Music

13 Apr 2023

Is ‘School of Rock’ Still in Session for the Movie’s Now-Grown Child Actors, 20 Years Later?

This week, Billboard is publishing a series of lists and articles celebrating the music of 20 years ago. Our 2003 Week continues here as we check in with a number of the grown-up kids from that year’s hit film comedy School of Rock — to find out what they’re up to now, and hear about what they take away from their experiences with the film and its deeper-than-rock history lessons two decades later.

Brian Falduto was 10 years old when he was cast in a movie about rock and roll starring Jack Black. He was slated to play Billy, a preppy student who eventually becomes the designer for a band of preteens led by Black’s burnout rocker Dewey Finn. Like his co stars, Falduto left school for two months to work on School of Rock. 

It was like being teleported to another world. Like other kids his age, back at home, Falduto did his best to blend in. But on set, he and his fellow school-aged actors were seen and celebrated regardless of who they were or what they did. The things that made them “different” or “weird” at school were the things that got them into the film. Falduto’s Billy, nicknamed Fancy Pants, was sassy, snappy, and unforgettable. “On set, people were like, ‘Just be yourself, we just want more of you,’” he recalls.

Then filming ended, and Falduto returned to school and the real world, where difference wasn’t celebrated – it was punished. “It was this weird mixed messaging that I got,” he says. “[After filming], we went back to school where people are mean – and if you stand out, you get picked on. It was a really confusing thing to navigate.”

It’s been nearly 20 years since the alternate universe of Richard Linklater’s School of Rock delivered its earnest message of high-wattage self-empowerment through rock music, and stage-dove into North American pop culture. It didn’t take long for the film to become a pop culture phenomenon: School Of Rock’s worldwide gross nearly quadrupled its $35 million budget, and eventually spawned both a 2015 Broadway show and a television series, which debuted in 2016. At the time of its release, Roger Ebert wrote in his review that the film proved that “you can make a family film that’s alive and well-acted and smart and perceptive and funny — and that rocks.” Fondness for the movie persists; in early April of this year, Black even teased a reunion and potential sequel.

In 2003, it made perfect sense to use rock and roll to tell a story about breaking out of society’s tightly-policed boundaries. Buoyed by emo, nu-metal, pop-punk, and the early days of the ‘00s indie-rock boom, alongside recent entries from legacy acts like Tom Petty and Johnny Cash, guitar music was still widely appreciated and sought-after, even as pop and hip-hop overtook it in overall popularity. School of Rock’s ancestral family tree of rock, depicted in a scene where Finn has covered a chalkboard with the genre’s lineage and subgenre offshoots, became a learning tool for kids getting into classic rock—both inside and outside of the movie.

Two decades later, guitar music and rock and roll are still omnipresent, shapeshifting into new, subversive forms that can make Finn’s idolatry feel distant and dusty. Artists as wide-ranging as Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Yachty, and Turnstile are updating the curriculum. In the cultural and political upheaval of 2023, School of Rock and its guitar-god worship might seem dated. But as the former students of Horace Green share, Black and his band of classroom misfits still have a lot to teach us.

*****

“It’s The Sound of Music with no Nazis.”

That’s how Rivkah Reyes, who played student and bassist Katie in the film, describes School of Rock nowadays. The comparison is apt. Both movies find a wayward adult (by civil society’s standards, anyhow) taking charge of a crew of buttoned-up, well-disciplined children, who eventually learn to color outside the lines and live freer, more confident lives. Besides the Nazis, the other key difference is that School of Rock gets a lot louder, and the Von Trapp kids never tell their father that he’s “the man.”

In Sound of Music, Julie Andrews’ Maria uses singing to break the children out of their cages, but Jack Black’s disheveled Dewey Finn employs the sounds and culture of rock and roll to teach the uptight kids at Horace Green Preparatory School to be themselves, and to love themselves. The kids get a crash course in classic rock history: Led Zeppelin. Black Sabbath. AC/DC. Motorhead. Anyone who has seen the movie likely can’t read those names without blurting out Black’s iconic cry of despair: “What do they teach in this place?!”

The learning in Finn’s classroom felt authentic because for most of the young actors in School of Rock, it was. Z Infante, who played the lighting designer Gordon, says that between takes, Black would point to band names on the aforementioned family tree and ask who knew them. “The rock education was very in the moment,” says Infante.

Infante, now 30, grew up listening to ‘90s freestyle, dance music, and Sade – but when he got cast in the film, his family started listening to classic rock, and Infante fell in love with punk and alt-rock. Maryam Hassan, who played Tomika, says the same thing happened in her home. She was raised on R&B and soul, the former of which was a precursor to rock and roll, so leaning into rock music wasn’t a big leap. “You listen to blues music, and you hear that funk, that guitar,” says Hassan, 30. “That’s the foundation of rock music.”

Hassan grew into a punk rock fan, taking to bands like Paramore when she was younger. That adrenaline-inducing thrash of guitars, bass, drums, and vocals can take anyone “from zero to 100,” she says. “There’s no better way to break someone [out of their shell] who’s insecure or unsure of themselves.”

Others had been steeped in rock since they were young. Joey Gaydos Jr., who portrayed soft-spoken guitarist Zack Mooneyham, came up surrounded by the originators of Michigan’s early 1970s proto-punk scene. Long before he was born, his father played guitar in Detroit rock bands and gigged with Brownsville Station’s Michael “Cub” Coda and MC5’s Rob Tyner. Seeing photos of his dad with the rockers filled him with reverence and awe. “I’ve always been so into the hero, the Link Wray,” he says of the influential early rock guitarist. In the film, Mooneyham’s father disapproves of his son’s interest in rock music. Gaydos Jr.’s reality was the opposite. “Of course the bond of father and son will have its idiosyncrasies, but [fighting over] playing rock guitar? Hell no,” he grins.

For some of the cast, rock’s disaffected nerve was more appealing than AC/DC riffs or “Smoke on the Water.” Falduto says even after the film, he wasn’t “bit by the rock bug,” but he connected with the genre’s encouragement of letting loose and throwing caution to the wind. It was the perfect vehicle for telling kids to plow through the boundaries of normativity. “It had to be the school of rock,” he says. “What was it going to be? The school of classical music?”

*****

Classic rock’s contemporary cultural position as primarily the domain of heterosexual white men (increasingly cranky and conservative, a trend demonstrated by Van Morrison and Eric Clapton) is reflective of the genre’s canon, and School of Rock’s syllabus didn’t necessarily unseat that notion. But the film succeeded in spotlighting the essence of rock and roll, a genre pioneered by queer Black women, beyond its aesthetics: it celebrated the act of rebelling against the tyranny of normativity. It didn’t just normalize difference – it threw out the idea of “normal” in the first place.

