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The last time Morgan Wallen and Post Malone joined forces on record, it was for “I Had Some Help” — which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, spent six weeks atop the chart, and was ultimately named Billboard‘s Song of the Summer for 2024. So when news came that the two were reuniting for a new single, expectations were understandably high.
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That new single, “I Ain’t Comin’ Back,” dropped two Fridays ago (Apr. 18) — just before Easter weekend, which made for good timing with the song’s “There’s a lot of reasons I ain’t Jesus, but the main one is that I ain’t comin’ back” hook. This week, the song debuts at No. 8 on the Hot 100: a strong entrance, but somewhat below the bar set by duo’s previous collaboration.
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How should Morgan Wallen and Post Malone feel about their new song’s initial performance? And will it still grow into a “Help”-sized smash? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.
1. Morgan Wallen and Post Malone’s “I Ain’t Comin’ Back” debuts at No. 8 on the Hot 100 this week. Is that spot lower, higher, or about where you would have expected it to debut?
Katie Atkinson: I think that’s exactly where I would have expected. While their last team-up “I Had Some Help” debuted atop the chart, it also had a megawatt live debut at 2024 Stagecoach setting it up for success and was a lot more upbeat. This new one is still catchy but has a sleepier tempo. I think a top 10 debut for a midtempo country jam chock-full of Christian imagery is pretty impressive – especially given it’s the fifth song preceding Wallen’s next album.
Kyle Denis: Maybe a little bit lower. “I Had Some Help” was such a massive No. 1 debut that I expected at least a top five entry for the new duet. Nonetheless, “Comin’ Back” isn’t as immediately catchy as “Help,” it doesn’t have the glow of being the lead single from Post Malone’s big country pivot and Morgan already has so many other songs circulating – including one directly above “Comin’” (“I’m the Problem,” No. 7).
Jason Lipshutz: About where I expected. “I Had Some Help” is the obvious analog, and while last year’s smash debuted at No. 1, that song possessed the glow of being Morgan Wallen and Post Malone’s first collaboration, and arrived as Wallen’s first single following his 2023 album One Thing at a Time. “I Ain’t Coming Back” has been preceded by a steady stream of music from both Wallen and Post, which likely blunted some of the immediate excitement around its release — but still, these are two brand-name chart titans, so a top 10 debut seemed all but guaranteed.
Jessica Nicholson: It debuts around where I thought it would. “I Had Some Help” was aided by the buzz of curiosity surrounding not only Post Malone releasing a straight-ahead country album, but also regarding just what a collab between a genre-fluid artist like Post Malone and one of country music’s top-echelon artists would sound like. This time around, fans are more familiar with a Posty-Wallen collab. On the Hot 100, the song is also battling against releases from Kendrick Lamar with SZA, Alex Warren’s hit “Ordinary” and even Wallen’s own title track to his upcoming album.
Andrew Unterberger: Definitely lower. It’s not surprising that it didn’t quite match “I Had Some Help,” but only because that song was an absolute monster right out of the gate, zooming past one of the most packed periods of pop music in recent memory and reigning for six weeks. But this song couldn’t even lap Morgan Wallen’s own “I’m the Problem,” which is hardly the most explosive Wallen hit in recent memory. With that history and the two artists’ combined star power — not to mention its slick sound, big chorus and the built-in Easter tie-in — it’s a slightly underwhelming bow for the duo, for sure.
2. “I Had Some Help,” the previous teamup of Wallen and Post, ended up spending six weeks at No. 1 and topping Billboard’s Songs of the Summer chart. Do you think this song has a chance of growing into a hit near that size, or will it be diminishing returns on the sequel?
Katie Atkinson: Diminishing returns, only because this one just doesn’t have the Song of the Summer potential of “Help.” This is a reliably great Morgan Wallen song, but it’s not the backyard-BBQ-soundtracking party-starter of last summer’s smash-hit duet. If I’m going to listen to some melancholy Morgan, right now I’ve got “Just in Case” on repeat instead.
