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Coldplay have made a habit of throwing the odd cover into the tightly scripted set of their record-setting Music of the Spheres world tour. But during Sunday night’s show at Accor Stadium in Sydney, Australia — the final gig in a four-night stand at the 83,500-capacity venue — they busted out an unexpected take on […]
When U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. and pop rock singer GAYLE collaborated on the end title song “Between the Lines” for Left Behind, an inspiring documentary about several mothers’ fight to open the first New York City public school dedicated to children with dyslexia, it was personal.
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Mullen’s oldest son has dyslexia, as does GAYLE. Mullen approached GAYLE about working together, who says it was a “no brainer.”
“I have been pretty public about the fact that I have dyslexia, and that is something that has been a part of my whole entire life,” GAYLE tells Billboard over a Zoom with Mullen. “Larry reached out to me about trying to collaborate for this documentary. He was talking about how passionate he was about the project, especially the fact that he has a child that has been affected with dyslexia. He had a view as a parent seeing how it’s affected his child. He didn’t have to sell me in any way.”
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The catchy, propulsive song, which premieres below, is spiky and defiant, driven by Mullen’s drumming and the GAYLE’s refrain, “special and weird is hard to come by,” and her lyrics that explain what it feels like from her experience to be dyslexic. A dramatic bridge heightens the emotional appeal.
Mullen was familiar with GAYLE’s breakthrough hit “abcedefu” because it had been a big hit in his native Ireland and he was also aware that she had dyslexia, which was of critical importance to him in a writing partner. “I was really anxious that when I agreed to do [the song] that somebody who actually had dyslexia was involved and they would do the lyrics,” he says. “It was just completely fortuitous and luck that myself and GAYLE kind of fell into each other.”
Mullen and his co-writers, Reed Berlin and David Baron, had ideas for the track, as did GAYLE, and “we found a compromise” through their generational divide and diverse styles, Mullen says. “It was a collide of cultures, two different eras coming together. And the collision is kind of a beautiful one despite the musical differences.”
GAYLE and Mullen talked on the phone about the tenacious spirit of the documentary and how to capture that attitude. GAYLE admits that without the prompting of the film, she likely would not have written a song about having dyslexia, but “because of my experience of being dyslexic and experiencing that my whole entire life, it was not a hard subject for me to write about. It was beautiful opportunity for me to talk about something that I struggle with on a daily basis.”
Within two days, GAYLE sent Mullen her lyrical ideas. “He’s such a legend, obviously. I was extremely intimidated,” she says, even telling him, “‘If you hate this, that’s completely fine.’” Mullen more than liked the direction and took the lyrics and finished the musical track.
Though Mullen had been involved as one of the film’s producers with his production partner Chris Farrell, he says it was GAYLE’s involvement that gave him “the kick we needed” to finish the music because her lyrics were so strong. “It’s not about being angry. For GAYLE, it’s about the frustration and being able to articulate that which is what makes it just so such a powerful idea. GAYLE is relatable as a powerful young woman out there doing stuff that us old guys can’t do,” Mullen says with a laugh.
The two still haven’t met in person — and it’s clear over Zoom that GAYLE is still a little awed by Mullen. “I haven’t even told Larry this, but I used to cover [U2] songs when I was a little kid, and I used to play at farmer’s markets and I’d have a little hat out, just begging for dollar bills, and I would buy an ice cream sandwich with the money,” she says. “So obviously, it just means so much to have somebody that I think is just so talented and such a legend in music to collaborate on a song. It’s just such an honor. And then for him to speak so kindly about me and my musicality and my music sensibilities, it really means a lot.”
Left Behind
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Though the film deals specifically with mothers in New York City, whose activism led to the opening of the South Bronx Literacy Academy in 2023 with more schools on the way, the universality of the story appealed to Mullen. His son, now 29, “fell through the cracks,” he says, in terms of getting diagnosed. “It’s only in the last 10 years that he’s kind of turning it around and starting to understand dyslexia and what it has meant to him. And through that discovery, I’ve learned something about my own reaction to it… so it was in that spirit that I got involved in the film.”
“A lot of people can see dyslexia as a disadvantage, and it definitely is extremely difficult, especially when you’re in the education system,” says GAYLE, whose eye doctor diagnosed her dyslexia when she was in elementary school. “I was in a family full of readers, and it was so frustrating to not understand why it was so much easier for my brother and my mother to read. I’ve learned so much about myself while having this be such a deep part of my life. But I think there’s a lot of frustrating parts about it as well. I think that’s why I wanted to put ‘special and weird is a thinning line,’ because while it’s something that’s really difficult, it’s also a superpower at the same time.”
