard, it’s quite a miracle. And it was possible through the people that I works with; I was really glad to have gotten such good feedback for “Vibe,” but I did not expect that.

Do you have any new reflections on “Vibe” now that it’s been out for a few months?

After “Vibe” was completed, the specific plans for the album and the timing of the release were all set. The fact that I collaborated with Jimin is very, very special and, on top of that, “Vibe” played a huge role in completing my album. It’s a meaningful song to me and I am very grateful.

It’s pretty impressive to have a BTS member featured on your album and a BLACKPINK member with Lisa on “Shoong!” It feels like only Taeyang could pull this off.

Actually, it’s not that I planned to get features from BLACKPINK and BTS in one album. It was a very natural process. And I’m really, really thankful for that.

Tell me about the Korean focus track “Seed.” It has that classic Taeyang ballad vibe.

Although K-pop has a certain image now, like what the current generation now knows as K-pop with boy groups and girl groups, what I believe is true to K-pop is the golden era of the ’80s and ’90s [music in South Korea] because music from that era was entirely in Korean and the lyrics are really beautiful. I thought it’d be good to express in that modern way.

That’s how [BIGBANG’s 2022 comeback single] “Still Life” was created. After that song was released, I read a lot of comments from fans and thought about how I could express my thoughts honestly in my new solo music [too]. That’s how “Seed” was created too. If you listen, you can tell that I had a lot of thoughts and feelings put into the song. I’m expressing the feelings of what I went through in the past, but there’s also what I see and think about the future.

“Inspiration” feels very special for shoutouts to artists we know you love, like Michael Jackson. What went into this song?

“Inspiration” is the song I created with Beenzino, a friend I met during the military. He’s a really great rapper, and we share many similarities, so I wanted to collaborate with him. I’ve always wanted to create a song with the color and mood of Michael Jackson and Prince for a song about what I am most inspired by in my own life. I wanted to connect the dots and all the sources of my inspiration, I mentioned the artists’ names from all different genres, but I tried to combine them into one story and in the lyrics.

Do you have a favorite song on the album?

Wow, that’s really hard to say because every song is my own, but if I have to pick one, it would be the last track, “Nightfall” featuring Bryan Cha$e, because it describes my thoughts very well on my album. Many fans like the intros of my albums, but in this EP, I do not have an intro. When I first started to work on “Nightfall,” I thought of putting it as the intro to my album, but when I was finishing creating the song, I thought it should be an outro as the mood of the song really fits as the outro — it explains about the album and my thoughts.

Earlier this year, you and Suga of BTS bonded over how you write out what’s on your mind, which shaped your lyrics on Down to Earth. What are you writing about lately?

I am really, really busy these days due to promotional activities, so I don’t have much to write. [Laughs] But I can say, thankfully, after finishing this album, I already have a vision for the upcoming albums and about the theme, concept and mood. I’m already gathering the thoughts to motivate myself for the next album.

26 Apr 2023

How a Bob Dylan Drawing From ‘Basement Tapes’ Era Ended Up for Sale at an Antiquarian Book Fair

While Bob Dylan has painted a handful of album covers and released several books of drawings over the years, the singer-songwriter’s fervent fans have had few chances to see original art pieces from his hand up close and personal.

But lo and behold! Fans in the New York City area will soon have an opportunity for a close encounter with some odds and ends drawings done by Dylan circa the 1967 recording sessions for the legendary The Basement Tapes album (released in 1975). And if you have a spare $60,000, you could be the one bringing it all back home.

Somewhat improbably, these captioned drawings – done on the blank side of a brown paper bag when Dylan was recording at Big Pink in Saugerties, N.Y. – will be on hand at the 63rd annual ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, which returns to the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan from April 27-30.

The drawings, like the artist himself, are unusual. One depicts a man with a guitar waving and shouting a variation on a Basement Tapes lyric — “Long Distance Operator, This call is Not For Fun!”; another shows what the seller describes as “robot guitar machines”; and yet another features a visage not unlike the one that Dylan painted for the cover of 1970’s Self Portrait.