Kyle Denis: I’m inclined to say the sequel won’t be as big as “Help,” for all the reasons I listed in my previous answer. It really helped that “Help” got so much room to be the primary song for consumers to focus on from both artists. With six songs already circulating from a 37-track album that’s due in a few weeks, there might just be a little bit too much Wallen in the air.
Jason Lipshutz: I think everybody involved would be totally fine with slightly diminished returns for one of the biggest hits of last year. “I Had Some Help” caught lightning in a bottle, as an immediate and immensely enjoyable sing-along that crystallized Posty’s newfound foray into country music. “I Ain’t Comin’ Back” follows a similar formula but with a slightly less catchy hook, and it’s been delivered a few months after we’ve received a full Post Malone country album and at a time where we’ve gotten a new Wallen single every few weeks. The circumstances of “I Ain’t Comin’ Back” will blunt its commercial impact to some degree, but as a sequel to a singular hit, it’s pretty clearly a success already.
Jessica Nicholson: “I Had Some Help” had an instantly catchy groove, and the kind of post-breakup, pushback defiance fans love to hear in a breakup song. “I Ain’t Comin’ Back” shares much of that defiance, but in a slightly quieter, less-summertime-vibe way. It will be difficult to surpass the chart domination of “I Had Some Help,” especially given that “I Ain’t Comin’ Back” didn’t debut at No. 1 as its predecessor did, but fans have proven they are clamoring for any new music from Wallen, and that they loved Post’s country foray. Plus, with both Post Malone and Morgan Wallen being on the road this summer, that will keep the fans hearing this song through the summer months (assuming it makes it into their respective setlists), so it is possible that the song could gain greater strength.
Andrew Unterberger: I wouldn’t be surprised if it grows a little from here — radio’s gonna sink its teeth all the way into this thing, and the warm-weather months will undoubtedly be kind to it — but it seems pretty unlikely that it’ll grow into “I Had Some More Help.” (Particularly with all the competition it has from other recent Wallen releases, an already-crowded field which is about to quintuple in size with the release of the full I’m the Problem.) And that’s fine. Most sequels don’t quite live up their originals.
3. Wallen has released a steady stream of new songs in the run-up to his upcoming I’m the Problem album. Do you think this strategy is proving effective for promoting the new set, or is the volume getting to be too much?
Katie Atkinson: Considering it’s his record-extending fifth top 10 on the Hot 100 preceding the new album, I’d say he’s on to something. Not to mention, there are 37 songs on the standard release of I’m the Problem, so it’s not like he’s giving the whole album away ahead of time. Releasing seven total advance tracks out of 37 is like putting out two or three singles from a 13-track album, percentage-wise.
Kyle Denis: Part of me feels like it’s getting to be too much – and I think that’s evidenced by “Comin’” debuting lower than all five I’m the Problem singles that preceded it, despite being the only one to feature another artist. He could do with letting the singles breathe for a bit, especially with so much more music coming in such a short span of time.
Jason Lipshutz: It depends on what the goal is, right? If Wallen is aiming for another long-lasting No. 1 smash along the lines of “Last Night” or “I Had Some Help,” then this deluge of new singles has not been as effective as releasing one focus track and placing the country superstar’s entire weight behind it. Yet if the mission is to make Wallen even more ubiquitous — constantly near the top of New Music Friday, always with multiple songs lingering around the top of the Hot 100, with plenty of headlines and new fodder for country radio — then this rollout has largely been a win for him. And considering that his new 37-song album arrives in a few weeks, this current moment might just be the tip of the iceberg.
Jessica Nicholson: Given today’s more-is-more streaming environment, it feels like an effective strategy. Morgan’s album will encompass 37 songs, so releasing seven of those songs (so far) amounts to approximately 19% of those songs being released ahead of time, so there will still be plenty of new music to dig into the moment the full album releases.
