Music

21 Oct 2022

Kimbra Sets New Album, Signs With Inertia Music & PIAS: Exclusive

Kimbra returns with fresh music and a new label deal.

The two-time Grammy-winning artist signs with Inertia Music and the independent music company’s parent PIAS on a global basis, Billboard can exclusively reveal.

The first release through the new arrangement is “Save Me,” which drops Friday (Oct. 21) and is an early cut from her forthcoming album A Reckoning.

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“The whole team at Inertia are ecstatic to be working with the unparalleled talent that is Kimbra,” comments Cameron Walsh, Inertia’s director of label services for Australia and New Zealand. “Her new confessionally raw body of work will blow fans away and launch Kimbra into a new dimension. We’re incredibly excited for everyone to discover this striking new chapter.”

“Save Me” is accompanied by a dramatic music video, shot in Iceland by director Yvan Fabing.

Born in Hamilton, New Zealand, Kimbra released her debut album, Vows, in Australia in 2011. Later, the set was reworked and released on both sides of the Atlantic with additional tracks, including “Come Into My Head,” “Warrior” (featuring Mark Foster and DJ A-Trak) and a rendition of Nina Simone’s “Plain Gold Ring.”

The indie-pop artist’s career took flight with her contribution to Gotye’s global hit “Somebody That I Used To Know.” The song logged 8 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and she became the first female artist born in the ’90s to top the chart.

Kimbra made it a perfect two-from-two at the 55th Grammy Awards, winning record of the year and best pop duo/group performance for “Somebody.”

She went on to win best female artist for two successive years the ARIA Music Awards and snagged five New Zealand Tui Awards, including album of the year in 2012.

Following the success of her collaboration with Gotye, Vows bowed at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Her sophomore record The Golden Echo dropped in 2014, peaking at No. 5 in Australia, and No. 43 in the U.S.; her third LP, Primal Heart, came in 2018.

A Reckoning began taking shape in 2018, during Kimbra’s tour with co-producer Ryan Lott (Son Lux), and is due early next year, reps say.

“It’s the most sonically autonomous and confessionally raw she has ever been, finding influence in everything from modern movie soundtracks to electronic and industrial worlds,” reads an update.

20 Oct 2022

Liz Truss Gets Hilariously Played Off U.K. TV to Taylor Swift‘s ’Blank Space’

So it’s gonna be forever… or it’s gonna go down in flames. Liz Truss may be out as U.K. prime minister, but one of the country’s major news channels sent her off with a montage set to a Taylor Swift smash.

While the outgoing politician lasted just 44 days in office before resigning, the cheeky tribute was particularly fitting considering she posted a selfie with the superstar back in 2019 while attending the BAFTAs.

A reporter for Channel 4 News opened the segment by saying, “Miss Truss said that her favorite song was ‘Blank Space’ by Taylor Swift. We’ll leave you with that and some images of her. Good night.”

From there, the montage reads as something of a Swiftie fancam as Tay’s voice sings, “Nice to meet you, where you been/ I could show you incredible things/ Magic, madness, heaven, sin/ Saw you there and I thought/ Oh my god, look at that face/ You look like my next mistake/ Love’s a game, wanna play?” over clips of the conservative politician’s short stint in office.

Naturally, the Twitterverse could hardly get enough of the video, with one fan writing, “IM IN TEARS THERES NO WAY CHANNEL 4 DID THIS HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAB #LizTruss.”

Meanwhile, Swift is just hours away from releasing her landmark 10th studio album Midnights at, obviously, midnight on Friday (Oct. 21). Funny enough, the rollout for the highly anticipated LP has actually lasted longer than Truss’ entire career as the U.K.’s shortest-serving prime minister.

Watch Truss’ brief reign as the top politician in Great Britain be memorialized to “Blank Space” below.

20 Oct 2022

A Quality Move: Luis Mexia Captures First No. 1 on a Billboard Chart With Grupo Firme Collab ‘Calidad’

Luis Mexia checks off a career milestone with his first No. 1 on a Billboard chart. The Mexican singer-songwriter leads the Regional Mexican Airplay chart (dated Oct. 22) thanks to his first collaboration with Grupo Firme: “Calidad” rises to No. 1 after two weeks in the runner-up slot.

