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26 Oct 2023

J Balvin Is ‘Really Proud’ of Britney Spears for Telling Her Story in Her Memoir: ‘She Deserves the Best’

J Balvin has nothing but good things to say about Britney Spears, whose long-awaited memoir — The Woman in Me — arrived on Tuesday (Oct. 24).

The Latin pop star gushed to TMZ on Wednesday (Oct. 25) that he’s “really proud of” Spears for being so vulnerable in her book. “I think she’s amazing,” Balvin said. “I think she deserves the best.”

“She’s a woman that we have to have a lot of love and respect [for],” continued the “Mi Gente” musician. “She’s fired [up] the whole world at her peak, and I can’t wait for her to bring new music. I think we need her so much.”

Spears’ memoir dropped not long after she joined J Balvin and Maluma for drinks in New York City. In photos posted afterward on Maluma’s Instagram, the “Toxic” singer cuddled close with a smiling Balvin, who commented, “I can’t get over it.”

“I think she’s super strong,” he added to TMZ of the pop star. “I think she already has a [mental] shield. She knows what she’s doing, and the last time I saw her, she looks in a real, real good place in her mind to deal with everything.”

The “Que Pretendes” artist volunteered a lot less about Bad Bunny, who seemingly dissed his past collaborator on a song from his new album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana. “You’ve seen me, I always walk with the same people/ While you are friends of the whole world like Balvin,” Bunny sings in Spanish on “Thunder Y Lightning.” 

Asked for comment about the alleged diss, Balvin simply told TMZ, “I’m all about love. I love the guy,” before getting in a car.

Balvin previously addressed the situation on Instagram Live after Nadie dropped, saying at the time, “The person I know is a great person. We supported each other mutually, we made history, we also created a new story within music. I don’t understand what was going through his head but well, the guy I know is a good person.”

26 Oct 2023

XG Headlines Billboard’s THE STAGE Presented by American Express at First-Ever SXSW Sydney

Billboard brought its signature concert series to life at the inaugural South by Southwest in Sydney, Australia. XG headlined the one-night-only Oct. 20 concert, with opening sets from Lil Cherry and GOLDBUUDA.

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American Express sponsored Billboard’s THE STAGE and offered an exclusive ticket pre-sale for card members to secure their spots at one of the most highly-anticipated shows in Sydney this week. 

THE MOOD LAB

XG is known for their hip-hop and R&B inspired sound, dynamic production, and top notch choreography. Fresh off the release of their debut mini-album NEW DNA, XG graced Billboard’s THE STAGE presented by American Express and put on an unforgettable performance in front of a jam packed Hordern Pavillion in Sydney. The setlist featured tracks from the new album like “GRL GVNG,” “New Dance,” as well as fan favorite “LEFT RIGHT.”

THE MOOD LAB

Since the girl group’s 2022 debut, XG have been making waves in Korea, Japan and the United States. The septet, consisting of Juria, Maya, Harvey, Chisa, Cocona, Jurin, and Hinata first gained mainstream success after their single “LEFT RIGHT” went viral on social media. The catchy track debuted on the Billboard Pop Airplay Chart and grew on TikTok via multiple trending dances.

If you weren’t able to join us at Hordern Pavilion last night, stay tuned for more coverage of Billboard’s THE STAGE presented by American Express at SXSW Sydney. 

26 Oct 2023

Jessi Colter on Teaming With Margo Price, Shooter Jennings for ‘Edge of Forever’: ‘They’re Keeping the History, Yet Moving Forward in a Good Way’ 

Jessi Colter hadn’t planned on making a new album, but then Americana luminary Margo Price came to town.

After attending one of Price’s shows in Phoenix, Colter was talking to Price’s husband and fellow musician Jeremy Ivey, who mentioned how he wished Colter would make another album.

“I didn’t think much more about it at the time, but then Margo came back through Phoenix and was playing at Fort McDowell Casino, which is about 15 minutes down the road from where I lived,” Colter recalls via a phone interview with Billboard (Colter now splits her time between Phoenix and Wyoming). “I picked her up and she visited at my house.”