Andrew Unterberger: It’s a good short-term strategy that I do worry will have deleterious long-term effects. Undoubtedly this will all lead to a mighty first-week bow for I’m the Problem, and will confirm Wallen as the most dominant, ubiquitous country star of his generation — but it does feel like, after five years of near-continuous rising, the excitement with him as an artist and hitmaker is beginning to level off. But even in a worst-case scenario for him, it’ll be a while before it starts to really recede, and he’ll probably break a bunch more charts records in the meantime.
4. Post Malone has revealed that a second country album is in the works. Are you optimistic that the album will be able to repeat the success of F-1 Trillion, or would he have been better off leaving his country detour as a one-and-done?
Katie Atkinson: I’m very optimistic. I’m looking forward to what Posty can do standing on his own two feet, without 15 duets pairing him up with the biggest names in country on this one. If the F-1-ending solo highlight “Yours” — which finds Post sweetly singing about his daughter’s future husband — is any indication, he could have a seriously long future in this genre. Might be time for Posty to check out some real estate in Nashville.
Kyle Denis: I think Post has definitely been embraced by country listeners, and he’ll continue to strengthen that base with his just-launched Big Ass Stadium Tour. I think without novelty on his side, it will be a bit harder to repeat the success of F-1 Trillion, but it’s not entirely impossible. I think there’s a path for the album to be a success in its own right if he focuses on solo singles this time around.
Jason Lipshutz: F-1 Trillion was such a profound success that I’m not surprised that Posty is hitching a ride back to Nashville for its follow-up. Country sounded like a natural fit for an artist who broke through in the hip-hop world, and considering how often those sounds are intermingling on the charts these days, the transition hasn’t sounded as forced as it might have during a different musical era. I don’t think there’s any chance that Post Malone remains a country artist for the rest of his career, but right now, he’s in a good groove, and he should continue exploring.
Jessica Nicholson: It would be hard to repeat the success of F-1 Trillion, unless he makes the next project as collaboration-heavy as F-1 Trillion, as teaming with so many country stars, and getting that co-sign from them, brought in fans of all of those artists. However, critically, many of his solo songs on his extended “Long Bed” version of the album were as good as his collaborative efforts, so it would be a chance to prove his status as a solo country hitmaker. That said, if the goal is entrenching himself into the country genre as an artist who is in it for the long haul, then consistently releasing country projects is an obvious essential step in accomplishing that aim, regardless of whether a new album reaches the all-genre chart pinnacle.
Andrew Unterberger: My guess would be that Post’s F-2 Trillion-type album ends up analogous to mgk’s second pop-punk set Mainstream Sellout — a chart-topping hit that generally does fine, but doesn’t quite generate the hits or the excitement of its predecessor.
5. One Thing at a Time moved 501,000 units in its first week. What’s your (mildly educated) guess for what I’m the Problem will post as its first-week number?
Katie Atkinson: I’m thinking it will be another half a milli. Wallen’s popularity has stayed steady in the last two years, and as evidenced by the top 10 performance of all five pre-release songs, people are still craving new music from him. My educated guess will be 502k just so he can say he bumped it up a step.
Kyle Denis: I’ll say… north of 450k, but it doesn’t surpass 501k.
Jason Lipshutz: 550,000. It’s got 37 tracks, it’s coming out during a relatively sleepy moment for new releases, and did I mention it’s got 37 tracks? The early streaming numbers should help Wallen’s latest secure his biggest debut yet.
Jessica Nicholson: Though this 37-song album barely exceeds the length its predecessor, the 36-track One Thing at a Time, Wallen’s celebrity status seems to have only grown since his last album. This album also includes collabs with Eric Church and Tate McRae, which should further spur fan excitement. I would conservatively estimate the project would come in at around 510,000 in first-week consumption.
Andrew Unterberger: I’ll say 485,000. Not quite the first week of One Thing, but close enough that nobody really tries to read too much into the decrease.
Barbra Streisand fans woke up to wonderful news Wednesday morning (April 29): The diva of all divas is releasing a new studio album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, on her longtime label Columbia Records on June 27. To say the album is star-studded is an understatement. Her duet partners on the 10 tracks include Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande, James Taylor and Sting.