“Calidad,” released via Music VIP on July 12, reigns in its ninth week on the ranking after it added 14% more in audience impressions, to 7 million, earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 16, according to Luminate.

It just took a bold move from Mexia to achieve the feat: a fan of Grupo Firme, Mexia used social media to announce his interest in recording a duet with the group’s lead singer Eduin Caz. He also plotted with his followers to support the idea. After the Tijuana-based group’s social media was bombarded with requests, Caz agreed, and a music video of the song followed.

The new champ earns Grupo Firme its sixth leader. The group has achieved a steady run of chart-toppers since its first No. 1 in June 2020 (through its featured role on Lenin Ramirez’s “Yo Ya No Vuelvo Contigo”).

Mexia, meanwhile, scores his first champ on any Billboard chart. Notably, only one other entry precedes “Calidad” in his chart career: “El De Los 20 ‘El Cachorra’,” with Enigma Norteño, which reached No. 33 on Regional Mexican Airplay in December 2021.

Beyond its Regional Mexican Airplay coronation, “Calidad” climbs 11-6 for a new peak on the all-genre Latin Airplay chart. It’s a fifth top 10 for Grupo Firme, while Mexia secures his first in his first try.

20 Oct 2022

Lil Nas X Freaks Out Over Will Ferrell Coming to His LA Show: See Their Photo

Lil Nas X had a very special guest at his concert in Los Angeles on Wednesday night: none other than A-list actor Will Ferrell.

Following the show, the rapper couldn’t help but rave about meeting the funnyman, posting a photo of the two backstage at LA’s Crypto.com Arena with the caption: “WILL FERRELL CAME TO MY F—IN CONCERT ! nobody can tell me sh–.”

However, Lil Nas X did end up finding himself in some hot water after making a joke in the replies to his tweet. One follower asked, “Where is Will’s hand?” and the superstar responded, “he couldn’t resist getting a good hand full of this big fat a–. and i couldn’t say no tbh.”

And just like that, Uproxx ran a story with a headline treating the “Industry Baby” artist’s quip as serious, leading him to post a screenshot of the story and write, “This why i can’t joke around on twitter no more lmaoo.”

When he’s not modeling for Coach’s new “Courage to Be Real” campaign, the prankster has found plenty of other outlets for his practical jokes as of late, including prank-calling famous friends like Lizzo, Olivia Rodrigo and Troye Sivan with his wax figure at Madame Tussauds Hollywood.

During his ongoing Long Live Montero Tour, Lil Nas X has also sent pizza to religious protesters outside Fenway Park and stopped the show in Atlanta for an emergency bathroom break.

See Lil Nas X geek out over meeting Ferrell backstage below.

20 Oct 2022

Madonna‘s ’Erotica’ Album at 30: Every Song Ranked From Worst to Best

There are Madonna albums with more hits (True Blue) and others with more critical acclaim (Ray of Light), but Erotica — the Queen of Pop’s fifth studio album — was a game-changing classic that found her at the peak of her powers as a pop provocateur. Released 30 years ago on Oct. 20, 1992 — in tandem with her scandalous Sex book, a coffee table tome featuring Isabella Rossellini, Naomi Campbell, Big Daddy Kane, Vanilla Ice, Tatiana von Fürstenberg and others — the LP showed that Madonna’s artistic ambitions were only getting bigger after the heights of 1989’s Like a Prayer. Enlisting “Vogue” producer Shep Pettibone and “Justify My Love” producer André Betts, she continued to push boundaries — and buttons — liberating her creativity as well as her sexuality.

The album was not as big of a hit as its predecessor, the blockbuster Like a Prayer, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, making it her first studio LP since her self-titled debut not to reach the pole position on that chart. And while four of its singles were top 40 hits on the Hot 100 – including the No. 3-peaking title track and the No. 7 hit “Deeper and Deeper” – some felt that was a disappointment compared to the No. 1 peaks reached by then-recent previous singles “This Used to Be My Playground,” “Justify My Love” and “Vogue.”

But 30 years later, it’s abundantly clear that Erotica paved the way for other pop divas — from Janet Jackson to Beyoncé to Christina Aguilera — who were willing to get their freak on. Here, we rank all 14 tracks on an iconic album that forever sexed-up pop music.