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Artist-producer Shooter Jennings, son of Colter and her late husband, Country Music Hall of Famer Waylon Jennings, happened to be visiting Colter’s home, and the timing proved fortunate. “We talked about some songs I had written. Margo wanted to hear them, so I played a few I’d kind of tucked away,” Colter recalls.

Among those selections were two that ignited Price’s passion: “Angel in the Fire,” written as a tribute to Colter’s longtime friend Lisa Kristofferson (wife of singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson) and “Standing on the Edge of Forever.” Soon Colter found herself in a Nashville studio with Price, Jennings, Ivey and a close group of fellow musicians, with Colter playing piano, singing and recording live. Price produced and Jennings mixed the project. The result is Edge of Forever, out Friday (Oct. 27) on Appalachia Record Co., Colter’s first album in six years.

“Those were some great days that energized me, for sure,” Colter, 80, said. “Margo wanted my new songs, but we also threw in a few older ones. We pulled out what songs I had, things she really liked that I had done, and added new things.” Of Price and Jennings, she says, “They’re keeping the history and yet moving forward in a good way.”

Edge of Forever marks Colter’s first project since 2017’s The Psalms, produced by longtime Patti Smith collaborator Lenny Kaye. The soulful energy and confident air embedded in these recordings hark back to the music she crafted five decades ago when her song “I’m Not Lisa” became a crossover hit in 1975, topping Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and garnering Grammy and CMA Awards nominations. The First Lady of Outlaw Music followed with the top 5 country hit “What’s Happened to Blue Eyes.”

In 1976, Colter stood alongside her husband, Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser on Wanted! The Outlaws, a compilation project that became country music’s first platinum-selling album and included the Grammy-nominated Colter-Jennings duet of the Elvis classic “Suspicious Minds.” Colter’s subsequent solo albums, including 1976’s Jessi and Diamond in the Rough, also reached the top 5 on Billboard‘s Country Albums chart.

Edge of Forever is a heady mix of new tunes, older compositions, revamped spirituals and a collaboration with her daughter, Jenni Eddy Jennings. Price sings with Colter on a trio of songs, “I Wanna Be With You,” “Maybe You Should” and “Lost Love Song,” a tune Colter became reacquainted with after discovering a demo recording in one of her late husband’s briefcases.

“He liked the song and he had played it for me,” she recalls, quoting lyrics from the song including “Treated me just like a prisoner, I never tried to escape/ ‘Cause one night with you made up for all my bad days.” “I love that song and kind of took it as mine.”

Long before her own musical success and her association with two music icons (she was married to Duane Eddy from 1961-1968 and then to Jennings from 1969 until his death in 2002), Colter was writing songs for other artists, including Hank Locklin and Dottie West. Beyond the originals, she contributed heavily to the writing for her new project, including rewriting lyrics to the classic spiritual “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus,” to reflect her own journey.

“I’ve wanted to do that song for a long time,” she says, recalling an Apostolic church she attended in Nashville for many years. “I was the only white person there for about 10 years. It was wonderful because I was raised worshipping together, and that’s been my experience. There were no racial barriers.”

The Psalms drew its lyrics from the Old Testament’s Book of Psalms, and that same practice spills over into one of the songs on Edge of Forever, “Secret Place,” which takes lyrics from Psalm 91 and features writing and a vocal assist from Colter’s daughter, Jenni Eddy Jennings. The pair created the song prior to Waylon’s death. “When he heard that, he said, ‘You’ve got to cut that.’ It was something we always had in mind,” Colter says. “Margo loved it, and Jennifer’s voice is so melodious.”

Given the caliber of the trio of artists working on the album, one can’t help but compare Edge of Forever with a recent project helmed by Jennings and another Americana stalwart for a country music icon: Tanya Tucker’s 2019 project While I’m Livin’, co-produced by Jennings and Brandi Carlile, which went on to win two Grammys.