Mullen, along with Baron, also wrote “One of Us,” which is heard briefly at the beginning of the documentary and then again at the end of the film after “Between the Lines” plays. Donna Lewis, best known for her ‘90s hit “I Love You Always Forever” sings the tune. Unlike “Between the Lines,” Mullen co-wrote “One of Us” to work with the images at the beginning of the film and as he watched his son watch the documentary. “I could feel his stress and this real discomfort, so I actually just translated that into a pair of drumsticks, and I started to feel what he was feeling. It was me trying to let the sticks dictate what was going on through his eyes.”
For Mullen to be able to play on the film’s songs was a major victory given that he has been in recovery from neck surgery that prevented him from playing with U2 during the band’s Sphere run earlier this year. “I’ve been out of action for quite a while. I’m just back a couple of months,” he says. “It was great to be able to do this track because I could play on it, whereas six months ago, I couldn’t because I had a neck surgery. So, I’m just getting back in and it’s slow, methodical. This project was a lot of fun.”
Both Mullen and GAYLE are aware that their involvement can help bring awareness to the film and to dyslexia. “I’m personally trying to sit in the middle, advocating for [those with dyslexia] to not be underestimated, while also still acknowledging the difficulties that come with dyslexia,” GAYLE says.
Similarly, Mullen hopes the film can make people think. “I just think this is a really pertinent question for people to ask about an education system that’s essentially screwed up, and that demonizes and persecutes children for thinking differently,” he says. “If we can just change the conversation, even for a minute, I think that that’s a good thing.”
Left Behind, directed by Emmy Award winner Anna Toomey, premiered at the Woodstock (N.Y.) Film Festival in October and will run as part of DOC NYC Nov. 20-21. Abramorama has acquired the North American theatrical rights to the documentary and will kick off a theatrical release Jan. 17 at New York’s QUAD Cinema.
SXM Music Festival will bring a sprawling crew of artists back to the beaches and hilltops of Saint Martin for the festival’s eighth edition in March.
The lineup for the 2025 fest includes house music pioneer Danny Tenaglia, techno globetrotter Nicole Moudaber, Afrohouse phenom Francis Mercier, U.K. progressive house stars CamelPhat, German house/techno legend Amê, house producer Layla Benitez and a crew of other house and techno artists from around the world, with additional artists to be announced in the coming months.
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The five-day fest, happening March 12-16, will also feature showcases from Defected Records, Israeli label Frau Blau and the New York label Indo Warehouse.
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Presale tickets for SXM 2025 go on sale Nov. 14, with general tickets going on sale the following day.
Founded by Julian Prince, SXM has happened on St. Martin since 2016 and typically draws attendees from more then 35 countries. The 2025 edition of the festival will once again take place in locations around the island, including a private villa, a Sunday morning sunrise party on the beach, and the annual Panorama Party that happens on the island’s highest hilltop. The event will also offer day trips including hikes and cultural excursions.
In 2017, after the island was devastated by Hurricane Irma — which left an estimated 95% of the French side of the island destroyed — SXM organizers collected more than $38,000 for the relief effort. The event was one of the few festivals to happen in 2020 before the pandemic shut down the live events space, and after a postponed 2021 event also due to the pandemic, returned to Saint Martin in 2022.
Along with music and partying, SXM focuses on leaving a small footprint and helping replenish the area’s natural environments via initiatives that include going paperless, saving energy with LED and solar lights, and eliminating plastic waste throughout the festival.
See the phase one lineup below:
SXM Festival
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When Mike Jones, Slim Thug and Paul Wall first cut “Still Tippin,’” they weren’t seeking superstardom, just a bonafide street hit. But with the classic track, the three Houston MCs — and the people behind them — propelled Houston into a hip-hop hub.
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“Still Tippin’” received its major release on November 12, 2004 — though it was a hit in the streets and clubs of Houston over a year prior. But Jones had spent years just trying to make it as an artist. At his side was his mother and grandmother, who were his biggest supporters in his creative journey — and inspired the famous “Who? Mike Jones!” adlib.
