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The planets have aligned and it’s Pluto season once again. The third time’s a charm for Future as he returned with his guest-less Mixtape Pluto album last week, which leads the discussion surrounding the new episode of Billboard Unfiltered.
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Future is angling for his third No. 1 album of 2024 and his eighth consecutive leader on the Billboard 200. For staff writer Kyle Denis, there’s never enough Future in his life. “Never too much Future for me, to be honest,” he said. “‘Told My’ is my favorite song. ‘I told my b—h if I gotta be faithful, I might fall off.’ That’s a bar.”
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Denis continued: “That’s gonna be something I live by for the next eight months or so until the next tape drops maybe. I had a great time with the Future record. I just feel like he never lets me down in terms of giving me a collection of solid tracks that I like to bump for the next couple of months.”
Deputy Director, Editorial Damien Scott lent his stamp of approval to the project. “I love the album, I think it’s great. I also love the other two albums he dropped. There’s only so many hours I could devote to Future. I can’t play him around my kids,” Scott admitted. “It’s not like too much Future, but you could’ve held off on this while we’re still enjoying this other album that still has legs.”
He added: “He’s great at making the story. He’s great at furthering the narrative. Everything we’ve learned about Future is through The Shade Room, which is hilarious because we don’t learn much from his music about him, but he’s able to continue this narrative that we all buy into album after album.”
Over the weekend, Janet Jackson made headlines when she told The Guardian that presidential candidate Kamala Harris is “not black” and she “heard that she’s Indian.” She faced plenty of backlash on social media over the false claims.
Guest anchor and senior producer Tetris Kelly chalked this up to being a classic case of misinformation being spread. “No matter how famous you are, she’s still an auntie,” he said. “That’s the way I look at it. That’s your Black auntie that be at the cookout that be like, ‘Yeah, I saw on Facebook.’ We talk about misinformation and that’s kind of how it works.”
Kyle Denis took a different approach expecting more from Ms. Jackson. “I’m expecting her to be a knowledgable person because she’s a voting citizen who’s grown.”
The discussion took a turn when breaking down Chloe Bailey’s solo career as the fellas gave her advice on how she could capitalize on her talents and fully blossom into a star.
“I think she would do well with an editor or an executive producer to streamline the visions that she has that feel too much on a single song let alone an entire album,” Denis said. “She probably does have too much freedom. Sometimes you need to hone it in.”
Denis thinks there needs to be a realignment for Chloe’s branding so she could reap the benefits like we saw with Sabrina Carpenter and her Short ‘n Sweet summer of dominance.
“When I think of the name Chloe Bailey, a lot of things come to mind, but they’re not really a uniform brand of what Chloe Bailey is or represents,” he continued. “Half the reason people were so into the Sabrina Carpenter arc this year was how well she branded herself across those singles aesthetically, style-wise all that stuff. There’s a disconnect there on that level with Chloe.”
Damien Scott wants to see her hit the studio with a sonic savant like the Grammy-winning Darkchild to help steer her next era’s direction.
“I think there could be a lot of success had if she were to sit down with somebody we all threw out Darkchild. I think she needs a direction. The way that Darkchild talked about working with Brandy, that’s the type of work she needs,” he said. “What are you really trying to say? Let’s find some sounds that match that. Let’s find some themes that match that.”
Watch the full episode below.
Demi Lovato is making sure child influencers are getting the financial protection they deserve. The “Sorry Not Sorry” singer met with California Governor Gavin Newsom this week as he signed into law two pieces of legislation to ensure children and teenagers who perform in online content are protected from financial abuse. Per Newsom’s website, SB 764 (Padilla) […]
Damiano David feels sorrow no more. The Måneskin frontman has embarked on his first solo project, releasing the song “Silverlines” — produced by Labrinth — on Thursday (Sept. 26).
“This song is a very special story to me,” the Italian artist tells Billboard of the emotional track that begins as a raw, stripped-back melancholy tune that fills with hope as it crescendos. “Sometimes, you hear a song and you think, ‘Oh my god, this song talks about me.’ … It was so amazing for me to get to work with such a huge artist and also on a song that, it’s basically describing my whole journey.”
