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Niall Horan has now had two of his former One Direction bandmates support him on tour this year, with Liam Payne attending the Irish singer-songwriterâs show in Argentina on Wednesday (Oct. 2). Just a little over a month after Harry Styles made headlines for viewing Horanâs August concert in Manchester, fans spotted the âTeardropsâ singer […]
After the breakthrough year she has had, Sabrina Carpenter is likely to contend in multiple categories when Grammy nominations are announced Nov. 8. Her latest studio project, Short nâ Sweet, is considered a shoo-in for a best pop vocal album nod and could potentially be up for album of the year. And she could even land a nomination for best new artist â despite Short nâ Sweet being her sixth full-length.
How can an artist who has released six albums be in the conversation for best new artist? Because, while the Grammys set a minimum number of releases an artist must have to qualify in this category (five singles/tracks or one album), there is no maximum. Instead, the Grammysâ rules and guidelines booklet says nominations for the honor hinge on when âthe artist had attained a breakthrough or prominenceâ â and it delegates that determination to a screening committee.
So Carpenterâs potential nomination comes down to whether the screening committee thinks she had achieved prominence as of Sept. 15, 2023, the last day of the previous eligibility year. At that point, the highest she had ever climbed on the Billboard Hot 100 was a decidedly decaf No. 48, for âSkinâ in February 2021. She performed on the MTV Video Music Awardsâ preshow on Sept. 12, 2023. (This year, by contrast, her medley of three hits that had each reached the top three on the Hot 100 was a highlight of the main show.)
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Megan Moroney is another not-quite-so-new artist whom the screening committee will likely discuss at length. She had a No. 30 hit on the Hot 100 in May 2023 with âTennessee Orange,â and her popularity has continued to build since: In May 2024, she won new female artist of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
Other top contenders in the category this year, including Chappell Roan, Benson Boone, Shaboozey, Teddy Swims, Sexyy Red and ReneĂŠ Rapp, more clearly fit the best new artist criteria the Grammys outline.
The rules in this category have changed over the years as the Recording Academy has struggled to strike just the right balance: not too strict, not too lenient. In the past, the academy has sometimes disqualified artists for reasons that may now seem petty; take Whitney Houston, who had recorded a couple of duets prior to releasing her debut album and was therefore deemed ineligible, or singer-songwriter Richard Marx, who had contributed a song to a soundtrack. Other times, the academy has leaned too far in the other direction. Robert Goulet won in 1963, two years after he became a star in the Broadway musical Camelot. When Alessia Cara claimed the prize in 2018, it was nearly two years after her ballad âHereâ hit the top five on the Hot 100.
Three past winners for best new artist â Crosby, Stills & Nash (who won in 1970), Jody Watley (1988) and Lauryn Hill (1999) â wouldnât be eligible under todayâs rules. David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash were all already known for their work in previous groups, as were Watley (in Shalamar) and Hill (Fugees).
Perhaps the academy should have just named the award âbest new or developing artistâ or âbest breakthrough artistâ to skirt the issue of whether these talents were truly new, but given the marquee awardâs notoriety, such a change is now unlikely. Voters are probably stuck with best new artist â along with the yearly debates over who should and shouldnât qualify for it.
And if Carpenter isnât just nominated but steps onto the stage on Grammy night to accept the award, well, it wonât be without precedent. In 2001, Shelby Lynne won the accolade â precisely six albums into her career.
This story appears in the Oct. 5, 2024, issue of Billboard.
In the history of the Billboard Latin Music Awards, a number of Latin icons â such as Celia Cruz (1994), Vicente FernĂĄndez (1998) and Daddy Yankee (2021) â have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The special award is given to artists who have achieved worldwide recognition for their work, transcending musical genres and […]
Shawn Mendes is leveling with his audience about where he stands with Camila Cabello, as well as his thoughts on the recent uptick in gossip regarding their former romance and breakup.
The conversation first started in late September, when the âStitchesâ singer-songwriter opened up on the Jay Shetty Podcast about how he and the C,XOXO artist have been âpreserving [their] private little fire of love for each otherâ despite breaking up in 2023, two years after they first ended their romance in 2021. A couple days later, a fan commented, âthey donât play about each otherâ on a tweet quoting his podcast interview â and Mendes retweeted the comment and agreed, âno we donâtâ on Wednesday (Oct. 2).
A couple hours after that, he came back online to clarify why he engaged with the comment in the first place. âi guess to be honest it came from a place of being a little annoyed with all the projection over the last few months about us,â Mendes wrote, referring to Cabello. âIâm usually pretty good at just watching all the ânoiseâ go by but lately itâs been kinda bugging me đ¤ˇđťââď¸ feeling human i guess.â
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In a follow-up tweet, Mendes added, âyeah part of me knows quoting a tweet and saying that is gunna start a little spin up and i guess to be honest part of me just wanted to address it and actually have a real honest relationship with you guys about how it feels from my side.â
The âMercyâ artist didnât specify in his posts, but much ânoiseâ has indeed been made about his and Cabelloâs relationship this year â particularly as it relates to Sabrina Carpenter. Following his first breakup from Cabello, Mendes was rumored to be dating the âEspressoâ singer in early 2023, shortly after which he got back together with the âHavanaâ vocalist. Their rekindled romance only appeared to last a few months after that, and Cabello later confirmed that theyâd split once again on Call Her Daddy.
