Music
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Former world boxing champion Julio César Chávez will open his home to millions of viewers in a reality show titled Los Chávez. The series, which premieres on Sept. 11 on Disney+, will follow Chávez, his wife and children, showing a more human side of one of Mexico’s greatest sports figures.
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The opening theme song for each of the 10 episodes, “El César del Box,” is performed by Banda MS de Sergio Lizárraga and was released Wednesday (Aug. 28) across digital platforms.
“We have a very good relationship with the champion and the people in his office,” Lizárraga, the group’s leader and producer of the song, told Billboard Español. “When the project was put together, he didn’t hesitate to call us and ask us for the song, which for us is a great honor.”
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“When he heard the song was already finished, he loved it. Very nice things came from there,” he added. “We sang it to him live and he was moved to tears.”
Released under Lizárraga’s label, Lizos Music, and charged with their usual Sinaloan banda sound, “El César del Box” tells in broad strokes the life of the pugilist, in first person. “Mis hijos los traigo en la mente/ Bajo el ring los golpes son más fuertes/ Toquéqué el cielo, ya conocí el suelo/ Y aún sigo en el top/ Yo soy Julio Chávez/ Más bien/ Soy el César del boxeo,” goes part of the lyrics. That translates to, “I have my children in my mind/ Under the ring the blows are stronger/ I touched the sky, I already knew the ground/ And I am still on top/ I am Julio Chávez/ Rather, I am the Caesar of boxing.
Chávez’s life has been full of emotional moments, with highs and lows that include drug problems. For this reason, said Lizárraga, writing about his life was a challenge for composer Omar Robles, who is responsible for Banda MS hits such as the romantic “El Color de Tus Ojos.”
“They gave us the freedom to talk about his life. The only request was that we focus on the positive things and the achievements of the champion,” said Lizárraga.
For the music video, Banda MS invited Chávez to Mazatlán, where the star was “always in good spirits and willing to work for the 16 hours” of filming. The clip shows the fighter, accompanied by Banda MS, simulating his triumphant entrance into the ring.
At 62 years old, JC Chávez, as he is also known, can boast of having made history in the super featherweight, lightweight and super lightweight divisions, becoming the pride of an entire country.
“Personally I consider myself a fan of boxing and of course of Julio César Chávez’s career,” said Lizárraga, noting that the sport has given Mexicans many joys, including recently at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where Mazatlán’s Marco Verde won a silver medal.
He also recalled with emotion Chávez’s historic fight against American Meldrick Taylor on March 17, 1990: “It was defined in the last round by a knockout when it was felt that it was already lost. And then came that blow that made our champion greater.”
Watch the video of “El César del Box” below, which premieres Aug. 28 at 8 p.m. ET:
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There are just two more days for current voting and professional members of the Recording Academy to enter recordings for the 67th annual Grammy Awards. The submission window closes Friday (Aug. 30) at 6 p.m. PT.
The entry process has changed in recent years. There used to be no limit to the number of entries members could make. Some members took advantage of that liberal policy and submitted a large number of entries, causing the entry list to bloat. The Academy now allows each voting or professional member just five “courtesy entries” before charges apply.
Furthermore, in an effort to get procrastinators to make their entries in timely fashion, those entry fees escalate the closer we get to the eligibility cut-off. The charge for members was $40 per entry from July 17-July 31 (what the Academy calls “early bird pricing”) and $75 per entry from Aug. 1-Aug. 22 (standard pricing). In this final week, it is $125 per entry (final deadline pricing). (In all cases, these are the charges for entries beyond the five courtesy entries.)
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In its rules, the Academy notes: “There will be no refunds for any entries once submitted to the Recording Academy, including those entries found to be ineligible.”
Media companies may also enter entries, but they don’t get five courtesy entries. And their charges were higher for the first two submission submission periods – $65 through July 31 and $95 through Aug. 22. The final deadline pricing charge for media companies is the same as for members – $125 through Aug. 30.
The Recording Academy defines a media company as “a legitimate business entity whose core business function is to create, aggregate and promote audio and/or video content for multiple artists for commercial purposes, and must have product in national U.S. commercial distribution on our approved streaming platforms within the current eligibility period. It cannot just be an imprint in name only for the artist.” Media companies pay an annual $180 registration fee.
It is the submitter’s responsibility to provide streaming links or physical product in some cases. “Without streaming links or commercially released product (if applicable), your entries cannot be screened or verified, which can result in disqualification,” the Academy notes.
Physical product must be submitted for consideration in five craft categories – best recording package, best boxed or limited edition package, best immersive audio album, best album notes and best historical album. Rules note “If you made entries in craft categories that require physical product, you will receive a separate email detailing the product required and further shipping instructions. Include a copy of the packing list with shipped product. Send in as soon as possible but no later than Sept. 6.”
