Music
Page: 33
Travis Kelce is, as expected, the biggest Swiftie! The Kansas City Chiefs tight end sat down with his brother, Jason Kelce, for a new episode of the duo’s New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce podcast this week, where Travis opened up about his experience attending one more of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stops before it […]
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 dated Nov. 16, we look at Shaboozey’s chances to have just the second single in chart history to spend a 17th week at No. 1.
Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (American Dogwood/EMPIRE/Magnolia Music): This week, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song” reclaims the Hot 100’s top spot from Morgan Wallen’s “Love Somebody,” fending off a hard-charging “Die With a Smile” by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga to claim its 16th week atop the chart. That 16th frame at No. 1 is already a record-tying one, matching the longest reign on the chart this decade, a record previously held solely by the aforementioned Wallen with the previous year’s “Last Night.”
Now, “A Bar Song” is going for week 17 – which would move it past “Last Night,” along with fellow 16-week No. 1s “One Sweet Day” (Mariah Carey & Boyz Men, 1995-96) and “Despacito” (Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber, 2017) into sole possession of the runner-up spot for the longest-ruling hit in Hot 100 history. A 17th week at No. 1 would not only set a new mark for this decade, it would be the longest run for a song with only one credited artist. From there, the only song remaining ahead of it in the history books would be “Old Town Road” (Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus), with 19 weeks at No. 1 in 2019.
Trending on Billboard
Will it get there? Well, its numbers continue to slip, but only very slowly, as it seems on pace to score a 15th week atop Radio Songs, and may rebound some on Streaming Songs with Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia album (released on a Monday morning, Oct. 28) now in its second(-ish) frame. As has long been the case with “A Bar Song,” the song is a steady performer enough that it is still unlikely to simply cede the throne; another song will likely have to come along and actively seize it from Shaboozey.
Tyler, the Creator feat. GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil Wayne, “Sticky” (Columbia): Shocking – the biggest early breakout hit off Tyler, the Creator’s chart-topping (and pace-setting) Chromakopia album seems to be the one with all the rap hitmaker guest stars. “Sticky,” which features not only 2024 sensations GloRilla and Sexyy Red but one of the most successful rappers in Billboard history (and Tyler’s own hero) in the legendary Lil Wayne, has taken over as the album’s top-performing song on Apple Music and iTunes, and has been climbing the daily rankings on Spotify as well, looking to take over from “St. Chroma” (which debuts at No. 7 on this week’s Hot 100 this week) as the set’s best-performing Hot 100 hit.
Does that mean “Sticky” will be in the hunt for the chart’s top spot next frame in its first full week of tracking? Maybe not quite – it’s still got a long way to climb after debuting at No. 14 this week, and radio certainly will be little help, as the song’s mostly beatless first verse makes it a challenging full play on the airwaves (where Tyler has never had much success to begin with). But if it continues to grow at the rate it has been, it could be a major challenger to Shaboozey in the weeks to come – especially if hip-hop radio decides to latch onto the parts of the song with GloRilla and Sexyy Red, two of the year’s most reliable fixtures on the format.
Bruno Mars & Lady Gaga, “Die With a Smile” (Streamline/Interscope/Atlantic/ICLG): “Die With a Smile” took its shot at No. 1 this past week and fell just short, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the race now. Even with the song likely to recede in sales and streams a little the week after the duo dropped new live and acoustic versions of it, it continues to grow in radio airplay, as it jumps 11-9 on Radio Songs this week and should remain a riser next week. Could the Grammy nominations, announced this Friday (with “Smile” a strong contender for a nod in multiple categories) be enough to put it over the top the week after next? Bruno and Gaga certainly didn’t get to where they are today by leaving potential No. 1s on the table, so another concerted push before the song’s chart run ends is always a possibility.
Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather” (Darkroom/Interscope/ICLG): Speaking of No. 2 hits – another single that “Bar Song” has held to the runner-up spot thusfar is Billie Eilish’s long-running Hit Me Hard and Soft smash, which catapulted to a silver-medal finish the week following the release of its official video, and which holds at No. 3 on the chart behind “Bar Song” and “Smile” this week. There’s nothing much new to talk about the song this week, but it remains a steady performer on both streaming and radio (as it’s led Pop Airplay for seven weeks and Adult Pop Airplay for three weeks) — and also could be a Grammy nominations beneficiary next week, with Billie being one of the most celebrated artists at the awards this decade.
