Music

24 Mar 2023

Carla Morrison on Her Value in Music & The ‘Priceless’ Advice Julieta Venegas Gave Her

After taking a break in 2017 and spending some time out of the spotlight, Carla Morrison recounts a more positive return to the stage than she imagined with El Renacimiento Tour, which began in May 2022 and continues in 2023. Between laughs, the Mexican singer-songwriter describes to Billboard Español how happy she felt to reunite with her fans and to hear their longing for her romantic music in times of reggaetón.

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Her perspective on touring is different this time.

With more self-awareness, the wisdom of someone who has worked on herself, and an assertiveness that she attributes to experience, Morrison expresses: “I have very clear limits, my routine, my priorities, and my values. I also think it’s my age, I’m about to turn 37 and I feel less serious about everything. I say to myself: ‘Carla, is just music, no one is going to die… Enjoy it!’”

She did not always have the same confidence. When Morrison began to take her first steps in music, she was ashamed to charge for her performances. It was her mother who insisted to her: “Mija, fight for what is yours.” She now understands that her mother wanted to teach her to fight for her rights.

Since then, she has faced many challenges as a woman in music. “To be compared, to be branded, to be called many names. My music has been used without asking for permission… by men with a lot of power,” she recalls. When she complained about not receiving credit for her music, she was told she should be thankful.

However, asked about the future, Morrison says without hesitation: “The future is female. We are gaining more ground and we are finally getting the place we deserve. And when that happens, it’s just going to be a world filled with love, compassion, tenderness, and opportunity. There are going to be many more women in production, on stage, in photography, in art, and management. You will see many women participating and learning without fear.”

Recently, Morrison collaborated with Karol G on the song “Mañana Será Bonito,” which peaked at No. 19 on the Hot Latin Songs chart dated March 11. The track also earned Morrison her first Billboard Hot 100 entry. The composition was a request by the Colombian artist and Morrison wasn’t expecting to sing on it. She remembers that her husband (with whom she usually writes songs) pointed out that “Mañana Será Bonito” should be the title of the song. To their surprise, it ended up being the title chosen by the Colombian star for her historic album.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Billboard kicked off its “Las Poderosas” series, featuring a select number of powerful Latinas who get real about the word “empowerment,” their space in Latin music, and more. The series debuted on March 20 with LALI and continued on the 22nd with Nathy Peluso. Read the exclusive Q&A with Morrison below:

What does empowerment mean to you as an artist and as a woman?

It’s remembering your rights and what you deserve like any human being in this world. I think women have often fallen into that place where we feel that we should not ask, question or demand, because we look bad, because we should be grateful … But in reality, we have every right to question, ask and demand. I believe that empowering yourself is putting yourself in the place that you should always be, knowing your value, our work, and the quality and value of our work.

What does empowerment NOT mean to you?

Making decisions based on fear, based on saying, ‘No, I’m not going to ask and I’m not going to say anything because [when I’m quiet] I look prettier.’ I think that this is not empowering. And it is not empowering to attack men either.

What is the best advice you have received as a woman in music?

When I was just starting, I wrote to Julieta Venegas through MySpace, and I told her, “I’m from Tecate, I’m starting music and I wanted to ask you for some advice — because I saw that you left very young, how did you manage?” And she told me: “Carla, I just left, I fought for my dream — if I can, you can.” And that is one of the things I remember and treasure a lot, because she made me see something that I felt so unattainable as very achievable. Something as simple as a word of support, someone telling you, “You can do it too,” is priceless.

Which woman has served you as a mentor or role model?

Hijole, the truth is going to sound very cliché, but I think that the person who has inspired me the most in my life is my mother. There have been so many women who have given me good advice, but my mother is the woman I admire the most — because she is a very strong and hard-working woman. She always told me that writing, singing and being an artist was good. And she always brings me back to earth when I travel a lot in my thoughts. My mom has been my mom, but also my friend and my accomplice. And I know not all of us have that.

Have things changed for Latina women in music in the last five years?

I think that things have changed in the aspect of the sisterhood. I think that among women we support, celebrate and accept each other more, and we criticize each other less. What I do think hasn’t changed is this very sexual part, of feeling that we have to expose ourselves to sell. I think some women show off their bodies because they love it and that’s fine. So, if that’s their way of presenting their work, that’s fine with me, because they feel comfortable. I don’t feel so comfortable there with the boobs out and so on, but I see other girls who do it and I say: awesome! If it works for you … Amazing! But it’s not my style.

Favorite girl power song?