20 Oct 2022

Shakira’s 15 Best Collabs Ranked: Staff Picks

Shakira, the powerful rockera singer-songwriter from Colombia who we all came to know for her heart-wrenching ballads and pop anthems, didn’t really collaborate with any other well-known artists in the first decade of her career.

It wasn’t until 2005, when she released Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, that she turned heads with superstar collaborations, the Alejandro Sanz-assisted “La Tortura” and “Hips Don’t Lie” with Wyclef Jean. The only other artists she featured in those two albums were Gustavo Cerati and Carlos Santana.

Since, Shakira has been more open to collaborations, teaming up with an elite list of partners that includes Maluma, Prince Royce, Maná and Black Eyed Peas, for songs that are also more experimental sonically — embracing urban-leaning beats and incorporating elements of reggaetón and bachata in her songs.

Her latest, “Monotonía” with Ozuna, is a quintessential Shakira song: it’s emotionally-charged lyrically. Powered by a bachata tune, Shak doesn’t hold back and is as honest as one can get singing about heartbreak and the end of what seemed to be a perfect relationship.

Released Wednesday (Oct. 19), the Colombian star starts off declaring: “It wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t my fault. It was monotony’s fault. I never said anything but it hurt. I knew this would happen.” “Monotonía” follows her Rauw Alejandro-assisted “Te Felicito,” which topped Billboard‘s Latin Airplay chart. Both songs follow Shakira’s very public breakup from her longtime partner, and father of her two children, soccer star Gerard Piqué.

In honor of Shakira’s new collab with Ozuna, below, check out Shakira’s 15 best collaborations, according to Billboard‘s Latin editors, ranked.

20 Oct 2022

Here Are Shakira & Ozuna‘s ’Monotonia’ Lyrics Translated to English

The release of Shakira and Ozuna‘s “Monotonía” on Wednesday (Oct. 19) has fans wondering what the title word means, and about the song’s lyrics overall. Both were trending topics in search engines on Thursday morning (Oct. 20).

“Monotonía” — the first single that the Colombian star has released since the announcement of her breakup from Gerard Piqué, and following “Te Felicito” with Rauw Alejandro — means “lack of variety in anything,” according to the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. At the same time, different reference sources cite “tedium” or “boredom” as synonyms.

“It wasn’t your fault, nor was it mine; it was the monotony’s fault/ I never said anything, but it hurt/ I knew this would happen,” Shakira sings through tears in the song’s music video, which generated more than 10 million views within 14 hours of its release on YouTube.

Below, read the full lyrics translated to English:

It wasn’t your fault, nor was it mine
It was the monotony’s fault
I never said anything, but it hurt me
I knew this would happen

You were doing your thing and I was doing the same
Always looking for prominence
You forgot what we were one day
And the worst thing is that

It wasn’t your fault, nor was it mine.
It was the monotony’s fault
I never said anything, but it hurt me
I knew this would happen

Suddenly you were no longer the same
You left me because of your narcissism
You forgot what we were one day
Hey hey hey

You were distant with your attitude
And that filled me with anxiety
You didn’t even give half
But I do know that I gave more than you
I was running for someone
That wasn’t even walking for me
This love has not died
But it’s delirious
Now of what there was, there is no more
I tell you honestly
You are cold like Christmas
It’s better that this is over now
Don’t repeat the movie to me again, I already saw it
Baby, I love you, but I love myself more
It’s a necessary goodbye
What was once incredible became a routine
Your lips don’t taste like anything to me
Now it’s all the opposite
And the worst thing is that

It wasn’t your fault, nor was it mine
It was the monotony’s fault
I never said anything, but it hurt me
I knew this would happen

You doing your thing, and I was doing the same
Always looking for prominence
And you forgot what we were one day
Hey hey hey
Ozuna
Hi Music Hi Flow

20 Oct 2022

Halsey Says Gwen Stefani ‘Has Always Been a Huge Inspiration’ for Her Music

Halsey premiered her new Amp radio show Halsey: For the Record this week, and during the debut episode, they opened up about looking up to Gwen Stefani.

“Gwen is definitely one of those artists,” the “I Am Not a Woman, I Am a God” singer said. “When people ask me who inspires my music…Gwen has always been a huge inspiration for me from like wearing white tank tops onstage and low-rise pants to wearing my hair in space buns, to doing my own makeup, because Gwen used to and still does. I think she has a cosmetic company as well. Shout-out Gwen.

