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The War & Treaty‘s Michael Jr. and Tanya Trotter are having a moment this year after earning their first-ever CMAs and Grammy nominations, as well as collaborating with country star Zach Bryan on his self-titled album. To celebrate these milestones, the couple got together with George Dickel to share a glass of the Tennessee whiskey brand’s new 18-year-old limited edition bourbon whiskey, which follows the brand’s eight-year-old version and is now available to buy in select U.S. markets for around $510.
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“Words cannot truly express how we feel,” Michael tells Billboard. “You can say all the good things and it’ll just fall short of what we truly, truly feel.”
The duo — who were nominated for CMAs’ best vocal duo but lost to Brothers Osborne and snagged a Grammy nod for best new artist — performed “That’s How Love Is Made” off their album Lover’s Game during the Nov. 8 CMAs ceremony. The track was particularly special, as it’s one of the few the husband-wife duo have written together.
“When we first started working together, Michael primarily wrote all the songs,” Tanya explains to Billboard. “And this is probably — I’m not going to say the only song — but probably [the] top five songs that we’ve written together, so to be able to do a song with him that we did together on the award show, and to have that record Lover’s Game that was, again, all the songs written by Michael and one of the songs produced by him — I think you have to sit back and look at your journey and say, look how far we’ve come.”
The couple — who talked to Billboard ahead of the CMAs — also discussed how the collaboration with Zach Bryan came about, their upcoming new album, the best gifts they’ve received from each another and the one person they turn to for fashion advice.
Tanya: We actually met him [when] we were doing the Outlaw Festival with Willie Nelson. I hadn’t heard of him before and I came backstage and I said to our tour manager, I was like, “I don’t know who this guy is, but every young girl in the audience is singing every single word.” I was just amazed. And then he came backstage and he was passing out T shirts, he introduced himself and it was very friendly, and that was the first time we met.
So we did the ACMa, performed and he happened to be there with his dad. Afterwards, he ran up to us as everybody was leaving, and he was like, “holy s–t, what just happened to me? I was sitting there and my legs were shaking, and I had chills up and down my arms.” He was like, “We have to work together. I don’t know what we’re going to do — let’s exchange numbers.”
It’s very kind of cliche, it happens all the time in the music business where you see other artists, and it’s always like, “We got to do a record together.” He and Michael connected, and we were on a three-way text, but Michael and him had the bond of being in the military and serving, and so the dialog happened. One day he called us and maybe two weeks later, he had a song, and he was like, “I want to hear what you guys sound like on this song.” So we put a voice memo together, sent it to him, he loved it and it was on Instagram I think in less than 20 minutes.
Tanya: I got these boots from, I want to say Amazon. My daughter, she’s like, “Mommy, Tanya, you have to carry the bag.” She’s a little fashionista, so she made me carry the bag. (See a similar style here.)
Michael: We are intending to touch as many people as we can, whether they don’t look like us, look like us, whether they come from our walks of life or not — especially [in] country music. I think it’s important to be intentional in targeting people that look like me and Tanya. I think that you have to get rid of all of the things that you may think. Like Black people don’t do whiskey or Black people don’t do country music. And I think that that’s a thing that Tanya and I are here as proof and our intentional spirit to really take this back to the communities that look like us and to say it’s time to try new things. It’s time to love again, it’s time to trust again — especially in our country. I think that the intentional thing to say now is it’s time for us as a people to have faith and fall in love with each other again.
Michael: OK, Dec. 8, 2010. Ty and I were in what we thought would be our first place to rent. We were sleeping on the floor, Tanya was pregnant, we had no money — no anything — but the greatest gift that Tanya has ever given me was that night. Her word that her heart belonged to me. I will never, ever forget that night.
Tanya: For me, with Michael, it’s his listening. There’s not anything that I can’t say to him. Just in random I could say something right now, like, “I want this” or “I can look at something,” and he’s always paying attention. He’s always listening, and when you have somebody that has a heart like his and listens and pays attention to the details of what you have, you can’t get that — you can’t pay for that.