The album appears to be an instant front-runner to win the Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album. If it does score a W, it will be Streisand’s first Grammy win in 39 years, since she won best pop vocal performance, female for The Broadway Album in 1987. That would be an extraordinarily long gap between Grammys for an artist of Streisand’s stature, but she has endured it without complaint.
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Streisand has gone so long without a Grammy win that she has never won for best traditional pop vocal album. The category was introduced at the 1991 ceremony. She has been nominated in that category 13 times, second only to Tony Bennett, who was nominated 17 times.
Streisand won her first two Grammys in 1964, so a win early next year would give her a 62-year span of Grammys. That would set a new record for the longest span of Grammy wins (in any category). Bennett’s wins spanned 59 years, from 1963 to 2022, when he won best traditional pop vocal album for Love for Sale, his collab with Lady Gaga.
The roster of guest stars on the new album includes three past winners in the category: McCartney, who won in 2013 for Kisses on the Bottom; Taylor, who won in 2021 for American Standard and Laufey, who won in 2024 for Bewitched.
Three other guest stars on the album have been nominated in that category, though they haven’t won yet. Dylan and Josh Groban have each been nominated three times. Seal has been nominated once.
Before this long Grammy drought, Streisand was a frequent Grammy winner. In 1964, at age 22, she won album of the year for her debut album, The Barbra Streisand Album. She was the youngest winner in that category until 1996, when Alanis Morissette won at age 21 for Jagged Little Pill. The record is currently held by Billie Eilish, who was just 18 in 2020 when she won for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Streisand has received six album of the year nominations, which was the record for a female artist until Taylor Swift landed her seventh nod late last year.
Streisand won the Grammy Award for best female pop vocal performance three years running (1964-66), matching Ella Fitzgerald’s threepeat from 1959 to 1961. No one else has ever won three years in a row in that category or its gender-neutral successor category, best pop solo performance.
The new album includes “One Heart, One Voice,” a collab with Carey and Grande. The collab features three of the greatest singers of their respective generations: Streisand, 83; Carey, 56; and Grande, 31. In a way, it echoes a three-way collab on The Judy Garland Show in October 1963, when Streisand, then just 22, teamed with Judy Garland, then 41, and Ethel Merman, then 55, to sing Irving Berlin’s “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
Groban is the only guest on The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two who was also featured on Partners. The two stars team to sing “Where Do I Go From You?” on the new album. They sang “Somewhere” from West Side Story on Partners.
The new album includes a collab with country star Tim McGraw. Partners, likewise, included a collab with a country star — Blake Shelton. Streisand teamed with country great Vince Gill in 1999 to record “If You Ever Leave Me” for her album A Love Like Ours.
The new album’s Grammy pedigree is also shown by the opening track, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Roberta Flack’s original version won record of the year in 1973. The song, written in 1957 by Ewan MacColl, also won song of the year.
In titling this album The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, Columbia is glossing over Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, which was Streisand’s follow-up to Partners. Like its predecessor, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and received a Grammy nod for best traditional pop vocal album.
Will Streisand’s long Grammy draught end early next year? Place your bets.
Gucci Mane finally linked up with his doppelgänger, NBA referee James Williams.
The Atlanta rapper attended the playoff game between the Cleveland Cavs and the Miami Heat on Tuesday (April 29), and posted a picture on Instagram of himself and Williams having a courtside chat.
Back in 2021, NBA superstar Ja Morant reshared a photo of himself and Williams posted by the NBA’s Latin America X page, writing, “Me & Gucci,” and it went viral. And ever since, Williams said fans and players only refer to him as “Gucci or Guwop.”
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“I am Gucci Mane, at this point that’s who I am,” Williams told the Crown Refs podcast back in 2023. “I’m actually shocked when somebody on the floor calls me James. Nobody calls me James, everybody calls me Gucci or Guwop.”
