Music
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J. Cole’s packing on the nostalgia for fans before 2024’s out. The Dreamville boss followed The Come Up‘s DSP arrival with the release of his sacred The Warm Up mixtape to streaming services for the first time on Friday (Nov. 22). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]
Playboi Carti continues to drop music on social media instead of streaming services. On Friday (Nov. 22), the Atlanta rapper released “Play This” on his @opium_00pium Instagram account to follow up his recent ComplexCon performance in Las Vegas. The strategy is an interesting one, as he’s dropped a bunch of songs this year, but most […]
Kendrick Lamar still has a couple axes to grind. The Compton rapper surprised everyone by dropping his sixth studio album, GNX, and he addressed a bunch of things. A couple of the most notable topics he broached were that of Lil Wayne and his friends being upset that Lamar was chosen by Jay-Z and the […]
Back in 2007, Diplo and Switch were ready to launch the music they’d been working on together; they just needed to figure out what to call themselves. They each chose a bunch of words at random, wrote them on pieces of paper and threw them in a hat. They pulled two out, first was “major” and the second was “lazer.”
With that, one of the most influential dance music projects of the late 00s and 2010s was christened.
Billboard News recently spoke with Diplo and Switch for a rare joint interview, with the duo discussing the origins of Major Lazer and the 15-year anniversary of the group’s debut album, Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do.
The pair first met at Fabric London, realizing, Switch says, that “we both had a soft spot for Jamaican music at the time, and we were both doing our individual sounds, so it was a good excuse for us to come together and do stuff.”
Both producers had been working with M.I.A. on her albums Arular and Kala, with Diplo calling her “the catalyst for our music.” Shortly thereafter, the guys were making monthly trips to Jamaica to make music, falling into the local music community and having Jamaican artists including Vybz Cartel and TKTK record music that would ultimately end up on the Major Lazer debut.
They knew they were doing something right when they heard their track “Pon de Floor at a gas station in Kingston, realizing that their music was, Switch says, “penetrating this market that we felt was very special.” From Jamaica, they took the sound to the U.K., where the pair played one of their first big shows at London’s Notting Hill Carnival. Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do was released on June 16, 2009, hitting No. 169 on the Billboard 200 the next month.
The catalog of the group — which included Diplo, Walshy Fire and Jillionaire after Switch’s departure and now features Walshy Fire and Diplo alongside Ape Drums — has since aggregated 4.8 billion streams, according to Luminate.
“With our videos and everything we did, [Major Lazer] would be cancelled [nowadays] before we even started,” says Diplo. “Because people wouldn’t have given us a chance. They would have been like ‘We don’t really understand this and this isn’t correct.’ But back then, nobody really gave a shit. They were like, ‘I like the way this sounds.’ Today there’s too many tastemakers and rules.”
The group continued having breakthrough moments, with Beyoncé sampling “Pon de Floor on her 2011 smash “Run the World (Girls)” and Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s “Lean On” becoming what was, at the time, Spotify’s most streamed song of all time.
“We had really invented something with the Major Lazer language,” Diplo continues, “but by the second project we were able to make records that were actually hits. It was awesome to see our trajectory, something so chaotic and then to build something that made sense for people.”
Watch the full interview above to hear the pair talk about why Switch left the group, why Diplo thinks “Get Free” is Major Lazer’s best song and what it’s like working with Beyoncé in the studio.
Rosé and Bruno Mars brought the MAMA Awards over to their “APT.” on Thursday night (Nov. 21), performing their new collaboration live for the first time at the Los Angeles ceremony. The duo rocked matching oversized grey suits as they sang the high-energy track, backed by a band and supporting singers. The duo later accepted […]
11/22/2024
K. Dot surprised the rap world with his latest offering on Friday (Nov. 22).
11/22/2024
Few documents are more carefully studied than the annual Coachella lineup poster announcing the dozens of artists booked to play the Indio, California festival each April. So this year, it didn’t take eagle-eyed fans long to notice a rare typographical change to the typically standardized playbill: A band name printed in something other than the poster’s classic Eurostile LT font.