Michael: I think we’re living in a day and time where people can’t afford a lot. People can’t afford to play games. So many relationships we find ourselves in the lover’s game, but I think that the greatest thing you can give someone is honesty. That was the first thing I gave to Tanya. I just told her the truth, I said, “Listen, I’m bumming right now” … and I said, “I don’t know how I’m going to make it, but I know how to love.” And Tanya, the way Tanya looks and the way her heart is, Tanya could be with anybody in the entire universe, but she chose me. And I said, “You know what? I give you my word, I won’t let you regret that choice.” I like to think 13 years later, I’m making good on my promise.
Tanya: I would say the gift of time. The one thing about Michael that I’ve learned from him is I’m very anal retentive when it comes to something. So like this brownie, I’m going to finish this brownie because I like to finish things. But Michael could be in the middle of anything and any of our kids can walk into a room and he zones in on just that, and he does that with everything. I think that that’s the gift that you’re not able to replace, is your time. It’s the one thing you can’t buy and you can’t get back.
Nepal’s government in the capital of Kathmandu decided to ban the popular social media app TikTok on Monday, saying it was disrupting “social harmony” in the country, home of Mount Everest.
The announcement was made following a Cabinet meeting. Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud said the app would be banned immediately.
“The government has decided to ban TikTok as it was necessary to regulate the use of the social media platform that was disrupting social harmony, goodwill and flow of indecent materials,” Saud said.
He said that to make social media platforms accountable, the government has asked the companies to register and open a liaison office in Nepal, pay taxes and abide by the country’s laws and regulations.
It wasn’t clear what triggered the ban or if TikTok had refused to comply with Nepal’s requests. The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, has faced scrutiny in a number of countries because of concerns that Beijing could use the app to harvest user data or advance its interests. Countries including the United States, Britain and New Zealand have banned the app on government phones despite TikTok repeatedly denying that it has ever shared data with the Chinese government and would not do so if asked.
Nepal has banned all pornographic sites in 2018.
Source: DJ Akademiks / DJ Akademiks
Is Diddy trying to snuff out DJ Akademiks? We highly doubt it, but Akademiks feels like the man who dubbed himself “Brother Love” is looking to put the love on him something serious.
On Sunday (Nov. 12), DJ Akademiks livestreamed a story in which he revealed that Diddy invited AK to party with him while he was over in London, but the controversial DJ thought twice about accepting the personal invitation as he felt it was a “set up” and he’d never make it back to the states alive. Saying “Yo, real talk, I think Diddy tried to line me on some Tupac sh*t. Like yo, real talk. I think Diddy tried to ‘Pac me. This sh*t was crazy.”
We reiterate that we highly doubt Diddy would risk doing anything that would run afoul with the law these days given that many are speculating that Kefee D is giving the feds his version of how Diddy was involved in the murder of Tupac Shakur, but Akademiks feels like he may be in Diddy’s crosshairs thanks to his drama with Saucy Santana and Yung Miami. Knowing how ridiculous things have the potential to get, Akademiks went into how he thought things could go left had he met up with Diddy.
“What’s really gon’ happen is this: I’m gonna show up, and all of a sudden out of the Sprinter that Diddy is in, you want me to flex the little batty fish like Saucy Santana jumping out, just moving wacky on me. Like yo, just twerking in front of my face or some dumb shit like that. Like, come on bruv. Or, I’ma pull up thinking we bout to pop some Cîroc and DeLeon. I’m thinking, ‘This about to be sweet.’ All of a sudden, I’ma see that Yung Miami, that ratchet shit coming at me. Like yo, so no win situation.”
After going into the possibly outcomes of what could’ve happened, AK ultimately decided to play it safe and keep to himself while out in the UK saying “Nah, I ain’t go to no party. Hell nah. I thought it was a set-up, to keep it real. I swear I was like, I think he invited me, that little fish. Saucy was gonna hop on and I’m about to tell people, ‘Yo, smoke that bitch.’”
Saucy got shooters in across the pond?! We don’t know, but what we do know is that Saucy Santana got DJ Akademiks shedding tears and paranoid as hell these days. Hip-Hop in 2023, b.
What do y’all think of DJ Akademiks turning down Diddy’s invite to party? Was he smart to do so, or is he just plain ol’ paranoid? Let us know in the comments section below.