“I was trying to go to the club and get my music played,” Jones tells Billboard. “People were making fun of me, like, ‘Are you Biggie?’ I’m like ‘I’m Mike Jones.’ and they’d be like, ‘Who?’ And my grandma and mom said, ‘Throw it back in their face’”
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Jones was discovered by Swishahouse founder and president Michael Watts in the late ‘90s, after artist manager — then A&R man — T Farris suggested Watts get him to rap on Swishahouse mixtapes. At the time, Watts says that Jones was performing freestyles and mixes at strip clubs for the women to dance to. “I went there to go check him out,” Watts recalls, “and I said, ‘Hey, why don’t you come to the studio and lay down a few freestyles?’”
Jones would later cut some tracks for the Swishahouse crew before signing in the early 2000s, but his Houston breakthrough would come in the form of “Still Tippin’” — in its original 2003 iteration.
The song first appeared on Swishahouse’s The Day Hell Broke Loose 2 mixtape, not necessarily as a Jones single, but a compilation track comprised of the Swishahouse roster. “The song was so strong, that we ended up partnering with Asylum. So we used this song that was hot on the streets as a single for Mike Jones,” says Watts.
The original version of “Still Tippin’” had a verse by Chamillionaire instead of Wall, and rides a different instrumental. Watts remembers that the artists didn’t want to rap over the beat we know and love today — composed of a downtempo percussive loop and a hypnotic sample of Giachiono Rossini’s “Willam Tell Overture” by the South German Philharmonic Orchestra and Alfred Scholz. “No one originally wanted to rap on that song,” says Watts. “So what I did was, I reproduced it, I put the hook on it, put Slim, Mike, and Paul’s verse on it, and that’s how that song came about.”
Jones remembers it differently, crediting the main version’s producer for crafting the simple yet memorable loop we know today. “Shoutout Salih Williams. That was all him,” Jones says. “It was his idea. Like ‘let me create it off of this vibe,’ and we just did what we did.”
One of the biggest factors in the song’s rise was its music video. Before the eras of YouTube, Vevo, and TikTok, the “Still Tippin’” visual became a staple late-night video on the after-hours program BET Uncut through word of mouth.
The video is fairly simple, featuring the rappers driving through the streets of Houston in Escalades and cars decked out with rims and dubs. Notable moments include a callback to Jones’ days in the strip club and Slim receiving road head (oral sex while driving) — both of which were cut from the daytime version. But scandalous moments aside, Jones believes that the music and the car culture depicted in the video is what made it a classic.
“This was a good song that both sides of the city of Houston could come together and ride with,” Jones says. “We got the south side with the candy red cars [and] we got the north side with the candy blue cars.”
Helming the video was John “Dr. Teeth” Tucker, a Cincinnati native who became an advocate for southern hip-hop after attending Texas Southern University in Houston. After college, Teeth worked as a producer on BET’s Rap City — and would often rave about southern hip-hop artists to his colleagues.
“These guys were going platinum without a deal, because they were making this music between Louisiana and Oklahoma and Texas — and going on tour,” Teeth recalls. “And I was telling the people back about UGK and Southside Players and DJ Screw and Swishaouse. I was telling them about these guys back in Texas — and up north, man, New Yorkers feel like hip hop starts with them and it ends with them. They weren’t trying to hear nothing about the South.”
As Teeth became more invested in southern hip-hop, he continued to document and highlight these artists — and later, made UGK’s Bun B a southern correspondent on Rap City. He also created the “The Booth” portion of Rap City: Tha Bassment, where artists brushed off their freestyle skills and showcased a fiar share of southern acts.
Teeth eventually left BET and moved back to Houston to pursue a career as a music video director. Upon his return, he remembers meeting a man named Wally, who was doing distribution for Swishahouse. Wally urged Teeth to meet with Swishahouse’s CEO G-Dash to discuss shooting videos for Swishahouse to distribute on DVDs. When meeting G-Dash, Teeth said he would shoot a video for Mike Jones for $30,000. However, according to Teeth, “He didn’t want to put down the money.”
G-Dash, Teeth, and Wally later met up, with Wally mediating. Teeth eventually agreed to do the video, capturing various aspects of Houston street culture. In portions of the video, Watts is seen spinning “Still Tippin’” on turntables, as a woman dances to the track. According to Teeth, this woman was recruited from a local strip club.