Whether Edge of Forever ultimately garners awards recognition remains to be seen, but it is a testament to a new generation of artists showing respect for and craving the music of artists such as Tucker and Colter — as is another project Colter has been working on for the past few years. Shooter Jennings, Price and Charley Crockett are among the younger artists featured in They Called Us Outlaws: Cosmic Cowboys, Honky Tonk Heroes and the Rise of the Renegade Troubadours, a six-part documentary series executive produced by Colter, which also features Kris Kristofferson and Steve Earle. Colter says the project is slated to be released in 2024.

“It began with the difference between Austin and Nashville,” Colter recalls of the 1970s Outlaws era. “Nashville was such ‘old-guard’ recording, and Austin had been exposed to rock. The country music people were conservative — doctors, lawyers — but Austin was ready for something more progressive, which is what Waylon and Willie were doing. The Outlaw thing itself was a brand and Waylon didn’t ever like that, really — but it was something that marketed well, so the brand has been used ever since.

“The documentary is going to be a revelation to a lot of people,” she continues. “This is more underground, what was really going on. It’s exciting to see a lot of young people looking back to the past and getting turned on to that.”

26 Oct 2023

Beartooth Returns to No. 1 on Top Hard Rock Albums With ‘The Surface’

Beartooth notches its second No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart, as The Surface debuts atop the Oct. 28-dated ranking.

The set bows with 17,000 equivalent album units earned in the Oct. 13-19 tracking week, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 12,000 are via album sales, with 7,000 on vinyl.

Beartooth previously ruled Top Hard Rock Albums in 2018 with Disease, which reigned for a week upon its debut that October. The Caleb Shomo-led band adds its fifth top 10 (and total entry), having also charted with Below (No. 2, July 2021), Aggressive (No. 3, 2016) and Disgusting (No. 6, 2014).

Concurrently, The Surface debuts at No. 9 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, marking Beartooth’s fourth top 10, dating to the No. 4 debut and peak of Aggressive in June 2016. It also starts at No. 5 on the all-genre Top Album Sales chart, where it’s the band’s second top 10.

The release of The Surface was preceded by a pair of radio singles. “Riptide” peaked at No. 11 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart in January, while follow-up “Might Love Myself” lifts 6-5 on the latest list. The latter becomes Beartooth’s first top five hit on Mainstream Rock Airplay among three top 10s, surpassing the No. 6-peaking “Hated” in 2017.

“Might Love Myself” also jumps 22-18 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 1.8 million audience impressions, up 12%.

Five songs from The Surface rank on the Oct. 28-dated, multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs survey, paced by “Might Love Myself” at No. 9. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 721,000 official U.S. streams. It’s followed by a debut for “I Was Alive” at No. 11 (779,000 streams).

26 Oct 2023

How Chino Pacas’ Viral TikTok Landed Him a Deal With JOP’s Street Mob Records

Chino Pacas was only 12 years old when he unearthed his passion for music. Four years later, he went viral on Tiktok, landed on the Billboard charts, and signed a major record deal. 

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Born in Guanajuato, a city located in central Mexico, Pacas (real name: Cristian Humberto Avila Vega) was aware of his artistic skills but it was his older brother, Diego Arturo Avila Vega (known by the artist name “Turo Pacas”) who not only encouraged him to kick off his singing career, but also taught him how to play the guitar. 

“I feel that in Guanajuato, the clothing and culture has been represented by the tumbado movement and I based my character a lot on that,” Pacas tells Billboard. “Seeing all the movement that was emerging around me was what motivated me.”

Inspired by artists such as Natanael Cano and Fuerza Regida’s Jesús Ortiz Paz (JOP), who he says “for real, he’s a big example to follow,” Pacas began to upload his original music on social media flaunting his mature and raspy vocals. One viral TikTok video, however, quickly changed his fate. 

“‘El Gordo Trae el Mando’ is the big blessing that pushed us forward,” he recalls, explaining that JOP came across his videos on the app and decided to FaceTime him at 4:00 a.m. Pacas inked a record deal with JOP’s label, Street Mob Records, this year. 

“When he wanted to sign me, I was super excited, because I never had relationships with artists in music. I was really moved,” he notes. “Thanks to that song, JOP noticed us and decided to sign us.” 

