Music

07 Mar 2023

NCT Dream Announce Debut U.S. Headlining Tour

NCT Dream announced Tuesday (March 7) that they’re heading Stateside for their first headlining tour of the U.S.

The seven-date U.S. leg of The Dream Show2: In A DREAM Tour is slated to begin April 5 with a show at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., followed by stops in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas. From there, the K-pop idols will head to the West Coast, where they’ll play the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., before finishing up the tour April 21 at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

NCTzens will be able to purchase tickets for all seven dates starting this Friday (March 10) at 4 p.m. local time via either Ticketmaster or AXS.

The group is currently in Jakarta, Indonesia, where they played three back-to-back shows at the Indonesia Convention Center as part of the tour’s Asia leg. Next they’re set to make stops in Bangkok, Thailand and Hong Kong before jetting to Europe to add London, Paris and Berlin to the itinerary.

In December, the NCT subgroup released their holiday single “Candy,” updating H.O.T.’s classic 1996 K-pop track for the 21st century. (The ’90s act is largely credited with establishing the boy-band blueprint as South Korea’s first “idol” group.)

Along with the single, NCT Dream dropped their special winter album of the same name featuring tracks like “Graduation,” “Tangerine Love (Forever)” and “Take My Breath.” The release served as the septet’s follow-up to their 2022 album Glitch Mode, which was repackaged and reissued last May as Beatbox.

Check out NCT Dream’s complete list of U.S. dates below.

NCT DREAM

Courtesy Photo

07 Mar 2023

City Girls Dish About Their Perfect (NSFW) Date & Give Advice to Their Fans: Watch

In between having fun and turning up crowds at Rolling Loud Los Angeles last weekend, City Girls took a moment to speak with Billboard News about what a perfect date looks like for them and to give fans aspiring to be like them some pointed career advice.

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For Yung Miami — who confirmed on camera that she is single, despite being publicly linked with Diddy — her perfect date includes a series of luxurious and NSFW activities.

“I want a man to come pick me up on a jet, eat my p—y on the jet,” the rapper, whose real name is Caresha Brownlee, stated. “It depends on when we land … [I want to] eat on the beach, but we naked.”

Brownlee currently hosts the Caresha Please podcast, during which she brings a series of musical guests from the R&B and hip-hop space to talk about their lives, careers and relationships, often resulting in raw and unfiltered answers.

“I like to ask questions that people not. I just like to talk to people, it’s something that I want to know, it’s not even the people. If I wanna know something about you, I’m going to ask you,” she said of her show. “I’m a very direct person. I’ll ask anything, I’ll say anything and so I just feel like holding real conversations with people, real topics. If you want to get personal, you can.”

The conversation, which took place with Billboard News host Tetris Kelly, then pivoted to career advice for aspiring female rappers looking to emulate City Girls’ career. JT laid it out simply for anyone watching: “Be yourself, be authentic, f— these n—as, get that paper … and love your n—a too.”

Watch City Girls’ full interview with Billboard News in the video above.

07 Mar 2023

Everything That Happened Between Will Smith & Chris Rock Since the 2022 Oscars Slap

It’s been almost a year since the slap heard around the world, when Will Smith stormed the stage at the Oscars on March 27, 2022, to smack Chris Rock across the face on live television.

The tense moment occurred after Rock made an onstage joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, during the Academy Awards ceremony. “Jada, I love you. G.I Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,” the comedian said about her shaved head — which, unbeknownst to Rock, is caused by the actress’ struggles with alopecia.

Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes in response, while Smith laughed. Shortly after, the King Richard actor ran up on stage to slap Rock, who attempted to continue his banter before Smith began shouting from his seat, “Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth.”

In the year since then, Smith has issued a number of apologies, others who were present at the situation have spoken up about what went down and Chris Rock has make jokes about the incident throughout his comedy specials.

With the 2023 Oscars on the way, see below for a timeline of everything that has gone down between Smith and Rock since the slap.

07 Mar 2023

Just How Unprecedented Is Karol G’s No. 1 Debut for ‘Mañana Será Bonito’?

In case you missed Colombian singer-songwriter Karol G‘s rise to star status in the U.S., she put the whole music industry on notice this week with the historic No. 1 bow of her fourth album, Mañana Será Bonito, on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated March 11).

The album debuts atop the Billboard 200 with 94,000 equivalent album units, making it the first Spanish-language album by a female artist (or by a Colombian artist) ever to reach the chart’s apex. In addition to featuring 2022 hits like “Provenza” and “Gatúbela,” the album also crashes the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 this week with its new Shakira team-up “TQG” — which enters at No. 7, making it Karol G’s biggest hit on the chart to date.

How significant is this debut? And which Latin artist might be next to top the Billboard 200? Billboard staffers discuss below.

1. Karol G enters the Billboard record books this week with her Mañana Será Bonito album, becoming the first female artist to score a No. 1 album with an all-Spanish-language album. On a scale from 1-10, how do you rate the historic significance of the accomplishment? 