“It’s that whole line, ‘stick it to the man,’” says Infante. “Rock has always been a place of rebellion, particularly thinking about the roots of rock music being in blues and the protests that exist in that music, the acknowledgment of their reality. Rock music expanded upon that. School of Rock was able to be rebellious and teach people about rebellion.”

For Hassan’s Tomika, that meant demonstrating that all bodies are beautiful in the scene when Black pulls her aside to discuss her insecurities about her weight. Hassan was a confident kid, so she didn’t share Tomika’s misgivings, but when the scene goes viral on Twitter every few years and she revisits it, it feels like a pivotal moment. “That was pretty monumental, to have a young Black girl in that scene,” she says. “I’m happy we can celebrate that, and kids can feel seen.”

Maryam Hassan

Maryam Hassan

Ashley Johnson

Falduto recalls that when his character approaches Finn in the classroom to ask to be reassigned as band stylist, his teacher doesn’t bat an eyelash; he just approves the request. “It’s not remarkable that Billy likes to be effeminate and dress things up,” says Falduto. In the years since, Billy has been labeled a gay character, but Falduto said the script never referenced his sexuality, and it never came up on set.

“It didn’t need to be labeled as something, because you don’t need to be gay or a certain gender in order to like fashion or to be effeminate or to be sassy,” says Falduto. “It was a testament to what our society was like at the time that everyone saw that kid and was like, ‘gay.’ When people don’t understand something, they want to understand it, so they put a label on it because things that we don’t understand scare us. It’s a way of normalizing yourself to put a label on something else. It’s still happening to this day.”

Growing up in Chicago, Reyes was bullied for being “the weird girl with the classical guitar” and Filipino lunches at school. But School of Rock turned that weirdness into a weapon. “We all had similar stuff, being bullied at school,” says Reyes. “But whatever our cool unique thing was, was the reason why we ended up in School of Rock. It was really empowering. To its core, it’s a movie about radical self-acceptance.”

For Reyes, two scenes in particular evince the film’s anti-establishment heart. The first is when Finn asks the students what rock and roll is about. Scoring chicks and getting loaded? No. Sticking it to the man? Yes. Later, when the snotty, punk drummer Freddie – played by Kevin Clark and affectionately nicknamed Spazzy McGee – is found hanging with a crew of grizzled rockers smoking and playing cards, Black gives him an earful. The purpose of the scene isn’t necessarily to communicate that partying is bad. It’s that Freddie made a commitment to his friends, and it needed to be honored. 

In May 2021, Clark was biking in his native Chicago when he was struck and killed by a driver. He was 32. Reyes and Gaydos stayed close friends with Clark until his death, and the loss still lingers with them. The two make music together, and when the snare begins to rattle in the corner, they know it’s Clark piping up with a drum idea. “He’s still very much with us,” says Reyes. “He’s a very loud, very friendly ghost.”

“That loss is devastating all the time,” says Gaydos. He adds with a gentle smile, “We keep rocking for him. What else can you do?”

Gaydos’ simple affirmation gets at something deeper, something that cuts to the bone of the film and its romantic vision of rock music. “This is the truth: rock and roll is just about connection with your bandmates,” says Reyes. “The real essence of it is sticking it to the man, then connecting with your people and creating something together.”

Reyes has spent years developing a keen sense for whether fellow creatives are in it for the right reasons. They’re protective of their musicianship and bass playing after being pigeonholed as “the bass girl from School of Rock.” They eventually had to leave one musical project when another member kept making references to the film and using their presence for clout. Reyes credits the sensitivity to School Of Rock.

“I live in L.A., where everybody is kind of in it for the sex, drugs, and rock and roll of it all,” they say. “I can sense it right away. Those people don’t stick around in my life very long.”

Reyes has been sober for five years now. After years in acting, comedy, and music surrounded by drugs and alcohol, they were nervous that eliminating substances might have a negative impact on their artistry. “I thought, ‘I’m gonna be a bad rock star if I don’t do coke before the show,’ or ‘I’m not gonna write good comedy if I’m not a little stoned,’” they say. “At the end of the day, my authenticity comes out through my desire to stay away from the stuff that society told us was the cool thing to do if you wanted to be a rock star.”

Part of School Of Rock’s enduring appeal is its encouragement of deviation from the norm, but the real world—even as it enjoyed and celebrated the film—has never been quite as welcoming to change. For a long time, Falduto resented the long shadow of his role for years, lost between experience of on-set acceptance and the reality of a society that punished uniqueness. “It was a hard thing to carry while I was confused about how I was,” he says. In middle and high school, classmates knew him as “the gay kid from School of Rock.” 

Now he works as a life coach for queer youth, and records and releases country music—a love he picked up while working at a country radio station after college. “For a really long time it was really hard to be the gay kid from School of Rock,” he says, “but it’s come full circle. Now I’m soaking in the beauty of the process.”

Maryam Hassan

Brian Falduto

Ashley Johnson

*****

This year’s milestone marks a span of time that’s flung the actors from their desks into the grown-up shoes of the film’s adults, like Finn, Mike White’s Ned Schneebly, or Joan Cusack’s Principal Mullins. Finn’s struggles to pay his rent hit closer to home these days. “What adult can’t relate to that?” says Reyes. “There’s always that thing at the end of the month like, ‘oh shit, is the legend of the rent way past due? Are we about to have to commit fraud to pay our rent?’”

One of the film’s central subtexts is the struggle for liberation in a world that demands submission – via bills, social pressure, or, for Cusack’s Mullins, parental overwatch. School of Rock gave its cast some tips on how to do that. Jordan-Claire Smith, who played Michelle, one of the band’s groupies – a rare poorly aged misstep for the film, the cast acknowledges – entered the film as a child actor, and stayed in the industry until she was 18. But the joy of acting was disappearing. “I was having so much anxiety around auditioning and representation,” says Smith. She decided to take a break.

Smith went to college, and discovered a new passion: nursing. She works as a nurse now in California, and produces and acts in short films with friends and her husband. Her work now doesn’t involve cranked guitar amps and dimly lit venues, but she says her decision to chase what felt best for her ties back to the film. “Obviously not every kid in the movie, if they were a real person, was going to go on to become somebody in a rock band,” says Smith. “But having that experience with Mr. Schneebly would have opened up all of their minds to be like, ‘Oh, what is it that I love, what do I wanna do, and how do I pursue that?’ I don’t think I ever put together that that was something that I really learned from my experience on School Of Rock.”

Aleisha Allen, who played Alicia in the film, says the film gave her a similarly discerning approach to her work. She had been acting since she was three years old, but realized that by young adulthood, she was being typecast in specific roles. “Because of the passion and respect and love for the art that I do have, I didn’t want to just take jobs that would keep me relevant,” says Allen. Like Smith, she decided to go to college, and now works as a speech language pathologist, where she uses her vocal skills in exercises to empower her clients. In the face of conservative political movements working to erase queerness and critical race theory from schoolrooms, Allen says “rebellion is needed more overtly than ever.”