This year, the then 16-year-old Mexican artist scored three Billboard chart entries across Hot Latin Songs, Latin Streaming Songs, and both Global charts with “El Gordo Trae El Mando,” “Dijeron Que No La Iba a Lograr” (with Fuerza Regida) and “Que Onda” (with Calle 24 and Fuerza Regida). Both the first and the last of the three earned him two tops 10 hits on Latin Streaming Songs. He was also a finalist at the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards for best new artist.

“I am very happy with everything that is happening and the reception from the fans that are always supporting us,” the now-17-year-old says. “I really feel like I’m not very famous yet. I’m just making music and people really like it.” 

Below, learn more about this month’s Billboard Latin Artist on the Rise:

Name: Cristian Humberto Avila Vega. (His artistic name is a mix of his childhood nickname “Chino” with “Pacas,” which translates to bales of money.) 

Age: 17

Recommended Song: “Dijeron Que No La Iba a Lograr” with Fuerza Regida

Biggest Achievement: At only 16 years old, Pacas earned three entries across the Billboard charts with “El Gordo Trae El Mando,” “Dijeron Que No La Iba a Lograr,” and “Que Onda,” all which have entered Hot Latin Songs, Latin Streaming Songs, and both Global charts. He was also an artist of the year, new finalist at the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards.

What’s Next?: “Right now I’m working on my first album and many surprises are coming,” he says. “I have several collaborations that are very good, including another with Fuerza Regida. And my older brother, Turo Pacas, just made his debut as a singer on Fuerza’s album. I’m also going to release a song with him on my album. Turo is my blood brother, my requintista, producer, my writer, and everything, he’s very good!”

26 Oct 2023

Utopia Music Sued Again Over Aborted $26M Deal to Buy U.S. Tech Firm SourceAudio

Utopia Music is facing another lawsuit over an aborted deal to buy a U.S. music technology company called SourceAudio, this time over allegations that the Swiss company violated a $400,000 settlement that aimed end the dispute.

The two companies have been battling since February, when SourceAudio filed a lawsuit claiming that Utopia – a buzzy music fintech firm – had bailed on 2022 deal to buy the smaller company for $26.5 million. The case claimed that after a year of delays, Utopia owed more than $37 million on the deal.

That case, filed in Delaware, quickly settled on confidential terms. But in a new lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles, SourceAudio says Utopia has now flaked on that agreement, too.

“Desperate to get the Delaware litigation out of the public eye, Utopia negotiated an agreement to pay SourceAudio $400,000 in exchange for a full release and dismissal of the lawsuit,” the company’s lawyers write. “But as with the underlying contract, Utopia has refused to pay what it owes.”

According to the new lawsuit, just days after signing the legal settlement, Utopia “failed to make the required settlement payment—with no explanation at all.”

“It now appears that the settlement was simply a ruse by Utopia to buy time and avoid paying its debts,” the smaller company’s lawyers write. “SourceAudio brings this action to collect what it is owed [or] to rescind the fraudulently procured settlement agreement. Utopia’s gameplaying must come to an end.”

A spokesman for Utopia did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.

Utopia, a Swiss-based tech company that delivers financial services for labels, publishers and distributors, had been on a buying spree over 2021 and 2022. The company has acquired at least 15 companies, including music tech company Musimap, U.K. physical distributor Cinram Novum and Lyric Financial, a provider of royalty-backed cash advances.

But last fall, news broke that Utopia would restructure operations and lay off 20% of its workforce, representing about 230 jobs. In April, the company undertook a fresh round of job cuts, eliminating another 15% of its global workforce. Then in July, Utopia announced it was closing its research and development offices in the United Kingdom and Finland, resulting in the loss of another 5% of its global workforce.

SourceAudio — a tech platform for digital asset management and monetization — sued in February, claiming it had struck a deal in March 2022 to sell itself to Utopia for $26.5 million. Since almost immediately after the deal was reached, SourceAudio claimed, the bigger company had continually balked at actually completing the purchase.

“Despite repeated assurances that Utopia would be able to close…, Utopia engaged in a pattern of discontinuing discussions for an extended period of time, only to resurface immediately before the next intended closing date to indicate that it was unable to close by such date,” the complaint read.

