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LISA is getting in the holiday spirit! The singer released a festive, “Santa Baby” remix of her latest single, “Moonlit Floor (Kiss Me),” on Monday (Dec. 2). In the holiday version of the track, the BLACKPINK star switches up the lyrics to fantasize about Santa Claus. “Kiss me, under the Christmas twilight/ Kiss me, out […]
Ted Danson has been named the Carol Burnett Award honoree for 2025. He will be recognized on the 82nd annual Golden Globes telecast, which is set to air live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on CBS on Sunday, Jan. 5.
In addition, Danson – along with Viola Davis, the Golden Globes’ 2025 Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree — will be feted at a separate gala dinner on Friday, Jan. 3, also at the Beverly Hilton. This marks the first time that the Golden Globes will host a special evening dedicated to the recipients of these two honorary awards. The DeMille Award dates to 1952; the Burnett Award originated in 2019.
Danson will be the fifth recipient of the Carol Burnett Award, following Burnett herself in 2019, Ellen DeGeneres in 2020, Norman Lear in 2021 and Ryan Murphy in 2023. So, Danson will be the first performer to receive the award in five years. The award is presented to an honoree who has made outstanding contributions to television on or off screen.
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Danson has won three Golden Globes – best performance by an actor in a limited series, anthology series, or a motion picture made for television for Something About Amelia in 1985, and best performance by an actor in a television series – musical or comedy for Cheers in 1990 and 1991.
He has won two Primetime Emmys for outstanding leading actor in a comedy series, both for Cheers. He has been nominated in that category 14 times, more than anyone else in TV history. He was nominated for all 11 seasons of Cheers and three times for The Good Place. Both shows aired on NBC.
“Ted Danson has entertained audiences for decades with his iconic performances that will forever be ingrained in television history,” said Helen Hoehne, president of the Golden Globes. “His renowned career is a testament to his remarkable talent and versatility as an actor and bears resemblance to the award’s legendary namesake. It is an honor to present him with the 2025 Carol Burnett Award to celebrate the tremendous impact he has made and continues to make in television.”
The Golden Globe Awards, which likes to call itself Hollywood’s Party of the Year, is the first major awards show of the season. It’s also the world’s largest awards show to celebrate the best of both film and television.
Nikki Glaser is set to host the show for the first time. Glaser was nominated for her first Primetime Emmy this year for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) as executive producer and performer on the HBO special Someday You’ll Die. She is currently nominated for her first Grammy Award for best comedy album for that same title.
Multi-Emmy Award-winning producing duo Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner of White Cherry Entertainment will return as executive producing showrunners for the 82nd Golden Globes. Dick Clark Productions will produce the show. Nominations will be announced on Monday, Dec. 9.
The Golden Globes will air on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025 (8-11 p.m. ET/5-8 p.m. PT) on CBS, and streams on Paramount+ in the U.S. (live and on-demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).
Penske Media Eldridge — a joint venture between Billboard’s parent company Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge — owns Dick Clark Productions, the producer of the Golden Globe Awards.
As Kendrick Lamar’s new LP, GNX, blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, the superstar rapper rules the Billboard Hot 100 songs survey, where the set’s “Squabble Up” likewise launches at the summit.
The track becomes Lamar’s fifth Hot 100 No. 1, and his third of 2024 – the most among all artists this year. He previously led in 2024 with “Not Like Us,” for two weeks beginning in May, and “Like That,” with Future and Metro Boomin, for three weeks in April.
Lamar sweeps the Hot 100’s top five with four more debuts from GNX: “TV Off” (featuring Lefty Gunplay), “Luther” (with SZA), “Wacced Out Murals” and “Hey Now” (featuring Dody6) at Nos. 2-5, respectively. He joins only Taylor Swift, Drake and The Beatles in having placed at Nos. 1-5 in a single week.
Lamar also debuts in the Hot 100’s top 10 with fellow GNX tracks “Reincarnated” (No. 8) and “Man at the Garden” (No. 9), swelling his career count to 22 top 10 hits.
Below Lamar’s top five Hot 100 arrivals, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” falls to No. 6 a week after it logged a record-equaling 19th week at No. 1. Over the chart’s 66-year history, it remains tied for the longest reign with Lil Nas X’s 2019 smash “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus.
Plus, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” again decorates the Hot 100’s top 10, dashing 16-10. The modern classic, from 1994, has reigned for 14 total weeks dating to its first frame at the apex in 2019.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated Dec. 7, 2024) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Dec. 3). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Lamar Lands Fifth Hot 100 No. 1 With ‘Squabble Up’
Keira Knightley has a bizarre talent that even Cher can’t believe. Seven years after first showing off her ability to play songs on her teeth on The Graham Norton Show — on which she used her biters to perform “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” in 2018 — the actress returned to the show Nov. […]
The Wicked film soundtrack debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales, Soundtracks and Vinyl Albums charts (all dated Dec. 7), while also flying in at No. 2 on the overall Billboard 200 chart. On the latter, the set, which was released on Nov. 22, notches highest debut for a big-screen adaptation of a stage musical ever, dating to the list’s 1956 launch as a regularly published weekly chart. The new Wicked film, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, is based on the long-running stage musical of the same name, which has played on Broadway in New York since 2003.