Gaydos, too, says there have been ebbs and flows in his musical life. Sometimes guitar would be a thrill. At other points, whatever job he had to work to pay the bills would nudge it out of his day-to-day routine. He suggests that in the long run, “evenness” is the best you can hope for. “I never lost my passion, but I got so far disconnected from it that it wasn’t a part of everyday necessity,” he says. “But it’s like air, man. Start choking without it. As far as my sanity just dealing with living, I gotta have it.”

Infante is starring as Angel in a production of Rent at the Oregon Shakespear Festival, and Hassan is prepping new music for release this year. Falduto released his Gay Country EP in early March. (Black lip-synced to one of the singles on his TikTok.) Reyes is busy writing and acting. The School of Rock alumni have each found a path that feels right for them. It’s not all smashed guitars and stage dives, because it was never about those things in the first place.

“That’s the real beauty of rock and roll,” says Smith. “It gives people an outlet to be exactly who they are.”

13 Apr 2023

Taylor Swift Donated Enough to Feed ‘Over 125,000’ at Tampa Food Bank Ahead of The Eras Tour Stop

Taylor Swift made yet another generous donation to a Florida food bank on Thursday (April 13) ahead of bringing The Eras Tour to Tampa.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, Feeding Tampa Bay announced that the “Anti-Hero” singer had made a significant contribution. “Thank you @taylorswift for being a HERO and supporting Feeding Tampa Bay’s mission to end hunger by 2025!” the nonprofit organization wrote in a caption beneath a close-up of Swift’s multi-colored tour poster. “Your generosity will place over 125,000 meals on tables!”

Swifties praised their queen for the private act of kindness in the comments section, with one writing, “Incredible human. Very humble and generous. Loves her fans and cities she goes to.” Another declared Swift “The people’s Princess.” A third Swiftie laughingly commented, “AND SHES THE MAYOR YALL,” citing Tampa Mayor Jane Castor bestowing the singer with the title of honorary mayor during her visit and giving her a key to the city.

The donations continue Swift’s recent giving streak, which started with similar gifts at food banks in both Arizona and Las Vegas along the tour route late last month.

Though Taylor is gearing up for three consecutive shows at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, the Hillsborough County superintendent tried to use the singer’s own songs to craft a public letter warning students not to miss school to attend the “AMAZING” three-hour spectacle.

The Tampa shows will also be the first time Tay hits the stage following the news that she and Joe Alwyn had officially broken up after more than six years together.

Check out Feeding Tampa Bay’s grateful shout-out to Swift for her donation below.

13 Apr 2023

Beyoncé Makes ‘TIME’ List of 2023’s Most Influential People

Beyoncé has made TIME‘s list of most influential people of 2023, and to celebrate, Renaissance co-producer Honey Dijon penned a touching note about the superstar’s influence on today’s music industry.

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“In 2003, Beyoncé performed her hit single ‘Crazy in Love’ for the BET Awards,” Dijon wrote. “Her performance embodied the legacy and culture of Black artists from Josephine Baker to Tina Turner, James Brown, and Prince. The way she commanded the stage and led her band was transcendent. That performance secured her place in the pantheon as one of the greatest Black female artists of our time.”

She also noted that Bey’s 2022 seventh studio album was “another historic moment—not only for dance music, but also as a celebration of the foundations of Black music. From R&B to house, gospel to techno, hip-hop to vogue, Beyoncé wove a tapestry of music on Renaissance that celebrated all facets of Black music, including the immense contributions of the Black gay and queer community. Then she became the most-decorated Grammy winner ever.”

With 32 awards, Bey passed late classical conductor Sir Georg Solti for the most wins by anyone in Grammy history this year, after she won best dance/electronic recording for “Break My Soul,” best traditional R&B performance for “Plastic Off the Sofa,” best R&B song for “Cuff It” and best dance/electronic album for Renaissance.

“Beyoncé’s fearlessness, talent, beauty, and artistry will continue to influence and inspire Black female artists for millennia,” Honey Dijon concluded her message. Read it in full here, and check out the full list of Time‘s list of most influential people of 2023.

13 Apr 2023

Kimberly Perry Is Pregnant, Expecting First Child With Husband Johnny Costello: ‘I’m Overflowing With Joy’

Congratulations are in order for Kimberly Perry and her husband, Johnny Costello, as the singer announced that they are expecting their first child together. The country singer, formerly of The Band Perry, shared the news via Instagram on Thursday (April 13).

The 39-year-old posted a maternity photoshoot with Costello taken for People on her Instagram feed and captioned the post, “The best news of all the good news lately: I’m OVERFLOWING WITH JOY to share that Johnny and I are expecting our first baby in late August!! We’re absolutely beside ourselves with happiness and in awe of the Creator’s plan.”

“Building my own family is something I’ve dreamed about for as long as I can remember. As a woman and as an artist, I’ve always felt like I had to make a choice between growing my career and growing life. But YALL – I’m doin’ em both at the SAME TIME!! Here we go!” the country singer added, noting that she will keep fans updated on all news regarding “BB Costello.”

Costello also updated his Instagram followers with the news, writing, “Yall!!!!! We’ve got some fun fun fun family news!!! WE ARE HAVING A BABY IN AUGUST!! We are so excited to be parents and can’t wait for little Harper Lee to have a sibling!!!”

The Band Perry singer additionally expressed her excitement at becoming a mother for the first time in a statement to People. “Johnny and I are overflowing with joy to announce this beautiful bundle of love,” she told the outlet. “This is a brand new season for us — new love, new life, new baby, nothing better!”

Perry and Costello’s baby news comes on the heels of their second wedding anniversary; the pair quietly tied the knot in June 2021 and revealed their marriage in a six-month anniversary post that December. The baby announcement also arrives after The Band Perry announced its hiatus in March, and the singer’s recent signing to RECORDS Nashville/Columbia as a solo artist.

See Perry’s pregnancy announcement below:

13 Apr 2023

Tyler, the Creator’s ‘Call Me’ Sets 3-Year Record on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart

Tyler, the Creator carves out a piece of chart history this week as his album, Call Me If You Get Lost, re-enters at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart dated April 15. The set rebounds after the arrival of its deluxe edition, Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale. As the album returns, it becomes the first project to rule the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in three separate calendar years.

The deluxe edition of Call Me If You Get Lost was released March 30 and adds eight new songs to the original tracklist. Three days before the deluxe release, Tyler, the Creator announced the impending project on social media and tweeted, in part, “Some of those songs I really love, and knew they would never see the light of day, so Ive decided to put a few of them out.”

In the latest tracking week of March 30 – April 6, Call registered 68,000 equivalent album units according to Luminate, a 617% swell from the prior week. (All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.)