In Wednesday’s new lawsuit, SourceAudio claims that Utopia quickly agreed to pay $400,000 to end the earlier case. Though Utopia made an initial $50,000 payment under the deal, the lawsuit claims, the remaining $350,000 – due this month – has not been paid.

“Defendants fraudulently represented through their attorney that they would perform the settlement agreement, while never intending to make any payment beyond the first installment of $50,000,” The company wrote. “Defendants’ objective with its false promise was to secure a release and dismissal of the Delaware action in exchange for a $50,000 payment and nothing further.”

26 Oct 2023

Jay-Z Says Blue Ivy Used to Think He Wasn’t a ‘Cool’ Dad: ‘She Be Frontin’ On Me’

Don’t worry, parents — even Jay-Z‘s daughter doesn’t think he’s cool. In a recent clip from his multi-part interview with Gayle King about his Book of Hov exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library, the bestselling rapper and billionaire mogul admitted that Blue Ivy used to doubt his coolness levels.

“Blue, she be frontin’ on me a little bit,” Jay said of his 11-year-old, asked by King whether any of his kids think he’s cool. “But I catch her. I catch her in the corner, you know? Now she asks me, you know, if this is cool, if her sneakers [are cool]. She’s come back.”

“But there was a time where she was like, ‘Daaaad,’” he added, doing an impression of Blue’s voice while covering his face in mock embarrassment. “I’m like, ‘I’m cool. I don’t know what you sayin. At your house, your parents is cool.”

Blue Ivy is the oldest of Jay’s children with Beyoncé, with whom he also shares 6-year-old twins Rumi and Sir. As hundreds of thousands of fans across the world saw, the tween has definitely inherited her superstar parents’ stage ambitions; at certain Renaissance Tour shows, she joined Bey onstage to impress audiences with her “My Power” choreography.

Running through Dec. 4, Jay’s exhibit offers a free-of-charge, immersive look into his life and career, with artifacts and installations curated by the artist and Roc Nation. With King, the “Hard Knock Life” rapper discussed everything from his debut album Reasonable Doubt to the last song he played for Biggie — “Streets is Watching” from In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 — as well as his move to reclaim ownership of his master recordings ten years ago, which he calls “the fight of my life.”

After working so hard to own his music, Jay-Z insisted he’ll never sell his masters — but if Blue Ivy, Rumi or Sir decide to do so later on? That’s their prerogative, he told King.

See Jay-Z’s “cool dad” confession below.

26 Oct 2023

Yng Lvcas Plays This or That | Billboard

Yng Lvcas plays This or That with Billboard backstage at Billboard’s Latin Music Week 2023.

Yng Lvcas:
What’s up, my people? I’m your friend Yng Lvcas, and I’m going to play This or That with Billboard.

[Horchata or agua fresca?]
Horchata

[Bachata or merengue?]
Merengue

[Tacos al pastor or tacos de pollo?]
Al pastor

[Baseball or soccer?]
Soccer.

Interviewer:
What’s your team?

Yng Lvcas:
Chivas.

[Spicy food or not spicy?]
Spicy, one hundred percent.

[Empanadas or tamales?]
Tamales.

Interviewer:
What type?

Yng Lvcas:
Green.

[Salsa Verde or Salsa Roja?]
Both.

[Mariachis or vallenatos?]
Mariachi.

[Tequila or mezcal?]
Tequila.

Watch the full video above!

26 Oct 2023

Gayle Reflects on Touring With Taylor Swift & Pink, How It Prepared Her for Own Trek

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Gayle has hit the road for her first-ever tour — titled Scared But Trying — and you can still score last-minute tickets to through Ticketmaster and resale sites including StubHub, VividSeats and Seat Geek. What’s unique about this tour (besides it being her first time headlining) is the digital experience she’s providing her fans with through Adobe Express — an AI-first creativity app featuring apps for easier content creation.

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Whether you were able to score travel deals to attend the concert in person or not, the “ABCDEFU” singer is giving fans a behind-the-scenes peek of her tour through a virtual scrapbook. It will be available following the tour through a 3-minute music video highlighting her experiences. Anyone who views it is also encouraged to use Adobe Express templates to tell their own “Scared But Trying” story.