“I picked her because she was generating all the attention in the strip club,” says Teeth. “People were drawn to her and she had an energy to her. They were like a moth to the flame.” For Teeth, everything about the video was intentional — not for mainstream success, but for Houston rap fans. “I said, ‘Let’s make it for your fans, because DVDs were heavy and we can make a DVD around this and sell it if we can never get it to BET’.”
Jones also only anticipated this being a Houston hit, which is why he felt comfortable wearing a shirt with his personal phone number — (281) 330-8004 — on it. This also came as a suggestion from his grandmother, who died in 2003, before the video’s official release.
“I didn’t want to give out my phone number at first,” Jones says. “My grandma was like, ‘Do something that ain’t nobody else doing. Be personal to the fans. Give out your phone number.’ And I was like ‘Man, I’m not finna give out my phone number.’ I eventually gave out my phone number. Thank God for her giving me that direction.’” Today, the phone number has since been reactivated as a fan hotline.
To the surprise of Teeth and the Swishahouse crew, the song became a slow-burning hit — so much so that Teeth had to cut a second version for rotation on MTV channels, as well as BET’s daytime countdown 106 & Park. Thankfully, Teeth had plenty of footage to comply with the networks’ requests. “I hate the 106 & Park version,” Teeth jokes. “Asylum didn’t give us the money to go back and reshoot what we shot before, and we shot on an older film camera.”
Since its release, “Still Tippin’” has peaked at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified platinum. The video also earned a nomination in the MTV2 Category at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards.
“That song is so personal to me, because when you look at that video, it’s 100% a vision that God gave to me. To put the city that I live in now on the map and give respect to the pioneers of of Houston sound,” says Teeth. “And to me what makes it so great is that it was nominated for a viewers choice award. It’s more than just what he did on the charts. It’s what the people connected to and I’m really proud of that.”
To this day, “Still Tippin’” continues to make an impact in hip-hop. Artists like ASAP Rocky, Lil Uzi Vert, and Normani have gone on to sample the track in their own works. The song is also a staple at any Texas function.
“If it didn’t blow up nowhere else, we knew it was going to blow up in Texas,” says Jones. “Everybody’s big on rides and cars. We still tippin’, and people that are from where we’re from understand the lingo.”
As TobyMac’s “Nothin’ Sweeter” crowns Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart (dated Nov. 16), the singer-songwriter rewrites the record for the most leaders, 14, among soloists since the survey began in 2003. He surpasses Matthew West, after the pair had shared the mark since July. Among all acts, TobyMac ties duo for King & Country for the […]
Blake Shelton was born in Oklahoma, but the singer will be in a Lone Star state of mind (again) on his upcoming single. Shelton will release the song “Texas” on Friday (Nov. 15), which a press release described as a “fresh and addictive” track that “captures the classic theme of lost love with a twist […]
The vibe for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame induction on Nov. 6 was a little odd.
Less than 24 hours after an election with results that many pundits see as a pushback against diversity, the Hall welcomed six new members whose output covered a nicely diverse stylistic landscape that touches on country, pop and R&B.
The class featured two performing artists — The Bellamy Brothers’ David Bellamy and late multigenre figure Tony Joe White — plus Liz Rose (“You Belong With Me,” “Crazy Girl”), Victoria Shaw (“I Love the Way You Love Me,” “The River”), Al Anderson (“Unbelievable,” “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright”) and Dan Penn (“Cry Like a Baby,” “Do Right Woman — Do Right Man”).
It was just the third time in the Hall’s 54-year history that two women were inducted together. Prior to Rose and Shaw simultaneously joining, Shania Twain and Hillary Lindsey (“Blessed,” “Jesus, Take the Wheel”) were installed in 2022, and Tammy Wynette and Kye Fleming (“Smoky Mountain Rain,” “Nobody”) were recognized in 2009.
“It’s extra special that there’s two women this time,” Shaw noted in her acceptance speech. “Someday we won’t have to point that out, but it’s still nice.”
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The diversity of the current class was represented by performances that ranged from swamp rock to gospel-flecked soul to pure country. Karen Fairchild applied a spiked tone to Little Big Town’s four-part harmony on Rose’s “Girl Crush,” Nikki Lane balanced a cutting vocal resonance against Kenny Vaughan’s smoky guitar on White’s bluesy “Polk Salad Annie,” and Garth Brooks milked the silence between the phrases in a folky rendition of the Shaw co-writes “A Friend to Me,” “She’s Every Woman” and “The River.” John Andersonoffered a greasy, driving interpretation of Bellamy’s “Redneck Girl”; Wendy Moten prefaced Penn’s induction with a dramatically dynamic version of the 1960s soul single “The Dark End of the Street”; and Vince Gill participated in Al Anderson’s segment by performing“Some Things Never Get Old,” a ballad Anderson recorded as a solo artist, with backing vocalist Carolyn Dawn Johnsonand bassist Glenn Worf.