Leila Cobo: It’s a 10, for multiple reasons. Karol becomes only the second artist in history to debut at No 1 on on the Billboard 200 with an album in Spanish; she’s the first woman to place a Spanish-language album at No. 1; and she’s the first Colombian to do so as well. The latter distinction is also particularly important because Colombia’s tradition of exporting music is relatively new. Prior to Shakira — and to a lesser degree before her, Carlos Vives — Colombian artists were not heard internationally. So, to have a No. 1 from an artist born and raised in a South American country, and whose presence in our charts is relatively recent, is truly groundbreaking from a cultural standpoint.

The fact that Karol G is a woman whose fan base is mostly female is also groundbreaking. It shows that the world is ready for a different kind of superstar, one who espouses a different kind of aesthetic and message. Karol G is Colombian through and through, and the fact that the world has embraced that indicates to me that people are far more open to diversity than ever before if the music supports it.

Griselda Flores: A resounding 10. This feat is huge and marks a pivotal moment for Karol G’s career. From KG0516 — which scored her her first top 20 entry on the Billboard 200 two years ago — to her momentous Coachella debut and her history-making 2022 tour, Karol G has been consistently working toward becoming one of Latin music’s leading forces. Now, her reach and impact are undeniable and cements her as a top artist, not just a top Latin artist. It’s also an important landmark for women and Spanish-language music. Bad Bunny was the first one to score a No. 1 Spanish-language album, but for a woman to do it … a glass ceiling has been broken.

Sigal Ratner-Arias: 10. With Hispanics being the largest minority group in the U.S., and Spanish the most-spoken language after English, Karol’s No. 1 is a testament to Hispanic consumers’ power, and the need to keep opening doors to more women in Urbano music.

Isabela Raygoza: I’m giving this feat a whopping 9.9. Aside from Mañana Será Bonito’s musical merits, the data speaks for itself. As Billboard’s Keith Caulfield reported, it’s the first Latin album by a woman to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since Selena’s bilingual 1995 Dreaming of You; and only two all-Spanish albums had previously topped the list, both by Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti (2022) and El Último Tour del Mundo (2020) — an astonishing accomplishment. It further attests to Latin music, a genre historically dominated by male artists, being in a new era. Her achievement is not due to a trend for a selected group, nor is it a one-hit wonder. There’s a solid foundation behind her success. Plus, for a woman to achieve this victory during Women’s History Month makes it even more special. 

Andrew Unterberger: I’d say a nine. As many incredible inroads that Latin artists had made stateside in the past 5-10 years — between blockbuster tours and festival headline slots, crossover hit singles and award show appearances — no one outside of Bad Bunny had been able to quite crack the code on achieving U.S. streaming stardom on the level of English-language stars. Now, Karol G undeniably has — she not only debuts in the Hot 100’s top 10 this week, but charts 11 of Mañana‘s tracks across the listing — which is a huge deal for any Latin artist, and particularly for a female artist, in what’s long been a male-dominated field.

2. Mañana debuts at No. 1 with an impressive 94,000 equivalent album units, beating out SZA’s seemingly indefatigable blockbuster SOS — by far her best career performance, and one that may take some that haven’t been paying close attention to her trajectory by surprise. What’s one important thing Karol has done in the two years since 2021’s KG0516 that’s allowed her to level up commercially like this? 

Leila Cobo: She’s toured massively, and, perhaps more importantly, she really upped the level of her live show. If you compare Karol’s 2022 show with her 2021 show, the difference is big: She performs better, she sings for most of the show, and her staging, band and dancers have all been upgraded. It really signaled she was entering the major leagues, being able to deliver in the arena stage like any other act. Right now, there is no other woman in Latin music touring at that scale. It was impressive — and as an industry observer, it felt like she had deliberately upped the ante.

Griselda Flores: I want to say that there are two important things: one being the singles she released leading up to the album, including “Provenza,” and “X Si Volvemos” with Romeo Santos. Those two singles alone were a massive success, and it really kept Karol on our radar. It didn’t feel like she took a break to do an album and then came back. Meanwhile, her $trip Love Tour also plays a major role in her being able to “level up.” It’s now the highest grossing U.S. tour by a women Latin artist in history. Overall, it grossed $69.9 million across 33 shows in North America.

Sigal Ratner-Arias: Karol has been able to amass an ever-growing fan base not only with her fierce but sweet and relatable personality and female-empowering lyrics, but with real hard work, talent and dedication. She has worked non-stop, making touring history last year with her ambitious $trip Love Tour. (Her hair color changes were also a sensation.)  

Isabela Raygoza: Karol G possesses tremendous charisma on and off stage. Her music is honest, and she keeps it real on her social channels. Although she’s a full-fledged Latin pop star, she somehow projects herself as relatable. She shares herself with her listeners in a way making fans feel like they know her, and they resonate with what she’s saying. Aside from putting in the work, crafting great songs, killing it on tour, and bringing fresh content to her fan base, her charisma is one of a kind.

Andrew Unterberger: She has spaced out her singles very well over the past 18 months — with each building on the last, and still feeling like its own event. When “Provenza” reached the top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100 last May without any guests or major narrative hooks, it was pretty clear that something special was happening with Karol.