Streaming contributes the bulk of activity, with 57,000 of Call’s total from that sector, equaling 77.97 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs. Call also sold 11,000 copies, including digital download and CD editions of the new deluxe version – though the CD is currently only sold through the rapper’s webstore. A negligible amount of activity derived from track-equivalent sales. (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.)

As mentioned, Call becomes the first project to lead the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in three different calendar years. It first reigned for one week in July 2021 upon its original release, and returned to the summit in April 2022 for another week in the top slot after the arrival of its vinyl editions powered nearly 50,000 sales.

Call’s high streaming activity causes several of the new songs to debut or climb on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. “Dogtooth” leads the pack and jumps 24-11 in its first full week of tracking, after its March 27 release allowed for only three days of activity for the prior tracking week. The song is the most-streamed Call title this week, with 11.7 million official U.S. streams. As “Dogtooth” ascends, it becomes the rapper’s fourth-best showing on the chart and second as a lead act. Tyler, the Creator reached No. 5 twice, with “Earfquake” in 2019 and, with 21 Savage as featured acts on Pharrell Williams’ “Cash In Cash Out” in 2022. “Wusyaname,” with YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Ty Dolla $ign, meanwhile, peaked at No. 6 in 2021.

With “Dogtooth” on top, here’s a look at all Tyler, the Creator’s placements on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs this week:

  • No. 11, “Dogtooth”
  • No. 16, “Sorry Not Sorry”
  • No. 28, “Wharf Talk,” featuring A$AP Rocky
  • No. 37, “Heaven to Me”
  • No. 38, “What a Day”
  • No. 39, “Stuntman,” featuring Vince Staples
  • No. 43, “Boyfriend, Girlfriend (2020 Demo),” featuring YG

13 Apr 2023

Justin Timberlake Honors His Late Backup Singer Nicole Hurst With a Scholarship

Justin Timberlake is taking time to give back — and is honoring a special someone in the process. On Wednesday (April 12), the former *NSYNC member announced the Nicole Hurst Scholarship, which will allow two prospective music students to study at the 1500 Sound Academy in Inglewood, Calif., and Taipei, Taiwan. The scholarship is named after Timberlake’s backup singer, Nicole Hurst, who passed away in 2021 of breast cancer.

“In honor of one of our Tennessee Kids, a woman who LIVED and LOVED music, and one of the greatest voices and smiles the world has ever heard and seen — we’re so excited to announce the NICOLE HURST SCHOLARSHIP, which will be supporting young creatives with 2 scholarships… One to attend @1500SoundAcademy in Inglewood, CA and one to attend @1500SoundAcademyTaipei in Taiwan!!” the “Can’t Stop the Feeling” singer captioned an April 12 Instagram video of him discussing the opportunity. “Nicole’s legacy and light lives on. Link in my bio to apply by April 26, 2023!!! @jamesfauntleroyii @rance1500 @1500soundacademy.”

Timberlake appeared in the video alongside R&B/pop singer-songwriter James Fauntleroy and musician and producer Larrance “Rance” Dopson, both of whom have won Grammy awards for their work. Fauntleroy and Dopson lead the 1500 Sound Academy with Twila True, co-founder of True Family Enterprises.

Prospective students hoping to win the scholarship can submit their applications from now until April 26. Applicants can apply for the L.A. scholarship here and for the Taipei scholarship here. The two winners will be announced on May 13.

Watch Timberlake talk about the Nicole Hurst scholarship in the video below.

13 Apr 2023

Drake Bell Is ‘Safe,’ No Longer Missing

Drake Bell has been located and is safe, according to Daytona Beach Police Department. Officials updated their missing persons report on Thursday (April 13) that they are in contact with Bell, just hours after the former Nickelodeon star was “considered missing and endangered.” 

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In the initial post, DBPD noted that the 36-year-old actor (born Jared Bell) was traveling in a  2022 gray BMW, which was last seen in the Daytona Beach, Fla, area around 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

Officials have not yet revealed why Bell was deemed “endangered” or the current status of his mental or physical health.

See the updated post here.

Bell has been embroiled in controversy over the past few years. In July 2021, Bell was sentenced to two years’ probation and 200 hours of community service in connection with child endangerment charges for his conduct with a young fan, whom he met online and then in person, that spanned years.

According to the victim, the former Drake and Josh star began contact with her via online chats when she was 12, and by the time she was 15, the exchanges were “blatantly sexual.” She claimed that the two had exchanged explicit photos and on several occasions engaged in sexual conduct.

After pleading guilty, Bell took to Instagram, denying that explicit images were exchanged and that anything “physical” had occurred between him and the victim. “I responded to a fan whose age I didn’t know. When I became aware of their age, all conversation and communication stopped,” he said. “This individual continued to come to shows and pay for meet-and-greets, and although I was unaware that this was the same person I was communicating with online, that’s what I pled guilty to.”

13 Apr 2023

Niall Horan Announces New Single ‘Meltdown’: Here’s When It Arrives

No need to get anxious! Niall Horan shared the news on Thursday (April 13) that his next single “Meltdown” is on its way.

“I’m so happy to let you know that my new single ‘Meltdown’ is out on April 28,” the former One Direction-er wrote on Twitter. “The song is basically about feeling anxious and being in that kind of freaking out moment but knowing deep down that everything will be alright.”

In the shadow-strewn cover art, he wears a troubled look as he leans against an old radiator, dressed in shades of creamy neutrals.

“Meltdown,” which fans can pre-save until its release at the end of the month, will serve as the second preview off Horan’s forthcoming third solo album, The Show. So far, lead single “Heaven” has spent six weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 62.

In a recent interview with Esquire, the Irish pop star revealed that he regularly sends his unreleased music to his former One Direction bandmates for feedback. He most recently tapped Louis Tomlinson for his “honest opinion” on The Show, which is slated for release on June 9 via Capitol Records.

Meanwhile, Horan continues to battle it out as a coach on his very first season of The Voice. Last week, Team Niall’s Jerome Goodwin III and Talia Smith went head to head in the Battle Rounds by duetting on Sam Smith’s 2014 “Like I Can.” And though she lost the match, the latter ultimately emerged as the night’s big winner when she used her final moments on the stage to reveal she was pregnant.

Read Horan’s “Meltdown” announcement and check out the single’s cover art below.

13 Apr 2023

‘That Moment in the Basement’: An Oral History of Broken Social Scene’s ‘Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl’

This week, Billboard is publishing a series of lists and articles celebrating the music of 20 years ago. Our 2003 Week continues here as we invite the creators behind one of the year’s most iconic indie rock songs — and one of our favorite ’03 deep cuts — Broken Social Scene’s “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl,” to tell the story behind its humble beginnings and unlikely growth to true anthem status.

Park that car. Drop that phone. Sleep on the floor. Dream about me. 