According to David, singer-songwriter Sarah Hudson was already working on the tune with Labrinth when she came up with the idea to connect the two men and have the Måneskin rocker hop on the track, for which he helped pen the lyrics. And given the opportunity to collaborate with Labrinth — who has worked with the likes of Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj and more — he wasn’t about to say no. “If you have the chance to work with Labrinth, you don’t get precious! You just do it!” David laughs, praising his “extremely meticulous” producer and their “very easy” collaboration process. And he’s more than delighted with how “Silverlines” has turned out.
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“It was funny for me how [this] first song was actually, it was, like, all I hoped for,” he marvels of “Silverlines,” which finds him showing a vulnerable side that he had yet to share in his music with Måneskin. “It was like the lyrics are such a message of hope for me because it was exactly what I was aiming for with this record, and now that the record is finished, I look back to that song and it’s like, ‘Wow! That’s basically the last stop of my journey,’ and it’s so funny that it came at the beginning — like [it was] heaven sent.”
“There’s a level of vulnerability that I never reached and a level of honesty that I never managed to reach not because I was not being honest in the other songs,” he adds. “I had to dig deeper into myself in order to even get to this information and then be able to transform it into music.”
David explains that part of the reason he had not yet shared this more personal side of him in Måneskin was because he wanted to respect the band’s strong identity — which he credits as part of its success — and also the “role that was assigned to him,” but it wasn’t showing him as a whole person. “At one point I started to really suffer this very partial point of view of myself that I myself was giving to the world … I knew that I was the one choosing only to express that,” he shares, emphasizing that he takes responsibility for that, and is now, with his solo work, revealing a fuller picture of who Damiano David is. “Literally my brain and my body rebelled to me and forced me to actually kind of cut me open, cut myself open and show myself to the world.”
And that honesty is right there in his favorite lyrics from “Silverlines”: A smile/ I welcome you/ A darkness/ I’ve long forgotten you/ And peace belongs to me. “That’s what happened. This is the part that I share with the audience — it’s the public part of the work I’ve done,” explains David, who moved to Los Angeles in January, where he spent a few months by himself to figure out his priorities. “I of course did a lot of personal work and personal growing, and I cut some things out of my life and I replaced [them] with new, healthier, more beautiful ones. I think now things are better.”
Helping him pull back the curtain is the accompanying music video for “Silverlines,” a theatrical visual directed by Nono + Rodrigo that shows first the struggle, then the endless possibilities that await David. “One of the main topics of the whole thing is like, more than having the world,” he shares. “For me, it’s more like, from now on, it’s a white sheet and I’m able to actually … make my visuals become reality.”
And now that he’s sharing a closer look at himself with his solo music, the vocalist is excited to see what’s on the horizon, though nabbing a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 for “Silverlines” may not be at the top of his list. “I don’t want to be like a hypocrite and say I don’t care about the charts because of course I care! Everybody cares!” he admits. “But at the same time, the goal of this song is not topping the charts. I’m introducing myself to the world, so I don’t expect to be first from the first day. Actually, I don’t expect to be first any time. But I’m just very glad I have the opportunity to do this, and the results will come.”
Check out Damiano David’s debut solo song, “Silverlines,” and its video below:
Kendrick Lamar star has never shined brighter.
Earlier this month, he once again brought the rap world to a halt with the release of an untitled song on his Instagram account just a few days after he announced that he would be headlining Super Bowl 59. For the cover art, he used a picture of a pair of tattered black Nike Air Force 1s. The artwork matches the same aesthetic as the the artwork for “6:16 in LA” and “Meet the Grahams,” but as far as we know, there’s no backstory behind the sneakers in the picture.
However, there is a nice little wrinkle that came up a couple days ago. The picture is from an eBay listing posted by “Good2BYou” that belongs to Billy Lingo and Darla Wilson, a couple from North Little Rock, Arkansas. The Internet had already figured out that the picture came from eBay, but no one knew who was behind the account until now.
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Local news station THV11 caught up with the couple to talk about the absurdity of the situation. “What happened was I sold the shoes and I said, ‘Oh great,I sold a pair of shoes,’” Wilson recalled of that fateful September night. “So I got ‘em, boxed ‘em up, printed the label, and all of a sudden, my phone was blowing up.” They sold the sneakers for the asking price of $70, but cancelled the order when they were made aware of Lamar and the song.