The Wicked film was released on Nov. 22 and has grossed over $260 million at the U.S. and Canada box office.
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The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multimetric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Dec. 7, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday, Dec. 3. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
The Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week by traditional album sales. Soundtracks ranks the week’s most popular soundtrack albums, by equivalent album units. Vinyl Albums lists the top-selling vinyl albums of the week.
On the Billboard 200, the last time a stage-to-screen musical soundtrack debuted in the top five was when Chicago danced in at No. 4 – over 21 years ago, on the Feb. 1, 2003, chart – on its way to a No. 2 peak a week later. Setting aside debut ranks, the last stage-to-screen movie musical soundtrack to reach the top two was Les Miserables, which spent a week at No. 1 on the Jan. 19, 2013-dated chart. (It debuted at No. 33, and then moved to No. 2 and No. 1 in its second and third weeks.)
Among all soundtracks in 2024, Wicked is the second to reach the top 10 for the first time, and the highest charting, following Twisters (No. 7 peak) in August.
Wicked launches with 139,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Nov. 28 – the biggest week for a full-length theatrical film soundtrack since Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born earned 143,000 units in its second week (Oct. 17, 2018, chart; down from its 162,000 bow). Wicked also logs the biggest week for any stage-to-screen musical soundtrack since the Billboard 200 began ranking titles by equivalent album units in December 2014.
Of Wicked’s opening-week sum, album sales comprise 85,000 (it’s No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 52,000 (equaling 67.66 million on-demand official streams of the album’s tracks; it’s No. 4 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 2,000. With 67.66 million streams generated by its songs, Wicked has 2024’s biggest streaming week for any soundtrack, and the largest streaming week ever for a stage-to-screen musical film soundtrack.
Of Wicked’s opening-week sales, vinyl sales represent nearly 39,000 copies.
Wicked’s overall first-week album sales of 85,000 score the largest sales week for a full-length theatrical film soundtrack since A Star Is Born’s second week (86,000). Wicked has the largest debut sales week for a stage-to-screen musical film since Dreamgirls opened with 92,000 (Dec. 23, 2006, chart). The last time a stage-to-screen musical film soundtrack sold more than Wicked this past week was when Les Miserables reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 93,000 in its third chart week (Jan. 19, 2013, chart).
Wicked’s opening week sales were bolstered by its availability across six vinyl variants (including a signed edition, autographed by Erivo and Grande), four CD variants (including a signed edition) and a standard digital download album.
Tyler, the Creator always had the moves. The Grammy-winning artist posted some throwback footage from middle school on Sunday (Dec. 1), in which he won a talent show for his choreographed dance routine to Omarion’s “Touch.” The clip finds Tyler effortlessly gliding across the stage and pointing to the girls in the crowd while hitting […]
Jack Harlow had an early Christmas gift for his hometown fans over the weekend when he teamed up with the Louisville Orchestra for a pair of “No Place Like Home 2024” shows at the city’s Whitney Hall. The fourth annual event — where attendees are asked to “dress to impress” — took place on Friday and Saturday (Nov. 29-30) and once again featured the Orchestra and conductor Teddy Abrams backing Harlow during a set of his classically-augmented classics.
Harlow added a bit of extra spice into the mix this year, though, when he busted out a velvety cover of Elvis Presley’s 1961 Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 weeper “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Fan video of the special moment found Harlow, dressed in a dark double-breasted suit with a light blue shirt and black tie, expertly crooning the song over the sweep of strings to whoops of delight from the audience.
Comments on the sold-out shows suggested that fans are ready for the rapper/actor’s pivot to crooner, including one poster who wrote, “he needs to release this,” as well as others who said, “countdown to the ‘i’m not just a rapper, i’m an artist’ interview,” “og fans know he can sing” and “Was so sweet for Jack to dedicate this song to his grandma in the balcony. The whole show was amazing, he should release orchestral versions of all of all his albums.”
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According to WLKY, that wasn’t the only singing detour Harlow took, as he also very capably covered Frank Sinatra’s beloved standard, “Fly Me to the Moon” on night two, which he dedicated to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday — and to his granny on Saturday, alongside hits from his catalog. The Courier-Journal noted that a couple got engaged during “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
Harlow dropped his first new single since 2023’s “Lovin on Me” last month, the samba-esque “Hello Miss Johnson,” which he performed live for the first time at the shows. The song’s release was accompanied by a video that plays out on CCTV, where Harlow flirts with Miss Johnson’s daughter. The track is the second single from the rapper’s as-yet-untitled, unscheduled fourth album, Jackman, which was released in April 2023.