You’re probably familiar with those words in one way or another. Maybe you’ve heard them in a movie. Maybe you’ve bawled your eyes out to them. Maybe you’ve seen them in a meme. Maybe you have them tattooed on your body. Regardless of how trivial or meaningful the encounter was, if you’ve heard or seen them once over the past 20 years, chances are pretty good that they’ve stuck with you until now. 

Those lyrics are repeated 13 times in a row to form the climax of “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl,” one of many classic tracks that make up Broken Social Scene’s breakout second album, You Forgot It in People. Originally released in the band’s native Canada in 2002 and more widely reissued in 2003, the album announced the arrival of an unbelievably eclectic, stacked collective, the likes of which would dominate Toronto’s indie music scene for years to come. 

At various moments on You Forgot It in People and BSS’ self-titled 2005 follow-up, you can hear members of Metric, Feist, Stars, Do Make Say Think, and Apostle of Hustle, to name just a sliver of the band’s overall constellation. “Anthems” itself features Metric’s Emily Haines and James Shaw, as well as the prolific Montreal-based violinist Jessica Moss, who’s played with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Arcade Fire, A Silver Mt. Zion, and many others.

Fading in after the playful, wide-eyed “Pacific Theme,” the song kind of comes out of nowhere after You Forgot It in People’s rollicking first half. It’s an impressionist version of a tearful ballad, with wisps of banjo, guitar, tom-toms and vocals gradually locking step into a structure-averse buildup that peaks and then immediately dissolves into ghostly reverberations. The only entirely female-sung track on the album, “Anthems” is also a star-making turn for Haines, whose lyrics are cut-and-paste snapshots that exude fraught nostalgia, the likes of which would be snuffed out by extraneous words. It’s impossible to catch the song with your bare hands, but also impossible to walk away unmoved. 

“Anthems” has spent the past two decades flitting between temporary and unlikely homes to form its lasting legacy. From hormonally charged AIM away messages to irreverent memes, from the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World soundtrack to a Meryl Streep and Tracey Ullman guest appearance at a BSS show, from a cover by gothic indie-folk singer-songwriter Nicole Dollanganger to an interpolation by rapper/comedian Open Mike Eagle, this song means many different things to many different people. Somehow, a humble tune wafted out of a Toronto basement and into the lives of many. These days, Haines views “Anthems” as “A song that’s definitely achieved that thing that we all want a song to do – which is [to] outlive us all and welcome everybody in its own way with a life of its own.” 

The song’s not the only enduring classic from the album — ”Lover’s Spit” in particular has been licensed for a litany of film and TV syncs, and also got some visibility from a name-drop in Lorde’s “Ribs.” But “Anthems” has a separate legacy that feels almost divorced from the group of artists that made it. In some ways – namely, its folky, twee melodrama – it is distinctively 2003. In others, it feels mysteriously timeless: it is specific but universal, comforting but opaque. Here is its story, as told by those artists, as well as a few key others. 

In 2002, the original Broken Social Scene core of Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning were recruiting members for their second album. Their 2001 debut, Feel Good Lost, was a mostly instrumental affair, but they had a more adventurous, collaborative process in mind for this new material. 

Brendan Canning (BSS Co-Founder, Bass on “Anthems”): Talented as Kevin and I may think we are, it’s great to have other people on base when you’re a band. 

Kevin Drew (BSS Co-Founder, Keys and “Backwards Guitar” on “Anthems”): At that time, it was all about impressing each other and trying to keep up with whatever was happening in the room. I feel as if there was a freedom, but also an urgency. It was the wildest ride, just trying to have this completely different sonic perspective in the songs we were doing, and a completely different approach as well.

Canning: It’s not like there was any fake, “Okay guys, we’ve gotta make a pop song,” [direction]. It’s not an awkward conversation about band direction, everyone is able to communicate without having to talk about it. Everyone who plays in Broken Social Scene, past or present, has always communicated musically, and that’s why it worked. It’s not, ‘Okay everybody, The Strokes are really popular, so we gotta keep up with those guys.’

Charles Spearin (Vocal Effects on “Anthems”): There was some butting of heads in the studio, but most of us were just excited. I think the fact that the majority of us had other projects on the go meant we weren’t wholly invested with our egos in the project. There was a sense of just adding to the stew without getting too anxious about it, and that was really helpful. Kevin was really good at making people feel welcome and admired—it was almost like bringing somebody in was this admiration, just the sense like, “We really love what you do, can you come in and add to this mess that we’re making?”

John Crossingham (Banjo on “Anthems”): I initially joined as a drummer, but I really got a sense very quickly that it was very, very loose in terms of roles within the band. I was definitely intimidated. I was keenly aware of the fact that there were a lot of really good players in there. Justin Peroff was a much better drummer [than me], Andrew Whiteman and Charles Spearin were much better guitar players. I was like, ‘Okay, this is my chance to show my stuff and push myself to do better.’

Rehearsals began in Drew’s basement. On the day of “Anthems”’ conception, a typically eclectic group had assembled.

Canning: Myself, Justin Peroff, John Crossingham, Jimmy Shaw, Emily Haynes, and Jason Collette were in the basement. Kevin was upstairs while we were playing, and he came downstairs at one point and was like, “You guys sound like a bar band.” I was like, [disconcertedly] “All right.” 

Drew: Yeah, I said, “It sounds like a bar band.” I’m sure that’s it. When Brendan tells the story, I always chuckle. Like, I was not there for the [actual creation of the] song. 

Canning: We weren’t playing “Anthems” or anything [yet], that was more like the impetus to change what we were doing and play something different, just a subtle directorial direction. So I came up with a bassline and then everyone started playing it. Like, all of a sudden we have an idea that hopefully wasn’t like a bar band. 

Emily Haines (Vocals on “Anthems”): I remember Canning just playing [imitates his delicately descending bassline] on the bass, and Jimmy came in with a riff, and I just went [sings] ‘Used to be one…’ 

Canning: I whispered a vocal motif to Emily. I whispered in her ear, something like, “Used to be one of the rotten ones and I liked you for that,” but maybe I didn’t have all those lyrics, and then she just took that and ran with it.

Drew: I remember coming back downstairs later and hearing what they were working on and thinking, ‘Okay, here we go. This is cool.’ 

Haines’ “Anthems” lyrics have become a frequent subject of interpretation, even within the band. 

Canning: She took a few days, added some lyrics, next thing you know, you got the “bleaching your teeth, smiling flash, talking trash’ part. 

Haines: The time that I wrote “Anthems” was one of the moments when Metric came back to Toronto from New York, a little hiatus. I remember walking around in the smallest leather jacket possible when it started getting cold—I remember actually writing [Metric’s] “IOU” the same way, just walking around. I guess when you’re so broke you can’t really go inside anywhere. So it was just like, “Uh, I guess I’ll walk around”’ I had been working on this melody and this idea of like, that pain of having to let go when you’re growing up and you’re moving on from being someone that you were. 