The story of how the drawings ended up at a book fair is just as unusual as the artwork – though significantly less mysterious. In 2022, Gabe Boyers, a dealer in antiquarian music manuscripts, art and books, was contacted by a man whose late sister maintained a friendship with Levon Helm of The Band during the heady Basement Tapes days. “[She was] in the middle of things with The Band, Eric Clapton and Dylan,” explains Boyers. After inspecting the materials, Boyers – whose gallery Schubertiade Music & Arts (at “B” Dry Goods) is selling the drawings – says he was struck by the way these pieces provided “an incredible impression of this moment and time.” Some of the materials he viewed included “calendars where she meticulously records which drugs they were taking on which day.”

The drawings, on the other hand, are a bit less meticulous. “Like Dylan and his lyrics – they’re difficult to pin down,” he says.

One thing that wasn’t difficult to establish, however, was the validity of the connection to Dylan. The previously seller’s late sister, who died tragically young, had an established history with The Band and Dylan during the period.

“There’s an incredibly deep provenance history that puts her in this room in a well-documented way,” he says. Not only that, but her brother had previously sold some of her personal items from that period via Sotheby’s, meaning the venerable auction company had already vetted items from her collection. Even so, Boyers – who has been doing authentication services for universities and libraries for nearly two decades – made a point to show the drawings to several major Dylan archivists, who confirmed the authorship. “You can tell instantly it’s the same hand, the same quirky confidence.”

You can gawk firsthand at that quirky confidence starting April 27, when the piece will be “very much on display” at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. “The fair is an incredible opportunity for people to come see things that are normally in museums,” says Boyers, who is also selling a Beethoven manuscript with Ludwig van’s first thoughts on Symphony No. 9.

Elsewhere at the four-day event, music history lovers can see the design archive of Alex Steinweiss, the man who essentially invented album cover art in the 1930s as Columbia Records’ first art director (that collection is being sold by James Cummins Bookseller). Boyers notes that while not everyone has tens of thousands of dollars to drop, the fair offers plenty of items that go for hundreds of dollars.

That price point doesn’t, of course, include the 60k Dylan drawing – but that isn’t just any item. “There’s a lot of fake stuff on the market,” Boyers says. “The opportunity to get things that are undeniably from a certain time and have a strong provenance…. It’s not just a rare item. We know exactly when this was created, who it was made for, and who the other person’s handwriting is on it — she was in that room. It’s a special piece.”

26 Apr 2023

Selena Gomez Cooks Up a Daytime Emmy Nomination for ‘Selena + Chef’

Catch her in the fridge right where the ice be, because Selena Gomez has just snagged another Emmy nomination! This time, the singer-actress’ HBO Max cooking show, Selena + Chef, has received a 2023 Daytime Emmy nod for outstanding culinary series. Nominations were announced Tuesday (April 26).

The star is up against some stiff competition from some celebrated food personalities. The other cooking shows nominated in the category are Andrew Zimmern’s Family Dinner, Martha Stewart’s Martha Cooks, Jose Andres and Family in Spain, and Roadfood: Discovering America One Dish at a Time. The winner will be announced during the 50th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, which will air live June 16 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Selena + Chef is currently available to stream on HBO Max. The most recent season — the show’s fourth — features the star learning how to cook from various all-star chefs at a Malibu beach house. As with previous seasons, the chefs on each episode highlight a different charity to benefit. (The program has so far raised $400,000 for 26 non-profit organizations.)

This is Gomez’s second Emmy nod. She received a nomination in 2022 as an executive producer for the hit Hulu series Only Murders in the Building, which was up for best comedy series. She did not receive an acting nomination for her portrayal of Mabel Mora, while co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short were both nominated in the best actor in a comedy series for their roles on the show.

Martin and the rest of the Only Murders team were disappointed by Gomez’s acting snub. “Marty and I, and the whole team at ‘Only Murders in the Building,’ are thrilled with our nominations,” he said in a statement to Billboard at the time. “We’re also loving that our crucial partner Selena Gomez is recognized as a producer in the Best Comedy Series category.” But, he went on to tell The New York Times, “We’re dismayed that Selena was not nominated because she’s so crucial to our performances, really.”

26 Apr 2023

Swizz Beatz Looks to Finally Complete His Music Legacy: ‘I’m Not Satisfied At All’

Despite a resumé including hip-hop classics for Jay-Z, DMX, Drake and Lil Wayne, if you ask Swizz Beatz, he believes his music legacy is incomplete.

“I just feel like my music is the only thing in my life that doesn’t represent where I am today,” says Swizz inside New York City’s revered Jungle City Studios earlier this week. “Everything else is the level of where I’m at or how I live, where I travel, and everything I’m doing is at the level of me in 2023. Music is probably the only thing that’s 2010. I’m not satisfied at all.”