During a show at New York’s Brooklyn Paramount in September Harlow teased his next musical era, telling the audience, “I do got some very special s–t on the way… Next time I see you, we gonna have something to talk about.”
After contemplating for four years, Smino is ready for the world to hear his debaucherous side. The St. Louis, MO native stopped by Billboard‘s NYC office for an episode of Billboard Gaming, just before the release of his Maybe in Nirvana album arrival on Friday (Dec. 6).
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Maybe in Nirvana is a reflective and experimental album that explores themes of love, loss and self-discovery, while maintaining Smino’s signature innovative style. The project is anticipated to expand his artistic limits, fusing profound lyricism with immersive soundscapes that showcase his evolution as a musician.
We faced off with the rapper in several rounds of Mario Kart while discussing the inspiration behind his album, being an independent artist, and more. “Passenger Princess” has been getting a lot of love. Can you tell us about the creative process for that track and how it was working with Aminé on it?
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It’s cool because one of my favorite ways to end up working with people is just by being their homie. Aminé is a cool dude, so he just texted me and was like, “Hey, Smee bro, I got this song I want you to get on.” I ain’t even respond to him — I just sent it back the same day. That’s how it happened. And he was like, “Oh my God, we got to do a video.”
So it was that simple? Let the track speak for itself and just sent it on over?
Yeah. It was hard. I try to send s–t back as soon as possible. I love doing that s–t. Show people how you focus.
The lyrics of “Passenger Princess” feel personal and laid-back. Was there a specific experience or inspiration behind the song?
I mean, it’s no secret that, you know, I’m a lover boy, so. You feel me? Yeah. I’m just really talking about shorty, you know. Shorty I dealt with, what I learned. For real.
Your upcoming album, Maybe in Nirvana, is set to drop on December 6. How did you decide on this title, and what does it represent for you at this point in your career?
I actually just said “maybe in nirvana” in one of the songs — but honestly, it was an album I was being indecisive about putting out. And I was just like, s–t, well, maybe, you know, when I’m in a place where I’m at peace with my mind, you know, I’d be able to put this album out.
You feel me? ‘Cause I had made this album before I made Luv 4 Rent, the last album I put out.
Oh, so it’s like a bunch of old tracks?
Yeah. Yeah. It’s from 2020. And it’s mixed by Ali. And the pandemic happened, and I just started feeling like, d–n, I need to be like — I don’t know.
I wanted to just talk about peaceful things. I wanted to talk about things that were kind of a little more, I don’t know, thought-provoking. And on this album, it’s a lot more debaucherous. I’m talking about a lot more like — it’s just my young ass mind at work, just saying s–t, not really understanding my emotions and s–t like that. So, I felt like at the time it was just bad timing for it. But then when I went back and listened to it, I’m like, “This s–t is amazing.” Like, it still works.
Since these tracks were mostly from 2020, do you feel like you’ve grown since then, or do you still feel like the same person?
Nah, I definitely grew way much more since then. I was just telling the homie the other day, I feel like — I used to be a lot more ignorant just about s–t, just ’cause I could be. I was kinda like privileged as an artist who had some success, you know, to not have to worry about a lot of stuff in my own personal life. Like, my business ran itself when, truly, there were people running my business, and everything around me just kind of worked out for me.
After the pandemic, s–t — I don’t know if you did or anybody else did, but it forced you to do a lot of reflecting. And like, I was just like, “D–n, I’m low-key out here wilding. And I don’t know a lot of s–t. I don’t know what’s going on here.” I wasn’t hip financially with what I had going on. I knew I had money, but you know, all type of s–t I wasn’t paying attention to.
With Maybe in Nirvana, I was in a place where I’m just full-on rock star — like, fresh off tour, you feel me? Like, f–k it, bro, you know, I ain’t have to worry about s–t. But I think now I just naturally pay way more attention ’cause I’m a little older… You know, the pandemic made everybody age 10 years and s–t.
What can fans expect from Maybe in Nirvana? Are there any particular themes or messages you’re excited to share?
I was just being very honest and very blatant about my emotions. It was like single-era Smee, you know? So, I was having my little roster, talking about, you know, just being — basically, I was just wilding. The music still sounds grown though… a kid in a grown man body, that’s what it sounds like.
So, you mentioned having a roster. Do you still have a roster now, or have you calmed down since then?
Nah, nah, man. I’m chill as hell. I have zero roster. No way. No roster. I don’t need it. There’s only one on the roster.
Okay, so are you dating someone right now?
Oh, yeah. It ain’t no secret. Everybody know that.
What would you say is your favorite song from this new project?