Many fans have since speculated that Carpenter sings about the situation on her Billboard 200-topping new album Short nâ Sweet, particularly the track âCoincidence.â âWhat a surprise, your phone just died/ Your car drove itself from L.A. to her thighs/ Palm Springs looks nice, but whoâs by your side?/ Damn it, she looks kinda like the girl you outgrew,â reads the songâs lyrics. âWhat a coincidence/ Oh wow, you just broke up again.â
No matter what, though, Mendes says that he and Cabello put in the work to stay on good terms. âIâll be the first to text her, sheâll be the first to text me,â he added on Jay Shettyâs show Sept. 30, noting that the exes maintain âimmense honestyâ and âover-communicationâ to this day. âAs long as weâre good, all the noise is just noise.â
See Mendesâ tweets below.
here we go i can do that âĽď¸i guess to be honest it came from a place of being a little annoyed with all the projection over the last few months about us. Iâm usually pretty good at just watching all the ânoiseâ go by but lately itâs been kinda bugging me đ¤ˇđťââď¸ feeling human i⌠https://t.co/Kl7vcey8glâ Shawn Mendes (@ShawnMendes) October 2, 2024
and yeah part of me knows quoting a tweet and saying that is gunna start a little spin up and i guess to be honest part of me just wanted to address it and actually have a real honest relationship with you guys about how it feels from my side. I also would love to know how itâŚâ Shawn Mendes (@ShawnMendes) October 2, 2024
After rolling out the first slate of international dates in support of her upcoming Tension II album last month, Australian pop superstar Kylie Minogue announced the North American leg of the outing on Thursday (Oct. 3). The 2025 Tension Tour is slated to kick off on March 29 with a gig at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and take the âPadam Padamâ singer to Montreal, Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Austin, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Denver before winding down with a May 2 show at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Tickets for Minogueâs biggest tour since 2011 will kick off with an American Express presale for card members on Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. local time (through Oct. 10 at 10 p.m. local time), followed by an artist presale starting on Oct. 9 at 10 a.m., which fans can sign up for now here. The general public onsale will begin at 10 a.m. local on Oct. 11.
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âI am beyond excited to announce the TENSION TOUR 2025. I canât wait to share beautiful and wild moments with fans all over the world, celebrating the Tension era and more! Itâs been an exhilarating ride so far and now, get ready for your close up because I will be calling Lights, Camera, Action ⌠and there will be a whole lot of Padaming!,â Minogue said in a statement.
The 13-track Tension II album, led by the first single âLights Camera Action,â was released last month, featuring the previously-released dance song âEdge of Saturday Nightâ with The Blessed Madonna as well as collaborations with Orville Peck, Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo, and Sia.
The North American dates will follow on the heels of the Australian leg that launches with a Feb. 15 show at Perthâs RAC Arena, marking her first home country gig in five years.
Check out the dates for the 2025 North American Tension Tour below.
March 29 â Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
March 30 â Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
April 2 â Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena
April 4 â New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
April 8 â Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
April 9 â Boston, MA @ TD Garden
April 11 â Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
April 13 â Orlando, FL @ Kia Center
April 14 â Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center
April 17 â Austin, TX @ Moody Center
April 19 â Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
April 22 â San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
April 25 â Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
April 26 â Vancouver, BC @ Pacific Coliseum
April 29 â Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
May 2 â Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena

Sitting in her childhood bedroom and noodling on her guitar in February 2024, 24-year-old Gigi Perez was thinking about the scope of her songwriting. Sheâd been ruminating for a while on the idea of a frantic kind of love, and how to connect it to her lyricism. âWhen that person is so constant in your life, itâs kind of like you fall into it, and you have nothing else to grasp on to,â she tells Billboard. âIt came from that desperate place.â
All of a sudden, a line popped into her head: âKiss me on the mouth and love me like a sailor.â As she kept strumming and writing out new lines to add to the chorus of her growing song, the singer-songwriter realized she wasnât the only one listening. âMy door happened to be open, and my little sister walks by and says, âOh, Gigi, thatâs really awesome,â â she recalls.
And as the idea has moved from work in progress to completed product, itâs clear that the world feels the same way. After Perez began teasing the track in earnest on her TikTok in the spring, users quickly latched onto the hook, clamoring to hear a full version. They finally got to hear it on July 26, when Perez unveiled âSailor Song,â a stirring, emotionally raw ballad that sees Perez turning her feelings of longing into a sweeping, queer-coded love song. The song debuted on the Aug. 31-dated Billboard Hot 100 at No. 98, and it has since spent six weeks on the chart, reaching a No. 46 high on the list dated Sept. 28.
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For Perez, the sudden, rapid success of âSailor Songâ feels like a culmination of all the work sheâs put into her independent career â and one that enabled her to accept a record deal with Island Records in September. âI feel truly ready for this,â she says. âAnd I know exactly what Iâm looking for.â
Perez walks Billboard through the writing process of âSailor Song,â explains why she learned how to produce her own work and breaks down what it means to have a queer love song making waves in modern pop culture.
When did you first start working on âSailor Songâ? What was the original idea that led you to making this?
A lot of the process for me is typically just having my guitar and freestyling, and thatâs mostly how the songs come â I was in that progression of writing, and I just said, âKiss me on the mouth and love me like a sailor.â So, I kept going; I had the chorus done that night.