3. Meanwhile, Karol’s “TQG” collab with Shakira becomes her first top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, helped significantly by the starriness of the team-up and public interest in both artists’ recent high-profile real-life breakups. Do you think the song will continue to grow into one of the early year’s biggest hits, or will its debut likely be its commercial peak?

Leila Cobo: I think “TQG” has legs beyond its debut because it’s a great song. Like Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” it has a strong melody at a time when fans seem to be eager to listen to great melodies instead of simply great beats. And, of course, the story behind it is irresistible: two very public heartbreak stories, and, on top of that, the first collab between Colombia’s biggest women stars. For fans of Latin music, it’s irresistible. But, to me the secret sauce is the song itself, which is better than the story.

Griselda Flores: To be completely honest, I don’t know. But I am leaning more toward it continuing to grow with radio airplay and the fact that it’s already become a bonafide woman anthem. The reggaetón track has really catchy lyrics, which makes it just a good song. I think it will continue to be a top song — but I would love to see other songs from the album get their moment, which I think will happen once she starts releasing music videos for some of the other songs.

Sigal Ratner-Arias: I think “TQG” will continue to grow, but I’m not sure if it will become one of the biggest hits of the year. Other songs from Mañana that were recently released — including the feel-good reggae groove “Mientras Me Curo Del Cora,” about taking your time when you’re down and being hopeful about tomorrow, whose video just came out Tuesday (amassing 1.5 million views over its first four hours) — may also start growing and climbing the charts.  

Isabela Raygoza: I believe that as long as more female artists continue to publicize their messy relationships via songs — a trend that is on the rise, of what I like to call “the tabloid pop hit” — the song will endure. We’ve seen this with the chart-topping “Kill Bill” by SZA, “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé’s Lemonade album, and most recently Shakira’s diss track “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53.” The worthiness of “TQG” is all in the lyrics, rather than the beats, and their one-liner disses are worthy of slogans, which you can read here. Karol G and Shak’s highly publicized disentanglements with their respective exes have become tabloid gold, and they’ve taken control of the narrative and turned their drama into hits, a form of empowerment. Plus, listeners can enjoy the tea guilt free, sip.  

Andrew Unterberger: I don’t see it fizzling out quickly, though I’m not sure it’ll ever beat its current No. 7 peak. It might follow a similar trajectory to Shakira’s other splashy top 10-debuting collab from this year, the Bizarrap team-up “Vol. 53” — a top 10 debut, followed by a very gradual tumble down the top 40. But I’ll be curious to see if either of the two songs can capture the radio support to buoy it as its streaming and sales numbers continue to recede; certainly, either would sound great blaring from car radios as the weather starts to heat up.

4. Only one other artist of any gender has ever topped the Billboard 200 with an all-Spanish-language release before: Bad Bunny. Do you see Karol G as being on the path to achieve the same kind of stateside superstardom as Bad Bunny has, or is it still too early to say? 

Leila Cobo: If you’d asked me a year ago, I would have said Bad Bunny was a unicorn. However, what is happening with Karol’s album, on the heels of her tour, makes me think she can definitely achieve bigger stateside superstardom. Karol is a very unique female artist. She’s remained singularly approachable and authentic, even as her popularity has increased. She’s very consistent in the themes she espouses and the message she delivers. She is the kind of woman many women, especially young women, can relate to. Her persona really resonates across generations. She’s worked extremely hard at her craft and has raised that bar high. What I love about her is she hasn’t compromised her sound or who she is as she’s gotten bigger, and her fans recognize that. I think she could definitely match Bad Bunny.

Griselda Flores: 100%. I think this No. 1 marks the beginning of a new era for Karol where possibilities are endless. Like Bad Bunny, it all started with a No. 1 album — then he went on to headline a stadium tour, have the first Spanish-language album nominated for best album at the Grammys and become the first Spanish-language artist to headline Coachella. I can see Karol G going that same route, with a stadium tour for next year and another history-making nomination at the Grammys.

Sigal Ratner-Arias: Karol G’s historic success is no accident or surprise. Although Bad Bunny had started much higher in the chart and quicky saw his albums in the top 10, Karol has been steadily climbing the Billboard 200 with every one of her sets — from No. 192 in 2017 (Unstopable) to No. 54 in 2019 (Ocean) to 20 in 2021 (KG0516) and now to No. 1. And she will probably be on tour again with Mañana, which will only push her stardom forward.

Isabela Raygoza: Karol G has already demonstrated that she’s on the path to enjoying a similar kind of stateside superstardom like that of the Bunny. She’s no stranger to the Billboard 200: In fact, every single album she’s released has peaked higher on the chart than the last. She continues to accumulate a growing fan base, and this new album certainly introduced the Colombian powerhouse star to wider audiences well beyond the Latin realm. When she starts to tour MSB, that will only elevate her star higher.