It depends on the day. I’ll probably say the intro. It’s called “Dear Fren.” It’s like the most personal one. I wrote a letter to my grandma and to my little cousin, who both aren’t here anymore. They passed away. So, I’d probably say that song is my favorite personally, but I think everybody’s favorite song is “Taquan.” Because it’s Tequila and Wine, and that’s “Taquan.” Yeah, it sounds like a night in Kingston.
Kingston Jamaica? Why Jamaica?
I don’t know, bro. It’s like, it’s like reggae vibes on the beat and s–t like that. And I’m talking about getting lit. The whole song, I’m talking about getting lit, and I’m also just talking about like, somebody about to leave out of my life. So, I’m just outside, trying to, mask them emotions and s–t.
How’s your relationship with J. Cole?That’s my boy. Good people. Changed my life for sure. Definitely raised my price. Shout out to Jermaine. That’s a good dude.
I was watching one of your interviews earlier, where you mentioned giving Cole a track and then taking it back. Does that happen often?
Never happens. That actually never happens. I ain’t gonna stunt. I was almost scared to ask for it back, because I’m like, “I might blow this.” Blow the whole feature. But it was real cool, and [he] did the video, you know. Invited me to the crib, to his house, his actual home to finish it. He’s a solid dude. He had told me a long time ago that he originally wanted to sign me. And that’s some crazy s–t.
But you know, I’m glad I went my route that I went, you know. I got my own s–t, Zero Fatigue records.
How was it going independent and starting your own label?
It’s a lot more to do, it’s a lot more challenging, but it’s also, it feels good to know that I own my s–t.
It feels good to know I always own my masters. I never gave no masters up, it’s always licensing, but it feels good to own s–t. You just gotta pay a lot more attention to, like, spending money and all that, but it’s cool. It’s my first release independent like this though — this one that’s coming out.
So hopefully you guys support it.
What inspired you to own your own masters?
Ray Charles, no cap. Ray Charles ran up one of the best deals in American history.
So, you knew from the jump that you always wanted to own your own music?
It’s hella funny — this is a random story, my boy Chris Classic can attest. We was on the airplane, my first time ever coming to L.A. This guy, he randomly said –I must’ve looked like an artist to him. But I swear this dude just looked at me on the plane, and he was like, “Bro, never sign your publishing away.” I’m like, “What? What made you say that?” He was like, “Just never sign it.”
I swear it was like a sign or something, because I was literally going out there to talk to, what was it, Post Recordings or something like that? And it’s a publishing company. I’m like, “What the hell?” So, I don’t know, from that day I was just like, “I want to own all my stuff.” Like, I always have been scared.
I heard horror stories. I got family that was in the music industry and s–t like that, that went through a whole lot of s–t, never got paid. I don’t want to be that guy, bro. I’m trying to be around.
You said earlier this is your first album released independently. What challenges have you faced so far?
None. I record myself. I think the only challenge is having to budget — like, that’s some growing-up s–t. So I’ve been having to make sure I pay attention to budgeting myself.
Usually, the label would distribute the funds and all that s–t, give you what you need. But, yeah, I’ve been having to just pay a lot more attention to just little things like that.
Do you feel any pressure when it comes to budgeting?
Nah, man, my manager definitely does a good job of making sure I still feel like I’m just an artist. But being a businessman? It’s fire. I think it’s some fly s–t. It’s something I think I can do. I like challenging myself. Y I’ve been, like, a fire-ass, underground legend for years… at this point, it’s [just] stepping up my business and my business mind and all of that stuff. Like, that’s naturally the progression. I want to be like Hov and s–t like that.
You mentioned being underground — do you think you’re underrated at all?
Hell nah. Man, when people say that, I be like, “D–n, that’s crazy,” because I be getting so much love. You know what I’m saying? But I understand the sentiment and where they’re coming from, you know? The way I feel love, even just being out and about, when I move around, get free drinks where I go and s–t like that. But I get a lot of love, bro.
A lot of love for SminoEarth. I never feel like that.
What’s your goal five years from now? What do you see your experiences being? Where do you see your company going?
Five years? I want to have a new artist out on my own, you know, somebody that I helped break.
I’m working on an art school in St. Louis, starting an actual art school. I want to have some kids. I want my own weed brand. My clothing line, Bjorn, I’m working on that too.
And I still want to be able to perform this music, bruh. Like, I want to do a residency somewhere. A long-ass residency. I want to have, 40 nights in Vegas or some s–t like that. For real. 40 days and 40 nights. That’s what I’m going to call it. I mean, I’m going to perform on Noah’s Ark. On the gang, that’s hard.
A lot of people say that your lyrics are creative and playful. Do you agree?
Yeah, they have been. I’m pretty witty. I hear a word and hear a sentence; like, words sound like a sentence to me. That’s why my wordplay is what it is. The syllables of a word will make a phrase for me. But, I mean, as of late, like all my newer stuff, I don’t know.