“It was really important to me to try and meet the people who cared to [come to my] shows and really talk about the theme of Scared But Trying, and what it means for them in their lives, and just being more open about our fears and our insecurities and things that we’re scared to do,” Gayle tells Billboard. “Adobe and I wanted to come together to try and create a space for people and create a community to come together and collaborate.”

Rather than have to download Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro and more apps onto your laptop, this will be an all-in-one creative app.

Outside of her partnership with Adobe, Gayle also shared insight into it was like for her to tour with artists including Taylor Swift, Pink and My Chemical Romance, as well as her Scared But Trying trek, new music and any essentials she takes on the road.

Read on for our interview with Gayle.

What inspired you to release singles like “Don’t Call Me Pretty,” “Leave Me for Dead” and “I Don’t Sleep As Good As I Used To”?

I was [originally] thinking about making an album because I had put out EPs last year. I was thinking naturally it was developing into an album and I didn’t particularly know what I was doing touring wise. Then, when I had these amazing tour opportunities put in front of me, I obviously wasn’t going to say no because they were really exciting and it was a really big honor — and opening up for Taylor [Swift] and Pink, I had never opened up for a stadium act before.

I’m a perfectionist. I want to try and be great at everything I do and I felt like I couldn’t be great at making my first, like, debut album and be a great touring artist. So I decided to put out singles that I felt captured the energy of my live show and intensities of attitudes that I felt. Then it lead into putting out “Leave Me for Dead” and I was going on tour with Pink and I played that song on the whole Pink tour, and it was a really fun song to play live.

GAYLE

GAYLE performs on The Late Late Show with James Corden airing Tuesday, March 15, 2022.

Terence Patrick/CBS via Getty Images

And the bloody covers for each single — how did the idea come about?

When I was thinking of a single cover, I was just thinking my ears bleeding would kind of fit conceptually with the song. If you just heard “Everybody Hates Me” and then you see a picture of a girl and her ears are bleeding, I felt like metaphorically, it kind of said something and was fitting conceptually with where the song was going. Then, I thought it would be cool if the blood just kept getting more and more dramatic, and at some point I actually pick up a knife.

I [also] have this song called “Don’t Call Me Pretty” and it kind of talks about the objectification that people can feel in their life, where it’s like, oh my gosh, isn’t it a compliment, isn’t it so nice to be pretty, but it’s that feeling of when that’s the only thing a person can see you as, and that feeling of being objectified is so beautiful. It makes you feel so hollow. For me, when I’m covered in blood, it’s like I’ve reached that breaking point where that one last person called me pretty or objectified me and made me feel that way [and] I just lost my mind.

Can we expect a debut album anytime soon?

I’m definitely working on starting the process of creating an album and starting to talk about it. It’s also kind of the conversation of do the songs I put out this year, do they go on the album? Do I write completely new songs? Like … we’re really focusing this year on finishing out the touring and this headlining run and really celebrating what the past two years have been for me. Then starting a new era and my perspective with the album.

You’ve also toured with some big names like Taylor Swift, Pink and My Chemical Romance. What has been the best piece of advice you’ve received?

The overall message from everybody that I’ve toured with (when we’ve had conversations) is that it’s obviously a hard thing to tour, it’s a hard thing to put yourself out there. But if you truly love doing it, you really have to put yourself out there, keep consistently working on your craft, keep doing the things you love and good things will follow from that.

That’s really all you can do, you know, there’s no secret button or secret formula, we’re all scared and we’re all just trying our best.

Do you have a favorite experience so far?

Oh gosh, every tour there’s always a highlight. I remember opening up for [My Chemical Romance] and I threw up for the first time. I remember going up and walking on because I was so scared — so scared. Oh my god, I’d never been that scared before ever, ever, ever in my life. Or the first Taylor [Swift] show, I walked on stage ten seconds late — I missed my first line and that was the most like terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced in my life, and I was asking so many questions that I missed my cue to walk on stage, so I had to run, like, sprint on stage, and I missed my first few words.