It really just stayed as a chorus for a while, and the lyrics had changed. There were certain little words that changed the meaning of what [the song] was. Once I had written the verses, I pulled a melody from another song I had written and put that into this song. It really is one of those things where it was a puzzle putting it together, but there wasnât much resistance. Other times, in order to get something like that, you have to really dig for it.
I love a song that is good at creating imagery without having to explicitly spell out the imagery â the use of the sailor as an image almost makes the song feel mythical in scale, which is really effective.
Thereâs something about this thought â and I donât know if itâs because I grew up by the water and spent so much time in my childhood at the beach â that little by little, these beach and sea and water themes just kept appearing in my songs. Itâs really sweet because I was thinking, âHow do you compile the things that are on your heart and that you want to say in a way that makes sense?â It wasnât until âSailor Songâ that I looked back and was like, âThereâs been a whole path being laid subconsciously,â which is very cool.
I was struck by the fact that your voice sounds like itâs in the distance on this track â what did your setup look like when recording and producing âSailor Songâ?
I went into this chapter of my life [feeling] in my soul like I hit a point where I wasnât collaborating with people because I wanted to, but because I relied on it. There was a lack of expression on the production side, [but] I think things ended up falling together perfectly. I moved back home, and in the same way I taught myself the guitar, I watched a bunch of YouTube videos and messaged the collaborators who I really admired to ask them questions about producing. It was a lot of throwing things at the wall and learning little things here and there. Like, how does EQ [equalization] really work? What is a compressor? I was allowed time to really experiment with production and recording. It makes me feel the same way that I felt when I was 17 â thatâs something I keep coming back to: That first rush of recording, when I was just doing it with my high school band, and we were just uploading files on Spotify and SoundCloud.
As far as the recording and what happened, I use an SM7 [microphone], and I started doing this thing [while recording my voice] where I do three vocals and I pan [one] a little bit to the left, [one] a little bit to the right and one right in the middle. And then I threw in certain kinds of reverbs that give it a roomy kind of sound. I also have an amazing mixer, Matt Emonson, and he just takes it away from there. I just wanted something that felt really intimate and yet really big.
Once you started teasing this song on TikTok, it blew up and fans were itching to hear the full thing. What was that like for you to witness in real time?
I was really happy. I feel like Iâd gotten to a certain point where I just started enjoying music again in a way that I truly felt like was honoring my happiness. That was the main principle that I felt through being independent and being able to work on music in a different way. And then when I saw that people were really enjoying it, I was like, âThatâs so genuinely awesome.â It was a slow burn in terms of getting to where itâs gotten to now but to know that it was something that really pulled on people means everything to me.
One of the things in life that Iâve struggled with â and part of why I decided that I wanted to be an artist â is the feeling of loneliness that comes with the lie that no one understands you. I think about the artists that changed my life in that way, and one of the first gay projects that I had that with was Troye Sivanâs [2015 debut album] Blue Neighbourhood. That changed my life. I couldnât even imagine that somebody could be there for me during a time when I couldnât express or understand what I was feeling. I didnât grow up in a space where that was something that existed, and if it did, it was very taboo. Itâs so beautiful now that thereâs so much media that really highlights the gay and queer experience. Kids need that. Actually, people in general, not just children. There are still people all around this world [who] live in an online world and escape through music. Itâs very special to me that, in any capacity, I could be a part of that.
To that point, it feels like queer messaging in music is having a genuine moment this year where songs that are about queerness are hitting the charts in a major way. What is your reaction to that level of visibility in the mainstream?
I think weâre only scratching the surface right now. Representation is so, so important. Itâs the thing that gives people the courage and the ability to dream that you can do whatever. You, as a person, can take up space. I think thereâs an identity part of it, and then thereâs just the actual human part of it, and those two things are very important to me. Every queer artist is going to share their story and their identity differently. Iâm only one person, and my message is only going to connect [with] and reach the people that itâs meant to. Thatâs why I think it opens up the bridge [for other artists], and Iâm really excited to see everything thatâs happening in queer music.
You recently signed to Island Records â what has the transition from independent artist to being signed at a major looked like for you so far?
I feel so blessed. Itâs been such a weirdly spiritual experience, in terms of things happening behind the scenes. It feels like this thing is really guided. I didnât know a year ago that any of this would happen, and I think I had a very clear vision where I said, âIâm going to stay independent, and this is the way Iâm going to do it.â The fact that that has changed [means] Iâm so grateful for all of the experiences that Iâve had over the last few months to lead me to this moment. Theyâre going to be an amazing home.
A version of this story appears in the Sept. 28, 2024, issue of Billboard.

Kesha is most definitely not ready to make nice. The âOnly Love Can Save Us Nowâ singer detailed what she described as a scorched earth plan to shake up the music industryâs old guard in a new ELLE magazine profile in which she warned that anyone with âdeep, dark secretsâ better be ready for a reckoning.