I think it’s me growing up, but, like, I’ve been speaking a lot more linear. Like, it’s been a lot more trying to throw out versus, like, wordplay. I don’t know.
You were just on tour with J.I.D. How was that experience?
That was a good tour, bro. That s–t was crazy. Really crazy, actually. We did like a hundred thousand tickets, every night sold out. Yeah, a whole lot of debauchery and moshing going on.
What’s your touring experience like? When you’re finished with a show, what do you do afterward? Do you go out and party, or do you relax after rapping and singing all day?
Yeah, I go chill, bro. There’s no party better than my show — unless it’s an after party, unless somebody wants to give me a hundred bands for what I walk through, some s–t like that.
But I’m not the one that be like in the streets like that. I really be ducking back. Plus, my voice be hurting.
Looking at you now, you have like a fresh, unique style. How does your fashion inspire your music or vice versa?
The main s–t that inspires me is stuff I’ve never seen before. Or even if I have seen it, just not used in that way, you know? So, like, musically, I always try to — let’s say I got a melody going on — I’m like, “I’m gonna stack that s–t the same way I like to layer my clothes.” You feel me?
I like everything to have layers to it, not just be bland and basic and s–t like that. I think it’s all just personality s–t.
Do you feel like your clothes are a version of you? Like they express who you are without using any words?
Yeah, though, for sure. Like, getting fresh — like, the first time I’m creative in the daytime — that’s the first thing that inspires me, is my outfit. And after that, everything else comes.
A few months ago, I was talking to Dennis Smith Jr., and he said the connection between music and sports is that all the rappers wanna play ball and all the ball players wanna rap. Do you agree?
Hell yeah. Them n—as be tryna rap all the time.
Growing up, did you ever want to play ball?
Football? Yeah, I love football. I love football. I’m a Chiefs fan —go Chiefs! 8-0. The f—k are we talking about?
If you could create an Olympic team for football, but only use music artists, who would you have on your roster?
We’re going to be coached by Missy Elliott. My quarterback will probably be Kendrick Lamar.
Nah, he the running back, K Dot, because he’s short. And then my quarterback will probably be Monte Booker, the producer.
Two wide receivers: Young Thug and me are the wide receivers. We doing wide out. Me and Thug, you know what I’m saying? We wild. And then I have all gospel artists on the line because we need God to protect us.
That’s probably my team, my offensive team. I don’t know what positions I forgot.
Today would have been Juice WRLD’s 26th birthday and there’s no telling the heights he’d have taken his career to by now as one of his generation’s leaders and rap’s sui generis stars.
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There’s no perfect way to end Juice WRLD’s story but Grade A Productions CEO Brandon “Lil Bibby” Dickinson and Juice’s manager Peter Jideonwo approached the daunting task of putting a bow on the probable final studio album in the late rapper’s discography.
The long-awaited The Party Never Ends arrived on Black Friday (Nov. 29) — just days ahead of the fifth anniversary of Juice WRLD’s tragic passing (Dec. 8, 2019).
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“His legacy was decided from the first day to the last day,” Jideonwo tells Billboard. “Taking the negative and turning it into a positive. That’s the correlation to his music and the fan base he has, because he’s really been what 999 [his code for his overall lifestyle and message] stands for — which is helping people through depression and [helping] them see you’re not alone.”
Bibby and Jideonwo detailed the enduring process of digging through thousands of songs in different studio vaults and dealing with leakers, deciphering AI-generated tracks, navigating clearance issues, a rabid fan base demanding perfection and more leaks on the journey to The Party Never Ends.
“I wanted to close out the best way possible, and give the fans as much as they’re asking for,” Bibby adds. “A lot of the music been sad and I wanted to give them some type of uptempo, happy vibes to end it with.”
The duo wanted to honor Juice WRLD’s vision in various ways, like recruiting his favorite band (and fellow Illinois natives) Fall Out Boy for a rock-tinged “Best Friend” collaboration.
In the months before his death, Juice spent six figures on a private jet to meet Takashi Murakami, and they invited the Japanese contemporary artist to design the cover art for TPNE, which also drew backlash from fans.
While this is being billed as the final album, the Grade A executives aren’t ruling out more music in the future, and even a project that could possibly be tied to a Juice WRLD movie.
Check out the rest of the interview with Bibby and Jideonwo as they detail The Party Never Ends, the future of Juice WRLD music, favorite studio stories and more.
Billboard: How important was it to nail this as the final album for Juice? How did you go about piecing the album together and executing that vision?
Lil Bibby: Trying to find the right music is tough, because the fans leak them songs every f–king day. So it’s just going to the vault and finding some smashes the fans haven’t heard. It’s been kind of difficult. Every time I find a list of songs and they get to leaking those. The ones I find I gotta keep secure.