A song that spoke to me about female empowerment when I was very young and made me cry when I heard it was “Quisieras Andar Conmigo” by Julieta Venegas. I remember when I heard it I said, “Julieta, what!” It is something that never happens. I thought it was cool that a girl wrote a song that talks about something that men usually do. And right now, clearly [“Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”] by Shakira and Bizarrap. By being honest, [Shakira] empowered herself, but women empowered her more, and so it became this Amazon-like force. And another song is “Run the World (Girls)” by Beyoncé.

24 Mar 2023

BTS’ Jimin Looks For Love in the Club in Late Night ‘Like Crazy’ Video

Jimin has a wild night out in a club in the sweaty, joyous video for the BTS member’s solo single “Like Crazy.” The Oui Kim-directed visual opens with a snippet of whispery dialogue from the 2011 romantic drama of the same name that starred Jennifer Lawrence, Felicity Jones and the late Anton Yelchin, in which JLaw murmurs, “I think we could last forever.”

The scene then cuts to Jimin standing in a green swirl of light in a packed nightclub as a Yelchin frets, “I’m afraid that everything will disappear.” Lawrence assures him, “Just trust me,” as the camera zooms into Jimin’s face and we see looking forlorn in a kitchen singing, “She’s saying, baby, come and follow me/ There’s not a bad thing here tonight.”

An unseen hand then grabs him and drags him to the crowded dance floor, where he walks in slow motion through the partying masses, taking shots, doling out high-fives and crowd-surfing his way through the night before inexplicably landing in a spooky hallway where the walls are bleeding a viscous black ooze.

“Give me a good ride/ I’m falling, falling falling/ Oh, it’s gon’ be a good night, Forever you and I,” Jimin sings on the dreamy chorus. The rest of the clip see-saws between Jimin dancing like everyone is looking to an exhausted rest stop in a freaky, Transformer-like rest room and parting shots of the singer revisiting the evening’s craziness before ending up at the kitchen table again, his right hand covered in the mysterious goo.

“Like Crazy” appears on Jimin’s just-released debut solo album, FACE, a six-track project that was preceded by the pre-release single “Set Me Free, Pt. 2.” With production by Pdogg, Ghstloop, Supreme Boi, BLVSH and Evan, the project also features songwriting credits on three tracks from bandmate RM.

Watch the “Like Crazy” video below.

24 Mar 2023

No, the Rhapsody Tour Is Not Queen + Adam Lambert’s Last: ‘You Can Always Do One More Time’

Since joining forces in 2011, Queen + Adam Lambert have quickly become one of the most successful touring acts in the world — and now, they’re ready to prove why.

On Friday (March 24), the internationally beloved rock group announced the latest North American expansion of the Rhapsody Tour, set to take place this fall. Kicking off at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena in October, the tour will make 14 stops throughout the U.S. and Canada, including shows in New York, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville and Dallas, before closing out at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium in November.

For fans who saw the first North American leg of The Rhapsody Tour in 2019, fear not; the new set of dates promises an “expanded and updated” show, with guitarist Sir Brian May adding in a statement, “Our last tour featured our most ambitious production ever. So we decided to rip it apart and get even more ambitious.”

Billboard caught up with May, Lambert and Roger Taylor ahead of their official announcement, where the trio talked about what fans can expect from the new show, their favorite songs to perform live, and why “this is not a farewell tour,” according to May.

This is the first time in four years that the three of you will be touring the U.S. together, following your European tour last year — how are you feeling ahead of hitting the road this fall?

Brian May: It’s incredible, yeah. I think we all learned in COVID how much we really missed this. It was really tough for everybody. We already did our big outing in Europe, but with a lot of restrictions on that; we had a very strict protocol just to get through, because people were going down like flies. But we managed to get through that whole tour without losing a date, and it was all sold-out, packed, fantastic and better than ever, I think. So we thought, “Well, we just have to get back to the states.”

Outside of those restrictions, were there any significant learning curves you had to navigate in a post-COVID touring environment last year?

Roger Taylor: Not really, no, I think it was a huge relief to just get back to something approaching normality. That made up for the fact that we did have to have a lot of mask-wearing, and we temporarily lost a few people along the way. And it was a long tour wasn’t it?

May: Oh, yeah. 

Taylor: We were changing it and improving it as we went, and we are now going through all of those improvements again when it comes to this American leg.

I’ve noticed that the phrase “one more time” has been thrown around quite a bit when it comes to this tour — are you planning on this being Queen + Adam Lambert’s final outing?

May: Let me be clear, this is not a farewell tour. You can always do one more time … and then one more time … and then another time after that!

Adam Lambert: [laughs] Yeah, why limit yourself, guys?

Taylor: It’s just a simple, five year farewell tour, right?