Andrew Unterberger: It’s really hard to say. Usually, when an artist shows the kind of steady and consistent growth over many years that Karol G has for the past half-decade, it’s a good idea not to underestimate them. But the kind of success (and moreover, the level of sheer global approval) that Bad Bunny has achieved is something that only a handful of artists in a generation can manage. For that reason alone, the odds are probably against Karol — but she’s made every right move to be on the road there so far, so I still probably wouldn’t bet against her.

5. Of all the contemporary hitmakers in the Latin world who still have yet to score a No. 1 album, who would you predict to be the next artist to do so? 

Leila Cobo: Shakira, especially this year. And if Maluma brings in another major hit like “Hawaii,” he’s also in the running, in my eyes.

Griselda Flores: I’m a regional Mexican fan and I would love to see a Mexican music artist score a No. 1. Now, with a new generation of artists — such as Eslabon Armado, Yahritza Y Su Esencia and Ivan Cornejo — that is fusing the genre’s core sound with urban or alt-rock elements and it’s attracting a new generation and a more diverse audience, the prediction doesn’t seem too unrealistic.

Sigal Ratner-Arias: Shakira. Her Spanish-speaking fans have been patiently awaiting, and the success of her latest songs en Español just show how eager they are to see what she’ll do next. Her personal issues — namely, her recent separation from Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué — also adds fuel to the curiosity. She recently said she’s “more excited than ever” to go back to the studio, and we expect to hear more from her soon.

Isabela Raygoza: Rosalía. I would probably say that Rosalía has been one of Karol G’s main competitors in the industry, from my point of view, as both women have earned pinnacle achievements in Latin music. The Barcelona singer became the first woman in Latin Grammy history to win album of the year twice: 2019’s El Mal Querer, and 2022’s Motomami. With all her albums, including her 2017 debut Los Ángeles, she has demonstrated her masterclass ability to innovate, which has made her an exhilarating artist. She’s shown various facets of music experimentation that really impresses, whether it’s flamenco pop or glitchy reggaetón. She even won the first ever producer of the year at the 2023 Billboard Women in Music event. Although Motomami charted at 33 on the Billboard 200, I believe she can make the jump with her ability to surprise and intrigue audiences, which could land her a No. 1 album in the future.

Andrew Unterberger: They’re nowhere near the stateside recognition of either Karol G or Bad Bunny yet, but I do have my eye on Grupo Frontera. For most of 2023, the regional Meixcan group has had three concurrent hits on the Hot 100, with their own “No Se Va,” the Carin Leon collab “Que Velvas” and the Fuerza Regida team-up “Bebe Dame.” Usually, when a newer artist is able to simultaneously support three crossover hits like that at once — for months, not just a week or two — it means they’re probably already much, much bigger than we even realize.

07 Mar 2023

BMI to Honor Gospel Music Greats David & Tamela Mann, Dr. Bobby Jones

Gospel music luminaries David and Tamela Mann, as well as Dr. Bobby Jones will be honored during the upcoming 22nd annual Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards on March 30.

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The event, to be held at Flourish Atlanta, will be hosted by BMI president/CEO Mike O’Neill and BMI vice president, Creative Catherine Brewton.

“BMI is thrilled to be back in Atlanta celebrating the best in Gospel music,” said Brewton via a statement. “We’re extremely proud to honor powerhouse couple Tamela and David Mann for their incredible contributions to the Gospel community, the enduring legacy of Dr. Bobby Jones and the songwriters and publishers behind the top Gospel songs of the previous year. Through song and praise, they deliver inspirational messages of hope, faith and goodwill to music lovers around the world. We feel truly blessed to bring these trailblazers together in fellowship and celebrate their creative works.”

In the 1990s, Tamela and David toured the world as part of the gospel group Kirk Franklin and the Family, before launching solo careers and joint ventures, creating Tillymann Entertainment in 2005 as a base for their various entertainment projects. In 2018, they released Us Against the World, their first collaborative album as a duo. A companion book to the album earned the couple a NAACP Image Award for outstanding literary work, while the album launched the hit “Ups & Downs.” The Manns also launched the Overcomer Family Tour, with their son David Jr. and their daughters La’Tia and Tiffany.

Beyond music, the Manns have appeared in several Tyler Perry plays, films and movies, and starred in their own sitcom, Mann & Wife, and the docuseries It’s a Mann’s World. As a solo artist, Tamela has issued six studio albums and earned a Grammy, BET Award, Billboard Music Award and multiple NAACP, GMA Dove and Stellar Gospel Music awards.

Singer, television host and radio broadcaster Jones will be honored for his more than four decades in entertainment. For more than 35 years, he served as the host of Bobby Jones Gospel on BET, and is credited with giving artists including Yolanda Adams, Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary their first national television exposure. In 1984, Jones earned a Grammy for best soul gospel performance by a duo or group for “I’m So Glad I’m Standing Here Today” with Barbara Mandrell. He has also received recognition from the GMA Dove Awards, and the Stellar Awards, and was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame earlier this year.

Throughout the ceremony, BMI will also recognize the songwriters, producers and music publishers of the past year’s 25 most performed gospel songs in the United States. The BMI gospel song, songwriter and publisher of the year will also be named during the event.