What does that entail? Is there a folder of Juice’s songs that you and a select number of people have access to?
Bibby: Nah, it’s the craziest s–t because he recorded in a lot of different places. He recorded a lot of his music with this one engineer Max Lord. I had to go pull up on Max and go through his vault, which — 90-something percent of it is leaked. I had to pick the best songs that weren’t leaked and go to other people. Everybody hitting me, “Oh, I got some songs that aren’t leaked.” I gotta pick through everybody’s s–t. A lot of the time they be leaked.
Has anyone hit you with AI tracks?
Peter Jideonwo: We’ve had a lot of AI. They will hear a snippet of a record and they’ll go finish it with AI and send it back like, “We got an unreleased song y’all need to put out.” The stuff is so good at this point you don’t even know, because Juice recorded so many places and studios. He was a studio whore everywhere he went. Last week, we had a studio say, “Somebody broke in trying to steal our hard drives for Juice WRLD’s music.”
The one particular AI memory is Adin Ross. This dude was sending us all the biggest songs and some we were looking for that snippets were out — and when we got them we were like, “Finally, we got the songs.” Then we listened to them and looked at each other and Bibby was like, “This is AI.” A lot of times, it’s the fans in leak culture paying $30,000 or $40,000 for a leak. These kids are paying money and they don’t even know if they’re getting a real song.
Do you guys have to litigate that and crack down on it? I’m assuming in the future you don’t want any part of Juice’s vocals being used.
Jideonwo: It’s hard because the internet is the wild, wild west. I can go to a public library and log into one of these AI sites and drag a 40-minute Juice WRLD interview and put another song on top of that and say, “Hey, make a song with this voice.” Then I could put it on Twitter and tag 10 Juice WRLD pages and say, “New Juice WRLD leak!” They’re gonna run it up. You don’t know where it comes from. It’s so many different parties doing it that you’ll be on the rat chase, and it’s a waste of money trying to find where it’s coming from.
How did you want to stay true to Juice’s vision — and did he ever say anything about a last album?
Jideonwo: I don’t think he ever came and said, “This is what I want my last project to be.” Juice was 21, so we never had those discussions. The quantity of music Juice made, he might be disappointed that this is his last project, to be honest.
Bibby: Just trying to remember some of the songs that he was most excited about — “Pills in the Regal.” A lot of the ones he made Instagram Lives too were ones he was most excited about. Giving them enough songs that were unleaked also.
Is it tough to finish certain records?
Bibby: It’s super tough, because Juice’s fans — once they hear a song, they want it to be the exact way they heard it. Even if you go in and mix or master it. A lot of times they hear a raw untouched song and they don’t realize it was gonna get mixed and mastered anyway.
Jideonwo: I think another way we did what Juice would’ve wanted, for example: the Murakami cover. Prior to Juice passing, a month or two before, in between his tour in Australia he booked a private jet for $200,000 and went and met Murakami. His goal was always to work with Murakami in any capacity. After he passed, we made it a priority to make sure Murakami had something to do with the final album, because it was that important to [Juice] when he was alive. He expressed his vision to him. Murakami’s just not out here doing album covers. We tried to do things like that he would’ve loved, to keep his legacy alive and aligned with what he’d want to do.
Hitting on the cover art, I saw a lot of backlash to it on social media. Was there anything you guys saw and thought to change it at all?
Bibby: Yeah, I saw a lot of the backlash, but Murakami did what he does. Can’t nobody tell him what to do with his art. A lot of fans said they didn’t like the cover. I think it’s okay. It gives me that feeling when Elon Musk released his Cybertruck and the same week Kanye did his dad shoes. People hated them at first then they grew to really like it. I hated how those shoes looked, but I ended up buying two pairs.
Jideonwo: With this album, there’s been so many leaks, and I think the universe formed a committee of leakers that were targeting the project from the cover to the songs to the Fortnite. When the original cover leaked, it was very low-definition. The first leak came from a phone screen. The fans were like, “I don’t like this. It’s not that good.” That started a trend. The environment we live in, nobody thinks for themselves anymore.
I think there’s a difference from the fans not liking it to somebody big saying, “Oh, this is fire.” If an HD one came out first and one of the big guys said, “This is the [most fire] s–t I ever seen.” They would’ve jumped on the bandwagon. I think all promo is good promo. A piece of art by Murakami lasts forever and I think in the long run it’s going to be very appreciated and be part of both fo their stories which makes it legendary.
How’d you secure the Em feature?
Jideonwo: Em has always been a longtime collaborator for Juice. They did “Godzilla” together. He’s always publicly acknowledged Juice. I think Em really cared about Juice. Bibby reached out and he said, “Whatever little bro wants, I’m gonna do it.”
I look at Em as someone who’s so hard to get into contact with and he’s just not gonna hop on any record.