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He continued by saying that he doesn’t take it seriously and actually finds the situation funny. “I’ve really just embraced it. I think that it humanizes us,” he said. “Referees who are just the cops out there, I’m not a big fan of ’cause that’s not how I referee. I like to go out there, I like to have fun; engage the fans, the players, the coaches. While we have a job to do, you should still have fun while you’re doing it.”
He added, “Once that thing went viral, just like my life has been completely altered forever. It’s a part of who I am at this point. Nobody calls me James, it’s really quite comical to be honest with you.”
@crownrefs In this classic clip from episode 304 of the Crown Refs Podcast, NBA Finals referee James “Gucci” Williams talks about his famous nickname and how he’s embraced it because it’s fun and humanizes officials. Be sure to check out the RefMasters app, available for iOS and Android. @RefMasters ♬ original sound – Crown Refs
He then told a funny story about a time when he was in Chicago catching a flight and a random youth basketball team wanted to take a picture with him. “The other day I was in O’Hare and there was a basketball team walking through,” he recalled. “I’m walking to my gate and they’re like, ‘That’s the Gucci Mane ref. Can we get a picture?’ I think it’s funny, I really do. I don’t take myself too seriously. We get to referee a kid’s game for a living.”
Williams has been in regular rotation during the NBA playoffs this year, so fans will be seeing more of Gucci Mane’s twin reffing games.
NFL star Sauce Gardner shuts down wide receivers on the field, but the New York Jets cornerback may have locked up Ice Spice off the field. The Bronx rapper posted a since-deleted selfie to her Instagram on Tuesday (April 29) featuring herself posing with Gardner in front of a mirror. Billboard has reached out to […]
In today’s mainstream Latin music landscape — a space often dominated by música urbana, tropical rhythms, and regional Mexican music — CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso have carved a lane entirely their own. Armed with flamboyant charisma, virtuosic musicality, and a penchant for genre-defying audacity, the Argentine duo represent a new wave of artistry that refuses to fit neatly into any box. At a time when the mainstream clamors for familiarity, they bring chaos and innovation to the table, pushing the boundaries of what Latin music can sound like.
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Their meteoric rise is nothing short of groundbreaking. Last week, the pair performed two back-to-back sold-out shows at New York’s Bowery Ballroom — as part of their wildly ambitious 60-date world tour, which includes stops in global festivals like Coachella (U.S.), Fuji Rock (Japan), Glastonbury (England), Roskilde (Denmark), and Lollapalooza (Berlin, Paris). Just weeks earlier, the duo made their debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a rare feat for Argentine artists, and a testament to their growing influence on the global stage.
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But for them, fame doesn’t come without complication — a sentiment captured in their latest EP Papota and its opening track, “Impostor.” The song serves as a brutally humorous and raw meditation on their skyrocketing success, grappling with the absurd pressure of becoming icons seemingly overnight. The Tiny Desk concert that launched them to international acclaim six months ago — now one of the most-viewed performances on the channel by a Spanish-language artist, with 33.5 million views — serves both as a badge of honor and a symbol of what they jokingly call “síndrome de impostor” (imposter syndrome) on the aforementioned song.
“Coming all the way from el culo del mundo (the ass of the world), we didn’t expect this,” CA7RIEL tells Billboard Español backstage at the Bowery, referencing their South American roots. “To suddenly appear here, with all these cameras and lights — it’s insane. We’re from way down there; we’re still adjusting to being up here.” Yet their poised combination of rock star energy and mayhem proves they’re more than ready.
CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso
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Their chemistry isn’t just professional — it’s personal. The duo met when they were just six years old, drawn together by matching surnames (Guerreiro and Guerriero) and the mistaken assumption by their teacher that they were brothers. That fateful connection would snowball into a lifelong friendship and artistic partnership that thrives on curiosity, trust and unabashed eccentricity.