Drew: [Emily] is one of my favorite lyricists. I found the simplicity of “Anthems” so haunting, lyric-wise, and that’s the power of Emily. The selection of her words was just perfect.

Emily Haines

Emily Haines of Metric during Napster 2.0 Launch Celebration – Performances at House of Blues in West Hollywood, Calif.

Lee Celano/WireImage

Haines: [It was] this tale of a lost kid, or someone who was about to go off to LA, maybe. I was definitely aware of the fact that something was ending. If you’re gonna be a super stubborn independent person like myself and want to change the industry at the same time as you’re trying to launch your band, you’re gonna have a bit of an uphill grind. So it’s not a sad thing, it was just the sense of “Oh man yeah, things are gonna change.”

Crossingham: It taps into that mysterious quality of being young and at odds with things. It’s opaque enough that you can put anything you want on it, but it’s specific enough in its emotion that you recognize what’s being intimated.

Haines: It’s funny because the idea of selling out or the idea of integrity was such a theme at the time, and now it’s not – I feel like you’d be hard pressed to even explain the concept to people. But there was definitely an element of that – “Bleaching your teeth, smiling, flash, talking trash under your breath.” Like the idea of, obviously there’s a depiction of someone that you don’t wanna be, and maybe that person already exists, or maybe that’s what not to become, but it’s such a throughline of the music from that time that I made. 

Ryan Schreiber (Pitchfork founder and You Forgot It in People reviewer): [You Forgot It in People] is very much a coming-of-age record; almost all of its songs grapple with some degree of personal turmoil and self-discovery through tribulation. “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” is almost the centerpiece in that way; it’s the clearest distillation of the album’s broader theme – how growing up forces us to shed youthful ideals and pieces of our identity that once felt like they defined us in whole, and how, with enough remove, it can start to feel like that person you used to be no longer even exists.

Drew: There was a warm welcoming into what we all were trying to think about, which was, it’s okay to be lost, it’s okay to be an individual, it’s okay to get through all the angst that you’re coming out of as you become an adult – but still having so much baggage of youth and so much trauma of youth and so much joy of youth. I think it was the youth of that feeling that ended up being why I titled it the way that I did.

Haines: Kevin, who has such a gift for song titles – he named it “Anthems for Seventeen Year-Old Girl.” Which just made sense.

Drew: I felt that we were anthem makers, and not in a bombastic way, but in a way that music is there to take care of you. It’s there to make you not feel alone. It’s there to help describe how you’re feeling or to give you identity. When we were all together, in the basement. I felt like we were little anthem workers.

BSS recorded You Forgot It in People with local producer David Newfeld in his makeshift studio.

David Newfeld (Production on “Anthems”): For about three years, basically all I was doing was working on their stuff. “Anthems” was one of the first songs they did at my place.

Drew: [“Anthems”] was definitely one of the easier songs to do, and Newf took to it right away. He was already bringing us to a place that I had never been to before. It was such an education into sound, but not realizing that you were being educated. 

Newfeld: They were hearing it after it was laid down, and it was funny, they were like, “This is too normal.”

Spearin: Everybody thought it was a little bit too pretty or a little bit too sweet, or something like that. So I took the vocals and ran it through some guitar pedals, and that’s how we ended up getting that [pitch-shifted] sound, which I think was super cool.

Drew: One of the things that [Charlie and I] loved doing the most was affecting [Emily’s] vocals, messing around with her sound.

Newfeld: At that point, I would never have dared do something like that, ‘cause they’re just mangling the shit out of [the vocals]. I’m like, “Oh okay, I didn’t know you could take those liberties, cool.”’ They’re like “Yeah, we’ve gotta make this f–king weirder.”

Crossingham: I had some E-bow type guitar parts in mind for “Anthems,” but Jamie’s guitar was already so dreamy and Emily’s vocal had the pitch effects, so it didn’t feel quite right. I got in my head that maybe a banjo would be cool. I was flying blind a little bit, but I found an open tuning that was in the key of the song. I just sat there for 40 minutes and wrote a part and felt pretty good about it and said, “Okay, let’s give it a shot.” When you listen to it, it’s quite tentative. It sounds like someone who isn’t a super confident banjo player, but it really suits the vibe of the song.

Newfeld: The other thing I really remember about that tune was that they wanted to bring in Jessica Moss to come in and play violin on it. 

Jessica Moss (Violin on “Anthems”): Kevin was a friend at the time and I knew a few of the others, but it felt a bit like something weird and brave and unknown to do. I had really enjoyed [playing on Feel Good Lost], but I went back to Montreal and continued building my world here as Broken Social Scene was on the rise – and then in our world, Godspeed and Mount Zion were on the rise. It really felt like the difference between Montreal and Toronto was the difference between Godspeed and Social Scene. I don’t know anybody else actually who’s straddled both of them, lived in both worlds in the same way. 

Drew: Charlie and I loved working with Jessica Moss. When she walked into the room, my whole spirit would be intimidated. She has this incredible way of bringing sadness and comfort into melody with violin. I had worked with her on three records, and I knew this had way more of a pop sensibility and I was a little bit afraid of that. 

Moss: If you saw a description of Broken Social Scene written on paper and description of Godspeed written on paper, you would be like, “Yeah, that’s a similar kind of thing.” But I suppose at the time there were feelings of animosity and feelings of competition. In retrospect, like, what a load of bullshit, in some ways. In other parts, I still feel like our deeply held values are still my values. 

Drew: The violin line that she plays, she just did it off the cuff. You never had to give Jessica direction.

Newfeld: She came into the studio one afternoon and she basically went, ‘All right, just play me the song. Let me hear how loud the headphones are. Okay, a little too quiet. Okay, put my violin in. Nah, that’s fine. Okay, just play the song and let me do takes.’ She did a few passes like that, and that’s what you hear. It was pretty damn cool at that time, ‘cause I was also working with some people that were not super talented and were total a–holes.

Drew: I don’t believe there’s ever a time when we would be recording her that I wasn’t just completely captivated by her. I’ve never worked with somebody that had such an immediate melodic understanding of what you’re presenting them and brought so much identity. The identity was melancholy to me ‘cause it’s a violin, but there was an honesty that was very intimidating about her musicianship – which, of course, when you’re scared or you’re intimidated, it’s an amazing place to be in art. 

“Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” is slotted as song seven of You Forgot It in People’s 13 tracks, smack-dab in the middle of the album. 

Schreiber: Clearly, a lot of thought was put into the sequencing, production, and pacing of the album, and that goes a long way towards holding it together musically. It manages to sound like the product of one band, despite how its core players criss-cross genres and styles and swap vocal leads. 

Crossingham: The thing that really works for “Anthems” for me is how — there’s examples of that all over the record — it’s a really excellent mixture of synthetic and organic instrumentation. It’s not a folk song, but it’s not quite a future-leaning indie ballad [either]. It’s got its own enigmatic character and every single piece of it coalesced in a pretty magic way. 