Nikki Lane performs onstage during the 54th Anniversary Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame Gala at Music City Center on November 06, 2024 in Nashville.
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Acceptance in the Hall is notable. It’s an unpredictable — and thus, insecure — vocation, and sustained success is often elusive. Bellamy recalled that his father pestered him to develop a backup plan in the early part of his career, assuming that songwriting wasn’t likely to pay the bills. Jim Stafford’s recording of Bellamy’s “Spiders and Snakes” changed that, starting a hit list that includes “Old Hippie,” “Kids of the Baby Boom” and “If I Said You Have a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me.”
“My dad called me — I was on the road somewhere,” Bellamy noted during his speech. “He had been to the mailbox and got my first royalty check. He said, ‘Son, I think you’re going to be able to make a living at this.’ ”
For Al Anderson, songwriting built upon his guitar skills, burnished during a run in the eclectic band NRBQ. He became adept at creating hooky, uptempo songs.
“He knows 400,000 chords,” fellow songwriter Sharon Vaughan (“Powerful Thing”) said while inducting Anderson. “During the writing of a song, he uses about 200,000 of them before you get to the second verse.”
Anderson was enthusiastic. He enlisted fellow writer Tia Sillers (“I Hope You Dance”) to speak on his behalf, and she stood at his side on a box, placing her at his eye level. But Anderson still got in a few words before leaving the stage.
“It’s a beautiful thing, writing songs,” he quipped. “You can’t beat it. It’s just the shit.”
Penn’s induction embodied the country/R&B blend that has become increasingly prominent in country circles. He fashioned hits for the likes of Ronnie Milsap,Johnny Rodriguez and T.G. Sheppard in the 1970s, though his journey was rooted more typically in pop and soul. His career started in earnest in the Muscle Shoals region and took off after he moved to Memphis, where he scored with James & Bobby Purify’s recording of “I’m Your Puppet” and James Carr’s “The Dark End of the Street.”
“Dark End” exemplifies Penn’s ability to fuse styles. It rose to prominence in the 1960s, when he still lived in Memphis, though he authored it during a break in a Nashville poker game. Despite its soul history, “Dark End” authors David Cantwell and Bill Friskics-Warren recognized it in the Country Music Foundation book Heartaches by the Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles. It fits both blue-collar genres in part because of its theme.
“We were always trying to come up with the best cheating song ever,” he was known to say, according to his inductor, songwriter Gretchen Peters (“Independence Day”).
White’s career path likewise wound through both Tennessee music capitals — son Jody White, in accepting his late father’s induction, recalled The Blues Brothers hanging out at the family’s house in Memphis and watching football at Waylon Jennings’Nashville home. White’s biggest copyright, “A Rainy Night in Georgia,” also transcended boundaries, providing soul singer Brook Benton with a classic recording and becoming a country hit for Hank Williams Jr.
“It just invokes a feeling of loneliness,” Jody said before ceremony, “and I think that’s what’s special about it. It’s hard to just make someone have that strong of a feeling by listening to your song.”
Rose is also a genre-hopper. While her songs have succeeded primarily in country, she’s co-written 17 Taylor Swift releases, and they include both country hits (“Tim McGraw,” “Teardrops on My Guitar”) and music from her pop era (particularly the 10-minute “All Too Well”).
Despite the ceremony’s proximity to a contentious election, the Hall of Fame demonstrated how songwriters can pull together even when they disagree. A bit surprisingly, during the course of the evening, neither presenters nor inductees mentioned the election.
“What’s great about this community, everybody’s walking in that room, [feeling] part of the music community as songwriters,” Rose said on the red carpet. “There should be no politics. We all love each other, and that’s being an American.”