Raised in Buenos Aires, their musical influences stem from both the streets and their homes. CA7RIEL grew up watching his father play guitar, and today he’s an impeccable guitarist who plays jazzy, progressive riffs on his Fender. “I wanted to be Michael Jackson. I wanted to be Queen — the whole band,” he admits. Paco Amoroso, meanwhile, was hooked on pirated compilations of the Argentine rock icons, like Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota, whose legacy courses through their veins. “For years it was the only thing I listened to, those 18 tracks,” Paco recalls. He adds, “Argentine rock is more like a way of life, I feel. You wanted to be like those guys, we didn’t want to go to work. We wanted to be drinking champagne. And when you’re a kid, you want that.” He also references the Dutch violinist André Rieu: “I wanted to play the violin, he is a total master.”
Their early inspirations laid the foundation for their ability to mix genres and embrace experimentation. “We go through different phases,” Paco explains, “vicios diferentes” (different vices). “At one point, it was all about rapping, then playing instruments, which was how we started. We even had a phase where we just gamed all the time and did nothing else. Then you keep evolving,” he adds. The duo’s knack for innovation — mixing intricate jazz chords, gospel-style vocals, live instrumentation and electronic rhythms, as they masterfully demonstrated that night at the Bowery — has made them boundary-pushers in their own right.
Though CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso rose to prominence as a duo, their journey has also been defined by daring forays into solo territory. After their breakthrough collaboration on tracks like 2019’s “Ouke” and “Mi Sombra,” both artists paused their partnership to venture into their individual projects. CA7RIEL’s solo debut featured two EPs before evolving into the eclectic El Disko, a 2022 Latin Grammy-nominated album that fused funky grooves, old-school hip-hop, glowing synths, and lo-fi minimalism. For his part, Paco Amoroso explored bold sonic textures in his brooding 2021 album Saeta, further pushing the boundaries of Argentinian trap and electronic music.
Despite their time apart, their connection remained intact, culminating in a magnetic reunion for 2024’s Baño María and their latest EP, Papota. The new era finds them reuniting as friends and collaborators, carrying with them the richness of their individual experiences and a renewed creative spark.
Their Tiny Desk performance — previously mentioned in connection to the introspection of “Impostor” — stands as a pivotal moment, showcasing their identity as sons of Buenos Aires and bringing their unorthodox artistry to the global stage. The performance became one of the series’ most successful videos, reaching numbers comparable to Latin icons like Natalia Lafourcade’s seven-year-old set, all while introducing viewers to the raw complexity of their sound.
CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso perform at Bowery Ballroom in New York on April 23, 2025.
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Their taboo-breaking flamboyance — including playful moments on stage, sometimes even kissing each other on screen as a symbol of their camaraderie — adds a theatrical flair to their shows that captivates. It’s this kind of unorthodox, boundary-defying presence that makes them not just stars but leaders of Latin music’s avant-garde.
No moment encapsulated this better than their closing number, where CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso invited audience interaction, holding out their microphones for fans to belt out the lyrics. “Interacción total,” CA7RIEL called it.
When asked what lies ahead, the duo keeps it grounded, “Seguir estando vivos” — just staying alive. Paco elaborates with a laugh: “For some people, that’s easy. For others, not so much.” It’s an ethos reflective of their unfiltered approach to music. With every new song, stage and daring experiment, they’re proving that their bold vision isn’t just about breaking boundaries — it’s about living fully through the music they create.
Name: Catriel and Ulises
Age: Both 31
Recommended Song: Paco recommends “El Día del Amigo” because “it speaks about friendship” and showcases the essence of their project. CA7RIEL, on the other hand, picks “Mi Sombra,” a track he describes as “something that stayed in the bottom of the drawer,” which makes it an unexpected favorite for him.
Biggest Accomplishment: Both agree on one simple yet deep accomplishment: “Being born and not yet dead,” they say with a wry chuckle.
What’s Next: “Lots of touring,” they reply in the midst of their 60-date tour, which includes stops in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia, as well as performances at international festivals like Coachella, Glastonbury, Lollapalooza and Fuji Rock.