Spearin: [“Anthems”] has a pop sensibility. All the songs did in their own way, for a band somewhat intentionally trying to shy away from pop structure – verse chorus, bridge, chorus, that kind of thing. We found a way to write pop music that totally eschewed your standard format. And that was something that I felt we were proud of and was a highlight for us.

Canning: Why would you hem yourself in with starting to second guess whether these songs fit together? F–king, I don’t know, you ever listen to The Beatles? They seem to make a lot of different ideas work all together. But you know, what did they know? That’s more of a modern curse.

After discovering the CD within the “boxes upon boxes of promos” he received at the Pitchfork mailbox, Schreiber awarded You Forgot It in People a 9.2 score in his glowing review on February 2, 2003. 

Newfeld: At the time, Brendan and I were like, “Yeah, this track’s okay, but we’re really intrigued with some of the other ones we were working on”’ Whereas Charlie’s like “No, a lot of people are gonna like this.” I remember he felt strongly about that track. And then when it came out, there was the Pitchfork review, and it’s like, “I’m listening to the album, and then I get to track seven, and then there’s that song!”’ I’m like, “Holy shit, Charlie was right, a lot of people are gonna really dig this.”

Schreiber: You Forgot It in People was really the first record that indicated I was on the right track with that strategy [of digging through promos]. It’s an album I would never have discovered any other way. I remember doing a double-take about three or four tracks in, because there was absolutely nothing about the packaging, the band name, the label, or anything else that would have indicated what was encoded on that disc. I was completely floored by it on first listen, and that inspired me to keep digging through the rest of the stacks for other albums that might be flying under my radar. That process ultimately led to discoveries of music by Sufjan Stevens, M83, The Books, The Unicorns, and others.

Canning: With this album, we really established ourselves in such a significant way. It gave us all really good careers in music. 

Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene photographed on Feb. 27, 2003.

David Cooper/Toronto Star via GI

Newfeld: They went from just an indie band in Toronto to suddenly a worldwide sensation, which definitely created a huge impression in Toronto itself. It was a real dynamic change. Before that, Canadians always looked at other parts of the world, like England or the United States, like that’s where the really happening stuff was, and us in Canada, we’re just observers in a backwater. I don’t wanna diss the scene too much, but I feel that when we got this project going and the album came out, it really sent the message that we can do our own thing and interpret popular music and come up with our own angle on it that’s valid in any country.

Haines: I remember how I felt at that time, before [Shaw and I] moved to LA. It was really early days and everyone was struggling, but also there was so much determination – certainly from me and Jimmy, where we were like, “Oh, we’re gonna do this.” We felt like we had to leave, and [BSS] felt like they could stay to achieve what they wanted to achieve. It’s totally different now in Canada, but in the late ‘90s, early 2000s, it really didn’t seem conceivable that you would be able to become an international entity without leaving Canada. But I’m so happy that now people realize they maybe don’t have to, things have changed enough.

Over the past 20 years, “Anthems” has remained a staple of BSS shows. As Haines has only sporadically toured with the group over the years, lead vocals have been handled by a rotating cast of members. Most of the time, Drew plays Moss’ violin part on a keyboard.

Drew: It’s humbling to have one of your most successful songs be one you didn’t write. That song just became such a warm duvet for so many that I’ve just spent the next 20 years trying to constantly honor it live every night. I love it and I love playing it every night – it’s a signature piece that must be played. We don’t have many must-be-played [songs] but we know that “Anthems” is such a comforting song for people who come out to the shows that it’s on the set every night. 

Haines: I haven’t toured with [BSS] in forever, but whenever I do, “Anthems” is the peak of the set. There was one pretty intense instance where I was with Social Scene in 2017 in Europe. 

Drew: We were in Manchester the day after the bombing at the Ariana Grande show. [Smiths guitarist] Johnny Marr was gonna come and play with us that night, but then he canceled because of everything that was going on. 

Haines: I remember it was such a weird dilemma for [Kevin] because it was like, do you play the show or don’t you play the show?

Drew: I sent [Marr] a message saying, ‘Look, this is the song we’re gonna do now. We’re gonna open with this tune, and if you find it in your heart, come out.’ He called and said, ‘I’m coming.’ That was an iconic moment within the band, just due to the circumstances and the loss and the city, we were there when they were coming together. We weren’t sure what was going on. There was talk of martial law happening and all these things. And there we were, these Canadians who had this song, “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl,” and we had James and Emily with us. We had the original writers in the room and it gave me shivers.

Haines: To just be saying those words, that it was this loss of life of all these literal 17-year-old girls, was just the strangest end of metaphor. The song seems to have many lives. 

Drew: This song just constantly keeps giving back to us. It keeps giving us moments where it breaks down that barrier, it makes a connection to everyone. It’s the power of the tune.

Whether in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World or a Spongebob meme, “Anthems” seems to consistently pop up where you’d least expect it. 

Canning: There would be no “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” memes without Emily’s lyrics. That’s kind of meaningless, but at the same time, they’re lyrics that stuck around and still apply to this day. She was ahead of the curve with that, the conversation, “Oh, people are on their phones too much.’ That wasn’t really a thing.” I didn’t have a cell phone in 2002.

Crossingham: I literally just finished signing not one, but two different release forms for the use of that song in a TV show or film or whatever. It’s funny too, I posted something on my Instagram about how I was gonna finally play this banjo on stage for the 20th anniversary shows that we did in Toronto. And this friend of mine was like, “I had no idea you played on that song and that you played the banjo. Like, you’re a freaking legend. What the hell?”

Moss: I’d been talking to a few younger friends who had no idea that’s my violin on that song like, “What? I f–king love that song! I lived with that song on repeat when I was a teenager.” I just went to YouTube just to listen to it and as I was listening, I was scrolling through the comments and – oh my god, have you done that? There’s comments from 10 years ago and two months ago, like, “I’m 17 now” or “I was 20 when this happened and my mom died.” And actually if you keep reading down, it’s so sweet — ‘cause every once in a while someone says, “This has gotta be the sweetest place on the internet.” I think that’s so lovely. 

Haines: It’s funny, you never really know what song it’s going to be, right? I don’t really compare it to anything in Metric. I just feel like “Anthems” is its own very cool universe, because it’s so well suited – given the nature of Social Scene and the rotating live performers – it’s just so suited to the Meryl Streeps of the world coming in for a cameo.

Drew: [Meryl Streep and Tracey Ullman’s guest performance] was two best friends having a really fun evening. It was an unscripted moment that we, as a band, spoke afterwards and said “What that was, stays what that was.” It was such a joyful moment that they shared with us, just two besties.