When it comes to the “improvements” you’ve made to the show, what can fans expect to see that’s new with this leg of The Rhapsody Tour?

May: Well, we’re not gonna tell you that much, we don’t want to spoil it. [laughs] But the nice things is that the material is what ultimately gives the ideas, and we’re able to develop those ideas as we go along. We get to throw more and more stuff in, production-wise.

Lambert: I will say, the technology has come so far, even in the 10 years that we’ve worked together. It gives us so much freedom when it comes to what we want to create, what environment we want to put around a song. We have all of these toys that we get to play with, which we all get a big kick out of. We have an amazing creative team that work with us — I mean, we add something in a couple of days if we have a cool idea. Once the show kicks off, the show is never locked. It’s never the same show every night, we have the ability to throw a new song in, move the set around, change the visuals. There’s so much freedom.

That’s really interesting — how exactly do you go about adding new songs or new moments on the fly like that? 

Lambert: I’d say a couple of glasses of wine and a chat, yeah? 

May: [laughs] I mean, we also always do a soundcheck. The soundcheck is the key thing for us, I think. Every time we go into a new city and set things up, we’ll go into a soundcheck for two or three hours sometimes. When we’re doing that, we’ll try new stuff out, and our team is so flexible with us, that we’ll just throw out, “Can you give us a certain lighting effect, can you do stuff on the screens?” And they’ll build it on the spot for us. We don’t work on backing tracks or anything, which means we can kind of do anything we want. And we’re really fortunate to have a technical team that can handle that — a lot of this stuff is programmed to work at pretty exact intervals, and ours is all human touch, which gives it that live feel.

Lambert: Also, when we add a song sort of impromptu, we don’t like to over-rehearse it. We play it in that soundcheck and maybe one more soundcheck, and then we throw it in. It makes it really fun, like it’s a thrill-seeking activity, where we just go for it and see what happens. 

Brian, I wanted to congratulate you on your recent knighting from King Charles III — what was that experience like for you?

May: It was nice! It was a lot more exciting that I thought it would be, really. We’ve interacted with King Charles a lot — he was at Live Aid! We’ve worked with him on the Prince’s Trust, which is a wonderful charity that takes care of young people, over the years. So meeting him and having him actually do that for me, was actually a really big deal for me. We had a pleasant chat about how old age was treating us, because we’re about the same age [laughs]. It’s quite nice, I feel like it’s given me a little bit more power to do the work I do with animals. I view it in that light — not so much as a prize, but as a kind of empowerment.

And Adam, congratulations on your High Drama covers album — were there any big covers you wanted to include that didn’t quite make the cut?

Lambert: There were definitely a couple others I was considering, but it was a very thought-out project, so we weren’t wasting a lot of time or energy in the studio. We did it so quick, probably recorded those over about two months. I’m so happy with it, even though I did not write those songs, it felt like I was getting creative in the studio to find new ways to make them sound. That was such a cool challenge for me. 

Queen has one of the most prolific songbooks in modern rock music. Obviously there are the core set of hits that you’re gonna play almost no matter what — do you have any favorites in particular to perform that maybe aren’t as monolithic?

May: You know, there’s some stuff that we know would be very difficult — Roger mentioned “The Millionaire Waltz” once. 

Taylor: [laughs] Oh yeah, I don’t know if we could pull that off.

May: But a lot of the stuff we do anyways is fairly complex — the key is you don’t play the record. We really play how we feel on the stage. It’s funny, some people would call that a bluff, but there’s a lot of multi-track guitar harmonies in a lot of our songs, and I don’t do that onstage and I don’t use trickery to achieve it. I play what I’m feeling, and people hear that and get a purely live version of the song. No extra frills, because to me, recording has always been different than performing live. 

Taylor: Sometimes, the song gains a whole new dimension of excitement from that. But the live version will not be exactly the same as the record — that’s not what we’re about.

May: Some people will do that — they’ll have clicks and backing tracks and make everything sound perfect, but why do that? Why not do something that’s real and in the moment and ready to fall off the edge? 

Lambert: As far as the setlist goes, I think we’re all aware of what the fan favorites are. But the most important thing here is that, sure, we need to have fun, but the audience is buying a ticket to see the show. This is about their evening and giving them a show that feels fresh. We are keenly aware of what the favorites are and we try to include the big hits every night — they have a lot of hits, so it’s a lot to choose from. But it’s a two-plus hour show, so we’ve got plenty of time to get those big hits.

Tickets for The Rhapsody Tour officially go on sale Friday, March 31 at 10 a.m. local time on LiveNation.com.