âI donât believe you can create if youâre not feeling safe,â she told the magazine in detailing a new digital platform sheâs working on with help from people in the tech industry that she said will prioritize artistâs safety. âThe old guard, theyâre falling. The old way of doing everything with secrecy â thereâs no future there. So, like, those of you with deep, dark secrets, you better fâking run.â
Her warning to those traditional gatekeepers pulls no punches: âThe music industry should be fâking terrified of me,â she said. âBecause Iâm about to make some major moves and shift this sât. I really want to dismantle it piece by piece and shine light into every corner. I hope my legacy is making sure it never happens to anybody ever again.â
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Kesha extracted herself from a contract with Dr. Luke following a 2023 settlement in her long-running civil lawsuit against the producer born Lukasz Gottwald over her claims of infliction of emotional distress, sexual harassment and assault; Luke denied the claims and reached a settlement with Kesha to dismiss his defamation suit against her last year, with both parties denying any misconduct.
She has since formed her own independent label, Kesha Records, which she said is the first big step in taking back her musical voice after signing with Luke in 2005 when she was 18. âIâm free and it feels good,â she said, noting that she has a reminder on her phone that reads âyouâre free.â Kesha is now fully in charge of her music and free to work with any producers and writers she wants, a situation that led to the release of her recent single, the A.G. Cook (Charli XCX) and Zhone (Slayyyter)-produced âJoyride,â a bouncing, horn-spiked party record on which she sings, âRev my engine til you make it purr/ Keep it kinky, but I come first/ Beep-beep bâch, Iâm outside/ Get in loser, for the joyride.â
Not for nothing, Kesha said âJoyrideâ was birthed both after the settlement of her Luke suit as well as in the wake of a break-up with someone she felt was âin it for the wrong reasons and was a bit of a starfâker,â and whose loyalty she assessed in the most Kesha way possible. âI decided to test that theory and took one of my friends instead of him to Taylor Swiftâs party. He came over the next day and broke up with me,â she said.
At this point she hasnât come up with a title for the follow-up to her raw, 2023 fifth studio album, the not-to-subtly titled Gag Order, which marked her final release through RCA Records and Lukeâs Kemosabe Records. The words that keep coming to mind as she ponders a name for it are also pointed and telling: freedom, safety, joy.
âThis record is my little wild child,â she said, describing Gag Order as a way to give voice to her more painful emotions. âI was really vulnerable. Now Iâm really trying to make way for the bad bâch. Iâm giving her the moment â because we need the space to have all the emotions safely. I capture the empowered emotions, so that I can listen back to it when Iâm not feeling that way.â
Psyched to be â100 percent in control of everything now,â Kesha said her new music mogul era is allowing her to do all the things: âideating the song, writing the song, singing the song, comping the song, coproducing the song, marketing the song, designing what Iâm wearing for the song.â
As evidenced by the bubbly playful vibe of her recent social media posts, Kesha is leaning into the meaning of her name in Russian (âinnocent joyâ) because, as she said, âmy soul needs this album. I need to reclaim my joy. Because I fought so fâking hard for it.â
She also loves the fact that her fortitude and defiant spirit have clearly helped empower a new generation of strident female pop stars who are embracing their authenticity. âI do have a sense of feeling protective of young women in music. I really hope my joy can stand for others to know that itâs available to them and to not give up,â she said of the singers she often DMs to offer herself up for advice or a kind sounding board. âI enjoy feeling my power, which hasnât been available to me for a really long time, and Iâd love to give that gift to others if I can.â
She specifically shouts out Chappell Roan and ReneĂŠ Rapp, referring to the latter as the âmost genuinely cool, calm, unbothered, iconic pop girlie.â Kesha invited Rapp to perform with her in Brooklyn in Nov. 2023 and Rapp returned the favor at Aprilâs Coachella Festival, where Kesha performed her Billboard Hot 100 topper âTik Tok,â which pointedly featured a revised line dissing embattled hip-hop mogul Sean âDiddyâ Combs, who was indicted on sex trafficking charges last month amid a dozen lawsuits alleging sexual assault and harassment; Diddy has denied the charges.
Though Roan drew attention for playing to what was described as the biggest daytime crowd in Lollapalooza history this summer, Kesha said she could sense the stress the âHot To Goâ singer was likely feeling during a moment many saw as a dream scenario.
âKesha was so lovely to me after my Lollapalooza set,â Roan told the magazine. âBecause with that huge of a crowd, maybe only five other people there understood what thatâs like. Kesha came to talk to me after, and it felt like a big sister was helping me through it. Me and ReneĂŠ were crying because we felt like we were seen in a way we never had been before. Kesha has always stood up for women and what she believes in and thatâs very inspiring.â
âI try not to listen to pop radio, ever,â Amy Allen proclaims as she scrolls through Spotify on her phone. The singer-songwriter is recapping her recent listening: She has been on a Vince Gill kick; she always has The Cardigans in rotation; she recently discovered Donna Summerâs 1974 single âLady of the Nightâ; sheâs a fan of indie star Adrianne Lenker of the band Big Thief. Allen goes for early-morning runs on the boardwalks of Venice Beach in Los Angeles near her home, and while she used to soundtrack them with a classic rock playlist, for the past six months she has been blasting ABBAâs greatest hits, starting each morning jogging to âDancing Queenâ and âGimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight).â
Allen has plenty of pop radio classics in her queue â but new pop is never in the mix. âItâs a very concerted effort I make to not do that, and to try to be influenced by things that I love and not whatâs current,â Allen explains, âbecause whatâs current now is not going to be current by the time anything I write comes out.â
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Whether she hears todayâs biggest hits or not, Allen is now the one doing the influencing when it comes to the shape of current pop. After years of bouncing around the industry and absorbing sonic ideas, the 32-year-old from a small town in Maine has found her niche in studio sessions with superstars, braiding her appreciation of dense lyricism and 2000s bubblegum â âIâve always loved a big pop chorus and Iâve always loved intricate storytelling,â she says â into an ability to create hits perfectly suited for the TikTok era, but likely to last long beyond it.