Canning: You just get lucky, right? You get lucky with a song and it continues to have a different life of its own and outside of the album. On any album, there’s gonna be one song, [even] To Pimp a Butterfly—in another 10 years from now, what are gonna be the big songs that are gonna be remembered from that record? Or what about like, SZA’s last record? You can only be very grateful for the fact that your songs are still being considered and talked about in the conversation of popular music.

Crossingham: It’s an example of how, if you’re allowed to have that moment to be creative, you don’t know what effect a couple hours’ worth of work is gonna have. If you’re a musician, you do that kind of thing hundreds of times over in many different situations, but that one particular, the way everything fell together turned out beautifully. It’s one of the least-planned out and least fretted over and least massaged into form things I’ve ever done, which does really say something, right?

Drew: There’s been magical moments of all different kinds of people singing it and different moments of when we played it. I’m indebted to that moment in the basement where they all came up with something that in the end has been nothing but an honor to play.

13 Apr 2023

How Uncomplicated Love and Having ‘No Humility’ Helped Boygenius Score a Top Five Debut With ‘The Record’

On release night for The Record, the celebrated debut album from supergroup boygenius, the band can hardly contain their excitement. “I”m so f–king stoked,” says Phoebe Bridgers. 

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Julien Baker adds that though she’s a bit overstimulated, “I’m trying to let it be bliss.” She then speaks to Bridgers directly, excitedly telling her of the text messages she’s received from former bandmates The Star Killers — alerting her how it was 10 years ago to the day that they released their first DIY record on a small Memphis label. 

“Are you f–king kidding me?” replies Bridgers, with a cartoonish gasp.

“I almost started crying because it’s been 10 years of me trying to make music with friends and people who care about me, and it’s cool to still be doing it,” continues Baker. “I don’t want it to be a glory-esque, ‘We made it!’ type thing — it’s more complex of a feeling than that. It’s that I still love this in the same way that I did at that moment.” 

It’s that exact love — for their craft and one another — that unites boygenius. It informed much of the supertrio’s widely acclaimed 2018 self-titled debut EP and is undoubtably what threads its first full-length together. “I hope that the ethos of our band and relationship is infectious to people,” says Bridgers. “And just seeing that it pays off when you make offerings to each other,” adds Lucy Dacus, saying that part of the magic of this band is that as three musicians with thriving solo careers, they each want to carve out the time to make music together.

And when they do, the results are unmatched by any of them solo. The Record (released March 31 on Interscope) debuts at No. 4 on this week’s Billboard 200 (dated April 15), the highest-charting entry on the tally for any of the members. It also enters at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Vinyl Albums chart, with the format accounting for 67% of the album’s overall first-week units.

“We were told, if we were lucky, maybe we were going to break top 10. And then it was, actually, maybe we could break top five. And the fact that it’s [No. 4] is cool,” says Dacus, noting that Bridgers was the one to tell them during band practice. “We celebrated by playing the songs.”

Ahead, the band will keep the celebration going with a Coachella set and tour that, according to Dacus, is “at a scale none of us have done before” — and that Baker can only tease as “rock and roll.” 

Below, Bridgers, Baker and Dacus discuss the joy of uncomplicated love and why everyone – not least of all themselves — are so obsessed with boygenius.

The fandom surrounding this band is palpable. What do you think drives it?

Lucy: I think since a lot of the boygenius fans are fans of the three of us they have been following along separately and maybe understand that we had to carve out the time for this. I think people know this is a rarity and that there’s no guarantee that it’ll continue. Like, we will continue to be boygenius and be friends, but we also will get back to our own things. So I think people have this awareness that to be present with it now is really to be existing in a moment. We demand presence from each other and I think our fans feel very present with the work and that is a feeling that feels harder to come by as you get older — not to be a Boomer.

You previously talked about some nerves over who was going to bring up becoming a band again. Between then and now, did any anxieties ever creep in?

Dacus: We’ve been holding the idea of this for two and half years — of course there’s been anxiety around it. We’re all people that experience anxiety. But even despite hiccups, I think overall I would still say that it’s been smooth sailing. Because we all still like each other, we all still like the thing.

Bridgers: We got a bad review that made it seem because we have a great relationship with each other, there is no complexity to it. What a way to live. There’s more complexity in this relationship than any relationship in my life. 

Dacus: I have a hard time talking about it to other people.

Baker: Totally. 

Dacus: Because people can’t relate.

Baker: It’s stupid to have people not be willing to perceive that people can love each other uncomplicatedly, like it must be untrue. 

Bridgers: It must be Oasis or fake. And Oasis is fake, that fighting was fake. 

Baker: And getting back to the writing, so much of the record is in conversation with each other.

Bridgers: But we’re so f–king spoiled. The reviews have been amazing. We worked really hard and it’s great.

Dacus: I love to stretch my humility with you guys. 

Bridgers: I have no humility about this band. I’m just like, “Yeah it’s tight,” or f–k off.

Dacus: Maybe we are annoying. 

Baker: We are. 

Bridgers: Fuck yeah.

Phoebe you’re now a label boss with your Dead Oceans imprint Saddest Factory. When you were taking label meetings for Boygenius, did you ever consider signing the band?

Bridgers: I think we all wanted a new experience. And also it’s very important that we’re equals — so it’d be weird to have an extra line — which is why we didn’t even sign to any of our labels that we’re signed to. And it has been a f–king treat to be having a first experience with these dudes.

How did you celebrate the release?

Dacus: We [went] to Sound City where we recorded the EP, and we haven’t been back there together since then, and [we listened] to the record in full with a couple people who worked on it and just got in our feels.

The Record sold especially well on vinyl. Why was it important to have the format available on release date?

Dacus: We know that our fans are excitable people, like us. And so having it available when it came out, just felt like a momentous occasion. And I’m a vinyl person too. I think we all have favorite record stores. So we try to do stuff to keep those alive when we can.

During the writing process, was there a specific lyric or song you were all especially excited to share with one another?

Baker: I’m trying to think of a song that I didn’t want to send y’all… 

Dacus: I do remember showing “Leonard Cohen” to Phoebe and Julien and Phoebe just like, making this face like, “F–k you.” 

Bridgers: Like, “Hey, I wrote you a song,” and it’s just a f–king roast. 

Baker: You getting dragged. 

Dacus: I’m sorry. I literally call Phoebe an idiot in the song. 

Bridgers: You’re making eye contact with me being like, [singing] “You are an idiot.”

What’s the most tattooable lyric on the album?

Bridgers: Oh my god.

Dacus: “I wanna be happy.” 

Baker: I was gonna say that.

Bridgers: That’s tight, that’s hella tight. I think that is going to be the climax of the record, and it being the last huge moment that happens. Just the arch of the album, with the singles, and then ending there at the revisiting of our EP — I don’t know, it makes me emotional as f–k. 

Baker: It makes me emotional, because it’s you revisiting unhealthy thoughts [and] being coaxed into potential and awareness of possibility for being happy. 

Dacus: My girlie exhibiting growth.