“Every night before I go onstage, I watch Tragic Kingdom Live at the Forum,” Halsey continued. “That’s another way that she inspired me – let’s be honest here. [No Doubt‘s] record is called Tragic Kingdom, mine was called Hopeless Fountain Kingdom … those little breadcrumb trails are kind of all over the place.”

No Doubt’s “Spiderwebs” (from Tragic Kingdom) was on the playlist for the first episode, as were PJ Harvey’s “Down by the Water,” BOA’s “Duvet” and Halsey’s own “You Asked for This.”

Stefani and her bandmates dropped their smash third album in October 1995, while Halsey’s sophomore LP was released in November 2017 — though both studio sets served as each artist’s very first (and so far only) No. 1 on the Billboard 200 of their respective careers. (Stefani would go on to score another chart-topper as a solo artist thanks to 2016’s This Is What the Truth Feels Like.)

Back in August, Halsey took part in the viral “Teenage Dirtbag” trend that swept through TikTok. Meanwhile, Stefani is currently battling it out on her sixth season as a coach on The Voice.

Listen to Halsey’s radio show on Amazon’s live radio app here.

20 Oct 2022

Post Malone Twists Ankle Onstage in Atlanta

Post Malone suffered another onstage injury this week while performing at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia — this time, twisting his ankle while performing “Psycho.”

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In a video shared to TikTok, the artist is seen tripping, but catching himself before falling down. He tries to continue performing, but soon begins limping and gets down to his knees to finish the song.

In another video posted to Twitter, Malone addressed the situation. “Tell you what, there’s little holes in the middle of the stage where fire comes out, which is pretty f—ing badass,” he says in the clip. “I just twisted up my ankle a little bit over on that hole there.”

Last month, Posty took a nasty spill during a show in St. Louis on Sept. 17, when he accidentally fell into an open trap door on the stage while performing his Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Circles.”

The singer added that he was taken to the hospital and given a clean bill of health, with manager Dre London later revealing that, luckily, the rapper didn’t break anything, bud did suffer bruised ribs. “They gave me some pain meds and everything, so we can keep kicking ass on the tour,” he said. Malone was strutting down an extended ramp when he accidentally stepped into an uncovered hole that was used to lower his guitar in the incident. After crashing hard onto the stage floor, he clutched his ribcage in immense pain before calling for medical assistance. After leaving the stage for about 15 minutes, the singer returned and thanked the audience for their patience. 

20 Oct 2022

Rosa Linn Makes Hitting No. 1 a ‘Snap’ on Adult Alternative Airplay Chart

TikTok standout and Eurovision entry “Snap” becomes Rosa Linn‘s first No. 1 on a Billboard chart, ascending to the top of the Adult Alternative Airplay tally dated Oct. 22.

The song was initially released as the Armenian entry for the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest and subsequently went viral on TikTok.

“Snap” is one of a trio of songs in the Adult Alternative Airplay top 10 to score significant buzz on TikTok, alongside Steve Lacy‘s “Bad Habit” at No. 7 and Noah Kahan‘s “Stick Season” at No. 10.

Meanwhile, Linn is the first act to reign with a first charted song on Adult Alternative Airplay since Mitski, whose “The Only Heartbreaker” led in March.

“I grew up listening to good music,” Linn told SiriusXM’s Billboard Live on Oct. 18. “My mom loves jazz and my dad is a Beatles fan … Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, everything. That kind of made me different than kids my age. Growing up with that music made me realize that I love what I listen to, and I want to be a part of it.”

Concurrently, “Snap” bullets at No. 29 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, after reaching No. 25 earlier in October, with 1.3 million audience impressions, up 3%, according to Luminate. The song also ranks at No. 35, after hitting No. 31, on Alternative Airplay.

On the multimetric, all-genre Billboard Hot 100, “Snap” jumps to a new No. 82 high. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 4.5 million official U.S. streams and sold 1,000 downloads in the tracking week ending Oct. 13. It also places at Nos. 24 and 25, respectively, on Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay.

“Snap” continues to score worldwide support, ranking at Nos. 16 and 20 on the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, respectively.