Sabrina Carpenterâs Short nâ Sweet, which spent three weeks atop the Billboard 200 following its August release, has been Allenâs highest-profile win as a co-writer to date, with three smash singles (âEspresso,â âTasteâ and Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper âPlease Please Pleaseâ) full of idiosyncratic one-liners that have helped augment Carpenterâs inventive wit and transform her into an arena headliner. Yet Allenâs studio rĂŠsumĂŠ preceding that breakthrough â credits on songs by Olivia Rodrigo, Justin Timberlake, Jonas Brothers, Maren Morris, Koe Wetzel and Niall Horan over the past 18 months alone â underline her status as a collaborator who helps A-listers at all stages of their careers land the right level of emotional punch and unlock the viral-ready turns of phrase that will transform a song into not only a hit, but a cultural moment.
âShe knows how to articulate feelings in a way that most writers would envy,â says Tate McRae, who tapped Allen for the majority of her 2023 album, Think Later, including its slippery rhythmic-pop hit âGreedy,â which peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100. âI feel incredibly lucky to have written my last album with Amy, and I sincerely look forward to all that is to come together in the future.â
Joelle Grace Taylor
Two years after landing her first songwriter of the year, non-classical nomination at the Grammy Awards (she was one of the inaugural nominees for the relatively new honor), Allen seems like a shoo-in to get a nod for the 2025 ceremony â and potentially become the first woman to take home the prize â thanks to the whirlwind success of her past year. Yet her manager, Gabz Landman, points out that, even if Allen is now hitting critical mass, she was a force in the songwriting world years before she was nabbing headlines, now six years removed from co-writing her first Hot 100 No. 1, Halseyâs âWithout Me,â and two years after winning an album of the year Grammy for contributing to Harry Stylesâ Harryâs House.
âShe was an athlete growing up and still runs marathons, and I think a big part of her writing career is this incredible stamina,â says Landman, whoâs also a vp of A&R at Warner Chappell Music. âAmy doesnât quantify or feel proud of things based on chart metrics. She gets contacted by many people to collaborate, and itâs always about whether sheâs inspired by [an opportunity] more than âWhat is this personâs standing in the music industry?â â
That outlook helps explain why, days after Carpenterâs Short nâ Sweet gave Allen a dozen new Hot 100 writing credits, she independently released a self-titled solo album of her own: a 12-song set full of quiet arrangements and understated melodies that sound as far removed from top 40 as possible. The project is the opposite of an iron-hot cash grab â Allen says that some of its songs date back to six years ago, before her songwriting career took off, and they were too meaningful to leave unreleased.
âOne of the reasons why I love Amy is because I really see the both-ness in her â sheâs a songwriter and sheâs a solo artist,â says Jack Antonoff, another studio whiz who also releases his own music with Bleachers. After Antonoff and Allen worked on four songs together for Short nâ Sweet, including âPlease Please Please,â he invited her to open for Bleachers overseas during their summer tour. Allen will also support the band at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 4.
For Allen, her co-writing career and solo work represent two separate parts of her creativity and manifest through disparate processes. âWhen Iâm writing with and for somebody else, I always start with the chorus â listening back to the great pop songs of the â60s and â70s through today, the chorus is the crux of the song,â she says. âWhen Iâm writing by myself, I always start with the first verse and I just tell the story in a through line, start to finish. That helps me keep them separate, and it allows me to still keep falling in love with songwriting all the time.â
Joelle Grace Taylor
Allen didnât know which musical role she wanted to play when she was growing up in Windham, Maine: Her first experience performing was in her older sisterâs band, which needed a bassist and tapped Allen, even though she was 9 and had never played the instrument. After kicking around the music scene in nearby Portland as a teenager, Allen went to nursing school at Boston College (âAs a mistake,â she quips) before transferring to Berklee College of Music, despite not knowing any theory or even how to read sheet music.
âI was literally failing all of my classes,â Allen recalls, âbut I could at least skate by in some of the songwriter classes. The class that helped me the most was actually this poetry class, where we studied great lyricists and poets. Something in my brain clicked about lyric writing, the cadence of rhymes and lines â the little things that might make people roll their eyes and be like, âOh, thatâs so songwriter-y.â â
After graduating, Allen fronted the pop-rock group Amy & The Engine, playing around New York in the mid-2010s before the band broke up and she committed to sharpening her skills as a solo writer. In late 2017, Allen was packing up for a West Coast move, and in her final New York session, she presented songwriter Micah Premnath with a melodic concept that had been stuck in her head â which, after some lyrical workshopping, morphed into âBack to You,â a top 20 hit for Selena Gomez. Soon after Allen touched down in Los Angeles, she linked with producer-songwriter Louis Bell to help make âWithout Me,â then contributed to Stylesâ âAdore You,â which turned into his first Pop Airplay chart-topper as a solo artist.