America’s presidential election found the country at a peak in anxiety, angry on one side about immigrants and fearful on the other of a descent into dictatorship.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In the midst of that tension, Drew Baldridge – on the heels of his first top 5 single, “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” – targeted Nov. 4, Election Day Eve, as the add date for his new single, a litany of disasters and a celebration of resilience titled “Tough People.”
“What I love about this song is that it’s honest and it’s real,” Baldridge says. “It’s what our world’s going through. It’s what we’re all feeling.”
And, it suggests, we can all get through whatever crisis emerges – a tornado, cancer, a school shooting or a war.
Trending on Billboard
“Don’t give up. don’t stop loving people, don’t stop helping people out,” he says. “What you’re going through, you’re gonna come out better because of it. I think that’s the message that we want to share.”Baldridge was in a “David versus Goliath” mindset, he remembers, when he wrote it. He was about to self-release “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” to radio via PlayMPE on July 25, 2023.
The day before, he met up with fellow indie artist Adam Sanders and songwriter Jordan Walker (“When It Rains It Pours”) in writing room 2 at Sony Music Publishing Nashville. Sanders had heard, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, a version of “The Cycle of Man,” an assessment of generational changes from author G. Michael Hopf’s Those Who Remain: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
Sanders held on to the hook, “Hard times make tough people,” until he could write with Baldridge, who wasn’t afraid of difficult topics. Both of them were thinking about their own careers as they worked on it, inserting some optimism into the hard times. “It’s just always a fight and a struggle,” Sanders says, “but hey, if you keep going, you can achieve your dreams no matter what. That’s where that came from.”
Walker turned the “hard times” hook into “tough times make tough people” and started playing guitar in a drop-D tuning, ideal for power chords. “It’s emotional, it’s deep,” Walker says. “As soon as you hit that first note, it just hits you.”
The first image accomplishes the same thing. A Midwest town endures a tornado that leaves only a Baptist church and a baseball field standing. The tough people, of course, rebuild it, as they would after a flood or a hurricane. “In my little town, one year, the whole roof of the cafeteria got ripped off, and a couple farmers lost their barns,” Southern Illinois native Baldridge recalls. “The next morning, I woke up and I went out there, and my dad and other farmers – everybody was coming together to help fix stuff. And that just has really stuck with me.”
A four-year-old girl battling cancer in Memphis – presumably at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – follows the tornado in the text. “You want to talk about three guys in a room crying – Drew’s got a little boy and I’ve got two little girls,” Walker says. “We all got choked up, and that was probably, honestly, the hardest part of the song to write.”
Not that the rest of it was rainbows and unicorns. The final vignette reveals a soldier who returns home in a flag-covered casket, and another recognizes a police officer putting his life on the line at a school shooting. Nashville’s Covenant School incident had occurred just four months prior, scarring the entire community, and it was a natural subject. They debated including that particular tragedy, and decided to go for it.
“It’s one of the biggest problems in this country – it needs to be talked about,” Walker says. “I’ve got two little girls that are in daycare, and luckily, there’s a cop that sits in the parking lot every day, so that deters anyone from wanting to do anything ignorant. But I can’t imagine when these girls get in high school, middle school, just kind of dropping them off and praying you see them at four o’clock.”
All of those hard times, though, were offset by the chorus, beginning with a melodic lift. After a couple lines of lyrics that border on victimhood, it turns to self-determination – a series of “keep on fighting” mantras leading to the feel-good conclusion: “Hard work pays off, good beats evil/ And tough times make tough people.”
They cut a demo, though in retrospect, they missed the creative mark. “I just don’t think that we captured the right emotion,” Sanders says. “It just kind of felt a little stale. We turned the song in to our publishers, and I don’t think anybody said anything.”
But when Baldridge presented a handful of songs to producer Nick Schwarz, he knew “Tough People” had to be part of the next round of recording. “The school shooting line is what made me go ‘Holy moly,’” Schwarz recalls. “It’s so real.”