But even with Pink there’s so many fun times — and even I’m looking at my room right now and I’m seeing, like, a disco ball necklace that somebody threw on stage for me, or big pink heart sunglasses from from people throwing things from the crowd and being on tour during Pride Month is just the best time to be on tour with Pink, ever. The love and the pride that was at that show and what we got to celebrate was so beautiful.

How do you think it prepared you for going on tour solo?

It really made me understand the stamina that it takes to have a live show. When I’m opening up for somebody and I’m out of breath in 30 minutes, versus I know the hour and a half or even three and a half hour show the artist has to play [after] me. It also made me more comfortable with being on stage, and moving around and talking to people, and interacting — I heard this quote and it really spoke to me where it’s like, you don’t get energy from a crowd, you put energy into the crowd and you hope that they bring it back to you. I don’t walk on stage and I’m like, “OK, everybody else get me hype,” I’m like,
OK, I need to try and get everybody excited,” and then we can all hopefully make each other more excited off of that excitement.

Are there any tour essentials that you have to take with you?

Oh gosh, we’re taking so much Vitamin Water Zero Sugar. I always bring a tour diary with me because I think it’s important to try note the way that you were feeling on shows — even though it’s very scary traveling with the diary because you can lose it so quickly. I need my bandmates with me — we’re such a family, so I need all of them with me because we always have such a great time, and they’re great emotional support. And fans because I need the people who like my music, and I like them [and] I want to show up and I want to celebrate them — and that is a tour essential. And two obnoxiously oversized suitcases.

26 Oct 2023

Screams for Streams: Duran Duran & Others Hope to Scare Up Hits With Halloween Music

This time every year, music’s biggest stars unleash carefully constructed marketing campaigns for new Christmas music, hoping to join Bing Crosby and Mariah Carey on the lucrative list of holiday classics. Duran Duran chose a different direction.

After dressing as top-hatted ghouls and covering Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” and The Specials’ “Ghost Town” at the Wynn Las Vegas casino last Halloween, the veteran U.K. band recorded a themed album, Danse Macabre, which is due Oct. 27. “Funnily enough, I can’t think of many Christmas songs that I like, apart from the few obvious ones,” keyboardist Nick Rhodes says. “But Halloween, I can think of plenty of songs I love. It’s the mood and the chaos and the dark spirit of excitement about it.”

For decades, Halloween’s soundtrack has come from a reliable archive of catalog hits: Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” (1984), Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (1982), Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters” (1984), Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” (1978) and, of course, Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers’ undead “Monster Mash” (1962). But in recent years, thanks to TikTok memes, Netflix and Disney synchs and music streaming, newer songs have joined the pantheon, from Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary,” which went viral after TikTok users spliced it into a dance clip from Netflix’s 2022 hit Wednesday, to LVCRFT’s “Skeleton Sam,” a spooky novelty track engineered by hit songwriters who aspire to update the Halloween music canon.

“There’s room in the marketplace for more than just ‘Monster Mash’ and ‘Ghostbusters,’ ” says Kay Anderson, vp of marketing for Craft Recordings, the Concord catalog label that represents late singer Andrew Gold, including his meme-friendly ’90s Halloween-season hit, “Spooky Scary Skeletons.” “The demand is there, and the momentum for Halloween-themed content kicks off earlier each year.”

When singer-songwriter Evan Bogart was a kid, his mother threw bobbing-for-apples Halloween parties and put dry ice in the pool to create ghostly smoke. By 2018, the son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart was a hit songwriter for Lizzo, Rihanna, Beyoncé and others and, as he recalls, his horror movie-obsessed friends wondered: “Why isn’t there any f—ing Halloween music? We’ve been listening to the same stuff since we were kids: Rockwell, The Specials, Warren Zevon, Ray Parker, Oingo Boingo. Most of it’s decades old.” They formed a collective, LVCRFT, and made an album of all-new music, 2019’s This Is Halloween Vol. 1, which included “Skeleton Sam.” The single has since racked up more than 8.5 million on-demand audio streams, according to Luminate, and its Oct. 31 streams increased from 57,343 in 2019 to 569,313 last year. LVCRFT followed the album up with new installments every year.