Allenâs transition from fledgling writer to hit-maker may have been sudden, but she had been studying the greats for a while. She grew up admiring Carole King, John Prine, Dolly Parton and Tom Petty, while also analyzing Max Martinâs pristinely crafted hits for Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys. By the time she attended Berklee, Allen had started to identify her favorite studio minds and study their discographies. âI remember listening to my favorite pop songs, and Julia Michaels was behind all of them â it was like, âWho is this chick that is soundtracking my college years?â â she recalls with a laugh. Now Allen and Michaels share credits on five Short nâ Sweet tracks and sing background vocals together on the song âCoincidence.â (Allen also harmonizes with Carpenter on âEspresso.â)
Amy Allen photographed on August 20, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Joelle Grace Taylor
Like Michaels, Allen has developed a knack for taking straightforward lyrical phrases and contorting them until they stick in your cerebrum â think Carpenter declaring, âThatâs that me, espresso,â or McRae exclaiming, âObvious that you want me, but/I would want myself.â While Allen says she would probably have more 10-second hooks at the ready if she paid closer attention to TikTok, the majority of her biggest co-written choruses have resulted from actual conversations with artists â common ground discovered, then whittled down into universal refrains.
âProduction trends turn over and change every six months, in my opinion,â she says. âBut I think a great song, if itâs stripped down to guitar and piano, melody and lyric â it doesnât change a ton.â
With Carpenter â whom Allen started working with for her last album, 2022âs Emails I Canât Send, contributing extra bite to tracks like âViciousâ and âFeatherâ â Allen has found a confidante and kindred spirit, unafraid to embrace a double entendre or, in the case of the âPlease Please Pleaseâ chorus, a well-placed âmotherfâker.â Antonoff says that he, Allen and Carpenter knocked out three songs for Short nâ Sweet, including âPlease Please Please,â in a single day together at New Yorkâs Electric Lady Studios, often taking breaks to double over in laughter. âThe depth of the d-ck jokes just goes on and on,â he says, âand then a song can happen randomly â thatâs the magic of a studio space.â
Short nâ Sweet earned 1.2 million equivalent album units in just its first three weeks out, according to Luminate, with 11 of its 12 tracks reaching the Hot 100âs top 40. Allen says there are âso many reasons why I feel like I owe Sabrina my first-born child,â but the albumâs commercial success isnât the biggest one.
âHer musicality and personality blow me away every time that we work together,â she says of Carpenter, âbut Iâm also so grateful to her because Iâve never gotten to be part of every song on an album before. Thatâs so in line with what I grew up loving â digging in like that.â
Joelle Grace Taylor
Landman notes that one sign of Allenâs growth is her increased involvement in major pop projects beyond a co-write or two: Along with all of Short nâ Sweet, she contributed to six songs on Timberlakeâs Everything I Thought It Was, six on Wetzelâs 9 Lives and eight on McRaeâs Think Later. Landman chalks that up to two reasons: She picked the right collaborators, and, post-Âpandemic and post-Zoom sessions, in-person studio hangs have let her personality shine. âSheâs had a great rapport with so many artists that have turned into friendships,â Landman says. âAnd I think that people have noted [that] if youâre winning with somebody, keep doing what youâre doing.â
Allen is heeding that advice as she continues picking up co-writing projects and supporting her self-titled solo debut. Releasing an album under her own name has made her realize that the paths can coexist after previously thinking it impossible. âThe last year-and-a-half has made it crystal clear in my brain that I only live once, so why do I have to pick?â she says.
Allen likens the balancing act to the way that any songwriter must find a happy medium between working at a breakneck pace and accruing enough life experiences to have something to write about. Amid a whirlwind professional year, âin terms of taking time off, Iâve done that more this year than any other year in my life,â Allen says. âAnd Iâve been writing my favorite songs Iâve ever written.â
This story appears in the Oct. 5, 2024, issue of Billboard.

The back room of New York Cityâs Heaven Can Wait doesnât usually have a name, but on a breezy September evening, it has become the âChaos Room.â
Red streamers, moody lighting and torn-out pieces of notebook paper with the words âIâM YOUR GIRLâ scrawled across them adorn the walls. And sitting on a small side table is a portable Studebaker CD player, with a set of instructions set to its side.
ââIâm really excited to share this project with you all, hope you love it,’â Orla Gartland reads aloud, giggling to herself as she arrives at the final sentence. ââPlease donât take the CDs.â God, I hope they read that part.â
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Gartland has good reason to feel protective over the disc â on it is the entirety of her sophomore album, Everybody Needs a Hero (out Oct. 4 via New Friends). Sheâs invited an intimate group of her stateside fans to come listen to the project and watch her perform stripped-down versions of a few of its tracks. Before the cozy clubâs doors even opened, the Irish singer-songwriter had already greeted some of the attendees queued up outside.
âThey are so cute,â she says. âSomeone made a badge of my face! I was like, âOh my God, you really put that in your badge machine?â I respect it.ââ
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Itâs an auspicious moment for the 29-year-old: since sharing her first cover on YouTube back in the late 2000s, Gartland has spent the last decade-and-change steadily growing a dedicated online following. With a penchant for confessional lyrics speaking directly to the generational experience of growing up online, sheâs developed a reputation for her DIY approach to crafting emotionally arresting pop songs.
Thereâs still much of that homemade spirit present on Everybody Needs a Hero â Gartland is listed as a writer and co-producer on each of the albumâs 12 tracks. But the LP trades in the quieter sensibilities of a young woman singing acoustic songs in her bedroom for bold, bombastic pieces of production. Blaring guitars and clashing drums are paired, and piercing synths turn up the volume on Gartlandâs alt-pop, making for a dynamic project exploring the inherent chaos of romance.