They recorded it in mid-December at the Sony Tree Studios, focused on making it sound tougher than the demo. A tremolo guitar helped establish some tension. “I’m a sucker for tremolo and slap back – I just love those two sounds,” Schwarz says. “So I asked for tremolo, and they were like, ‘Nick and his tremolo’ and laughed.”
But the recording took an unexpected turn. Sanders got a standing ovation when he performed an acoustic version of “Tough People” at the Franklin Theater. Based on that performance, Walker made a new acoustic demo, and it was so good that he played it on Dec. 29 for Luke Combs, who wanted to cut it. A few weeks later, Lainey Wilson heard it while visiting Baldridge, and she called Combs to ask if she could record it with him. They made their recording on Jan. 25. Combs re-wrote a couple lines in verse two, but he kept the school shooting in the piece.
“One of the responding officers [at Covenant] is the canine officer for Metro Nashville,” Walker says. “He actually lives on Luke’s property and trains dogs out there. So Luke was like, ‘If anything, that line is staying. He goes, ‘That guy’s a buddy of mine, and I think nobody talks about that.”
But when Baldridge partnered with BBR Music Group/BMG to market the follow-up to “She’s Somebody’s Daughter,” the label insisted “Tough People” was his best option as an artist. Baldridge told Combs he thought he should take it back, and Combs agreed. And when the writers wanted to give Combs a songwriter credit for contributing a couple lines, he insisted on taking only 10% ownership, instead of 25%.
Schwarz subsequently worked more on the recording, cutting new parts and moving a lot of the existing instrumental support around to heighten the song’s drama and better emulate the acoustic demo’s spirit. Baldridge tried to match the story’s intensity in his final vocal. When he heard the results later, he went back in to re-cut the vocal on the second chorus and make that part more forceful ahead of the guitar solo. “I can’t sing the word ‘tough’ weak,” he reasons.
Stoney Creek released “Tough People” through PlayMPE on Oct. 25. While the hard times in “Tough People” might play into the issues of the day, Baldridge hopes he can remain neutral on the song’s controversies but still inspire people to be their best selves.
“I don’t want to have to do political interviews or anything,” he says. “This is where we’re at. Take it how you want to take it, and hopefully some good can come out of it.”
Ariana Grande may have become a superstar as a chart-topping pop star, but after pivoting back to musical theater while working on Wicked, the 31-year-old artist says she’s hoping to keep acting at the forefront in the future.
While speaking to her Wicked costar Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers on the duo’s Las Culturistas podcast on Wednesday (Nov. 6), Grande was candid about wanting to return to Broadway someday. “It is my heart,” said the R.E.M. Beauty founder, who got her start as a young teenager in 13: The Musical, followed by her role as Cat Valentine on Nickelodeon’s Victorious.
“I’m gonna say something so scary — it’s gonna scare the absolute s–t out of my fans and everyone, but I love them, and they’ll deal, and we’ll be here forever,” she continued. “I’m always going to make music, I’m always going to go on stage, I’m always going to do pop stuff, I pinky promise. But I don’t think doing it at the rate I’ve been doing it for the past 10 years is where I see the next 10 years.”
Trending on Billboard
“Reconnecting with this part of myself who started in musical theater, and who loves comedy, and it heals me to do that — finding roles to use these parts of myself and put them in little homes and characters and bits and voices and songs,” Grande added. “Whatever makes sense, or whatever roles we see fit, or where I could really do a good job or honor the material, I would really love to. I think it’s a lot better for me. I’m getting emotional.”
The podcast interview comes just a few weeks ahead of the Nov. 22 premiere of the first Wicked film, which also stars Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Golblum, Ethan Slater and more. Toward the end of filming last year, she recorded her first album in four years: Eternal Sunshine, which spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 following its March release.
Before Eternal Sunshine came 2020’s Positions, which Grande also spoke about on Las Culturistas. “When it came out, it kind of didn’t go so well,” she reflected of the LP, which also spent two weeks atop the U.S. albums chart. “I just mean as far as what my fans were saying … I just got like, ‘This is not what we want’ vibes.”