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In hopes of playing catch-up, Swizz partnered with Mass Appeal to release Hip-Hop 50 Vol. 2 last Friday (Apr. 23) — including marquee all-stars such as Nas, Lil Wayne, Jay Electronica, Lil Durk and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie. The six-track EP is a hearty appetizer with punchy verses, most notably from Bronx upstart Scar Lip on the standout record “Take ’em Out,” also featuring New York heavyweights Jadakiss and Benny The Butcher. After releasing his first body of work since 2018’s Poison, Swizz hopes to unload new projects with some of his old-time pals, Wayne and Jadakiss, later this year. 

“With this EP, I gotta do these entry points to get on the train and know what stop I want to get off at,” he says. “I don’t want to get off on Jackson Ave. I want to get off in Egypt. I want to get off at a different stop. If I can’t grow as a musician, I can’t inspire people. I don’t want to keep doing the nostalgia thing.” 

Billboard met with Swizz Beatz to speak about Hip-Hop 50 Vol. 2, wanting to create more music, fatherhood, upcoming projects and more.

How did we get here where you’re releasing your first body of work in five years?

Blame Nas! One day me and him were kicking it, and he told me Mass Appeal was going to have a lot to do with HipHop50. He said, “We got this concept with all the producers, and you gotta be the producer that represents New York.” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Premier is going to represent a different place, [along with] you, Hit-Boy and a couple other people.” I said, “OK. Cool.”

When he’s telling me this, this is like a year or two before the anniversary. So I’m like, “OK. Let’s do it.” I swear it feels like he told me this a month ago. I still remembering get the phone calls, like, “Yo. You’re up. It’s time for your Hip-Hop 50 [tape]. How we looking?” I said, “What? Damn.” I can’t lie.

They made it simple where it was like, “Just give us five tracks.” So I was thinking, “I can pull five tracks off my drive. That’s easy.” And then something hit me and was like, “Nah. Everything counts.” Everything counts at this point. Don’t just put some s–t that’s on the drive. Put the pressure out. Put how you want people to look at you today out.

And I started taking the project very seriously. Even with the promos and different things, I took it seriously, like it was my album — because technically, it is my album. It’s my EP. My name’s on it. The artists I messed with are on it. I produced it. I just don’t want to do anything, but the times that I did, I don’t like it when I look back like, “Damn. I was lazy on that.” 

I think you’re the only producer that can get Nas outside of his Hit-Boy bag and rap on their beat. 

I like Nas in his Hit-Boy bag. [Laughs.] Me and him got chemistry as well. We have a whole album together. It was a long time ago, but when I seen him and Hit-Boy get the chemistry and tapping into the younger generation — they was being nominated and getting Grammys. I told him, “Stay focused with Hit-Boy. We can come back to what we’re doing, but I like this for you right now, because I’m not a selfish person like that.”

When I see something that’s working, as a fan of the art, I want Hit-Boy and Nas to win. They just happened to stumble on the chemistry, and I gotta respect that. Me and [Nas’] chemistry is a little different. 

I feel like right now, we’re back in the era with the rapper/producer combo taking over the genre led by Nas and Hit-Boy, Curren$y and Jermaine Dupri…

Swizz and Jadakiss.

I mean that sounds good, but do we have a project? 

I wouldn’t say it to sound nice. [Laughs.] It’s sooner than you think.

How did this come about? 

It’s just natural. That’s another person I have the chemistry with. I did all of his first solo records. If you look at the first LOX album, I did a solo there. The We Are the Streets album, I did a solo there. Me and Kiss always had a chemistry. And seeing what he did on Verzuz, we should have came with these [records] at that time. But Kiss went and got the bag. [Laughs.]

Greatness is never late and quality is also going to be something that’s going to have value. So no matter what happens with this EP, I wanted to give people quality. Lik,e pull Jay Electronica out. Get Nas in his bag. Another one that people are looking for is the me and Wayne project. I’m just ready to work. 

What I enjoyed about the EP was that you have a knack for getting artists to speak candidly about certain topics — whether it’s Nas addressing being a bad father on “Runaway” or Jay Electronica talking about SZA blocking him on “Khalas.” Why do you feel artists feel comfortable with getting open on your records? 