âWhen I was younger, I dealt with a lot of imposter syndrome, where [I] felt inferior in certain spaces. This time, I was willing to take up more space, willing to commit to things, whether it was a guitar tone or a vocal,â she explains. âI was ready to push myself, and be a bit more indulgent; now I just love the drama more and apologize less.â
Where her critically acclaimed debut album Woman on the Internet leaned into softer, more detached songs about the trials and tribulations of twenty-something life, Gartland aimed to make the entirety of her second album revolve around one of her last long-term relationships, tracking all of its complexity in a single LP. As she explains, âI wanted the good, the bad and the very ugly.â
With that approach came an understanding of what Gartland felt was missing in a lot of pop music: nuance. âI think some pop music has a tendency to dumb things down, to be honest. Itâs either âI love you,â or âI want to break up with you,â or âIâm so much better without you,’â she says. âMy experience is so much more mushy and conflicted than that, and Iâm much more interested in that as an idea. All of these feelings can co-exist, they do not cancel each other out.â
Throughout the 12-song LP, Gartland deftly handles themes of baggage (âLate to the Partyâ), self-doubt (âBackseat Driverâ), manic decision-making (âThree Words Awayâ), being the messy one in the relationship (âLittle Chaosâ) and much more. When constructing the tracklist, she says that she thought about the âseasonsâ of a relationship, from the âreluctance and excitementâ of spring, all the way through to the âhumbling moments of embracing the darknessâ in winter.
That thematic approach marks a pointed departure from Gartlandâs past work. Starting in 2009, Gartland â then a 14-year-old living Drumcondra, a Northern suburb of Dublin â started posting cover songs to YouTube. Armed with only with a guitar, a camera and her distinct voice, Gartland covered everyone from Natalie Imbruglia and Fleetwood Mac to Lorde and Charli XCX before graduating to releases of her original songs.
Where most people look back on their earliest days on the internet with utter embarrassment, Gartland feels a sense of pride. Sure, there are some old videos that make her cringe (âI really thought everyone needed to hear my Nelly Furtado cover,â she winces), but she acknowledges that her time spent as a self-described âYouTube girlieâ molded her into the artist she is now.
âAt one point I really resented the YouTube stigma â I was worried that I wasnât going to be taken seriously,â she says. âBut I realized that, at least with putting music online, you are the master of your own destiny. Itâs not like going on The Voice or American Idol; those shows are great for the right kinds of artists, but you have so little autonomy in how you are presented. I feel very grateful, even more so in hindsight, that itâs been a slow, steady marathon, not a sprint. I feel so lucky to have been in control.â
Moving to London at age 18, Gartland began to pursue her artistry professionally in what she lovingly refers to as the âgarage yearsâ of her career. âIf you think about the trope of a band practicing in their garage, thatâs what that was,â she says. âYou get to have your garage years before you get to play your first live show. But when you grow up on YouTube, your garage years are online and readily available for everyone to see, which can be weird!â
During that time, Gartland met and befriended Lauren Aquilina, a fellow artist with a YouTube following looking to find a career in the music business. Aquilina would go on to live with Gartland for five years while breaking into the music industry as a sought-after songwriter, working with artists including Demi Lovato, Rina Sawayama, LE SSERAFIM, TOMORROW X TOGETHER and others.
Despite their shared aspirations, Gartland says that before she began working on Everybody Needs a Hero, she never wrote with her former roommate. âI have never been more nervous to ask anyone to write a song with me, because the closeness can make it harder,â she says. âIt actually turned out to be just the most effortless thing in the world â you skip the whole âgetting acquaintedâ phase, where this person just knows your humor, they know the chords that you like. You get to feel very heard.â
Orla Gartland
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As Gartland began releasing a string of singles and EPs in the mid-2010s, she decided to start a Patreon for her fans, creating a curated community where experimentation was encouraged. For the last seven years, Gartland has been releasing one demo per month to her loyal subscribers, a move she says proved to be the most beneficial collaboration of her career.
âSometimes [the feedback from fans] is like, âThis is great,â and other times itâs like, âThe second verse could be better,’â she explains. âIâm up for their critiques, because those are the people that I want to come to shows. I want them to feel like theyâre a part of the process.â
While the development of an engaged fan community has been crucial to the rising singer-songwriterâs success, Gartland admits that audience growth was something she rarely found herself strategizing about. What sets her fandom apart, she says, is the importance she places on the people who already follow her.
âI have a strong sense of what the people who already listen to my music want. I care about them the most,â she explains. âIf I manage to catch some passing traffic and it grows a little bit, then great. But I think my response is to listen to the audience I have.â
Gartland experienced the highs of finding viral success in 2022, when her song âWhy Am I Like This?â received a prominent sync on the first season of Netflixâs Heartstopper, soundtracking an episode-closing scene in which main character Nick (Kit Connor) begins to question his sexuality. The song quickly picked up steam online, earning Gartland her first entry on a Billboard chart when the track peaked at No. 4 on the Top TV Songs chart in April 2022.
But Gartland still flinches at the idea of the immediate, viral fame that apps like TikTok can occasionally provide to artists. âIâve had a couple friends who had big surges of attention in one way or another, and it seems like that can be really hard,â she says.