Instead, the name of that band — legendary punk rock outfit The Misfits — was printed in the timeless “fancy horror” font it’s become known for, with oversized M’s, F’s and T’s dominating the other letters.
It’s a subtle yet substantial change to one of the most recognizable lineup posters in music, made to honor Goldenvoice’s long ties to The Misfits — listed as “The Original Misfits” to underline that the version of the band that’s set to appear at Coachella will be composed of the classic lineup of original singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig, original bassist Jerry Only and longtime guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. The font change is a nod to The Misfits’ profound influence on live music, Goldenvoice officials say, as well as a celebration of the long history between the band and Goldenvoice, whose roots with the goth-punk outfit predate Coachella itself.
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“The Misfits are one of the first bands we promoted,” says Paul Tollett, president of Goldenvoice, which has been producing the annual music festival since 1999 and whose roots in L.A.’s punk rock scene go back to the early 1980s. Back then, Goldenvoice was a small concert promotion company run by Gary Tovar, a street-savvy supporter of LA’s growing punk movement who was known for promoting underground bands like Black Flag and T.S.O.L. that most venues wouldn’t touch.
In 1983, Tovar managed to secure The Misfits a Jan. 21. headlining gig with the Circle Jerks at a community center in Goleta, Calif. — a small beach town 100 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. The band’s energetic and blitzing performance, supporting their recently released record Earth A.D., was captured by multiple video cameras and a half-dozen 35mm toting photographers — with its most memorable line coming from a young Danzig at the end of “All Hell Breaks Loose” when he matter-of-factly declared, “We f—ed that one up.”
Bootleg recordings from the gig would solidify its cult status among fans, and Goldenvoice would promote at least one Misfits show by having the band open for Black Flag at the Santa Monica Civic Center on June 11, 1983. But by year’s end The Misfits had broken up, and eventually, Tovar’s run would come to an end as well: In 1991, he was arrested on federal drug trafficking charges and later sentenced to prison, handing the company off to Tollett and others to manage.
Fast forward four decades to early 2024, when the partners at Goldenvoice found themselves with the rare opportunity to work with The Misfits once more by staging a one-of-a-kind classic punk festival at the LA Fairplex with a supporting lineup that included Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Bad Religion and The Vandals. The festival, dubbed No Values, sold out more than 40,000 tickets immediately after going on sale.
The Misfits are scheduled to headline Coachella’s Outdoor Stage on both weekends (April 12 and April 19), marking their first appearance at the festival. Tickets are now on sale at coachella.com.
11/22/2024
Dot continues to shake up the game with this surprise album drop.
11/22/2024
Taylor Swift is perfectly fine with subtly teasing her ex-boyfriend, Joe Jonas. Swift dated Jonas between July and October of 2008, and the relationship infamously ended when he broke up with the “Anti-Hero” star through a very quick phone call — a move Swift publicly shaded during a 2008 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. A […]
At the beginning of 2023, Quevedo announced a stop in his career. Six months earlier, the Spanish artist had topped the Global 200 chart with “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52” alongside Bizarrap, making him and Bizarrap the first artists from Spain and Argentina, respectively, to reach No. 1 on the listing.
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By then, Bizarrap was already known for his provocative Music Sessions, but outside of Spain, Quevedo was relatively unknown — even though a few months earlier he had reached No. 145 on the same chart with “Cayo La Noche,” a collaboration with El Ima, Cruz Cafuné, Bejo, La Pantera, Juseph, and Abhir Hathi.
However, “Vol. 52” was his big ticket to a global audience that immediately connected with his deep voice and catchy mix of dance, pop and urban music. In a matter of months, Quevedo became a star — and in January 2023, he released his first album, Donde Quiero Estar, which debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard Latin Rhythm Albums chart.
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Although everything looked rosy, privately, Quevedo, who had just turned 21, felt tired and overwhelmed by the media, tours, pressure, and releases.
“From when I started to when we made ‘Cayo la Noche’ and the session with Bizarrap, I really didn’t have a chance to stop and decide: Do I like what I’m doing?” he says today. So he stopped.
For a year, he didn’t release music or give interviews. Until now.
On November 21, Quevedo returned with his second album, Buenas Noches, distributed through Rimas Entertainment, the home of his idol Bad Bunny. The 18-track set is a mix of pop and urban, with collaborations including Sech and De LaGhetto, but also surprises like Aitana and Pitbull, on a journey that ranges from totally fun to more introspective.
Not everything is as it seems. Much of the album’s aesthetic is based on red carpets and paparazzi, and the cover shows a smiling Quevedo with dark glasses talking to the cameras. But the photo is inspired by one of Michael Jordan, finally smiling when he decided to return to basketball after his father’s death. Now, after a year, Quevedo too is ready to return. Here is the story, which he tells to Billboard below.
Tell me about Buenas Noches.
It’s an eclectic album. Since I had not released music for a long time, what I most wanted was to flow in the studio and do things that I felt like doing. Make a fun album above all, not so introspective. There are songs that are more personal, but the majority are for people to have fun with. I made the album in very different stages. I released my first album in January 2023, but just before, when I had finished it in 2022, I started making this album. I made the first tracks in 2022. Then last year I did many camps, and this year I really got into the studio. But it has taken me over two years to make the album.
So, you really didn’t take a break from music?
For me, the break is not about not going to the studio. I love going to the studio. For me, it was about not being in the public eye. What I didn’t want was media pressure, keep traveling every week. It was about stopping and saying, okay, where do I want to take my career. I wanted was to disappear a bit from public view.
Why?
Everything was so pressed by the next thing that there was a moment when I said, “This was my dream, but it’s been a long time since I’ve considered if I’m happy with what I’m doing.” I started doing music because I love it. I don’t like being famous. It’s a consequence that I’m willing to assume if it means I can make music and live from it. But I don’t like being famous, I don’t like people getting into my life. What I love is that moment of creation.
I needed to stop and focus. Now I feel I have the strength to take everything up again, and I’m willing to deal with the things I don’t like so I can make my music.
Was there something that made you take the break and come back?
In 2022 I wrote “Ahora Qué,” a song that said: “2021 to sow, 2022 to reap, 2023 to crown, 2024 to disappear.” When I wrote that, I thought I’d take things a bit more slowly. But over time, in 2023, with the tour, the writing camps, there was a moment when I was making music only in camps, but not in my day-to-day. And at the same time, I moved to Madrid and was far from my family and my friends and my partner and there was a moment when I felt quite alone. There wasn’t a specific moment, but there was a moment of, “Damn, maybe I should take that song seriously.” At no point did I consider not coming back. What I specifically wanted was a moment to take for myself.
Can you describe the album?
It’s a very eclectic album, but there’s a sound with a lot of synths, drums, very 2008-2011 —Jason Derulo, Timbaland — strange mixes with new sounds and I think that’s the sound that repeats the most. The album is quite lively lyrically.
I hear many songs with many stories. The focus track, “Kassandra,” talks about a night with a celebrity who is always accompanied but ultimately is alone; “Iguales” is about a womanizing guy who sleeps with as many as he can, for example. Do all the songs have that element of storytelling?
Almost all. Ideas always flow more when I write [about] specific situations. There are many stories that I haven’t lived through 100%, but they’re inspired on things my friends tell me. That’s where my songs come from. I try to imagine situations.
You have a song with Pitbull, “Mr. Moondial.” How did it happen?
We always said, “Let’s do something very pop… very Pitbull.” We made the track, I recorded my bit, we called the song “Mr. Worldwide.” And we always said, we have to get Pitbull. But we didn’t know him. I don’t know him to this day, because he recorded two and a half weeks ago! But I’m sure we’ll meet him.
It’s an album with a beginning and an end and a context, at a time when many albums are simply collections of singles. What recent album inspires you?
In the current era, from the last eight years, I would say Motomami by Rosalía, for the way she created a new concept after El Mal Querer and all the imagery that album had. And then at a more urban reggaetón level, [Bad Bunny’s] YHLQMDLG is the album that changed the entire industry for me. Obviously, Latin music was already very popular, but that album confirmed Latin music ruled. It made people try to do things better. When I heard it, I said, “That’s it: From now on people are going to start making real albums.”
Watch the “Kassandra” video here.