I think they know the caliber of where I come from with artists. I’ve worked with a lot of the greats, and the bar that was just set with the Ruff Ryders alone make people wanna step up. It’s just a tone that was set a long time ago from all of the Hov music to LOX music to even the current music. And I just don’t accept anything from the artists, I push them. I’d be like, “Nah, we can do that verse over.”

Believe it or not, we did three other Nas songs before settling on the one that’s on the record. This was his least favorite. He wanted to get on something that was more — what I feel — something I think him and HitBoy would do. That’s his comfort zone. I got him on “Live at the BBQ” time. He even hit you with those ad-libs from Illmatic. I was like, “This is the Nas I want.” I want to be far away from what you and Hit’s doing. I wanna be doing what Nas and Swizz doing. That’s how we moving.

What I liked about the Nas record was him taking accountability as a bad father to his daughter Destiny. Then, I thought about what you’ve been able to do as a father. When you listen to that record, is there a moment where you thought in retrospect like, “Damn, I didn’t get the dad thing right?” 

Yeah, because there’s no real book on how to be a dad for our culture that I’ve seen or had available. We just young with money and freestyling it, and we thinking the gifts make you the dad — but the time makes you the dad, not the gifts. The gifts of time makes you the dad to that kid.

I’m happy to have a son who’s amazing to this day, and I’m still playing catch-up as we speak. The understanding is there, and if it’s not all the way there, the continuation of making it clear is there. The key is being in serious communication. I think it’s important for a lot of artists coming up to understand with your child that they don’t care about the money, they don’t care about the outfit, they don’t care about the materialistic things. 

When they born with it, it doesn’t mean as much as it did for me growing up in the streets. Things that I would feel are materialistic, they just think that’s how it i,s because of the hard work I put in. They’re on planes, boats, and on this. They’re like, “Okay, my family’s successful and this is what it is.” They aren’t looking at those types of things, so it means nothing to them. You wanna throw the craziest birthday parties to make up for the time and that s–t don’t count. We gotta put the time in. That’s one thing I had to get better at. I’m ultra-dad now. I’m a dad-dad now. I’m a dad with a cape. 

Your relationships as a producer always extended past New York like your bonds with Wayne and J. Cole. How are you able to look past New York and collaborate with other artists?

I always was New York at heart, but global-minded. I always felt bigger than New York, although hip-hop and myself started in New York. Like when I did “Down Bottom,” we wasn’t thinking about the South like that — but I was, because we had a great relationship with Cash Money. We was on tour with them and I just got to see a different excitement. And that’s why I tell people traveling is key. 

For me, traveling, I got to vibe with other music — and then I got to live in Atlanta as well when I got kicked out New York. How you get kicked out of New York? That’s like getting kicked out of jail! It was over for me. Then, I moved to Atlanta, which was a turning point for me, because the sound changed and then I started going to Pat Riley’s and hearing the chants. I made “Stop, Drop” influences from Atlanta, so when I came back to New York and presented it to [DMX], he ain’t like it. He ain’t like it because it felt different. We put them chants in it, and all of that is from Atlanta’s influence. That came from traveling.

What made my sound is the New York BDP era with the boom-bap, the Atlanta sound with the chants, and reggae music. That’s my gumbo. Those are the sounds I was around the most and that’s what made me understand different sides are gonna have different melodies. 

Also, vibing and mentoring the youth has been my thing. I speak to [Lil Durk] every day. Not about music — 99 percent real-life s–t and one percent music. That’s only if he’s got a project coming out or he’s working on my project coming out. That’s the same thing with 21 [Savage], that’s the same thing with [Travis Scott].

My peers don’t really take the time out that they should with the youth. I remember I was Durk, I was those young guys and wanted the big guys to take me in and give me some advice. I can’t say they ran to give me that advice. So I was like, “When I get in that position, I’m gonna give everybody the information.” You could call me about anything and I’m gonna give you the whole thing. Oh, what you tryna do? You want to build a car collection? You want to build a watch collection? You want to go back to school? We have real conversations about being fathers as well and being in relationships. I feel like we can’t ever get too big to talk to the youth. 

What is that characteristic or trait that Lil Durk has that’s so appealing to the older generation?