Though the singer has a steady presence on the app, she says that she tries to keep the social media facets of her job at an armâs length. âYou cannot be an independent artist and be above doing a few TikToks,â she says with a sigh. âEven though I grew up online to a degree, some of it feels like work. Some of it I really have to motivate myself to do. But, I see [TikTok] as a useful tool more than anything else.â
As she considers the role of TikTok in the modern music business, Gartland mimes a U-shape in front of her face. âI see the whole album cycle as a horseshoe. The bits that I love are at the top,â she says, pointing to the upper prongs of the invisible arc. âThatâs writing, recording and being in the studio on one side, and then touring at the end once everyoneâs heard it.â Her fingers then follow the horseshoe down to its lowest curve. âItâs everything in between that feels difficult â filming myself miming a song Iâve listened to one million times can get very annoying.â
After spending 2023 working with her friends Dodie, Greta Isaac and Martin Luke Brown in the glam-pop supergroup FIZZ, Gartland had a renewed taste for the dramatic. Working in a band proved to be an important learning experience for Gartland, and a welcome break from the pure ego of a solo career.
âWith my own music, thereâs this very direct ownership to it all. You have nothing to hide behind, and youâre thinking about yourself a lot, which feels very odd,â she explains. âThere was something really fun about FIZZ â the goal was literally to just have fun and be theatrical, be camp. There was almost a cockiness to it that feels so much easier. The otherness of it made it much easier to lean in.â
While she reached one end of the horseshoe with FIZZ in 2023 â the group played multiple festivals and embarked on a 7-date U.K. tour â Gartland found herself at the other end in her solo career. Teaming up with Aquilina, her longtime co-producer Tom Stafford and FIZZ co-producer Peter Miles, Gartland began to craft her sophomore opus.
On the albumâs closing, cathartic title track, Gartland arrives at something of a thesis statement. Over loud, fuzzy guitars, Gartland narrates a story of trying and failing to look brave in front of her ex, finally crumbling and asking for support as they navigate their breakup. âHoney, I donât have much time/ My parachute has come untied/ I need you to hold me/ Stroke my hair and tell me itâll be alright,â Gartland sings on the emotionally raw chorus.
âIâd been thinking a lot about superheroes at the time â not in the Marvel sense, but in the sense that I observe in myself and in a lot of my female friends this want to do it all,â she explains of the song. âThis wanting to be a great friend to everyone, and to be good with your family, and thriving in your career and everything else. I liked the idea of the self-appointed hero; this slightly manic girl trying to do it all, and saving everyone but herself.â
As an artist who spent much of her creative life showing others what âdoing it yourselfâ can look like, Gartland acknowledges that the âself-appointed heroâ can easily serve as a stand-in for herself. But as she looks ahead in her career, the singer says sheâs not interested in becoming pop musicâs new champion, especially if that means signing to a major label. Thanks to the work of artists like Taylor Swift, Gartland says she doesnât feel the pressure to sign anywhere offering her anything less than ideal terms.
âI think in a post-Taylorâs Version world, the signal-boosting of what it actually means to own your own masters, what it means to be locked into a record contract, to be shelved â all of this jargon is out there now, and itâs really good for artists,â she says. âYouâre seeing it happen now with RAYE, where there are all of these artists who are really proudly independent and thriving, and Iâm just really happy to see it.â
That same concept, she says, applies to the trajectory of Gartlandâs future career aspirations. âI would much rather have a slow rise at a glacial, snailâs pace, as long as itâs heading in the right direction and itâs sticking around,â she offers. âIf I can do it on my own terms, then thatâs fâking excellent.â
Fat Joeâs commitment to healthcare price transparency is unwavering. With 32 days until the presidential election, the Bronx native is launching a PSA calling on elected officials to stop the price gouging and ârobbing all of us.â
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The 54-year-old is looking to bring the power back to the people and is putting pressure on those in office. Teaming up with unions, workers and employers, Fat Joeâs healthcare price transparency PSA went live on Thursday (Oct. 3).
âTo every elected official and politician in America, the people stand united,desperate for you to listen,â he says in the spot. âIf youâre not advocating for prices and transparency in healthcare, youâre compromising every single American across this country.â
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Joe continues: âBecause when we canât see prices, hospitals, insurers, and their middlemen charge us whatever they want. Our very own healthcare system is robbing all of us. We just need the prices. Thatâs how our economy works!â
With more than 100 million Americans mired in medical debt, the âLean Backâ rapper hopes to see political leaders take a more honest approach when it comes to crafting a more affordable health care system.
âIf you want to do right by workers, employers, and unions, then youâve gotta to do right by the people they represent and the families who depend upon them,â Joe, 54, (born Joseph Cartagena) demands. âAnd we gotta hear it. Prices now! Power to the Patients.â
Fat Joeâs latest PSA is part of an ongoing advocacy campaign with Power to the Patients looking to garner even more momentum toward significant legislative change for Americans. Before leaving office in 2021, President Donald Trumpâs executive order went into effect requiring hospitals to make prices of health services publicly available.
President Joe Biden followed-up with an executive order of his own in 2023 demanding that the Department of Health and Human Services enforce it. However, a nonprofit called Patient Rights Advocate discovered that most American hospitals are refusing to comply with the rules outlined.
Watch the clip below.