07 Mar 2023

Which Is Your Favorite Song From Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing At a Time?’ Vote!

With only three months into the new year, Morgan Wallen‘s new album, One Thing At a Time, has outperformed every other album released so far in 2023 — and just three calendar days after its release.

Continuing the format of his second album, Dangerous: The Double Album, One Thing At a Time is a triple LP that contains a total of 36 songs from the country singer. The set, released on March 3 via Big Loud and Republic Records, so far has released four singles: “You Proof,” “Thought You Should Know,” “Last Night” and the album’s title track, “One Thing At a Time.” Each of them hit the Billboard Hot 100 following the album’s release, with “Last Night” and “You Proof” peaking within the top five (Nos. 3 and 5) while the album’s title track and “Should Know” settling within the top 40 (Nos. 12 and 37, respectively).

On March 3, Spotify revealed that Wallen’s One Thing At a Time earned a total of 52.29 million streams, setting the record for being the streaming service’s most-streamed country album in a single day by a male artist. Wallen has also topped the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated March 11), becoming the top musical act in the U.S. for a seventh total week. While the data continues to pool for One Thing At a Time, the set is anticipated to perform well on next week’s Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums charts (dated March 18).

With so many songs to choose from, we want to know: Which of the 36 tracks from One Thing at a Time is your favorite? Vote in our poll below.

07 Mar 2023

Chanmina, UA & eill Headline Inaugural Billboard Japan Women in Music Concerts

Billboard Japan launched its Women in Music initiative last year to celebrate today’s female achievers who continue to break new ground in Japan’s music industry, in the same spirit as Billboard’s Women in Music event that began in 2007. Billboard has recognized many influential women over the years — the highest honor being Woman of the Year, awarded to some of the industry’s top artists including Beyoncé, Madonna and, this year’s recipient, SZA.

Billboard Japan’s Women in Music consists of a string of projects including interviews, concerts, panel discussions and more. On Friday, March 3 — which also happens to be the traditional annual day celebrating girls in Japan — the inaugural Women in Music concerts took place simultaneously at the Billboard Live venues in Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama, headlined by three female artists who represent today’s music landscape in Japan. Each artist performed two shows on that day, with the second being livestreamed for fans who couldn’t attend in person.

Rapper and singer Chanmina took the stage at Billboard Live Tokyo in Roppongi, appearing onstage accompanied by four dancers to the striking refrain of her track “Lucy.” Leading an all-female team of performers including the DJ in keeping with the evening’s theme, the trilingual artist performed a hard-hitting set of songs with lyrics mixing Korean, English and Japanese. The WIM setlist included “I’m a Pop,” featuring intense rapping and deep, dynamic vocals, and “Harenchi,” a sultry number with an urban sound and whispery vocalization.

The 24-year-old artist took a moment during her set to address the packed Billboard Live crowd, briefly explaining why she does what she does. “You’re all so beautiful, more so than you probably think,” she said, “I want to keep telling you that no matter how old I get.” She also paused during her song “Angel” later on to express her deep gratitude for her fans’ support. “To tell you the truth,” she shared, “I wasn’t fine during the COVID-19 pandemic! I missed you all so much.”

The “Bijin” rapper closed her WIM set with a raw, passionate performance of “Dahlia.” She stopped mid-song to say earnestly, “Singing was the only thing I had. So I kept singing and waited. Thank you for finding me, everyone!” When she finished the number, Chanmina bowed deeply to the audience and left the stage with a smile.  

UA

UA

Shino Hamada/Billboard Japan

Headlining Billboard Live Osaka was UA, a veteran artist hailing from this city who has balanced her alternative music career and motherhood over the years. The 50-year-old songstress painted the venue with her signature sound, with dreamily melancholic numbers like “Kiokusoushitu” (“Amnesia”) and “Senkou” (“Blaze of Light”), and “JAPONESIA” with its effective combination of scat and harmonies. In particular, the audience was treated to the breadth of UA’s musicality through her breakout hit “Jounetsu” (“Passion”) and “AUWA~TIDA,” a track with a danceable groove developing with increasing intensity. After her main set, she returned to perform “Mizuiro” (“Light Blue”) for the encore — a song the mother of four said she wrote when she was pregnant with her first child — bringing her WIM show to a close with her beautifully unique vocals.

In between songs, the artist currently based in Canada looked back on her upbringing and shared anecdotes about the women she grew up around, making the 300-capacity venue feel even more intimate than usual. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could start each day thinking, ‘I want to start off by embracing and loving myself,’” she said, and added, “I’m happy to have been born a woman, and intend to continue moving forward without losing my passion and curiosity, and without being afraid of experiencing lots of things.”

eill

eill

Junichi Itabashi/Billboard Japan

Singer-songwriter eill headlined the stage over at Billboard Live Yokohama. One of today’s hottest young music producers who gives voice to the honest feelings of the youth of her generation, eill delivered some of her popular numbers with her silky, soulful vocals, fronting a band of accomplished musicians (Katsushiro Sato on guitar, Shunsuke Ochi on bass, nabeLTD on keyboards, Yosuke Minowa handling computer manipulation, and Yukino Matsuura on drums). Appearing on stage dressed in all white, the 24-year-old artist kicked off her set with “Koko de iki wo shite” (“Breathe Here”), and went on to perform “FAKE LOVE/” and “((FULLMOON))” back-to-back, showcasing her signature mellow groove accented with delightful charm. The special WIM set also featured strings (Leina Ushiyama on violin, Yasuko Murata on viola and Kaori Imai on cello), adding a lush layer to her performance of “Finale,” which she explained she wrote “around this time last year while thinking about summer,” and on to “Hana no youni” (“Like a Flower”).