For me, going back to [DMX], just growing up with X — me and X was really battling in these streets for food. We would go to The Bronx and battle everybody and a couple of other things. The thing that I’m saying is when I hear Durk’s lyrics, I believe him. You could see that he’s been through what he’s telling you about. He’s an open book of what he’s going through. I just love that type of poetry coming from such a young artist being truthful to it. Some parts are street, some parts are things that went down with his relationship, and some part is real things about how he’s trying to heal and do better. I like when it’s believable to me. 

Another person might write better lyrics and might be in a category where it’s a lot of cap to me. You’re not really moving the way you say you’re moving. You not really doing what you’re saying, so although you can project it well, I’ma give Durk more points, because even if he’s not projecting it on a level where people feel that is top this or top that, I have to rank that higher — because he’s actually living what he’s saying. So that gets a lot of points with me, when it’s authentic. 

Knowing that he calls himself Chicago’s Jay-Z, do you see any similarities between him and Hov?

I don’t think anybody’s like Hov, but I like that people are inspired by Hov. I’m inspired by Hov, because Hov has everything. He has the longevity, he has his ups and downs which is real life, he lost things and got them back and came back stronger. So I understand why Durk would say he’s that. And he’s allowed to say that, because you should feel like that — and that means that Hov is a big inspiration to him and that’s a great inspiration of someone to be an inspiration towards. He’s an inspiration for me as well.

I think Durk is the Durk. He’s the first of his kind doing things the way he’s doing it. I understand why he would give it to Hov, but I would feel like he’s the first him from Chicago. 

In hip-hop, we’ve seen Big Threes define eras, with Kendrick, Drake and J. Cole being that of the 2010s. Which three artists have the potential to hold that mantle next for the new generation?

I think it’s unpredictable in the future. It’s all gonna be based on who’s working the hardest and who wants it the most. The thing that made us want it the most was being hot and cold. It’s something that you have to experience for longevity. I’ve been hot and cold 10 times. Hov, Eminem, [DMX], all the names that people compare themselves to, they’ve been hot and cold a lot of times, which made them great. 

A lot of these artists gotta give themselves time to go through a rough period and then come up out of that and reinvent. The key to longevity is reinventing yourself. That’s why the conversation when I came out in ’98 is different in 2023. I changed up the conversation to where we’re talking about camels now. You gotta know how to continue reinventing yourself, because people gon’ want a different sauce. It’s just natural. 

You posted the Lil Wayne snippet and I saw a fan try to clap at you saying, “Swizz, are we gon’ use the same f–king drums?” Competitively, did that pinch a nerve? Because you did respond back.

Of course: I’m a wolf at heart. I’m with all smoke and I’m not too big for it. Do something about it then. I know that person is right too, though. It’s called a “signature sound,” and we don’t have really too much of that today. Everybody’s just doing the same thing, and you can’t really tell their identity if that person’s name wasn’t on that record. You could tell a Swizz track if I’m not on it, or a Timbaland if he’s not talking or a Pharrell track if he’s not on it. You could tell a Kanye or Dre track. Today, there’s very few producers you could tell their music if they take their stamp off it. Those sounds and those drums were made to be repetitive as a signature, but I’m tired of it. I’ma change it quick too, though. 

When you talk about changing it quick are we gonna hear that on this Jadakiss or Lil Wayne project?

Maybe not too much on a Jada project because there’s a certain feeling that I want to hear. It gives you that rush and you don’t even know it’s a part of the reason. I’m probably gonna stick more to the core, and then the next one we do, I’m gonna flip it — but I gotta give him the uncut first. That’s just like with the EP, I had to give ’em uncut vibes for me to get to my next vibe. My next project, I let another person produce me for the first time. 

How was that?

It was amazing. I don’t think I’m letting go of power, because I just think I want to take myself seriously as an artist more than I ever did. 

Even back 15 years ago when you were dropping “It’s Me B–ches?”

I was bugging. I wasn’t taking myself serious. Those are records I gave to people that they took too long to put out, or didn’t wanna do. Like “It’s Me B–ches” was for Cassidy. I remember doing that on my birthday at Sony studio, and he was just like, “I don’t want that.” I said, “All right, cool.” And I put it out for fun. That went. “Money in the Bank,” all them and that was for Eve. 

This Jada project is coming this year? 

Inshallah. 

Is this Wayne project real?