Don Toliver and Doja Cat have joined forces for a new song titled “Lose My Mind,” which will appear on the F1 movie soundtrack. On Wednesday (April 30), Don Toliver dropped off the music video for “Lose My Mind” after teasing the song just 24 hours earlier. The song will appear on the soundtrack for […]
Turnstile is giving fans a two-for-one special Wednesday (April 30), with a music video debut that features new songs “Seein’ Stars” and “Birds,” both from the band’s upcoming album, Never Enough, out June 6. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The former track dreamily glides along […]
Megan Thee Stallion announced she’s building her own Popeyes store from scratch, and showcased an active construction site in a new video on social media. On Tuesday (April 29), Meg hopped on Instagram wearing a yellow hard hat to announce she was constructing her own Popeyes location. In a video on social media, she wandered […]
Sheryl Crow knows a great song when she hears it, or writes it. And lately she’s been hearing so many good ones from the younger generation of female singers and songwriters that she’s got serious FOMO.
“The caliber of writing is just so good with Chappell Roan, Olivia and Phoebe Bridgers, and these women are not just in the studio throwing in a lyric — they play,” she told Variety magazine. “If you want to take a course in great songwriting, go study at the college of Taylor Swift. There’s Brandi [Carlile] and Courtney Barnett. For a long time, there was a dearth of women who were playing and singing and rocking, and now I’m tickled.”
Some she got to see work their magic up close at the recent session at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to tape an all-star network special honoring Ringo Starr’s country album, Look Up. Crow said she was dumbstruck “being onstage with Molly Tuttle, Sarah Jarosz and Larkin Poe. I remember having a conversation with people on the Grammys board 15 years ago, saying, ’What are you guys going to do to get instruments into young women’s hands?’ Lo and behold, some of the greatest musicianship right now is young and female.”
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More than three decades into a career that was kicked into overdrive by her 1994 Tuesday Night Music Club hit “All I Wanna Do,” Crow is also sanguine about her place in the music business these days. “I feel happy. I feel at peace. There isn’t that ’Oh my God, I gotta write a hit song.’ Even if I wrote a hit song, it wouldn’t get played!” she said. “So now I just wanna write music that feels like I’m glad I wrote it.”
The mother of two teenage boys hasn’t toured much lately — she did open some dates for P!nk last year — and while she’ll hit the road for a limited run of shows with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan for their Outlaw Music Festival this summer, she would have “done every single one” if her kids wanted to join her on the road. “I’m too selfish to want to miss any time with them; I feel like my 18-year-old was just born, and he’s gonna be leaving for college in a year,” she said, promising that once both boys are out of the house she’ll “go back to work full time, because I have an acute connection to joy when I’m playing.”
And though she’s lived in Nashville for more than two decades, proud progressive Crow said she’s well aware that her habit of tweaking conservatives doesn’t always make her popular in the city that’s a blue dot in an otherwise deep red state that overwhelmingly went for Donald Trump in all three of the presidential elections he’s participated in.
So the singer who famously announced in February — long before the current spate of protests, sell-backs and arson attacks — that she was selling her Tesla and donating the proceeds to NPR is finding her own way to quiet the red noise around her. “Tennessee is a hard place for me. I mean, I struggle,” she said. “I call my representatives [in Congress] every single morning — Andy Ogles and Marsha Blackburn hear from me every day — because we have to stand up and be vocal and fight for the future for our kids.”
Asked what she imagines her reps think when they get a fresh voicemail from the Grammy-winner every single work day, Crow said, “I do think, ’Are they laughing?’ But it’s like what Jimmy Carter said: ‘As long as there’s legal bribery, we won’t ever have fair elections.’ So we have to keep raising our voices and showing up to these organized rallies.”
She also noted that unlike the flak she got back in 1996 when Walmart banned her self-titled album because of the lyric “Watch out sister/ Watch out brother/ Watch our children as they kill each other/ With a gun they bought at the Walmart discount stores” on the song “Love Is a Good Thing,” back then she didn’t live in Tennessee, “where everybody is armed.”