“That really put me in a cage of judging every piece,” she continued. “I scrapped so many things I was going to put out for it. And now people love it like it’s the best thing I’ll ever make! What is that? How is that fair? But I love them for it.”
Listen to Las Culturistas with Ariana Grande below.
As the world woke up to Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, Billie Eilish summed up her thoughts in five simple words. Taking to her Instagram Stories on Wednesday morning (Nov. 6), the “Birds of a Feather” singer posted her message over a black background to her audience of 120 million followers. “It’s a […]
50 Cent is back on the Trump train. A week after boasting that he’d turned down a purported nine-figure payday to appear at former and now-future President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden campaign stop, the “Wanksta” rapper appeared to be back in The Donald’s corner.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“I don’t care how the fight goes, I’m leaving with the winner s–t,” 50 (born Curtis Jackson) wrote on Instagram on Wednesday morning (Nov. 6) in a post that featured two pictures of the rapper with Trump, who defied odds on Tuesday night to join Grover Cleveland as the only American to be voted into the nation’s top office to non-consecutive terms.
“I still don’t know what’s going on,” 50 added along with a face palm emoji and “congratulations!”
In an appearance on The Breakfast Club last week, 50 claimed that he’d been offered $3 million to appear at Trump’s MSG rally. “Yeah. They offered me $3 million!” said 50, confirming co-host Charlamagne Tha God’s query about that event, as well as reports that 50 was also offered an undisclosed amount to perform his song “Many Men” at this summer’s Republican National Convention as well.
50 did not appear at either event, explaining to the Breakfast Club crew why he rejected the lucrative offer. “I didn’t even go far,” he said of the offers. “I’m afraid of politics, you understand? I do not like it. … It’s because when you do get involved in it, no matter how you feel, somebody passionately disagrees with you. Look, if you say ‘I stay away from religion,’ I stay away from politics. Religion, that’s the formula for the confusion that it sent Kanye to Japan. He said something about both of those things and now he can only go to Japan. So you know I’m like I don’t want to get in that, man.”
At the time, a Trump campaign source told Billboard that the story was not true, though they did not specify which part was erroneous — that Trump wanted 50 at the rally or that the offer was $3 million.
After a comedian referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s MSG event, a number of major Puerto Rican artists spoke out in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost Tuesday’s closely contested election to the former reality TV star who has continued to deny that he lost his second bid for the White House in 2020 to President Biden.
During that failed 2020 bid 50 initially supported the twice impeached former commander-in-chief before retracting his endorsement after former girlfriend Chelsea Handler called him out. “F–k Donald Trump, I never liked him,” the rapper later said in a retweet of Handler’s appearance on The Tonight Show in which she criticized her ex for his support of Trump, 78, who will become the oldest man, and first convicted felon, to ascend to the nation’s highest office when he is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
Flavor Flav has no problem uplifting those around him. He’s basically been on a tour giving fellow celebrities he adores their flowers, and now it’s Selena Gomez’s turn. Flav took to X on Monday (Nov. 4), where he applauded Gomez’s strength and how candid she’s been with her mental health publicly. “I don’t know her […]
Sabrina Carpenter said “Please Please Please” and voters definitely listened. According to HeadCount.org, the singer got more voters engaged in Tuesday’s (Nov. 5) election than any other artist the organization works with. HeadCount said that Carpenter, 25, helped inspire 35,814 voter registrations and got another 263,087 voters to take other actions outside of registering (including checking their registration status and polling location).
“Through our partnerships with over 100 top music artists — like Sabrina Carpenter, Green Day, Ariana Grande, and so many others — HeadCount had a record-breaking year, registering over 450,000 new voters and engaging over 3 million more people to make sure they vote,” said the non-profit’s executive director, Lucille Wenegieme, in a statement. “Our model works because musicians and celebrities have a cultural cache and an intimate connection with their fans, especially among young people, whose identity as a fan of a particular artist can be even stronger than other aspects of their identity, including affiliation with a political party or candidate. We are so grateful to our artist partners and their teams for inspiring their fans to take control of their future.”