It’s all on him. I’m ready. He’s on tour, so inshallah with all of that. There’s not gonna be no more blank spots for a minute. Even if those two projects don’t come out, I already got the clip lined up so crazy. Either way, it’s gonna feel like it’s coming fast because other stuff is gonna take up the time.

What I really want to do, I want to put out 50 tracks for the 50th anniversary. I want to use that as my goal to give back to 50 years of hip-hop. I want to give people 50 tracks. Knowing I’m almost there for all the music I produced for Godfather of Harlem. But right now, I’m not even counting that. I need to have that bar like that so I can just stay in my zone. I’m ready to have fun and rock-and-roll.

Twenty-five years of Swizz Beatz — has that resonated with you?

I don’t even feel like I started yet. And the reason why is because when I came in it, I came so young and I didn’t even have enough time to process what I was doing. Going back to school and having the information I have now, I actually know what I’m doing. I feel like now I’m just starting because I know what I’m doing. Before I was just in the moment and riding the wave. Now, it’s a different mission for me.

26 Apr 2023

Bad Bunny and Rihanna AI Duet Drops – and the Fake Drake/The Weeknd Creator Seems to Be Behind It

A new song purportedly created with AI that mashes up Bad Bunny and Rihanna was uploaded on Tuesday (April 25), apparently by the same mystery maker behind the controversial AI Drake/Weeknd tune “Heart On My Sleeve” that led to immediate takedown notices earlier this month.

Uploaded directly to SoundCloud, YouTube and TikTok (but not Spotify, Apple Music or other major streaming services) under a different handle, Ghostwrider777, the 1:07 song, “Por Qué,” features a spot-on yearning Bad Bunny vocal over a shuffling reggaeton beat along with RihRih singing “Baby you shine so bright/ Like diamonds in the sky/ I feel alive/ But now you got me thinkin.’”

The message accompanying the clip reads, “they tried to shut us down,” and the video running underneath the song features a character in a white bucket hat, green ski goggles, winter gloves and a white sheet covering their face and upper body. As the song plays out, the on-screen graphics read: “i used AI to make a Bad Bunny song ft. Rihanna… this video will be removed in 24 hours… they tried to quiet my brother, but we will prevail.”

Representatives for Bad Bunny and Rihanna did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s requests for comment.

The Drake/Weeknd fake was quickly pulled from most streaming platforms after their label, Universal Music Group condemned it in a statement on April 17 that said the track was “infringing content created with generative AI.” That song was credited to the anonymous TikTok user Ghostwriter977 and credited to “Ghostwriter” on streaming platforms; at press time it was not clear if both songs were created by the same person. Before it was pulled, “Heart On My Sleeve” racked up millions of views and listens on Spotify, TikTok and YouTube, with the creator saying “This is just the beginning” in a comment beneath the YouTube clip.

The short-lived success of the song amplified a growing worry in the music industry over the potential impact of AI, even as a newly label-free Grimes mused this week about “killing copyright” by offering to split royalties 50/50 with fans who create a successful AI-generated song using her voice.

Click here to listen to “Por Qué.”

26 Apr 2023

Will It Be Agust D’s ‘Day’ on the Billboard 200?  

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 May 5), it’s the sales of Agust D’s debut LP vs. the streams for Morgan Wallen’s 36-track juggernaut in a race for the Billboard 200 crown.  

Agust D, D Day (Big Hit): Just a few weeks ago, the top debut on the Billboard 200 came from a BTS alum: Jimin, who debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 with his single “Like Crazy” and came one spot from doing the same on the Billboard 200 with the album FACE. This week, the biggest new release may again come from the K-pop superstars’ ranks, as Suga releases his much-anticipated first LP, D-Day, under his Agust D alias.

The album is expected to sell well – helped by a variety of physical releases, which like FACE, came out the same day as the album’s digital release. (Recent album releases from BTS groupmates RM and J-Hope initially arrived as digital-only.) D-Day is available as multiple different collectible CDs (including exclusive editions for Target, Walmart and the Weverse store) — once again with both standard elements (including a sticker, postcard and poster) and randomized photo cards — plus four digital albums (one standard, plus three alternative cover editions sold in Agust D’s official webstore).  

The 10-track album will have to sell very well to compete with the continued streaming dominance of Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time – which posted 166,000 equivalent album units in its seventh week at No. 1, boosted by sales of a new vinyl edition of the 36-track album. But if D-Day can get in range of FACE’s first-week numbers (164,000 units), it could be Wallen’s Time to vacate the top spot.  

YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Don’t Try This at Home (Never Broke Again/Motown/UMG): He’s back. Three months after his first album of 2022, January’s I Rest My Case, YoungBoy returns with his second full-length release for Motown, Don’t Try This at Home. There’s no physical release yet for the 33-track set, but the tracklist is his longest yet, and features big-name features from Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, The Kid LAROI and Mariah the Scientist — which may help the new album pass the somewhat underwhelming No. 9 Billboard 200 peak for I Rest My Case earlier this year.  

Taylor Swift, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (Republic): Taylor Swift already has two albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week with 2022’s Midnights and 2019’s Lover, and she may add another next week with the Record Store Day-only Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions. The vinyl RSD release of the 17-track set — consisting of acoustic live performances of the tracks from Swift’s Grammy-winning Folklore album, previously featured in Swift’s Disney+ special of the same name and available to purchase digitally as part of the Folklore deluxe edition — is limited to 75,000 copies, but that alone would likely be enough to secure a debut in the top 10 if it to sells out, as anything Swift-related seems to do in 2023. (Other titles by the big-name likes of Pearl Jam, Elton John and The 1975 may also factor on the chart next week.) 

In the Mix

Mac DeMarco, One Wayne G (Mac’s Record Label): There aren’t many albums on the Billboard 200 you could fall asleep listening to and still be hearing when you wake up the next morning – but Mac DeMarco’s nine-and-a-half hour (!!) new collection is certainly one. The epic set, mostly consisting of instrumentals and demos, is unsurprisingly unavailable for physical release and is probably unlikely to produce a breakout hit. But with 199 tracks, its streaming numbers should still be enough to make it a factor on the Billboard 200 next week.  

Twenty One Pilots, MTV Unplugged (Fueled by Ramen): Alt-pop duo Twenty One Pilots are no stranger to the top of the Billboard 200, which they topped with 2015’s Blurryface and revisiting the top three with follow-ups Trench (2018) and Scaled and Icy (2021). The outfit might not get quite so high with MTV Unplugged, but the duo has maintained a devout fanbase since their mid-’10s breakthrough and may see good sales for the CD and LP-released set.  

Everything But the Girl, Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly/Virgin): It’s been nearly a quarter-century since the last album from genre-bending U.K. duo Everything But the Girl, who notched a trio of acclaimed albums in the top half of the Billboard 200 in the ‘90s — most recently 1999’s No. 65-peaking Temperamental. This month’s Fuse looks to make it four in a row, with a variety of vinyl and CD options for purchase, and reviews as strong as the pair received at their commercial peak three decades ago.  

26 Apr 2023

YOASOBI’s ‘Idol’ Scores Second Week Atop Japan Hot 100 

YOASOBI’s “Idol” holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated April 26, dominating three metrics of the chart’s measurement this week.

“Idol” continues to soar powered by the popularity of the anime series for which it serves as the opening theme, Oshi no Ko. The track rules streaming (20,366,113 streams, up by 130 percent from the week before), video views (8,388,791 views, up by 94 percent), and downloads (30,505 units, up by 4 percent). It also comes in at No. 4 for radio airplay and No. 52 for karaoke to stay at No. 1 on the Japan Hot 100 for the second week in a row, with over double the total points from the song at No. 2.

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Hinatazaka46’s “One Choice” is this week’s No. 1 song for physical sales with 538,086 copies sold. While the group’s ninth single fared relatively well in the other metrics, coming in at No. 27 for downloads, No. 98 for streaming, and No. 32 for radio, the total wasn’t enough to overturn the huge difference between “Idol,” which racked up points in an extraordinary way this week. “One Choice” launches at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100.

The girl group’s previous single, “Tsuki to Hoshi ga Odoru Midnight,” launched with 459,613 copies, so the new single tops it by approximately 17 percent, indicating the group’s steadily growing popularity.

Spitz’s “Utsukushii Hiré” (“Beautiful Fin”) is down a notch to No. 3 this week but holds at No. 1 for radio, where it’s rare for any song to stay at the top for consecutive weeks. The theme of the latest Case Closed (Detective Conan) movie also rises 7-2 for streaming with 8,585,967 streams (up by 69 percent) and continues to hold in the top 3 after debuting on the chart at No. 2 last week.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.

See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from to Apr. 17 to 23, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.