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When rumors of a lingering rift between two of KATSEYE’s six members reached the girl group this summer, they quickly turned the chatter into a viral moment. “We’re literally fine lol,” read the caption on a photo of Lara and Manon holding hands and posing on a backdrop of dolphins and rainbows, playing into a […]
When rumors of a lingering rift between two of KATSEYE’s six members reached the girl group this summer, they quickly turned the chatter into a viral moment. “We’re literally fine lol,” read the caption on a photo of Lara and Manon holding hands and posing on a backdrop of dolphins and rainbows, playing into a then-current TikTok trend around Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson’s “Symphony.”
“One thing I love about this group is how Gen Z we are,” says Manon. “We saw all of that and were like, ‘Okay, funny. Let’s do this TikTok and put an end to this.’” The 11-second post has since compiled more than 5.4 million views.
The savvy social media approach is just one of the effective strategies that the rising group and their team at HxG (HYBE x Geffen Records, which represents a joint venture between the Korean-entertainment conglomerate and Universal Music Group) employ to hook new fans. Another, naturally, has been with the music: KATSEYE’s latest single, “Touch,” packs crisp drum-and-bass production, twinkling electro-pop flourishes and a swirl of pop-R&B harmonies into two minutes and ten seconds. Co-produced by Cashmere Cat (Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Charli XCX), the hit has latched onto U.S. radio and helped to build the group’s following stateside.
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Sophia
Austin Hargrave
Megan
Austin Hargrave
KATSEYE was formed from HYBE and Geffen Records’ ambitious Dream Academy competition in 2023. The YouTube series sought to create a genuinely “global” girl group, and of a reported 120,000 applicants from around the world, 20 were selected to head to Los Angeles and prepare in the style of the infamously rigorous K-pop training methods before competing for a spot in the group. The multiweek contest concluded that November, with the six final members representing a culturally diverse lineup: Manon, 22 (from L.A.); Lara, 19 (Zurich); Daniela, 20 (Atlanta); Megan, 18 (Honolulu); Sophia, 21 (Manila, Philippines); and Yoonchae, 16 (Seoul, South Korea).
A subsequent Netflix series, Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE, documented the behind-the-scenes journey of whittling down the 20-person training camp into its final form — including all of its biggest trials and tribulations — and creating a natural curiosity for viewers to check out the group’s music. Wisely, in the days leading to the eight-episode competition series’ premiere on the streaming service in August, KATSEYE released its debut EP, SIS (Soft Is Strong). The five-track project has writing contributions from HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk, Ryan Tedder and Justin Tranter (with the former two earning production credits as well), debuted at No. 6 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, and appeared on the Billboard 200.
The group’s aptly titled first single “Debut” arrived in late June to kick-start the project’s rollout, but even then, the members were even more excited for their next release, the alt-pop smash “Touch.” “It was all of our favorite when we first heard it,” says Daniela. “We just had that gut feeling.” Adds Manon: “Our creative director Humberto [Leon] kept telling me, ‘‘Touch’ is the one, just wait and see.’”
From left: Sophia, Daniela, Manon, Megan, Lara and Yoonchae of KATSEYE photographed October 29, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
Manon
Austin Hargrave
The group made a strong push on social media for the song when it arrived on streaming services on July 26. In hopes of creating a viral dance trend, KATSEYE executive creator Son Sungdeuk crafted choreography designed to be both simple and memorable. Small, TikTok-friendly moves — like the chorus’ pinky-to-thumb touching gestures — were intentional hooks meant to attract fan engagement. “I feel like it’s not so hard for people to learn,” says Daniela, adding that the “little booty pop” — which Sophia interjects is “my favorite!” — was another move to draw in listeners. “I was like, ‘People are going to gag.’ It’s so cute.”
KATSEYE’s multi-pronged digital focus for the song included partnering with fan bases in the K-pop world, such as a TikTok post of Manon and Yoonchae dancing to “Touch” with Heeseung and Ni-ki of ENHYPEN (a boy band under HYBE sublabel Belift Lab). The video has 27 million views to date, while three other clips showcasing “Touch” on the group’s account have more than 15 million. Importantly, such success helped prove that KATSEYE was ready to thrive in more traditional stateside promotions.
“We had our eye on radio but knew we needed key levers to feel confident it was the right time to go,” says Mitra Darab, president of HxG at HYBE America. “We would see significant growth weekly not only at DSPs [digital service providers], but in TikTok and Reels creates and their social growth. We also knew we needed a big cultural moment to bring awareness to the group, which we achieved with the Netflix documentary. Once that was released, all our goals started to fall into place.”