24 Mar 2023

Jimin Talks ‘FACE,’ President Joe Biden and BTS Bandmates: ‘We Keep in Touch’

It was a scream fest when BTS’ Jimin stopped by at NBC’s studios on Thursday night (March 23) for a chat with The Tonight Show’s host Jimmy Fallon.

The K-pop superstar looked relaxed in a trendy grey suit over a white t-shirt, as he smiled and waved to the noisy ARMY in the house. Straight off the bat, he thanked those fans for “their great support. I appreciate them.” That cranked up the decibels, again.

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Jimin has a lot to smile about. His debut solo EP, FACE, has just dropped via HYBE LABELS – a six-track collection, which features the “intense” (his words) single “Set Me Free Pt.2,” a top 20 track on the midweek U.K. singles chart.

BTS was never far from the conversation. Though the band is on hiatus, a break to allow its seven members to fulfill South Korea’s mandatory military commitments, “we keep in touch,” he explained, “with J-Hope, Suga, everyone.”

They keep in touch, and they test music on each other. When a new song is “completed to some extent,” presumably including numbers from FACE, “that’s when we let one another listen to it,” he added.

Darting between Korean and English, Jimin discussed the “positive impact” of BTS meeting with president Joe Biden at the White House, and their talks with POTUS “about how more people should have keen interests in current issues.”

Jimin also revealed how he fell for song and dance during middle school, walked through his many and various nicknames (don’t call him “Jimin Fallon”), and gave a shout out to “Boy With Luv” collaborator Halsey — “she has a big heart and she has the talent that would make anyone starstruck. All our members love her.”

The new album, he explained in his native tongue, captures “the emotions I felt chronologically throughout the pandemic. So I would be happy if many people could relate to it.”

Watch the interview below.

24 Mar 2023

Morgan Wallen Nabs First Australian Chart Crown

Morgan Wallen is crowned on Australia’s albums chart crown for the first time with his sprawling third studio LP, One Thing at a Time (via Mercury/Universal).

The 36-song effort climbs 4-1 in its third week on the ARIA Chart, as its track “Last Night” improves 5-3, a new peak, and “You Proof” bows at No. 40 on the national singles survey.

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One Day is the followup to 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album, which peaked at No. 2 in these parts.

One Day summits as Wallen embarks on his Australia and New Zealand arena tour, which is produced by Frontier Touring and takes in five shows, with Hardy in support, in addition to his headline slot at CMC Rocks festival on March 19.

Further down the albums list, U2 debuts at No. 3 with Songs Of Surrender (Island/Universal), a 40-track collection of re-recorded songs, mined from the legendary Irish band’s 40-year-deep goldmine.

According to ARIA, it’s their 18th top 10 title in Australia, a feat that dates back to War from 1983. Bono and Co. have led the ARIA Albums Chart with 11 LPs, from 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire through to 2009’s No Line On The Horizon.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Miley Cyrus extends her reign with ”Flowers” (Columbia/Sony) into a tenth week — all consecutive. “Flowers” is the longest-running leader since Elton John and Dua Lipa’s ”Cold Heart (PNAU remix)” also logged 10 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 in late 2021 and early 2022, is sat at No. 33 on the latest ARIA Chart, published March 24.

The last number to log more time at the top was “Stay” by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, which ruled the survey for 14 weeks in 2021, and is currently at No. 34.

Taylor Swift makes another splash on the ARIA Singles Chart, following the release of a four-pack of previously-unreleased tracks. One of those, ”All Of The Girls You Loved Before” (Universal), a song that didn’t make the cut for Swift’s seventh studio album, Lover, starts at No. 18, for the highest debut of the week. Also, her former leader “Anti-Hero,” from Midnights, improves 10-8.

Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding ’90s rave-leaning banger “Miracle” (Columbia/Sony) enjoys a top 40 berth, starting at No. 36 on the fresh survey. “Miracle” is a top 5 hit in the U.K.

Finally, Meghan Trainor makes an appearance on the ARIA Top 50 with “Mother” (Epic/Sony), starting at No. 49. The U.S. pop star is a judge on the 2023 season of Australian Idol. The TV talent quest reaches its grand final this Sunday (March 26) on the free-to-air Channel 7.

24 Mar 2023

MIRROR Discuss Moving From Concert Accident to Making Canto-Pop Global With ‘Rumours’

Last summer, MIRROR made international headlines earlier than they had anticipated.