Bibby: I wanted him on a few different records, but he was adamant on doing that one. He didn’t want to glorify the drugs and stuff. It’s tough [to get into contact with him] but we know some mutual people so it’s easier for me I guess.
Goodbye and Good Riddance had its biggest streaming day last week in nearly five years. What about that project has connected so well all these years later?
Peter Jideonwo: We put that in the category of classic. A perfectly put together album. That’s gonna span for generations. That’s like Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Juice is really Michael Jackson. That’s the Thriller of this generation. It’s gonna keep getting played and every five or 10 years it’s gonna have these moments where it’s spiking.
With this being the last album, is there any chance there could be guest verses or singles used in the future? Maybe something pops up on a soundtrack or is the pop kind of completely closed after this project?
Bibby: I think I want to get into making a movie. [An album] could probably be a soundtrack to the movie.
You mean like a Juice WRLD biopic movie, and his music would kind of soundtrack that?
Bibby: Yeah, I think we could probably put out a greatest hits album or something. As far as a studio album, I don’t know if I could keep [going]. I feel like it’s cheating. I don’t know if that’s the right word for it.
Jideonwo: If the right opportunity presents itself, you might see Juice here and there. It’s so crazy — I think what Bibby was trying to say was, what Juice is able to do five years later is almost unheard of. It should be almost impossible, that five years later with no promotion from the artist himself… That’s why Bibby says it’s cheating. Like, why not put out another project when the fans want it? This is too easy at this point.
Bibby: I wouldn’t say easy — it’s not fair. If I see crazy-enough engagement and they really, really want another one then maybe. I just don’t feel like it’s right to keep doing it.
It’s such a delicate situation — how do you make sure posthumous releases are done tastefully rather than feeling exploitative?
Bibby: I try to look at everything the fans are talking about. Juice’s mom always says, “What’s the meaning behind it?” Before I put out anything, I gotta think, “What is the meaning?” That’s what she would always say. So before we release something, it’s gotta mean something to me. Then I gotta come up with an idea and I gotta feel good about it.
Jideonwo: People are gonna say what they want regardless. They’re free to comment. I think we’ve done a good job. As far as tastefully, we haven’t overdone it where it’s OD. We’ve never sold a Juice WRLD verse to anybody. We’ve always tried to keep the integrity of the music. We’ve gone as far as keeping it tasteful where we haven’t put a random artist on a song just because. We try to keep everything in the ecosystem of people Juice looked up to or who he worked with in the past.
That’s how we keep the integrity of it. We haven’t chased numbers or the extras other people might do to make it something it’s not. I think Juice’s catalog has been treated pretty well. Even going back to what his mom does with the foundation and the charity and helping people with a mental health awareness program. We’ve tried to do the best job we can to keep his name in a good light.
Do you remember a time you were most impressed with Juice in the studio?
Bibby: The first day I saw him record it was crazy. It was me, my brother, G Herbo, Southside, Max Lord and his A&R Dash [Sherrod]. I saw him rap through the entire beat. I’m just listening, and when people freestyle they just say anything. But everything Juice was saying made perfect sense. He came out the booth and Herbo was like, “You gotta do this.”
He looked at me and I go, “I can’t tell you s–t! It sound like you been doing this longer than me. How long you been rapping?” I just knew that was some alien s–t. I was the only one freaking out when I heard that s–t. As soon as I heard him do it, I just never saw nobody do that. I spent a lot of time behind the microphone and I never saw nobody do no s–t like that. That s–t was insane.
What is yacht rock? In the new HBO movie, Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, no one can agree on a definition.
For the comedian Fred Armisen, yacht rock is “a very relaxing feeling.” But for the writer Rob Tannenbaum, yacht rock is a space where singers “could declare not just your sensitivity but your torment at how sensitive you are, your sense of being ravaged by having feelings.” He calls this “fairly unique to yacht rock,” which would be true if soul music did not exist.
How about another, more specific, definition: “One way to know if you’re listening to yacht rock is [if you hear] the sound of Michael McDonald’s voice,” according to Alex Pappademas, author of Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors From the Songs of Steely Dan. Then again, David Pack, lead singer of the band Ambrosia, calls McDonald’s style “progressive R&B pop,” while Questlove describes yacht rock as “utility more than it is music.”
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This all begs the question: If yacht rock is such a vague label, what makes it worth using?
J.D. Ryznar and Steve Huey helped coin this imprecise term in their 2005 mockumentary series Yacht Rock, long after the music it attempted to brand was out of style. Each episode traced the activities of goofy, fictionalized versions of McDonald, his contemporaries, and his collaborators — Hall & Oates love to dunk on “smooth music,” while Kenny Loggins’ character says pompous things like, “when a friend is drowning in a sea of sadness, you don’t just toss them a life vest, you swim one over to them.”