Daniela
Austin Hargrave
From left: Lara, Daniela, Megan, Manon, Yoonchae and Sophia of KATSEYE photographed October 29, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
To gauge their appeal in the U.S., KATSEYE held a meet-and-greet and performance at Minneapolis’ Mall of America in October to connect with the growing fandom, collectively known as EYEKONS. Thousands of fans showed up. “Mall of America proved to us that this isn’t just about ‘Touch,’” says Darab.
“I think we built a fanbase that is just like us,” Lara adds. “EYEKONS are so funny; they have the same humor as all of us. I feel like they are the types of people that we would be friends with in real life.”
By October, “Touch” had appeared on several of Billboard’s international charts, including in the Philippines, Canada, Taiwan and Malaysia and cracked the upper half of the Billboard Global 200. It also reaches a new No. 32 high on the U.S.-based Pop Airplay chart dated Nov. 16, and the song has 229.9 million official on-demand global streams through Nov. 7, according to Luminate. “We couldn’t help but put so much heart into it,” says Sophia. “We really could feel that this was going to bleed through to the fans.”
Yoonchae
Austin Hargrave
Lara
Austin Hargrave
While planning is already in full swing for 2025, KATSEYE is now preparing for a performance, which will feature the Los Angeles Rams cheerleaders, at the 2024 MAMA Awards in Los Angeles on Nov. 21 — marking the first time the eminent K-pop awards show will take place in the U.S. — and slots on iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball tour (visiting Dallas and Boston in December). “We don’t want to move on from ‘Touch’ just yet, but we’re never not working,” Manon says, true to her word as they talk to Billboard over a Zoom video call from their L.A. rehearsal studio. “A black box with a white light where we spend most of our days,” they crack, all in dance gear.
For KATSEYE, that drive is for a greater good. The young women see KATSEYE’s multicultural makeup as a starting point to shake up the sound of pop worldwide. “It’d be so nice to incorporate that within our music so it’s something different than we’ve been hearing before,” says Megan. “It’s such a superpower that we all come from different parts of the world.”
A version of this story appears in the Nov. 16, 2024, issue of Billboard.
In 2003, Eminem made Oscar history with “Lose Yourself,” the first rap song to win best original song. Now he’s in contention for another top honor. He’s one of 26 songwriters or songwriting teams vying for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year.
Just six will be elected – three from 13 nominees in the performing songwriters category and three from 13 nominees in the songwriters category, which is reserved for non-performing songwriters. The six inductees will be celebrated at the SHOF’s 2025 Induction & Awards Gala in New York City, which is expected to be in June at the event’s usual home, the Marriott Marquis.
All but five of the 26 nominees are individuals. The five collaborations on the ballot are Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan; Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter; Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham; three members of The Doobie Brothers (Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald and Patrick Simmons); and five former members of N.W.A (Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella).
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Almost all the nominees are still living. The only exceptions are Sloan, who died in 2015 at age 70, and N.W.A’s Eazy-E, who died in 1995 at age 30.
The youngest nominees are Ashley Gorley and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, both 47. The list includes four women – Franne Golde, Sheryl Crow, Janet Jackson and Alanis Morissette.
Several songwriters who are strongly associated with songwriters who were previously inducted into the SHOF are on the ballot this year – Walter Afanasieff (his frequent collaborator Mariah Carey was inducted in 2022), Roger Nichols (his frequent collaborator Paul Williams was inducted in 2001), Jackson (her brother Michael Jackson was inducted in 2002) and Mike Love (his Beach Boys colleague Brian Wilson was inducted in 2000).
The list includes eight members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Crow, Eminem, Jackson, George Clinton (who is in the Rock Hall as the leader of Parliament/Funkadelic), Love (who is in the Rock Hall as a member of The Beach Boys), Steve Winwood (who is in the Rock Hall as a member of Traffic), the three aforementioned members of The Doobie Brothers and the five aforementioned former members of N.W.A.
The list includes three members of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Sonny Curtis was inducted into that body in 1991, followed by Tom Douglas in 2014 and Oldham in 2020. Curtis, 87, has had many pop and country hits, including “I Fought the Law” and “Walk Right Back,” but he may be best-known for writing “Love Is All Around,” the pitch-perfect theme song from The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Three of the nominees are past winners of the Grammy for producer of the year (non-classical). Narada Michael Walden won that award in 1988, chiefly for his work with Whitney Houston. Afanasieff won in 2000, Dr. Dre in 2001.