While most news stories noted how the 12-member boy band was revolutionizing Hong Kong’s music scene with a renewed fandom culture for local Cantonese pop artists, the focus was on the tragic accident at one of their 12 scheduled concerts at Hong Kong Coliseum. During the fourth show on July 28, 2022, a large overhanging video screen hit dancer Moses “Mo” Li Kai-yin head-on while also striking Chang Tsz-fung mid-concert, leaving the former in critical condition and the latter with injuries. The show abruptly ended with the remaining concert dates canceled as Mo Li and Chang recovered. Meanwhile, MIRROR and their team regrouped.

Nine months later, amid starts and stops due to the incident and pandemic-related matters, MIRROR took an unprecedented leap for Hong Kong music by releasing their first English single “Rumours” on March 17. A change from their Cantonese-pop, or Canto-pop, hits like “Warrior” (their 2021 social commentary fighting against dated norms with eight million views on YouTube), “BOSS” (the theatrical, funk-pop summer single), or “We All Are” (a piano ballad that marked the group’s fourth hit on Billboard‘s 13-month-old Hong Kong Songs chart), “Rumours” signals a new era for the group.

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With ages ranging from 34-23, the MIRROR members consisting of Lokman, Anson Lo, Frankie, Stanley, Alton, Edan Lui, Jer, Anson “AK” Kong, Ian, Jeremy, Keung To, and Tiger show confidence and maturity in “Rumours,” a significant step forward since their formation on 2018 TV singing competition show Good Night Show – King Maker.

Spiky, sonorous basslines soundtrack the group’s blend of singing, rapping and group chanting, while the James Bond-inspired music video shows the dazzling dozen donning dapper suits and high-fashion spy gear to pull off a mysterious heist.

The guys have spent their first five years together developing their boy band and individual careers alongside Hong Kong entertainment studio MakerVille, but agree that being together as 12 acts as a “base.” While still mentally and emotionally healing from last year’s accident, MIRROR say “Rumours” is a challenging but special project in partnership with Sony Music Hong Kong to help fuel their ambition to return to slaying the stage.

“We’re idols to these audiences; we have to stand up again,” says the charismatic Stanley, who leans into the camera when he speaks to Billboard over Zoom. The 32-year-old singer-dancer leads most of the interview alongside giggly, bubbly Anson Lo, 27, and Edan Lui, 25, to his right. “That’s what we should do.”

“We have a lot of people supporting us,” adds singer-actor Edan Lui, who listens and answers thoughtfully with pauses to find the right, and typically emotional, responses. “We can only say we’re ready to go to work and go on stage again.” Read more with MIRROR for reflections on the past nine months, their next chapter, plus song recommendations for new fans from each member.

To understand your background a little more, what are the characteristics of Canto-pop and how does MIRROR represent that?

Edan Lui: Canto-pop was very popular in the ’80s and ’90s, and the images around Canto-pop have traditionally been more for ballads and slow-paced songs; not really energetic or fast-paced songs. The lyrics have always been very meaningful and Hong Kong people can look into the lyrics deeply, which I think is one of the most unique characteristics of Canto-pop.

Anson Lo: But over the years, I think Canto-pop music has grown so much and I think there’s no difference between countries or languages in music. There are a lot of genres in Canto-pop as well, no different than in countries like Korea, the U.S. or Australia. There are different types of songs we can try or continue trying like we have for almost five years.

Stanley: Yeah, for sure. K-pop has taken over the markets for the past decade, but I do think Cantonese represents a different kind of style of music, especially in Asia. There are a lot of people who want to listen to music with Cantonese lyrics so there are multiple markets.

Paint a picture of the Canto-pop music scene in Hong Kong today. You were created on the singing competition Good Night Show – King Maker. Are there a lot of bands from reality shows?

Lui: There are many newcomers in the Canto-pop industry that come from our show, King Maker. We’re from King Maker One [the first season], there is II, III, IV, and V is coming. We’re just very happy to see that most of the new-artist award winners at many award ceremonies are coming from that show. It makes us feel like a family. It seems like these shows are producing all kinds of talents to contribute to the Canto-pop industry, so we feel really proud.

While you’ve been rising internationally, you had a tragic moment that had a lot of attention with the concert accident. In your own words, I’d like to give the opportunity for you to share what happened and your feelings on the incident.

Stanley: I would say, of course, it was a big accident. But this accident taught me how to treasure everything: Our job, friends, and opportunities to perform on stage. It influenced us so much for sure. We had to deal with our emotions—mentally, emotionally—so, it’s sad for sure. But we try our best to overcome all these kinds of feelings.

Lui: It was a big tragedy. No one wanted it to happen, no one could foresee it happening, and no one could really understand why it even happened. It was a really hard time for us, our dancers, and all Hong Kong citizens. We learned a lot from it, but we hope to learn lessons and try our best to treasure everything, contribute more to society and help more people. We hope our work and performances can bring back more positive energy and joy to our audiences again.