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As the yacht rock label caught on, it gave a set of younger listeners a way to explore and maybe embrace — even if ironically — music that had become a kind of cultural shorthand for uncool, the target of mainstream jibes in Family Guy and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. “For a long time, I thought Steely Dan, man, that’s just music for dorks and weirdos,” the critic Amanda Petrusich says in A Dockumentary. “You come to it jokingly,” Pappademas adds, discussing yacht rock. “But then you suddenly find yourself appreciating it sincerely.”
As yacht rock DJ nights and streaming playlists proliferated, this elevated the artists most closely associated with the style, helping to extend their careers. “I fully expected to be totally forgotten by the end of the 1980s,” McDonald says in A Dockumentary. Instead, the film shows him and Loggins collaborating with the bass virtuoso Thundercat in 2017 and performing at Coachella — one of the world’s most prominent stages.
That said: While the yacht rock label gave some artists a boost, it actually masks the lineage of the music it purports to describe. It serves as camouflage, rather than providing clarity.
Most notably, the term obscures the sizable debt that these records owe to contemporaneous Black music. Many of the tracks associated with the style are steeped in the language of 1970s R&B, conversant with Marvin Gaye‘s intricate, tortured funk, immaculate Quincy Jones productions, and the airy, wrenching ballads Earth, Wind & Fire and the Isley Brothers scattered like birdseed across the second half of the Seventies.
The dialog was facilitated by session musicians who moved easily between worlds. Chuck Rainey played bass with Steely Dan but also appeared on Gaye’s I Want You and Cheryl Lynn’s Cheryl Lynn. Greg Phillinganes handled keyboards for McDonald and Leo Sayer as well as Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Horn player and arranger Jerry Hey hopped from Boz Scaggs and Michael Franks to Teena Marie and Janet Jackson.
A Dockumentary nods to yacht rock’s lineage. “Yacht rock is associated with white groups and white songwriters and producers, but I know more Black yacht rock than I do traditional yacht rock,” Questlove says, pointing to Al Jarreau, the Pointer Sisters’ “Slow Hand,” and George Benson’s “Turn Your Love Around.” That music doesn’t get much play in the typical yacht rock conversation, though — or in A Dockumentary.
What does it mean that one of the strands of white music that was most in touch with the Black music of the 1970s was reclaimed largely as a joke, even if it’s an affectionate one? Armisen believes that “there’s nothing greater, in a way, for any genre to be joked about, because it means that it’s relevant.”
This may be a sensible perspective for a comedian. It’s not surprising, though, that the subjects of the wisecracks don’t always feel the same way. “At first, I felt a little insulted, like we were being made fun of,” says Loggins. “But I began to see that it was also a kind of ass-backwards way to honor us.”
Unlike Loggins, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen hasn’t reached this stage of acceptance. When the documentary’s director asked him about yacht rock, Fagen cursed at him and hung up the phone, an exchange that was recorded and included in the film. Steely Dan’s longtime producer Gary Katz expressed a similar disinterest in the yacht rock label — albeit using less-colorful language — this summer during an interview with the music manager Scott Barkham in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
It’s not unusual for artists to express hostility towards genre terms. In fact, they are constantly saying they don’t want to be “pigeonholed” or “put in a box.” When the critic Kelefa Sanneh published Major Labels, a book-length defense of musical genre, in 2021, he wrote that artists “hate being labeled. And they think more about the rules they break than about the ones they follow.”
There is certainly a case to be made against the whole idea of summing up a large body of art in a word or two. The result is, all too often, genre descriptors that are either all-encompassingly vague or simply inaccurate. Some labels, however, are at least fairly neutral — “post-punk,” “house music.” Some, on the other hand, have negative connotations, if they’re not downright sneering at the songs they claim to describe: Take “bro country” or “PBR&B.”
As A Dockumentary makes clear, “yacht rock” still reliably elicits chuckles. But even if that humor helped these musicians gain younger followers, it often runs contrary to the tone and themes of their songs. “The term emerged from what was essentially a comedy show,” which had “a really big impact on the way that the music is now ironically appreciated,” Petrusich points out. However, “the records that [these artists] were making were entirely sincere.”
Can those records — and the artists behind them — ever be taken seriously if they’re still being laughed at? Loggins is a surprisingly versatile songwriter with a sinuous delivery and a knack for unpredictable funk. McDonald’s voice stood out even during a time when commanding voices were ubiquitous; songs like “You Belong to Me” and “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” are essential contributions to the soul canon. But when these acts are lumped into yacht rock, they are relegated to the minor leagues, stuck as purveyors of slick chill-out music for the aging and affluent.
“I’ve made peace with ‘yacht rock,’ but for the first few years, I just hated it,” Pack says in A Dockumentary. “I’m like, ‘Why did they pick our generation to make all of our music into a big joke?’”