So, yes, “there was a moment where I actually really felt very afraid,” she said of a scary incident that occurred after she announced her Tesla sell-off. “A man got on my property, in my barn, who was armed. It doesn’t feel safe when you’re dealing with people who are so committed,” she revealed.
Given what she knows now, would Crow post that kind of video again? “I can’t help it,” she told the magazine. “I feel like I’m fighting for my kids. Also, that’s the way I was raised. There have been times when it hasn’t really been fun, but I follow my [To Kill a Mockingbird lead character] Atticus Finch dad [attorney Wendell Wyatt Crow]; I’m very similar to him if I see something that seems unfair, you know?”
Forrest Frank first hit Billboard’s charts in 2020 as half of the pop duo Surfaces, but he’s since emerged as a leading voice in Christian music. This week (on the chart dated May 3), he scores his first solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100 as “Your Way’s Better” debuts at No. 72.
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Released in October 2024 via River House Records/10K Projects, the song enters with 6.5 million official U.S. streams (up 34% week-over-week), 764,000 radio audience impressions (up 18%) and 4,000 downloads sold (up 49%) April 18-24, according to Luminate.
The track also spends a 26th week on the Hot Christian Songs chart, holding at its No. 2 high.
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As a member of Surfaces (alongside Colin Padalecki), he initially broke through with “Sunday Best,” which climbed to No. 19 on the Hot 100 in June 2020. The song also found success at radio, reaching No. 9 on Pop Airplay and No. 13 on Adult Pop Airplay.
Beginning in 2023, though, Frank had pivoted to solo endeavors. He first reached Billboard’s charts as a solo act that February, when “No Longer Bound,” with Hulvey, debuted at No. 20 on Hot Christian Songs — it peaked at No. 19 the following week.
Frank has since become a force in Christian music, logging 33 entries on Hot Christian Songs, including six top 10s: “Good Day” (No. 2 peak in 2024); “Up!,” with Connor Price (No. 8, 2024); “Never Get Used to This,” with Jvke (No. 6, 2024); “The Present” (No. 9, January); “Nothing Else,” with Thomas Rhett (No. 4, March); and “Your Way’s Better.” No other artist has charted more songs on the ranking since the beginning of 2023. He finished 2024 as Billboard’s No. 1 top new Christian artist.
Frank’s album Child of God has also spent 33 weeks and counting at No. 1 on the Top Christian Albums chart, making it the fifth longest-leading No. 1 album this century. The set’s follow-up, Child of God II, is slated for release May 9.
Frank has also logged four tracks on Christian Airplay: “Good Day” (No. 5 peak), “Never Get Used To This” (No. 18), “The Present” (No. 10) and “Your Way’s Better” (No. 30 to date).
The recent surge in attention for “Your Way’s Better” can be partly attributed to TikTok, where the song has soundtracked over 400,000 clips. It’s a tried-and-true method for Frank, as “Sunday Best” also utilized the platform to blow up in 2020.
What makes “Your Way’s Better” particularly notable is that it’s a Christian track — a genre has rarely made inroads on the Hot 100 historically. This week, however, two such songs are charting simultaneously: “Your Way’s Better” and Brandon Lake’s viral “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” which jumps to the top 40 (63-40) in its 10th week on the chart, reaching a new high. The latter also spends a 20th week at No. 1 on Hot Christian Songs.
Since 2020 — excluding religious-themed holiday tracks and the 38 entries by Kanye West from his albums Jesus Is King and Donda, and one by DJ Khaled, as both were long-established hip-hop acts — only three Christian songs have charted on both the Hot 100 and Hot Christian Songs charts:
Artist Billing, Title, Peak Year(s)
Lauren Daigle, “You Say,” 2018-2021
Brandon Lake, “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” 2025
Forrest Frank, “Your Way’s Better,” 2025
The rise of Christian music is no fluke, as the genre has been steadily growing in popularity. According to Luminate’s 2024 year-end report, Christian/gospel is one of the fastest growing genres among young audiences in the U.S., with the average listener is spending 19% more time with Christian/gospel music than in 2022.