HeadCount said that it had a presence at more than 3,700 events this year as part of its “Good to Vote” campaign, where they registered nearly half a million new voters, with almost half of them between the ages of 18-24. Carpenter’s impressive numbers on her Short n’ Sweet tour including activating voters through giveaways, in-person activations and video boards and mailers. The partnership also included a sweepstakes offering fans the chance to see the tour by checking their registration status, with winners slated to be flown out to the singer’s Nov. 9 San Francisco show.
Trending on Billboard
In addition, on their globe-hopping stadium Saviors tour, pop-punk legends Green Day broke HeadCount’s all-time record for the most voters engaged on a single tour, registering more than 7,900 new voters and engaging over 61,000 voters through in-person activations on the outing; those figures nearly double the previous record set by Ariana Grande on her 2019 Sweetener world tour.
HeadCount — which works with hundreds of other touring artists including 5 Seconds of Summer, Brandi Carlile, Alicia Keys, Chappell Roan, Ariana Grande, Fall Out Boy, Billie Eilish, DRake, HAIM, Gracie Abrams, Harry Styles and others — has registered more than 1.5 million voters since 2004. This year, the group said it engaged over three million music fans to take action, another all-time record for the organization, with more than 80% of all voters it registered representing Gen Z or millennials.
More than 80 years after its release, Bing Crosby‘s beloved holiday hit “White Christmas” is getting a Bangtan boost from V of BTS.
As announced Wednesday (Nov. 6), the 28-year-old K-pop star will join the late legend on a remix of his 1942 smash arriving Dec. 6. Released in partnership with the Bing Crosby Estate, Primary Wave Music and Geffen Records, the project is described as an “era-bridging” collaboration and comes 47 years after Crosby’s last cross-generational duet: 1977’s “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” with David Bowie.
“I’m so grateful to have had the chance to be featured in a song with my all-time favorite jazz artist, Bing Crosby,” V said of the track in a statement. “I grew up listening to his song ‘It’s Been a Long, Long Time’ countless times a day, and I feel incredibly fortunate and honored to have sung along on ‘White Christmas’ with the voice of someone I consider an idol.”
“Being a huge fan of his, I sang with the utmost sincerity and admiration for him,” continued the South Korean superstar, who previously covered “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” of which Crosby’s take peaked at No. 30 on the Holiday Streaming Songs, No. 8 on the Holiday Airplay and No. 14 on the Holiday Digital Song Sales charts. “I hope many people enjoy it as much as I enjoyed singing it. Lastly, I wish a lovely holiday season to everyone listening to the song.”
Trending on Billboard
Originally recorded for the 1942 film Holiday Inn and later heavily featured in the 1954 film White Christmas, Crosby’s enduring hit is widely renowned as the bestselling single of all time. It was released a full 16 years before the inception of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958, but premiered on the chart in December that same year and later reached a peak at No. 12 in 1962.
Crosby died in 1977. His daughter Mary Crosby said in a statement about her father’s new posthumous collaboration, “As a family, we are thrilled to have V and Dad singing together on this ultimate Christmas song. Their voices blend beautifully, capturing the holiday spirit in the best possible way.”
The legendary performer’s son Harry added, “We are happy that V will help share the joy of this timeless Christmas song.”
The holiday team-up will arrive about nine months after the release of V’s solo single “FRI(END)S,” which reached No. 65 on the Hot 100. Last December, he teamed up with Umi for a duet titled “Wherever U R.”
V is currently in the midst of his mandatory enlistment period in the South Korean military, as are four of his BTS bandmates: SUGA, RM, Jimin and Jung Kook. Earlier this year, Jin and J-Hope separately finished their service obligations, and full-band activities are expected to resume in 2025.
See the cover art for Bing Crosby and V’s “White Christmas” below.
Queens recognize queens. Pamela Anderson had nothing but love for Beyoncé‘s Halloween tribute to her Barb Wire character. On Tuesday (Nov. 5), Bey dropped the first music video from her Cowboy Carter era with “Bodyguard,” in which the singer channeled a trio of Anderson’s most iconic looks for what she dubbed “Beylloween” in an Instagram […]