Being a teenager is hard enough. But being a teenager and trying to figure out how you feel about your body while the whole world is watching (and commenting) sounds like a nightmare. That, though, is basically the gauntlet Billie Eilish said she had to run early in her career, when any rando with a keyboard felt emboldened to say the first thing that popped into their head about the singer’s figure.
“I have big boobs. I’ve had big boobs since I was nine years old, and that’s just the way I am. That’s how I look,” she told Variety magazine in an interview in which Eilish explained that she was never trying to “have people not sexualize me.” She did, however, until recently restrict access to her body by wearing her signature baggy outfits because on the rare occasions when she did show some skin — such as wearing a tank top in public when she was 16 — it set off a media frenzy and unwanted attention. “You wear something that’s at all revealing, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh, but you didn’t want people to sexualize you?,’” she recalled thinking. “You can suck my a–! I’m literally a being that is sexual sometimes. F–k you!”
She did, however, admit that she had no problem when her pal Lil Yachty rapped “She had big t–s like Billie Eilish, but she couldn’t sing,” on Drake’s “Another Late Night.” Asked if she was offended by the line, Eilish said not at all. “I think it’s fun!” she said of the song from Drizzy’s new For All the Dogs album. “I’m flattered! Yachty is my friend. Drake is my friend. It’s a joke. I do have big t–s. I love it.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Eilish goes into what the writer describes as a “good old-fashioned rant” about the double-standard applied to women in music. “Nobody ever says a thing about men’s bodies. If you’re muscular, cool. If you’re not, cool. If you’re rail thin, cool. If you have a dad bod, cool. If you’re pudgy, love it!” she said. “Everybody’s happy with it. You know why? Because girls are nice. They don’t give a f–k because we see people for who they are!”
The Power of Women interview also touches on Eilish’s Oscar-buzz Barbie song, “What Was I Made For?,” her tenuous relationship with femininity/womanhood and her ardent support for a plant-based diet.
Billboard announces Morgan Wallen will be performing at the Billboard Music Awards 2023. Billboard runs through some of Morgan Wallen’s biggest chart highlights of his career.
Tetris Kelly:
Country superstar Morgan Wallen broke records this summer with his smash hit “Last Night.” Officially named the song of the summer, it was the first time since 1974 that a country song topped that list. The song also spent sixteen non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Some of his other huge accomplishments include eight top 10 hits on the Hot 100, seven No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart. His album One Thing At A Time spent 16 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and his single “You Proof” spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, the most weeks ever at No. 1 on that list.
The country superstar is a finalist in sixteen BBMAs categories, including Top Artists, Top Country Artists and Top 100 Songs. And if that’s not enough, let’s take a look at some of his other No. 1s: including two No. 1s on the Billboard 200, seven No. 1s on Hot Country Songs, three No. 1s on Top Country Albums, ten No. 1s on Hot Country Airplay chart, and ten No. 1s on Country Streaming Songs chart.
Morgan Wallen has enjoyed record-breaking Billboard success and his BBMAs performance will surely continue to impress.
Watch the full video above!
Looking for some motivation to help power you through the start of another work week? We feel you, and with some stellar new pop tunes, we’ve got you covered.
These 10 tracks from artists including Cannons, Måneskin, King Mala and more will get you energized to take on the week. Pop any of these gems into your personal playlists — or scroll to the end of the post for a custom playlist of all 10.
Cannons, “Heartbeat Highway”
Sheer Mag, “Playing Favorites”
Flowerovlove, “A Girl Like Me”
South London teen Flowerovlove has cited Tame Impala, Frank Ocean and SZA has inspiration. And yet, her sound isn’t a copy paste of any one influence, as “A Girl Like Me” blends airy psych rock production with alt-pop melodies. But the song’s strength is in her writing, which not only asks a question every girl once has (“Would a boy like you like a girl like me?”) but happily carries on without any concern over what the answer may be. – L.H.
Måneskin, “Valentine”
Italian rockers Måneskin started the year with the release of its third album Rush! and now, the band is closing the year with the release of an expanded edition titled Rush! (Are U Coming), which adds five new songs to the tracklist. The creeping, slow burn “Valentine” stands out for the way in which the entire song — from the vocals to the riffs to the tempo — seems to ache, putting a darker spin on the notion of a valentine. Classic Måneskin. – L.H.