In between songs, eill emphasized the importance of being true to yourself, telling the audience to “love yourself and embrace yourself even when you’re not your best self.” Reassuring fans that “whenever you’re having a hard time, I’ll always give you a little push from behind. I’ll be your light at any time,” she launched into a groovy performance of “Spotlight.”

True to her words, she uplifted the crowd and created a sense of unity in the venue through numbers including “20,” which she accompanied herself on the piano, and the last song “Odorasenaide” (“Don’t Make Me Dance”). During the encore, she announced the release of a new song called “WE ARE.” “We’re all alone, but we’re all not alone. We can use our loneliness as our shields. We’re not alone, everyone,” she said, and after treating the WIM audience to the premiere live performance of the brand-new track, eill left the stage with a big smile on her face.

07 Mar 2023

Rêve Has a Flurry of Red-Hot Singles & Three Juno Nominations: Behind One of the Fastest-Rising Artists in Dance

In Billboard’s new monthly emerging dance artist spotlight we get to know Rêve, the Montreal-repping artist bringing dreaminess and raw songwriting to the dancefloor.

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The Occasion: Canada’s Juno Awards, taking place next Monday (Mar. 13), where Rêve is nominated in three categories: breakthrough artist of the year, best dance recording of the year (for “CTRL + ALT + DEL”) and the fan choice award.

The Origin: The Montreal-raised artist, born Briannah Donolo, began songwriting as a child, using her pen and piano as a form of therapy. In 2014, a video of her singing of the U.S. and Canadian national anthems at a Canadiens hockey game went viral, leading to instant media and music industry attention. Despite seemingly reaching the spotlight, she says she still needed time to figure out who she was as an artist.

Rêve did some of that soul-searching in local nightclub, Velvet, which she describes as dungeon-like with candles lining the walls. It was there that she first experienced club music in its purest form, on a proper sound system. “There were no bells and whistles, just the music and the way that it connected the people in the room,” she tells Billboard. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is one of the most powerful things that I’ve ever felt.’” It ultimately shaped her direction going forward.

To get closer to the music industry, Rêve moved to Toronto at the beginning of 2020 and worked studio sessions to refine her writing and sound. During the first month of COVID lockdown, she met and instantly clicked with production-songwriting duo Banx & Ranx (Dua Lipa, Blackpink, J Balvin) over Zoom. “When we got together [in person], there was this unspoken energy in the room that really flowed,” she recalls.

Many joint sessions later, Banx & Ranx co-signed Rêve to Universal Music Canada via their label 31 East. In July 2021, she made her major-label debut with “Still Dancing.”

The Sound: Taking a cue from one of her biggest influences, Robyn, Rêve aims to make music that, she says, “moves your heart as much as it moves your feet.” “Still Dancing” perfectly captures this balance: the quarantine anthem pairs lyrical longing for the communal clubbing experience (“I don’t know who needs to hear this; we came here to get some healing… f–k, we’re sad, but we’re still dancing”) with a dark, sultry groove and euphoric piano build.

That raw songwriting is key to Rêve’s overall catalog — whether it’s vulnerable, sexual or fun and carefree, it’s unapologetically her. On a wider scale, Rêve pulls from early-2000s pop and R&B and classic ‘90s dance music — clock the nod to The Bucketheads’ 1995 hit “The Bomb (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)” on “Skin 2 Skin” — yet her sound is still fresh and modern. Her name is French for “dream,” which also reflects how she views her music: “dreamy, ethereal, transformative — and dance/electronic and all of its sub-genres are the glue that keeps it together.”

Key Tracks: “CTRL + ALT + DEL,” released in Sept. 2021, was Rêve’s first major hit. Written during the first wave of the pandemic, she says it brought a fun, lighter mood to previous sessions marked by heaviness and uncertainty: “[Banx & Ranx and I] spent the next couple hours talking about how much we missed going out — not for the drinks, not for the boys or the girls, just to be there with a really good sound system and vibes and listen to music.” 

The song hit multiple Canadian singles charts (AC, Hot AC, CHR/Top 40, Top 100), including a 29-week stint and No. 38 peak on the latter, and was certified platinum in June. To date, it has over 44 million streams between Spotify and YouTube. Rêve pins the success of “CRTL + ALT + DEL” to its earworm melody. “It drove us nuts,” she says with a laugh. “I was like, ‘This is a good thing.’”

A more recent song, “Whitney,” released in Oct. 2022, is coming for its throne. The lyrics were inspired by a dish towel in her mom’s kitchen. “[It] had something very Hallmark on it, like, ‘Dance like nobody’s watching, sing like nobody’s listening’” she says. “I was like, ‘What if I tweak it?’” She name-checks icons such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Marilyn Monroe to express her desire to live life fully present and not, as the song goes, “grow too old before my time.” 

Like “CTRL + ALT + DEL,” “Whitney” is making a splash on the charts. It’s Rêve’s first top 10 hit on any U.S.-based Billboard chart (Dance/Mix Show Airplay) and has netted two more top 10 placements on Canada’s CHR/Top 40 and Hot AC, as well as a top five first (No. 4) on Canada AC. Rêve herself is holding steady at No. 3 on the Canada Emerging Artists chart.

Signed To: 31 East / Universal Music Canada

Managed By: Andrew Kennedy & Pat Murphy, CARE OF Management

Management Strategy: “Our strategy with Rêve has been to stay consistent with her releases; drip feeding singles, collaborations, and remixes to keep her footprint growing across all DSPs and social channels,” write Kennedy and Murphy. “Rêve is an incredible artist and songwriter, and it’s imperative to us that her unique POV is distilled into all of the creative… from the artwork to the live show and so on. 

“For audience growth, we’re looking holistically at all of the potential drivers to ensure that there is strategy employed across all platforms and DSPs. This strategy looks different on platforms like TikTok than it does on radio, but it all comes down to finding the core fans and converting them consistently day by day.”

First Record That Made Her Love Dance Music: Rêve credits her mom for her early love of dance music, having grown up on the synth-based sounds of Eurythmics, Depeche Mode and Madonna. The latter’s 1998 album Ray of Light, especially, was a record she wore out from playing it on her Discman at school. 

“I’ll never forget the way that it made me feel,” she says. “It made me feel like I could be anybody. It was like, this escapism… It’s very rare you have these artists that become even more interesting to you as you grow up. I loved Madonna’s music from the time that I was a child, but growing up trying to break into the music industry — what she did was just truly so incredible on so many levels.”

Advice Every New Dance Artist Needs to Hear: “Don’t worry about trying to copy who’s hot right now. Make things that make you feel something, that get you giddy inside, even though they might not be what’s trending right now. Just do things that feel good to you, and chances are it’s gonna feel good to somebody else.”

Why She Makes Music: “I make music because it’s at the core of everything that I do. I feel like we’re put on this earth to connect to it on the deepest level. I think I was put on this earth to connect to people and to myself through it. It just feels like the most authentic thing to me.”

Up Next: In addition to multiple Juno nominations, Rêve will be performing on the award show’s live broadcast alongside Banx & Ranx and label mate Preston Pablo. Consider it a warm-up to her first-ever headline shows at Toronto’s Access Club (Mar. 23) and Montreal’s Le Studio TD (Mar. 25). A debut album is scheduled to arrive later this year. 

“You’ll hear so many different sub-genre influences within it,” Rêve says. “There’s drum and bass, traditional dance-pop, breakbeat, a little bit of acid… It’s basically my love letter to dance music, and really, to Montreal.”

07 Mar 2023

Rapper Chanmina Talks Thinking in 3 Languages: Billboard Japan Women in Music Interview

Japan-based rapper and singer Chanmina is the next featured guest in Billboard Japan’s Women In Music interview series. Billboard Japan launched its WIM initiative last year, highlighting various trailblazing women in the music industry in a string of projects including this series. The initiative follows the established example of Billboard’s Women in Music event that has honored artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to the music industry and empowered women through their work since 2007.

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Chanmina, who performed at Billboard Japan’s Women In Music vol. 0 event at Billboard Live Tokyo on March 3, is a trilingual artist who first came into the spotlight through a rap competition for high school students. Seven years since being lauded as a “high school girl rapper,” she has long cast off that label and continues to grow as a global artist transcending the boundaries of J-pop music. Here, she talks about the subtleties of being fluent in three languages, standing on the shoulders of her predecessors and more.

You started learning piano, ballet, dancing, and singing at an early age. Were there any women you looked up to growing up?

My mother, who was a professional ballet dancer, was my ideal when I was little. I admired the way she would do her hair up and wear stage makeup when she left for work, and the jewelry she bought with her own earnings. My father was also work-minded, but my mother didn’t rely on him [for income]. She found what she was good at, drew out her own strengths, and connected them to her work with conviction. I think I was impressed by that attitude even as a child. When I was a little older, I discovered Avril Lavigne and became a fan; I still love her and listen to her music a lot when I need to gather up some courage. I’m inspired by the way she shines doing what she wants to do, and it’s the same feeling I had for my mother.

So you’ve been able to maintain your own style and beliefs based on respect for women like your mother and Avril Lavigne.

I’ve always been the type of person who can’t listen to what my mind is trying to tell me. I’d push myself too hard when I needed a break, and end up damaging my health. But through music, when I’m writing poetry in a notebook, I try to face the prickly parts of my mind by asking myself things like, “What am I feeling right now?” and “What do I want and what don’t I need?” Writing poetry might be close to therapy for me.

I’ve been writing poetry since I was seven or eight years old. I couldn’t concentrate on my classes at school and began writing down what I was feeling. It become a habit, and when I made my debut and many people heard my songs, some said they could relate. When that happened, although I’d never given it much thought before, I realized that there were people who empathized with me, even though all I was doing was expressing how I felt. That made me want to write about what I really feel even more, rather than accommodate what people wanted me to write. So from there I made a conscious effort to think about the act of writing poetry, which I’d been doing without much thought until then, and realized once again that for me this was a daily routine, a form of therapy, and something like life itself.

You use three different languages, Japanese, English, and Korean. If writing lyrics is therapeutic for you, do you find that your thoughts also change depending on the language you use?

I’m sort of lacking in each of those languages, and feel that I become just barely whole when I use all three. Each language has its own nuances, and I wish I could speak using all three. That finally gets me up to full power. When I talk in my sleep or think in my head, I always mix up the three languages. The Japanese I learned from my father is a masculine way of speaking, the Korean I learned from my mother is feminine, and the English I learned from television and dramas is a frank way of speaking. The way I’m thinking is probably slightly different in each, but they all exist within me.

That’s really interesting, and it shows how subtle and important words are to you. Freestyle rapping is a field where you battle it out with your vocabulary, and you were often referred to as a high school girl rapper because you first attracted attention for your skill as a teen. How did you feel about that at the time?

I strongly resented being called a high school girl rapper and being compared to my opponents, other female rappers, in areas other than rapping. We were insulted by being compared to each other for our looks, like who’s cuter or sexier, and our accomplishments were considered irrelevant. But I made it a rule not to argue with those voices on social media, and to respond with my music. That’s how songs like “Bijin” (“Beautiful Woman”), “Princess,” and “Doctor” were created. If I hadn’t been able to sublimate my resentment and hang-ups into music like that, I think I would have given up on more things in my life.

You must have been in the minority just for being a woman in the Japanese hip-hop community. Did you ever feel inconvenienced in that respect?

Fortunately, other than what I just mentioned, there weren’t any situations where I felt negatively about being a woman. I was never ignored in the scene, and I think I got a lot of attention because I was a minority in the hip-hop community, so I think I was lucky in some ways. And if I get married or get pregnant and have children in the future, the content of my lyrics and what I can express may expand.

The thing is, though, the reason I’m able to feel this way is because women have fought (to achieve it) in the past. So I’m grateful for that, and we also have to keep fighting, while also being careful not to rest on our laurels and discriminate against men.

When did you realize that you’re now standing where women of the past fought and paved the way?

I think going to different countries and meeting different people were a big part of it. Living in Japan, there’s still a sense that women are supposed to do the housework, and there are people who say stuff like, “You make money by showing some skin and pandering to people,” so there’s no way I can say discrimination against women doesn’t exist here, but there are countries in the world where the situation is much worse. I’m sort of surrounded by open-minded people who don’t have biased views about gender, and I’ve been able to come this far without thinking much about matters of gender imbalance. That’s the result of women facing those problems in the past in Japan, and men and women gradually coming to terms with each other. I just want everyone to be equal, so I want to continue tackling problems while also recognizing the improvements that have been made. As an artist, I want to keep my feet on the ground and make music about what I’m feeling as a 24-year-old woman living today.

—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan

07 Mar 2023

King & Prince’s ‘Life goes on’ Sells a Million-Plus CDs to Top Japan Hot 100

King & Prince’s “Life goes on” comes in at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated March 1, marking the highest sales week of this year with over a million CDs sold in its first week.

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“Life goes on” sold 1,051,909 copies this week to rule physical sales and also comes in at No. 4 for video views and No. 12 for radio airplay. The million threshold for first-week CD sales hadn’t been surpassed since AKB48’s “Shitsuren, Arigato” (1,414,077 copies) and Nogizaka46’s “Shiawase no Hogoshoku” (1,049,667 copies) from March 2020, so the five-man boy band has achieved a major feat this week.

“Life goes on” was released as a double A-sided single with “We are young,” written by two of J-pop’s leading hitmakers with music by Koji Tamaki and lyrics by Junji Ishiwatari, which also garnered attention and came in at No. 11 for video. The Johnny’s group’s previously released songs are also performing well in the sales and video metrics, indicating that the ardent support of the group’s core fanbase is influencing the so-called gray-layer listeners and resulting in King & Prince’s dominance on this week’s charts.

Two other songs debuted on the Japan Hot 100 this week powered by sales. =LOVE’s “Kono Sora ga Trigger” came in at No. 2 for the metric with 216,215 copies, and Tsubaki Factory’s “Machigai janai, Naitari shinai” at No. 3 with 99,816 copies. But the latter hit No. 16 for downloads and No. 44 for radio, which added additional points to give the track a slim lead over “Kono Sora ga Trigger” — “Machigai janai, Naitari shinai”” debuts at No. 3 on the Japan Hot 100, while “Trigger” bows at No. 4.

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

Check out the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Feb. 20 to Feb. 26, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.