How are Moses and Chang Tsz-fung doing? Do you keep up with them?

Stanley: Moses’ parents share updates on Moses’ situation, so we’re not the best to give that update, but we’re in contact with them. I think they’re doing fine, everything’s going smoothly, and they are getting better.

I’m glad to hear that. Sometimes these situations can be very tough on the artist whose concert they’re at because they may feel responsible. So, how are you doing emotionally and mentally?

Lui: Different people have different ways of trying to get through it. For us, time is probably the best way to heal. But we also have our team mates, band mates, fans, and company. We have a lot of people supporting us. We can’t say we are fully recovered or even that we are “okay” after what happened—we don’t know—we can only say we’re ready to go to work and go on stage again.

Stanley: So many people are looking out for us; we’re idols to these audiences. We have to stand up again. We have to keep focusing on our work and bringing many great performances to our audiences. That’s what we should do.

As you somewhat close that chapter, you’re starting an exciting chapter with the release of “Rumors.” What does it represent in MIRROR’s story?

Lo: Simply, it’s talking to a girl and telling her, “If you ever heard a rumor that we’re cheating on you, liking you or approaching you.” It’s a very straightforward message. But it’s a very special project because it’s a dream come true for us to record a song in full English. The choreography is also very special because it’s, by far, the most complicated routine in our dance history. I think our fans have been really surprised by that.

Stanley: It’s a big challenge for us since the song is in English. We had to sing with different pronunciations and enunciations so we invited our producer Andrew…

Lui: Andrew’s actually our English teacher! He joined every session of our recording because we recorded one by one. Every session is, like, four hours so he’s really, really busy. He talked to us about pronunciation but also how to sing the song beautifully in English. But he’s really encouraging, supporting us, saying things like, “Oh, you did great, you sang well, keep going!” That’s why we can say we’re confident that it’s good. [Laughs]

Stanley: The lyrics are quite intimate and sexy—it’s not really similar to most Cantonese lyrics. So that’s a big challenge for us too.

It’s your first all-English song and you’re making some substantial changes. Why was it important to release an English song now?

Lui: We’re expecting to approach a broader range of audiences—like, maybe, the U.S.—and also we would like to meet our fans outside Hong Kong. I think releasing a full English song could get us far—hopefully! [Laughs] We’re looking forward to performing this song on stage for all the fans throughout the whole world so I think we’re pretty excited about that.

Stanley: Yeah, it’s a good step for the next chapter. We really want to promote Canto-pop to a worldwide audience, I think this English song is like a key to open the door for the audience to learn more Cantonese music.

“Rumours” kicks off alongside a new partnership with Sony Music Hong Kong. How is that so far?

Lo: We have yet to met a lot of people in the Sony Music company in person, but we’ve been putting a lot of input into the music, song arrangement, and music video so we’ve had quite good communication online and through our company.

Stanley: Due to the pandemic and the accident, so many projects have been put on hold. That’s why we’re starting over again, but I think we’ll have more opportunities now working with Sony Music.

Lo: It’s been like a dream and our honor to be working with Sony Music because they’ve helped us through a lot of things and, in a lot of ways, allow us to reach a wider audience, especially in the U.S., so we’re really grateful for that.

MIRROR is so solid as a group, but you’re also individually releasing solo music, acting, earning huge numbers on your individual social media accounts. How do your outside activities help MIRROR?

Lui: I think that is the special part about MIRROR—some of us are good at acting, some of us are good at singing, at dancing, in variety shows. Different members have different ways of pursuing their dreams. So, we have different [roles] when we’re solo, but it’s special that whoever is having solo success brings good things to MIRROR because MIRROR is our base. I think we have a good balance of group and solo [work]. People love us for us, and individually.

Lo: There will be dramas, movie shootings or solo singles, but being back in the group with 12 people, we shine even stronger and brighter. Together as 12 people, there’s a lot more energy; that’s more powerful for the audience and the performance. Being with the group really is a big part of being on stage.

Since “Rumours” may be the first time some audiences meet MIRROR, can each member share a MIRROR song to recommend?

Tiger: I would recommend the song “IGNITED,” it’s got quite an old-school sound but it’s my favorite of all MIRROR songs.

Anson “AK” Kong: Me too. [Group laughs]

Frankie: I would recommend “12,” it’s a Christmas song and that’s hard to find in Canto-pop because Canto-pop releases a smaller amount of Christmas music. But this song is really warm and about being together.

Lokman: For me, “IGNITED” too! Very funky, very groovy; I really like it.