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“Well, I’m not gonna lie to you,” Lingo explained while wearing a shirt with a picture of the sneakers on it. “I didn’t know a whole lot about him. and I knew who he was — my son told me about him and my daughter told me about him — But, I really know about him now.” Adding, “We had an opportunity put before us, and I’m not a greedy person. I’ve got the ‘Buy It Now’ for $100,000 or ‘Buy It Now’ for $75,000, and I know that’s probably not going to happen, but it could.”
If you want a piece of rap history, the bidding starts at $5,000 with this Sunday (Sept. 29) at 1:00 a.m. or you can cut in front of the line for a mere 75 racks. There are zero bids, so far.
Billboard reached out to Kendrick’s camp for comment.
Justin Johnson, one of the suspects in the November 2021 murder of Young Dolph (Adolph Thorton Jr.), was found guilty on first-degree murder as well as charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, per FOX13.
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A jury reached the verdict during a court hearing in Memphis on Thursday (Sept. 26) after about four hours of deliberation.
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Following the fourth day’s closing arguments, Johnson was sentenced to life in prison on the first-degree murder charge by Judge Jennifer Mitchell and he will learn his fate when it comes to the additional charges during a November court date. Johnson never took the defense stand.
“Every murder’s a tragedy, and we take them all seriously,” said Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy. “This one generated extra public interest because Young Dolph was a prominent and beloved member of the community. We will continue to fight hard to make sure that all of those responsible for his death are brought to justice.”
Johnson and fellow alleged gunman, Cornelius Smith, ambushed Young Dolph on Nov. 17, 2021, at Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies in his hometown. They allegedly fired 22 shots while striking and killing the Paper Route Empire CEO.
Smith took the stand on Monday (Sept. 23) after pleading guilty to murder charges. He implicated himself along with Justin Johnson as well as Hernandez “Quett” Govan and Yo Gotti‘s brother Anthony “Big Jook” Mims in Dolph’s murder.
Smith claimed that Big Jook put a $100,000 bounty on Dolph and explained that he and Johnson were each supposed to collect $40,000 after killing the Memphis rapper.
However, Smith testified that he only ended up receiving $800, but Big Jook did step in to pay $50,000 in lawyer fees once he was apprehended. Although, Jook was murdered while leaving a funeral in January.
The same day Dolph was killed also happened to be Smith’s daughter’s birthday. Smith said he had no money and wanted to make sure she had a “beautiful birthday” if he got his hands on the cash.
“Man, I was trying to make it right for her,” he told the court on Monday. “I ain’t have no money, I’m trying to get some money that day. So I’m trying to make sure my baby girl have a beautiful birthday.”
Dolph released seven studio albums while he was alive and a posthumous LP, Paper Route Frank, arrived in 2022. He also has four Billboard Hot 100 hits to his name. The Memphis trailblazer is survived by his fiancée Mia Jaye and their two children. Young Dolph was 36 years old.
Wedding bells seem to be on the horizon for Lana Del Rey! The “Summertime Sadness” superstar and boat captain Jeremy Dufrene reportedly obtained a marriage license on September 23, People confirmed with the Lafourche Parish Clerk of Court. Once a marriage license is obtained, the couple has 30 days to tie the knot. Billboard has […]
Karol G tallies a second week at No. 1 spot on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart as “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” holds atop the ranking (dated Sept. 28). She is just the third woman in a solo role to rule the chart in 2024, after Tini and Nicki Nicole, whose “Pa” and “Ojos […]
Pink is speaking out about a rumor that’s spread online this week linking her to Sean “Diddy” Combs following his recent arrest. The rumor in question began with people noticing that the pop singer had wiped her account clean on X. In light of the Bad Boy Records founder readying himself for trial on charges […]
During a conversation with Bootleg Kev, Consequence was asked about a rumor involving Ye and Kendrick Lamar having “an album’s worth of unreleased songs together” and if he’s heard them. Not only did the Queens rapper confirm that said songs exist and that he’s heard them, he also said that the tracks were produced by […]
Hayley Williams is sending love Lady Gaga‘s way, from one alternative fashion queen to another. Following the pop superstar’s Harlequin listening party in London on Wednesday (Sept. 25), the Paramore frontwoman shared a picture of Gaga’s look at the event on Instagram Stories and wrote, “When Gaga serves up this specific flavor of punky indie […]