At the same time, Kat Basolo, senior vp of creative synch for Bogart’s publisher, Kobalt, had been thinking up song ideas to pitch to Freeform, Disney’s streaming channel for young adults. When Bogart mentioned his Halloween music obsession to Basolo, she encouraged him to cover songs from Kobalt’s catalog for Freeform’s annual, heavily promoted “31 Nights of Halloween” campaign. Kobalt also represents Gold, and LVCRFT chose “Spooky Scary Skeletons” and “It Must Be Halloween,” which the Disney channel wound up licensing. “It was very successful,” Basolo says. “That became a well we would keep tapping into.”

In Basolo’s view, the resurgence of new Halloween tracks is, at least in part, a synch phenomenon: Horror movies and spooky shows such as Wednesday, American Horror Story, the Hocus Pocus franchise and this year’s Haunted Mansion remake have led to more topical placement opportunities for artists, labels and publishers. “There’s a lot of content out there that people are constantly clamoring for because they’re genuinely Halloween fans,” she says. “Halloween is a very popular holiday for a reason, and people tend to have a cult-like affinity. They look for content out there that has themes that are adjacent.”

Streaming numbers for “Spooky Scary Skeletons,” “Skeleton Sam” and other Halloween hits may not be as big as those of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” but they add up. “Bloody Mary” never charted when Gaga released it in 2011, but after the Wednesday-related TikTok phenomenon, it hit No. 68 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022, scoring over 412 million plays on Spotify and placement in the service’s Halloween Party playlist, which has 981,000 likes. “Bloody Mary” streams grew from 128,708 on Oct. 31, 2019 to 166,893 on October 31, 2022, an increase of 29.7%. However, from October 1-9, 2023, the streams have totaled 2.04 million, according to Luminate.

Since the pandemic, Spotify’s playlist team has noticed what Talia Kraines, the services’ senior editor, pop, describes as “massive spikes on our Halloween playlists” earlier and earlier each year. One enduring seasonal beneficiary of stay-at-home TikTok and binge-watching has been the Beetlejuice soundtrack — the popularity of Schitt’s Creek led to discovery of Catherine O’Hara’s other films, including Beetlejuice, which led to streaming Harry Belafonte’s classic “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” “Labels have tended to focus on the classics. Catalog teams at labels are trying to go deeper and find more songs to pitch because the existing classics are so well covered,” Kraines says, pointing to September-October spikes for spooky-adjacent songs like Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy,” Rihanna’s “Disturbia” and the Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck.” “A lot of the new Halloween music is coming from real baby artists who don’t have that major label or publisher system in place.”

Even songs unrelated to Halloween, such as Ghost’s “Mary on a Cross,” which went viral a year ago, and Ava Max’s pop smash “Sweet but Psycho,” have landed on Spotify’s Halloween Party and other official streaming playlists this year. Rapper Ashnikko’s adult-oriented “Halloweenie” tracks, released from 2018 to 2021, have drawn roughly 67 million on-demand streams as of Oct. 9, according to Luminate.

“It takes years to mature a song like that into a classic,” says Mike Chester, executive vp of commerce and promotion at Warner Records, which represents Ashnikko. “It’s not ubiquitous like Christmas season, so you have to focus on the week leading up to Halloween and maximize that attention. It’s a pretty tight window, but it’s rabid in that moment.” Kobalt’s Basolo adds that Halloween synch prep begins earlier every year: “I’m looking at Halloween at the beginning of summer. It’s [about getting] ahead of the timeline and thinking about it a few months in advance.”

By contrast, Duran Duran never expected to make a Halloween album. The group’s ghoulish October 2022 Vegas show was a one-off, so spontaneous that singer Simon Le Bon had to put in extra work memorizing new lyrics, but it evolved into the upcoming album of covers and originals. “We hadn’t thought about it that much as any kind of business proposition — we thought we just wanted to do a Halloween album,” Rhodes says. “But one thing we definitely have on our side is that I’m not sure I know many other artists who’ve done a Halloween album. It’s a whole new genre.”