A songwriter with a catalog of notable songs qualifies for induction 20 years after their first significant commercial release of a song.
Eligible voting members have until midnight ET on Dec. 22 to turn in their ballots with their choices of up to three nominees in each of the two categories.
Here’s a complete list of the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s 2025 nominees for induction. The SHOF supplied the five songs listed after each nominees’ name, which they stress “are merely a representative sample of their extensive catalogs.”
Songwriters
Walter Afanasieff – “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” “Hero,” “License to Kill,” “Love Will Survive,” “One Sweet Day”
Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan – “Secret Agent Man,” “Eve Of Destruction,” “Where Were You When I Needed You,” “You Baby,” “Can I Get to Know You”
Mike Chapman – “The Best,” “Love Is a Battlefield,” “Ballroom Blitz,” “Stumblin’ In,” “Kiss You All Over”
Sonny Curtis – “Love Is All Around (Theme from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”),” “I Fought the Law,” “Walk Right Back,” “More Than I Can Say,” “I’m No Stranger to the Rain”
Tom Douglas – “The House That Built Me,” “Little Rock,” “I Run to You,” “Grown Men Don’t Cry,” “Love Me Anyway”
Franne Golde – “Dreaming of You,” “Nightshift,” “Don’t Look Any Further,” “Don’t You Want Me,” “Stickwitu”
Ashley Gorley – “I Had Some Help,” “Last Night,” “You Should Probably Leave,” “Play It Again,” “You’re Gonna Miss This”
Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins – “Say My Name,” “The Boy Is Mine,” “You Rock My World,” “Déjà vu,” “Telephone”
Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter – “One Tin Soldier (Theme from “Billy Jack”),” “Don’t Pull Your Love,” “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got),” “It Only Takes a Minute,” “Country Boy (You Got Your Feet In L.A.)”
Tony Macaulay – “Baby Now That I’ve Found You,” “Build Me Up Buttercup,” “Don’t Give Up On Us,” “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All,” “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)”
Roger Nichols – “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “I Won’t Last a Day Without You,” “Out in the Country,” “Times of Your Life”
Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham – “I’m Your Puppet,” “Cry Like a Baby,” “A Woman Left Lonely,” “Out of Left Field,” “It Tears Me Up”
Narada Michael Walden – “How Will I Know,” “Freeway of Love,” “You’re a Friend of Mine,” “Baby Come to Me,” “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?”
Performing Songwriters
Bryan Adams – “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You,” “Heaven,” “All for Love,” “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?,” “Summer of ‘69”
George Alan O’Dowd p/k/a Boy George – “Karma Chameleon,” “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” “Time (Clock Of The Heart), “Love Is Love,” “Miss Me Blind”
George Clinton – “Atomic Dog,” “Flash Light,” “(Not Just) Knee Deep,” “I’d Rather Be With You,” “Give Up The Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)”
Sheryl Crow – “All I Wanna Do,” “Soak Up The Sun,” “If It Makes You Happy,” “A Change Would Do You Good,” “Everyday Is a Winding Road”
Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald and Patrick Simmons p/k/a Doobie Brothers – “Listen to the Music,” “Takin’ It to the Streets,” “Black Water,” “What a Fool Believes,” “Long Train Runnin’”
Marshall Mathers p/k/a Eminem – “Lose Yourself,” “Stan,” “Mockingbird,” “Houdini,” “Rap God”
David Gates – “Everything I Own,” “Make It With You,” “Baby I’m-A Want You,” “The Guitar Man,” “If”
Janet Jackson – “Black Cat,” “Together Again,” “Again,” “Got ‘til It’s Gone,” “Rhythm Nation”
Tommy James – “Mony Mony,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Crystal Blue Persuasion,” “Sweet Cherry Wine,” “Tighter, Tighter”
Mike Love – “California Girls,” “Good Vibrations,” “The Warmth of the Sun,” “I Get Around,” “Fun, Fun, Fun”
Alanis Morissette – “You Oughta Know,” “Ironic,” “Hand in My Pocket,” “Thank U,” “Uninvited”
Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella p/k/a N.W.A – “Express Yourself,” “Dopeman,” “Fu*k Tha Police,” “Gangsta Gangsta,” “Straight Outta Compton”
Steve Winwood – “Higher Love,” “Gimme Some Lovin’,” “I’m a Man,” “Valerie,” “Roll With It”