Jer: I would recommend “Rumours.” [Group cheers] It’s such a high-energy song and it represents us as very sexy. [Laughs]

Jeremy: “BOSS” because I think it’s very energetic for us so it always makes me feel very happy and very strong.

Ian: I think “IGNITED” as well because it shows us a little bit differently than the other songs we have. And it’s actually quite unique in Canto-pop songs because we have this funky dance style so that’s pretty fun to present.

Alton: I have two ideas in my mind. “IGNITED” because I do love the funk style and, personally, I love funk music. But it depends on the mood of the day. If I’m going to a party, “IGNITED,” but if I’m going to a theme park, I’d recommend “BOSS” because the music video was shot in a theme park and is perfect for the family.

Stanley: For me, it’s “Rumours” because we put so much effort into it, so I hope listeners love it.

Lui: I also recommend “Rumors ” because I like the chorus; it’s refreshing. I also like the choreography, it’s really cool. We really put so much time and effort into this choreography so I feel like the performance of “Rumours” will be, maybe, the best we’ve ever done.

Lo: I’ll recommend “BOSS” because I think it’s, by far, the funniest music video we’ve had so far. It’s like a musical and we play different characters; it’s like a Broadway-type of vibe. When we released it, I think our fans were very surprised but also very pleased to see us in that funny way. So, I think it’s a really good experience to get to know the 12 of us.

Keung To: There isn’t really a proper English name for our first song [“一秒間”]… “In a Second”?

Lo: “During One Second”? [Laughs] Our debut song!

Keung To: Yes, our debut song! It was so important for us because it was our first song and our first time releasing as a group. It told everyone, “We’re coming.”

24 Mar 2023

Ed Sheeran Is Followed by a Blue Meanie In ‘Eyes Closed’ Music Video: Watch

Ed Sheeran processes love and loss, and crushes it into a pop pill for “Eyes Closed,” the first single from his forthcoming album – (pronounced Subtract).

Arriving at the stroke of midnight, “Eyes Closed” has percolated over several years. Sheeran originally imagined it as a break-up song, before “Eyes Closed” evolved when Sheeran “suffered heartbreaking loss,” which led him to revisit the track, according to a statement accompanying the new single and music video.

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Directed by Mia Barnes, the music video traces Sheeran as he’s followed by a blue monster, an allegory for grief — always there, constantly lurking.

“This song is about losing someone, feeling like every time you go out and you expect to just bump into them, and everything just reminds you of them and the things you did together,” Sheeran explains.

“You sorta have to take yourself out of reality sometimes to numb the pain of loss, but certain things just bring you right back into it.”

When considering concepts for the music video, the 1950 classic Harvey, where the main character has an imaginary giant rabbit as a friend, sprung to mind.

“There’s also a book I read my daughters where sadness is encapsulated by an imaginary creature,” he continues. “Often sadness is something that follows you around, engulfing the rooms you’re in, and you can feel and see it, but no one else around you can. So I decided to create my own big blue monster for the video. He gets bigger and bigger as the video goes on, til he takes up whole rooms, and is all I can see, just like sadness.”

Despite those struggles, the superstar British singer is rolling in a purple patch.

He’s just completed a lap of Australia, where he smashed the national record for most tickets sold for a concert, with more than 100,000 one night at the Melbourne Cricket Group. He broke the record again the following night.

That national trek, and the others that came before it, was produced by Frontier Touring, the Melbourne-based concerts giant, part of the Mushroom Group, founded by Sheeran’s bestie Michael Gudinski.

The Australian entrepreneur died in 2021, leaving Sheeran and many others wounded. Sheeran made the long haul for the Victorian capital to perform at the state memorial for Gudinski, where he debuted a song in his honor, “Visiting Hours,” which appeared on Sheeran’s most recent album, 2021’s = (equals).

This week, Sheeran appeared in a special promo video for Mushroom Group’s 50th anniversary celebrations, which will roll out this year, led by the company’s CEO Matt Gudinski.

Sheeran’s forthcoming album will drop May 5 via Asylum and Atlantic Records. It’s said to be a “soul-bearing” collection, written “against a backdrop of grief and hope,” during which time he processed Gudinski’s death, his wife Cherry Seaborn‘s tumor diagnosis and the loss of his close pal Jamal Edwards.

The Englishman wrote the 14-track record with Aaron Dessner of The National in February 2022.

He’s a perfect five No. 1s on the U.K. and Australian album charts.

23 Mar 2023

Lana Del Rey Drives on With Ninth Album ‘Ocean Blvd’: Stream It Now

Lana Del Rey has some strike rate.

With Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, her latest album release, the alternative pop siren has a ninth full-length studio album in just 14 years.