Will Linley, “Magic”
Girli, “Nothing Hurts Like a Girl”
In Rita Mae Brown’s trailblazing 1973 book Rubyfruit Jungle, her protagonist likens switching from straight sex to lesbian sex as “the difference between a pair of roller skates and a Ferrari” — and the out-and-proud music of girli is very much a synth-pop celebration of that feeling. On “Nothing Hurts Like a Girl,” however, the London-based artist bemoans the fact that higher highs are followed by harder falls, and the “heart breaks harder” on a queer breakup. But with a throbbing bass line, crisp guitar riffs and a sparkling assortment of synths, girli is dancing the pain away on this preview of upcoming album Matriarchy (May 17). – Joe Lynch
Alan Walker feat. Daya, “Heart Over Mind”
Seven years ago, Daya scored the highest-charting hit of her career so far with “Don’t Let Me Down,” an EDM smash with The Chainsmokers; now, the pop star is back in the dance world playing muse to Norwegian producer Alan Walker on the sleek, glittery “Heart Over Mind.” While Walker brings some post-chorus fireworks with laser-beam synths, Daya controls the collaboration, her vulnerability in each verse blossoming into the siren cry of the chorus. – Jason Lipshutz
Rosie Darling, “The Longest Goodbye”
“The Longest Goodbye” treads a similar piano-ballad path as “Boxes” from Rosie Darling’s recently released debut album, Lanterns, but the singer-songwriter sounds comfortably affecting in that pocket, allowing her voice to linger on phrases that help process post-breakup pain. “If all these walls could talk, you wouldn’t hear a thing / ‘Cuz all I do is cry, and no one’s listening,” Darling begins, the meter rising and falling with each dejected syllable. – J. Lipshutz
King Mala, “I Only Smoke to Feel Bad”
While “I Only Smoke to Feel Bad” contains plenty of blurted-out confessions, jittery questions and defiant declarations that could power any number of TikTok trends, the standout track from King Mala’s new EP Spilt Milk also works as a snappy pop song, each hook all loose strums and handclaps. Don’t sleep on the production details, though — King Mala’s tucked-in ad-libs in particular help “I Only Smoke to Feel Bad” feel like a lived-in transmission. – J. Lipshutz
Alex Warren, “Yard Sale”
One scene from the music video to Alex Warren’s new single “Yard Sale” finds the social media star hoarsely belting out the chorus while driving at dusk — purging the physical remnants of a breakup by spilling his guts from behind the wheel. With its oversized chorus and “hey!” punctuations, “Yard Sale” includes a strain of the early-2010s folk boom that make Warren’s latest a natural fit for alternative radio; this song sounds like it could be huge, and deserves to be. – J. Lipshutz
Billie Eilish‘s sexuality, self-expression and femininity have been scrutinized under a microscope since the pop star was a teenager. Now 21, she’s ready to talk about it.
In a new cover story for Variety published Monday (Nov. 13), the “Bad Guy” singer revealed that she’s both attracted to and intimidated by other women, with the publication writing that she’s struggled in the past to feel like a “girls girl.” “I’ve never really felt like I could relate to girls very well,” she told the outlet.
“I love them so much,” she continued. “I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real … I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”
Eilish has only ever been in public relationships with men, most recently The Neighbourhood’s Jesse Rutherford before their breakup in May. The musician has been the target of queerbaiting allegations in the past, something she addressed in a 2021 interview with Elle in which she said her sexuality was no one else’s business.
And although she penned the Grammy-nominated Barbie soundtrack hit “What Was I Made For?” — which inspired an empowering trend on social media celebrating individual experiences with womanhood — Eilish says she still struggles with her identity as a woman. “I’ve never felt like a woman, to be honest with you,” she said the Variety interview. “I’ve never felt desirable. I’ve never felt feminine.”
“I have to convince myself that I’m, like, a pretty girl,” she added. “I identify as ‘she/her’ and things like that, but I’ve never really felt like a girl.”