No physical product is necessary in six other craft categories – best engineered album, non-classical; best engineered album, classical; best immersive audio album; best instrumental composition; best arrangement, instrumental or acapella; and best arrangement, instruments and vocals.
The Academy notes “Prior to the first round of voting [which opens on Oct. 4], we will be sending each submitter an email showing final category placement of their entries.”
The eligibility period for the 67th Grammy Awards is Sept. 16, 2023 – Aug. 30, 2024. First-round voting runs from Oct. 4 through Oct. 15. Nominees will be announced on Nov. 8. Final-round voting runs from Dec. 12 through Jan. 3, 2025. The Grammys will be presented on Feb. 2, 2025 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Ariana Grande is continuing her 10-year celebration of her sophomore project, My Everything.
The superstar took to Instagram to announce that she released a limited 7″ vinyl bundle featuring “Problem,” “Break Free,” “Love Me Harder” and “One Last Time,” in addition to a digital bundle with a capella and instrumental versions of those same singles as well as “Bang Bang” on Tuesday.
“i love you all so, very much and i am deeply, eternally grateful,” she wrote in her Instagram post, which features photos from the 2014 era of the project.
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As always, her longtime collaborator The Weeknd, who teamed up with Grande on “Love Me Harder,” shared love for his pal on his Instagram Stories. “10 years,” he wrote alongside a white heart, while re-sharing Grande’s Instagram post.
Last week, Grande announced new vinyl and digital deluxe editions of the Billboard 200 chart-topping project, which also dominated the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 with hits such as “Break Free,” “Love Me Harder” with The Weeknd and “Problem” featuring Iggy Azalea. The pink-tinted vinyl, which is available on Grande’s website, features the original set’s track list plus songs that were previously never made available in the format: “Bang Bang,” “Only 1,” “You Don’t Know Me,” “Cadillac Song” and “Too Close.”
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Eleven years ago, Grande’s debut project, Yours Truly, also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, but she told Billboard in 2014 that she allowed herself to celebrate for only about an hour before immediately getting back to work on the project that would become My Everything. “I’m a workaholic, and a perfectionist,” she said at the time. “I never thought I’d be able to say this, but I love this [album] five times as much as I love Yours Truly. They’re different, but I love this one so much more.”
Eight years after the deadly mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in June 2016, local police closed their investigation into the venue’s former owners, with no charges being filed. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In an emailed statement to The Associated Press, the Orlando Police Department stated […]
J. Prince isn’t happy with YSL Woody and the prosecutors handling the ongoing YSL RICO trial. Earlier this week, the prosecution once again called Woody to the stand to ask him about statements he’s made to police. In one instance captured on video and shared on social media, a prosecutor asked about Woody allegedly mentioning […]
Flavor Flav was known for giving nicknames to his Flavor of Love contestants, and now he has a new moniker of his own. The Public Enemy star sat down as a guest on the most recent episode of Politickin’, hosted by Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch, and Doug Hendrickson. When asked if he has a collab […]
Former gang leader Duane “Keefe D” Davis had his bond once again denied on Tuesday (Aug. 27), and he will remain behind bars as he faces a first-degree murder charge for his role in the September 1996 shooting death of Tupac Shakur.
Per the Associated Press, Clark District Court Judge Carli Kierny made her decision known on Tuesday, and was uncertain of the origins of Davis’ potential $750,000 bail funds. According to the AP, Kierny said she was skeptical after receiving two letters that were identical claiming that it was music executive Cash “Wack 100” Jones who wired him the payment.
“I have a sense that things are trying to be covered up,” the judge stated after revealing the signature on one letter was from a person not connected to the business, and the second had a typo in the name as well as a return address to a doctor’s office.
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Prosecutor Binu Palal believes the defense may have committed a crime if they indeed submitted false paperwork. “The state takes that very seriously,” he said, according to the AP. “Be advised that it will not go uninvestigated.”
Wack 100 previously testified in June about his motives for wanting to help bail out Davis. According to the AP, Wack said that David has “always been a monumental person in our community … Especially the urban community.” He also cited Davis reportedly battling cancer.
Wack also discussed bailing out Keefe D during an interview with VladTV earlier this year. “It’s only $750,000,” he told Vlad at the time. “I’ve been thinking about going to get him with the stipulations that I’ll do the series on it.”
However, Jones also admitted in a June court hearing that he sometimes says things for entertainment purposes and to drive up engagement. Keefe D was preparing to post bond back in June, but when he went to enter his $750,000 bail, the courts blocked the process due to concerns about the legitimacy of the funds.
In addition to denying Keefe D’s bid to be released on house arrest, Kierny also pushed Davis’ trial back from Nov. 4 to March 17 on Tuesday.
Davis was arrested in September 2023 and charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon in connection to the September 1996 Las Vegas shooting of Tupac Shakur. The legendary rapper ultimately succumbed to his injuries six days later on Sept. 13, 1996.
Drake left a Kendrick Lamar breadcrumb within his “100 Gigs” project.
In a two-minute video filed under MVI_7806.MP4 in the 2.0 NWTS_1 folder, he, OVO 40 and OVO Hush are listening to a beat produced by 40 and Omen meant for Drake and an unnamed guest feature. As 40 talks about how the beats builds, Drake nods in agreement and says, “For him, where he’s at, I know he’s gonna murder this.” 40 then replied, “When he told me Kendrick, it just made so much sense. Oh, the brilliance! So good.”
The Toronto rapper ended up not using the beat and the collab never happened. However, the beat did find a home, ending up in the hands of Queens rapper Action Bronson for his song “Actin Crazy” from his 2015 album Mr. Wonderful.
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Drake recorded his third solo album, Nothing Was the Same, between 2012 and 2013, and released it on Sept. 24, 2013. This is relevant information because Kendrick’s “Control” verse in which he called multiple rappers out by name, including Drake, dropped in August 2013.
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Drake talked about said verse twice: once in a Billboard cover story (August 2013) and again during 2013 a sitdown with Elliott Wilson. “I didn’t really have anything to say about it. It just sounded like an ambitious thought to me,” he told Billboard at the time. “That’s all it was. I know good and well that [Lamar]‘s not murdering me, at all, in any platform. So when that day presents itself, I guess we can revisit the topic.” Then about a month later in September, he downplayed Lamar’s verse again, telling Wilson, “That [‘Control’] verse was a moment to talk about. Are you listening to it now, though?”
Those quotes led to Dot responding during TDE’s BET Cypher that aired in October 2013, in which he rapped, “Yeah, and nothing been the same since they dropped ‘Control’/ And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes.”
While Kendrick has remained quiet since releasing the “Not Like Us” video, Drake may have hinted at another round with the Compton rapper in the Stories of his finsta Instagram account @plottttwistttttt.
new posts by Drake’s finsta account alluding to Round 2/Game 2 👀 a picture of ‘A Better Tomorrow’ 1987 movieand the iconic 2004 Pistons Rasheed Wallace interview “yall put it on the front page, back page, middle of the page… we will win Game 2″they went on to beat the… pic.twitter.com/36CfjQcIDA— SOUND (@itsavibe) August 26, 2024
Kocchi no Kento, the creator of “Hai Yorokonde,” which is going viral on the video platforms, recently sat down for an interview with Billboard Japan. Kocchi no Kento is a multimedia creator who began making music in 2022. He’s also the younger brother of popular Japanese actor Masaki Suda. In this interview, he talked about his roots and what’s behind the creation of his addictive music.
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To start off, could you tell us what led you to start making music?
When I was a freshman in university, I joined an a cappella club. We sang covers of existing songs, and I started writing my own songs in 2022 as an extension of that.
What was the first experience you had with music that opened your eyes to how fun and fascinating it can be?
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There were two things that got me into music. The first was that my dad loved music. He’d often play guitar and sing at home. In the car, too, there was always music playing, and it was often new to me. The other thing is that I played soccer when I was in elementary school. Our offense was amazing, but that meant that us on defense had nothing to do. Apparently, I would just run around dancing. My parents said “dance might be a better fit for him than soccer,” so I started taking dance lessons. That’s what led me to feeling music with my whole body and expressing it through movement.
As an artist and singer, where do you think your own individuality lies, and what do you see as your strengths?
One of my distinctive features is my natural singing voice, but also, in the a cappella group, I spent four straight years doing covers of Disney songs, so I developed the ability to sing with emotion but without becoming pitchy. I think those two are my main strengths.
Where did the name “Kocchi no Kento” come from?
After I graduated university, I worked as a businessman for a year. Putting on that suit and tie, I felt like I was biting off more than I could chew. I wasn’t really myself, so when I was in my suit, I was “that Kento” (in Japanese, “acchi no kento“). When I was singing, on the other hand, I was more my true, natural self. I was “this Kento” (in Japanese, “kocchi no kento“).
Your first single, “Tiny,” is a heartwarming song. It’s the kind of song you wish you could hear when things are tough. I feel that same mindset in all of your songs. I get the sense that that’s what you want to convey and express through your music.
Right. Every time I put out a new song as Kocchi no Kento, I think about the fact that there are people out there who might draw strength from it.
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Have you had any feedback from listeners that really stand out in your mind?
When I released my second single, “Shinuna!” (Japanese for “don’t die”) I was getting dozens of comments a day. Some were saying that they decided to hang in there, while others were explaining why they wanted to die. This flood of comments settled my own turbulent mind, and I was just happy to be able to help people in what little way I could.
“Shinuna!” generated a lot of buzz on video platforms. Is there anything you try to keep in mind or do with respect to how you release your music?
After “Shinuna!” I’d make dances for TikTok to get my music exposed to lots of people. But even more than that, I think it’s important that I make music that I could listen to and enjoy, myself, without ever getting tired of it. Lots of people danced to “Hai Yorokonde,” but what I think is great about that song is that, even now, I like it so much that I can listen to it anytime. If I get tired of a song when I’m making choreography for it with someone, or singing it a cappella, or singing an English version of it, then I can’t put my heart and soul into it. The listeners can hear that. They’d be like “He’s just going through the motions” or “He’s just clinging on to that song.” I think the most important thing is that I really love the music I create, with all my heart.
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On the August 14 dated Billboard JAPAN Hot 100 chart, “Hai Yorokonde” reached a new peak of No.5. When did you first start feeling that this song was getting some traction?
There were a lot of people listening to it on the day it came out. I hadn’t released a song in about six months, so I guess there were a lot of people looking forward to a new song. Then, when I released the dance video on TikTok, even though I hadn’t done a collaboration with anyone, it got a lot of views, so I started realizing “wait a minute, we might have something here.” I got Kazuya Kanehisa to do the music video. He turned it in about a month earlier than expected, and in his email, he wrote “I just couldn’t put my pen down” and “The song is wonderful, so it was smooth and effortless to translate what I was feeling into visuals.” When I looked at what he’d created, I knew it would directly connect with people.
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What kind of song had you set out to create at the start?
Initially, the theme I had in mind was a little different. I suffer from depression but I decided against killing myself. I decided to live. Someone told me “Don’t die,” so I was like “Okay, I won’t,” and I lived. And everyone got used to me being alive, and one day I realized they’d started demanding things of me. Like “You’re alive, and you’ve got time, so how about getting a part-time job?” And I was like, “No, no, no, my goal was to live, and by choosing to live, I’ve already accomplished my goal.” The song was like “You said don’t die, so I didn’t die, but don’t go trying to make more demands.” My goal was, ultimately, to arrive at the conclusion that “Choosing to live is an option in itself. All you need to do is live.” But it gradually became more of an SOS song—more a song about calling out for help.
Like you were doing all you could just by staying alive.
Right, that’s how it turned out.
You released an English version at the end of July. What led to that?
The “giri giri dance” (in English, “at my wit’s end dance”) of the chorus was originally “get it get it done.” But the music video art style was very Japanese, so having a chorus in English didn’t seem right, which is why I changed the way the lyrics were transcribed to “giri giri dance.” Phonetically, they sound the same, but I thought it would be interesting if there were separate Japanese and English versions, and I’d wanted to write an English version from back when I was still in the production stage. Luckily, I got a lot of comments from overseas listeners, so I consulted with my record label, and we decided to release an English version.
I’m sure your number of overseas listeners must be skyrocketing now. Did you think there would be this kind of response from overseas audiences?
No, I wasn’t expecting it. Sure, I hoped that I’d reach people overseas, but I thought that my music would have to take off here in Japan, first, and then after that it would spread overseas. Instead, it happened at almost the same time. I was just really, really lucky. It just goes to show how much we’re living in the age of social media.
Number_i’s “INZM” blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Aug. 28.
The lead single off the three-man group’s first full album called No.Ⅰ, due Sept. 23, was downloaded 54,560 times during the chart week to hit No. 1 for the metric, while also dominating radio airplay and video views. “INZM” is Number_i’s second No. 1 on the tally following “GOAT,” and the former No. 1 single climbed 78-58 after seeing increases in streaming and video. The group’s previous single “BON” also moved 53-40, with increases in downloads on top of streams and video views.
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Bowing at No. 2 is Nogizaka46’s “Cheat Day.” Released on Aug. 21, the group’s 36th single sold 651,536 copies in its first week to hit No. 1 for sales, while coming in at No. 11 for downloads and No. 17 for radio.
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TREASURE’s “KING KONG” is at No. 3, launching with 178,091 CDs (No. 2) and coming in at No. 3 for radio and No. 48 for streaming.
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After holding at No. 2 for five weeks, Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” slips two notches to No. 4 this week. The track is slowing down slightly overall, with downloads at 77% week-over-week, streaming 98%, radio 81%, video 96%, and karaoke 95%. The pop-rock band’s “familie” also falls 3-5, but increased in streaming (118%) and video (137%), and these two songs are dominating the top two spots on the streaming list this week.
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Kenshi Yonezu’s “Garakuta – JUNK” debuts at No. 10. The hitmaker’s latest single is the theme song for the movie LAST MILE and is included in his new album LOST CORNER, which topped this week’s Japan Hot Albums chart. With 11,286 downloads in its first week, the track hits No. 2 for the metric and also comes in at No. 6 for radio, No. 18 for video, and No. 26 for streaming.
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The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Aug. 19 to 25, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.