With the exception of her self-titled debut EP from 2010 (which peaked at No. 20), every one of them has cracked the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, with two of them hitting the summit (Ultraviolence from 2014 and Lust for Life from 2017).

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Ocean Blvd should keep that streak alive.

Co-produced by Del Rey alongside Mike Hermosa, Jack Antonoff, Drew Erickson, Zach Dawes, and Benji, Ocean Blvd dropped at the stroke of midnight, and carries the previously-released singles “A&W,” “The Grants” and the title track.

The Angelino is the reigning Visionary Award winner at Billboard Women in Music. Speaking at the annual ceremony earlier this month in her hometown, she admitted to being happy with how it’s all going.

“I don’t exactly have a long-term vision at all, but if you were curious, I am very, very happy,” she said during her speech. “When I released my first album 14 years ago, the waters were not quite as warm. I’m really happy for everyone who feels like it’s a wonderful time in the culture to be themselves and express themselves. It didn’t feel that way in 2008.”

She continued, “I feel like being happy is the ultimate goal, so I did it.”

Her fans will be happy too, with a new album arriving just in time for the weekend.

Jon Batiste, Bleachers, Father John Misty, Judah Smith, Tommy Genesis, and SYML are guests on Ocean Blvd, which spans 16 songs and can be streamed in full below.

23 Mar 2023

Busta Rhymes Throws an Assist to Coi Leray’s ‘Players’: Stream It Now

Coi Leray has a new player on her hit song — Busta Rhymes.

The veteran rapper jumps on board “Players,” and injects some of his special sauce — and a new verse –into the remix.

Busta brings his energy and flow to the fresh cut, which dropped in the small hours, and busts out the lyric, “It never ends, the way we doing it and how we fucking them up again/ Look how we got them, DJ Saige killing them with the blend.”

It’s something of a full-circle moment, as “Players” already enjoyed a blast from a handful of remixes, including DJ Saige’s mashup of Busta Rhymes’ 1997 classic “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See”.

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Powered by TikTok virality and its epic sample of Grandmaster Flash’s seminal 1982 hip-hop track “The Message,” “Players” is Leray’s fourth entry on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. It’s currently sitting at No. 12, as of March 25, 2023, and is a top 10 hit in both the U.K. and Australia.

With “Players” working its way up charts around the globe, Leray’s career is on the rise, too.

Earlier this year she summited the Emerging Artists Chart for the first time, thanks to the hit, released in November via Uptown/Republic Records, and she present SZA with Woman of the Year at the Billboard Women In Music Awards 2023.

Busta most recently appeared as lead-man on 2023’s “Murda” featuring Bilal, and a string of singles before that, including 2022’s “Slap,” with Big Daddy Kane and Conway the Machine.

“Players (Busta Rhymes Remix)” follows the David Guetta remix, which was released last week.

Stream it below.

23 Mar 2023

Rosalía & Rauw Alejandro’s Joint EP ‘RR’ Is Here: Stream It Now

Three songs to celebrate their three years as a couple. On Friday (March 24), Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro dropped their highly-anticipated joint project, RR, featuring three songs: “Beso,” “Vampiros” and “Promesa.”

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The EP — which marks the first that the couple recorded songs together — arrives after both artists had hinted at a potential collaboration. In November, the Spanish superstar teased that they had been in the studio together without revealing much. “We’ll see, we’ll see,” she added.

Meanwhile, Alejandro also talked about collaborating with Rosalía during his panel at Billboard’s MusicCon back in May. “For sure we have a few stuff in the studio already,” he confirmed. “It’s a surprise. Those songs are [under] extra security. We’re planning to do the release, I’m not going to say when, but soon. We’re doing it for the love of the fans and she’s my girl and I did those songs with more love. No. 1 for sure.”

Previously, the couple had subtly collaborated on each other’s previous projects; Rosalía sang backing vocals on “Dile a Él” from the Puerto Rican artist’s first album, Afrodisiaco (2020) as well as “Corazón Despeinado” from Saturno (2022). He also co-wrote some lyrics in Rosalía’s “Chicken Teriyaki” from her Grammy and Latin Grammy-winning 2022 album, Motomami. She also lent her pen on “Caprichoso” from Rauw’s EP Trap Cake, Vol. 2 (2022). 

Alejandro kicked off his Saturno World Tour last month in the Dominican Republic, and will continue his trek in cities such as New Jersey, New York and Chicago. Most recently, Rosalía was recognized as Producer of the Year at the Billboard Women In Music awards. The Spanish idol, who had one of the most successful tours of 2022 with Motomami, will be performing at Coachella in April.

Stream RR below: