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J-pop band back number continue to enjoy lasting hits, with their 2016 album Encore still charting in the top 100 of Billboard Japan’s Hot Albums tally. The group’s recent hit song “Suiheisen” (“Horizon”) — created in the wake of the cancellation of the 2020 All Japan High School Sports Championships due to the pandemic — was released in August 2021 and finished at No. 9 on the 2022 year-end Billboard Japan Hot 100, becoming another signature song for the band that already has a long list of familiar hits under its belt.
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The trio’s latest studio album, Humor, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart dated Jan, 25. The set contains a total of 12 tracks including “Suiheisen,” songs featured as themes for TV drama series, plus brand-new numbers. In this latest interview, Shimizu shares the creative process that went into the production of this album that reflects the band’s current state, written and recorded alongside the band’s domestic tour last year.
What was 2022 like for you? You caught COVID during the band’s tour last year and some shows had to be postponed, but you all managed to successfully wrap of the trek in September.
Iyori Shimizu: I wanted to have fun during that tour instead of putting too much pressure on myself. Until recently, I used to put pressure on myself by setting up goals, like, “I want to be a certain way when the tour is over, so I have to make this kind of effort and…” But after coming down with COVID, it really hit home how important it is to pamper myself and make time for fun.
Then on the final day of the tour, it was like seeing a completely different view from before. We’d intended to enjoy ourselves and be satisfied with the tour, but in the end it was like we became aware of a kind of thirst. It was a strange feeling, that we could do more. I contemplated what that feeling was as we were putting the finishing touches on the album, and worked through the meaning of “humor” all over again.
What do you think was the nature of that “thirst”?
It was like a kind of earnestness that encompasses both fun and stoicism. Being really ambitious while also being really natural, the sense that the things that I thought could never be placed side by side are being mixed together. The three of us went into the studio and experimented in a lot of ways.
How do you think those things influenced your new album?
I realized that somewhere along the way, I’d lost the ability to “think normally.” I’d forgotten what I’d felt like when I first got started. But around the time I wrote “Velvet no Uta” during the tour, I began to feel the power of just being able to straightforwardly do what’s “good enough, normally speaking.” It felt like I’d returned to my very natural state, singing what I think the way I think it. If I hadn’t gotten COVID and finished the tour without any incident, it probably would have been a completely different album.
You shared “Suiheisen” on YouTube in August 2020, then released it on streaming platforms a year later. It started going viral on TikTok and other social networking sites around this time. Did that lead to any new discoveries about how to deliver your music?
I thought, “People sure do listen to a lot of music.” TikTok is a great playground. I’m pretty sure artists are all trying to figure out how to provide a plaything for it.
Also, I really appreciate the fact that the concept of B-sides has all but disappeared. I’ve never wanted to make a song that’s considered second best.
Streaming has made it much easier to access music on a song-by-song basis.
I think there was a bit more of a “this is popular, so let’s listen to it” vibe until fairly recently. Of course, that way of listening to music isn’t bad at all, and I’m sure we’ve benefited from it. But the joy is great when people choose to listen to our music. We’d like to keep on embodying our style of valuing each and every song, and we’re thinking of doing something new in our next phase.
How do you feel about the way your new album Humor turned out?
I already have an idea of what I want to do after this, so I think we managed to do what we can with this one. I can’t say for sure if it’s a good album until people hear it and we tour with it, but I’m confident enough to at least look forward to those things.
When we started making this album, I was thinking how I wanted to see “back number Level 99.” That we had to make an album that we could call our very best. But while we were making it, I realized that that way of thinking was really egotistical and that I was just being conceited. Like, if you keep working out all the time, your basic physical fitness will improve, but the environment around you is constantly changing. There’s no point in becoming a band that only pleases your core fans by being stubborn about how you think you should be and falling into complacency. That would just halt our growth and it would also mean turning our backs on our fans who love and support us. There is no upper limit.
Your journey continues even after Level 99, you mean.
It’s just a new beginning. I’m sure there are people out there who don’t listen to back number, so I want to hang on to that desire to turn those people around. The people who listen to us now and “One Room” (back number’s fan club) are really important to me, but I also don’t think it’s right to only care about them. I want us to be a band that those people can be proud of and say, “Isn’t our captain pretty amazing?”
—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan
Upon dropping her new “Lavender Haze” music video, Taylor Swift raved about her costar Laith Ashley. And in a couple tweets following the video’s premiere, Ashley is returning the favor by gushing about his experience with the 33-year-old pop star.
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“Thank you so much @taylorswift13 for allowing me to play a small part in your story,” he tweeted early Friday morning (Jan. 27), 20 minutes after the “Lavender Haze” video premiered. “You are brilliant and this is an experience I will never forget.”
Then, a few hours afterward, the history-making transgender model tweeted: “Still at a loss for words. Trying to gather myself and my thoughts. I am so grateful. Thank you @taylorswift13.”
Ashley stars as Swift’s leading man in the “Lavender Haze” visual, self-directed by the 11-time Grammy winner in partnership with her All Too Well: The Short Film collaborator Rina Yang. Playing her romantic interest in the video, he lies next to Swift in bed, asleep as she traces galactic skies printed on his back, and cozies up to her at a house party.
After the project went live on Swift’s YouTube channel, she shared some photos from the video shoot — including one of her watching footage back on a handheld monitor with Ashley — and shouted out the Dominican-American singer by name on Instagram. “The Lavender Haze video is out now,” she wrote in her caption. “There is lots of lavender. There is lots of haze. There is my incredible costar @laith_ashley who I absolutely adored working with.”
“This was the first video I wrote out of the 3 that have been released, and this one really helped me conceptualize the world and mood of Midnights, like a sultry sleepless 70’s fever dream,” she added. “Hope you like it.”
See Laith Ashley and Taylor Swift’s posts about working together on “Lavender Haze” below.
Still at a loss for words. Trying to gather myself and my thoughts. I am so grateful. Thank you @taylorswift13— Laith Ashley De La Cruz (@laith_ashley) January 27, 2023
Måneskin is in demand. The Italian rockers, who are fresh off the release of their third studio album, Rush!, revealed during their Thursday (Jan. 26) appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that The Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger is a fan, and shared a story about opening up a show for the legendary rock band. The “Beggin’” hitmakers also detailed the hilarious antics that ensued while meeting the “Gimme Shelter” singer and his bandmate Keith Richards for the first time.
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“Mick Jagger chose you to open for The Rolling Stones in Las Vegas … what was it like when you got that call?” Fallon inquired of his guests.
“It was our first stadium so it was crazy. And also it was iconic because we got the chance to talk to [Jagger], and he was so nice and knew a lot of our music,” bassist Victoria De Angelis explained. “And then we met Keith Richards and he was like, ‘I don’t know who the f–k you are, but they told me you’re good.’ We were like ‘OK!’ We were blessed. We got the blessing.”
The rock group also discussed a 2023 Grammy nomination for best new artist. Lead singer Damiano David was the first to find out the news, and recounted the story to Fallon. “It streamed in the morning so I was the only one really awake in front of the television. They were all waking up and getting dressed, and when they said our name I started screaming,” he shared. “We were actually shooting a video for this because we wanted to share the reaction but we couldn’t because it was too vulgar, too aggressive.”
De Angelis confirmed that her bandmate’s reaction was so intense, she thought the rest of the band was in serious trouble: “I heard him starting banging on my door, and I was like, ‘What’s wrong? What have I done? I’m f–cked.’”
“They all thought we didn’t get the nom,” David added, to which De Angelis replied, “I thought you wanted to kill me or something.”
Closing out the band’s appearance on Fallon was a performance of Rush! single “GOSSIP.” Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, who also features on the track, joined the quartet for the performance.
Watch Måneskin on Fallon below.
First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.
Zach Bryan and Maggie Rogers, “Dawns”
This slow-burn, angst-filled song finds Bryan and pop stalwart Rogers fighting through anger, sadness and loss, desperate to turn back time and reclaim happier moments. The ache simmering below the lyrical tension is palpable, particularly on lines recalling the passing of a parent, as their illustrious harmonies intertwine on “I lost her last July in a heart attack/ I need one small victory/ Give me my dawns back.”
Cole Swindell, “Drinkaby”
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Swindell follows up his four-week No. 1 Country Airplay hit “She Had Me at Heads Carolina” with his latest, an uptempo, rock-tinged and radio-ready track about drinking away a broken heart. Swindell will release his new project Stereotype Broken on April 28.
Luke Combs, “Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old”
Reigning CMA entertainer of the Year Combs is gearing up to release the followup to his 2022 album, Growin’ Up, on March 24 when he drops his new album, Gettin’ Old. Bridging the two projects is his new song, “Growing Up and Gettin’ Old,” which acknowledges getting older but still knowing how to let loose.
“I spend most of my happy hours here at home … but I can still raise hell all night with the boys when I want to,” he sings, his electrifying-yet-earthy voice soundtracking this time in his life as a husband, father and entertainer at the top of his game.
Struggle Jennings feat. Jelly Roll, “Hard to Hate”
Country-rap artist Jennings is the grandson of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, while Jelly Roll just notched his first No. 1 Country Airplay hit with “Son of a Sinner.” These two have a long history of collaborations, previously releasing four Waylon & Willie projects. Their latest, a slow-burn, bluesy-rock hybrid, revels in leaving things that no longer serve you in the past and making the most of the days that are ahead.
Jordyn Shellhart, “Who Are You Mad At”
Shellhart is already known for her role writing songs like Little Big Town’s “Sugar Coat” and Cody Johnson’s “I Always Wanted To.” Now, in this song she co-penned with Marc Beeson and Allen Shamblin, she continues her evolution as an artist, with this stellar track showcasing Shellhart as an introspective, mature writer and a skilled vocalist.
Her clear-eyed lyricism chronicles stormy arguments with a hot-headed lover, but she fearlessly delves below the surface — refusing to accept the arrows he’s throwing and drawing out pain she knows is actually aimed at his ex-lover.
Jake Owen, “My Boots Miss Yours”
He’s got a toe-tappin’ way of attempting to convince a lover that one night of spinning around a dancefloor under neon lights together was far from enough. “What ya say we get ’em back together?Make a little trail of clothes and leather,” he sings, his warm, mellow vocal delivery a good foil for the understated flirtatiousness the song demands.
On the Outside, “Go Broke”
With a sunny sound and pop-country hooks aplenty to further elevate R&B-shaded, stacked harmonies, this five-part group seems poised to pick up Rascal Flatts’ mantle. “Go Broke” has the driving rhythm and glistening instrumentation of Keith Urban’s early work, while the explosive chorus feels like a solid throwback to early 2000s country-pop. Currently working with Jimmy Robbins and Mike Shimshack, the group inked a publishing deal last year with Warner Chappell Music and Mailbox Money Music.
Nickel Creek, “Strangers”
Lauded group Nickel Creek will return with their first album in nine years, when Celebrants drops on March 24. More than two decades after Nickel Creek first broke through with their 2000 self-titled album–and garnered two Grammy nominations in the process, followed by a Grammy win later for their album This Side–the group’s latest song highlights their unfettered harmonies and years-forged, tight-knit playing. The trio’s Chris Thile and siblings Sean and Sara Watkins recorded the album at Nashville’s RCA Studio A.
The video for the track is straightforward, putting the emphasis on the trio’s urgent performance — which conveys the simmering anxieties, wonder and hopes for sustained mutual esteem that come with reuniting with an old friend after a prolonged absence.
It takes a very intimate, deep level of trust to pull off what Sharon Stone and Sam Smith did on last weekend’s Saturday Night Live. In Smith’s second performance of the night, the legendary Casino star channeled a Hollywood siren from the early silver screen era as she posed elegantly on a couch in a gilded custom gown while Smith and a choir performed the spiritual title track from the singer’s upcoming Gloria album.
Without a word, and hardly even a gesture, Stone’s surprise cameo managed to both upstage Smith and low-key compliment the dramatic performance without making it all about her, a delicate balance the actress told Variety was a result of the very special relationship the two have developed.
Stone told the magazine that she’d met Smith before through her good pal singer Rufus Wainwright — they all sat together at the premiere of the 2019 Judy Garland biopic Judy — which led to Smith DMing Stone a month ago asking if she would be willing to join him on SNL. “And I said, ‘Well, it’s funny, I am listening to Sam Smith radio [on a streaming service] at the moment, so I think the universe has already decided this. I’d be so thrilled to do it, Sam. I just think you’re the most astounding performer and I’d be absolutely ecstatic to do it,’” she said she told Smith.
Because she’s that kind of pro, Stone reached out to her head costumer to have a custom dress made by Indian designer Gaurav Gupta. Describing the “sound bath” she was in on the SNL stage surrounded by Smith and a gospel choir, Stone said the singer’s directions were minimal. “[They] just asked me if I would do it and trusted me. We just innately understand each other, at an almost intimate level. We have no judgment of each other; we have only affirmative feelings about each other as an artist,” she said. “It’s not a competitive sport, but we want each other to bring our best game, and in order to do that, it’s like, ‘Just go for it, girl.’”
As a veteran who has endured too many co-stars stepping on her close-up moments, Stone said her job during Smith’s performance was simple: just listen. “I’m listening. I’m listening and allowing it to be alive in my heart,” she said before seemingly revealing a bit of news. “I think that what we really wanted was that idea of an apparition — almost like [Russian-French painter] Erte. Sam has asked me to do the music video, so I’m sure that’s going to be quite interesting to see how they would like to process that.”
In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe this week, Smith expounded on the collab as well, explaining that on their upcoming tour the stage is shaped like Aphrodite, which, of course, called for a golden goddess body to inhabit the SNL stage.
“Sharon Stone is going to be in the middle of the stage at SNL in gold as like a piece of life art. The whole performance is just the choir around her singing ‘Gloria’ to her in this golden light. Isn’t it so sick?,” Smith said, noting that the golden goddess had to be Stone because “she’s a powerful woman, and she exudes vulnerability and beauty in a way that to me is real and authentic.”
Watch the SNL performance below.
This week in dance music: we dug deep on the new app helping choreographers get paid, Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter announced a forthcoming orchestral album, Detroit’s Movement festival announced the phase one lineup for its 2023 show, we spoke with SG Lewis on the occasion of his new album, out today (Jan. 27), and we surveyed a bunch of DJ on how they manage their hard earned cash.
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And, as you’ve likely already guessed, there is indeed more. Let’s dig in.
Gorgon City, “Rumblah”
Are you ready for a b-side rumbler? Gorgon City’s latest release “Rumblah” is exactly that to the U.K. duo’s 2022 vocal-chop head knocker “Sidewindah” — but that doesn’t mean it’s any less strong. Rather, it’s deeper, darker; the kind of thing you’d play to a warehouse of heads in the wee hours of the night when the rave is at its most depraved.
“Like ‘Sidewindah,’ ‘Rumblah’ is an ode to the music that we grew up listening to; d&b, jungle, garage and grime,” Gorgon City tells Billboard. “We’ve really been enjoying going back to our roots with our recent club releases, and it’s been heavily influencing the production of our next album. We hope everyone enjoys the track. We’ve loved rumbling bass-bins with it over the last few months!” – KAT BEIN
Melle Brown feat. Loie, “Night Drift”
Since its launch in 2018, Monki’s &Friends record label has become a solid platform for highlighting emerging dance talent in the U.K. space, counting among its catalog up-and-comers such as Meg Ward, t e s t p r e s s, and Flaurese. Its next release comes from London’s Melle Brown, who debuted on &Friends last spring with “One More Chance” and followed that up with the Annie Mac-featuring “Feel About You,” one of Billboard’s top dance songs of 2022.
Brown’s new single, “Night Drift,” continues her string of warm house gems. Its stomping percussion, buzzing bassline and strobing synths set the nocturnal scene before blooming into swirling, smoky dreaminess filled with Loie’s sensual vocals and twinkling piano riffs. “Night Drift” is both cozy and freeing in its search for bright lights and feeling the wind in your hair, with a vibe shift that feels like finally breaking free of traffic on your own night drive and seeing only open road ahead. As Loie sings, “Keep drivin’.” — KRYSTAL RODRIGUEZ
Bonobo & Jacques Green, “Fold”
The eternally consistent Bonobo returns today with a track that falls neatly into the Bonobo oeuvre. Twinkly, sophisticated and built around a breathy pitched up vocal sample and a heavy kickdrum that land at opposing ends of the soft/hard spectrum, “Fold” is a collaboration from Bonobo (real name: Simon Green) and Canadian producer Jacques Greene, (whose real name, in a shocking twist, is actually Phil.)
“Phil was in L.A. and stopped by for a coffee and studio hang,” Bonobo says. “We made the bulk of the track that day. We each played a few various versions in our DJ sets over the summer (I even dropped it in a live show once) and made some decisions on how to finish it. It’s been going down really well in my DJ sets. Excited to get it out there finally.”
“Fold” drops at an auspicious moment for Bonobo — who next weekend is up for a pair of Grammys, for best dance/electronic recording and best dance album. With seven nominations to his name, but nary a win, we’ve got to say we’re rooting for him. — KATIE BAIN
Junior Sanchez feat. Nez, “Hit It”
House veteran Junior Sanchez returns to Defected Records with a sure dancefloor hit to start the new year, “Hit It” featuring Nez, made to jack up your heart rate and break a sweat. Sanchez builds a tightly knit rhythm teeming with perky synth stabs, fast-shuffling percussion and vocal whoops, which all unravel into a blurry peaktime frenzy. Meanwhile, Nez raps with a fun, dynamic flow that matches the production’s party-starting energy beat for beat. Sanchez says “Hit It” pulls from classic New York and Chicago house as well as Detroit techno— “as if Masters at Work had a jam session with Carl Craig,” he says, “and add Chicago’s young hero Nez’s unique style of rapping … The record is a snapshot of what was, what’s now & what’s tomorrow!”
The music video for “Hit It” was directed by Jamel Rankins (a.k.a. producer Blaqwell), who combined traditional design, illustration and editing techniques with AI systems to create a visual inspired by artist Ernie Barnes’ 1976 painting The Sugar Shack, which appeared in the end credits of American television sitcom Good Times. “This imagery had a big impact on both myself and Junior growing up on the East Coast of the U.S.,” says Rankins. “With this spirit in mind, I aimed to create something visually unique, rooted in the culture, and in line with the vibe of the track — the vibe of house music.” — K.R.
Juuku feat. Gianni Taylor, “Moonlight”
The thought of moonlight streaming through a window or lighting your lovers face can conjure feelings of quiet tenderness, and Juuku’s latest single does start with a bit of sensitivity. In the end, though, it harnesses more of a “the full moon makes people go all out” kind of vibe.
“This song to me represents capturing a beautiful moment of energy at night — one of the very first moments I was introduced to electronic music live,” the mysterious Juuku, who’s shrouded in shadow in most of his PR photos, says. “The energy, the people around me, and the type of world that I was brought into, and how magical it felt during that very first time.”
Its vibrant and colorful synths sing ecstatic over a quicktime beat. “Moonlight” serves as the first single from Juuku’s forthcoming EP Lavender Dreams and Scarlett Nightmares, set to be released on Dim Mak.“This EP … represents the two sides of the spectrum that encompass the universe I’m building,” he says. “I have synesthesia, which in my case [means] I can see colors when I listen to music, especially when I create it. It’s either in the tone of purple (lavender), or in the tone of red (scarlet). These two colors represent the two different colors that my music encompasses, and this EP is the gateway to this universe I call my own.”
What color is “Moonlight?” Listen and decide for yourself. – K. Bein
Mau P, “Gimme That Bounce”
Tech house’s young prince Mau P today drops the followup to his 2022 monster hit “Drugs From Amsterdam.” Such followups are never easy, but with this new one the Dutch producer extends both his sound and credibility, with the production indeed bouncing along at a peaktime clip, until Mau P slows down the entire operations to nearly a full halt before once again pressing go. Out via Insomniac Records and made of the same DNA as “Drugs From Amsterdam” — one of our 50 best dance tracks of 2022 — “Gimme Dat Bounce” is dark but not heavy, tech-house-ey but not paint by numbers, and generally just stylish, solid and a sign of Mau P’s likely staying power.
“When working on “Gimme That Bounce” my goal was to catch people off guard and get them locked into an instant groove,” the producer says. “With it being the follow-up to ‘Drugs From Amsterdam,’ I wanted to dive deeper into that big sound but still bring something new to the table. When I stumbled upon an old recording of myself, where I was talking about ‘that bounce,’ every piece of the puzzle fell into place.” — K. Bain
There’s something fishy about Taylor Swift‘s new music video … but Swifties are already on the case. After noticing that koi fish were featured heavily throughout the pop star’s “Lavender Haze” visual, which dropped Friday (Jan. 27), fans were able to tie the random (or maybe, not so random) aquatic animal back to an iconic guitar she used during her 2011 Speak Now tour, a connection they interpreted as a clue that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is on its way.
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In the new video, Swift at one point reaches into a TV screen and discovers that it’s some sort of portal, revealing a space-like alternate dimension where spotted koi fish swim through the stars. The final shot of the video features the musician sitting on a cloud in that same alternate dimension, the koi fish swimming majestically around her.
As many eagle-eyed Swifties were able to point out almost immediately, these fish look the same as the ones printed on the neck of a fan-favorite blue acoustic guitar that Swift used during the Speak Now Tour. You may also recognize that exact guitar as the one Swift was filmed smashing on the floor in her October music video for “Anti-Hero,” Midnights‘ No. 1 lead single.
Fans’ natural conclusion, of course, was that Swift is majorly hinting that her next music release will be Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), aka a rerecorded, rereleased version of her 2010 album Speak Now. It would mark the 11-time Grammy winner’s third “Taylor’s Version” release of the six she has planned, following Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version).
This isn’t the first time Swift has appeared to tease Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) via Easter eggs in a Midnights music video, however. In her October visual for “Bejeweled,” the singer included a shot of different-colored elevator buttons, prompting fans to conclude that each button represented a different album in Swift’s catalog. In the video, she ends up pressing a button that’s purple — aka, the color heavily associated with the Speak Now album, largely thanks to the purple gown a young Swift sports on the cover art.
With that in mind, it’s also worth noting that the “Lavender Haze” music video is packed with violet-tinted visuals, from Swift bathing in purple water, to a bedroom filled with lilac-colored smoke. This makes sense, of course, for a song with “lavender” in the title, but some Swifties think that the purple overload has a double meaning.
“Lavender haze being the last Midnights single with a purple music video is perfect actually cause it’s simultaneously a silly little easter egg for speak now and also acts as a bridge from this era to speak now,” tweeted one such fan.
Other small “Lavender Haze” video details that might be Easter eggs in disguise include a couple No. 13s displayed on a weather map at the 1:42 mark. There’s also a stray vinyl casing shown at the beginning of the video labeled “Mastermind” (could that be the next single off Midnights?), with boyfriend Joe Alwyn’s astrological sign — Pisces — printed on the cover.
See which possible clues you can detect in Taylor Swift’s “Lavender Haze” music video by watching it below:
Not a match made in heaven. Pamela Anderson looked back on her brief marriage to Kid Rock in a new interview on Thursday (Jan. 26).
Appearing on The Howard Stern Show to promote her upcoming memoir, Love, Pamela, the Baywatch star compared her relationship with the rocker to her first marriage to Tommy Lee. “I don’t think I ever gave myself a chance to have another relationship after that that was of any value,” she said of her high-profile romance with Mötley Crüe drummer. “You know, it was more like trying to put a family unit back together, but I wasn’t really in love — I just was going through the motions and then realizing, ‘I have nothing in common with this person.’
“I was putting people in my life to kind of numb some of the pain or be with someone. — companionship, but nothing … nothing healthy,” she continued before host Howard Stern asked point blank when she knew her marriage to Rock — which lasted for four months in 2006 — was a “tremendous f–king mistake.”
“Right when I got married,” Anderson replied with a laugh. “Well, just after. Obviously not in time. That’s terrible, I know it’s embarrassing, it’s just a flaw, I don’t know. Like, I just jump into something because, you know, Tommy and I did and we had this, you know, incredible connection. But then you jump into something and it’s like, ‘Oh it’s not this incredible connection, it’s this, just … something else.’ Then I slowly try and find my way out.”
Following her divorce from Rock, the actress married poker player Rick Salomon (twice!), film producer John Peters and, most recently, her bodyguard Dan Hayhurst.
Anderson’s memoir is set to hit shelves on Tuesday (Jan. 31). Watch her full chat with Stern below.
Zach Bryan spends a 32nd week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Songwriters chart (dated Jan. 28), surpassing Ashley Gorley for the most weeks spent on top since the chart launched in June 2019.
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Bryan, who has ruled for 24 consecutive weeks, breaks the record on the strength of four writing credits on the Hot Country Songs chart, led by his breakthrough single “Something in the Orange.” The track logs a fourth week at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs, after reaching the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Jan. 21 (it stands at No. 13 on the latest chart).
The other tracks contributing to Bryan’s Country Songwriters reign are “Burn, Burn, Burn” (No. 29), “Sun to Me” (No. 32) and “The Good I’ll Do” (No. 42). Bryan has sole songwriting credit on all four of his charting hits, helping boost his chart points on Country Songwriters.
Here’s an updated look at the artists with the most weeks spent at No. 1 on Country Songwriters.
Most Weeks at No. 1 on Country Songwriters:
32, Zach Bryan
31, Ashley Gorley
18, Blanco Brown
15, Luke Combs
14, Morgan Wallen
13, Taylor Swift
10, Josh Thompson
9, HARDY
8, Josh Jenkins
7, Josh Osborne
5, Laura Veltz
Bryan concurrently spends a 21st week at No. 1 on Rock & Alternative Songwriters, tying Twenty One Pilots’ Tyler Joseph for the second-most weeks spent on top (after Glass Animals frontman Dave Bayley’s 50), and a 19th week at No. 1 on Rock Songwriters, extending his record for the most weeks at the summit.
On Billboard’s Country Producers chart, Joey Moi continues his record run, as he logs a 92nd week at No. 1. He leads on the strength of seven production credits on Hot Country Songs, via Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof” (No. 3), “Thought You Should Know” (No. 6), “Wasted on You” (No. 8), “One Thing at a Time” (No. 19), “Tennessee Fan” (No. 23) and “Days That End in Why” (No. 40); and HARDY’s “Wait in the Truck,” featuring Lainey Wilson (No. 9).
The weekly Country Songwriters and Country Producers charts are based on total points accrued by a songwriter and producer, respectively, for each attributed song that appears on the Hot Country Songs chart. As with Billboard’s yearly recaps, multiple writers or producers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings).
The full Country Songwriters and Country Producers charts, in addition to the full genre rankings, can be found on Billboard.com.
Though Beyoncé’s Renaissance was unanimously acclaimed and commercially successful, if it wins album of the year at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5 — as many observers (including me) expect — it will be at least in part because her previous studio album, Lemonade, was passed over in that category.
If you watched the 59th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 12, 2017, you doubtless remember the moment when Adele’s 25 prevailed over Lemonade. In her acceptance speech, a highly emotional Adele all but handed the Grammy to Beyoncé, who was standing in the front row with her husband, Jay-Z, as the audience rose to its feet to celebrate Adele’s win. Adele’s speech stands as one of the most selfless and gracious in awards show history.
After some introductory thanks, Adele addressed the issue of competing with a friend and an artist she greatly admires. “I can’t possibly accept this award and I’m very humbled and I’m very grateful and gracious, but my artist of my life is Beyoncé and this album to me – the Lemonade album – was so monumental.”
Addressing the singer directly, she continued: “Beyoncé, it was just so monumental and so well thought-out and so beautiful and soul-baring and we all got to see another side to you that you don’t always let us see, and we appreciate that. And all us artists here, we f–king adore you. You are our light. And the way that you make me and my friends feel – the way you make my Black friends feel – is empowering. And you make them stand up for themselves and I love you. I always have and I always will.”
While no one questions Adele’s talent, some wondered if it was fair that Adele won a second award in that category before Beyoncé won it even once. (I Am…Sasha Fierce had lost to Taylor Swift’s Fearless; Beyoncé had lost to Beck’s Morning Phase.)
Of course, it isn’t Adele’s “fault” that she won. Still, an impression remains that Beyoncé was wronged – and that Grammy voters have a chance to make it right this year.
Renaissance wouldn’t be the first album to win album of the year at least in part as a “make-up” award for a previous album or albums that had not been so awarded. Take a look at this list, shown in reverse chronological order. (All years shown are the Grammy year of record.)
