News

26 Apr 2023

16 Times Regional Mexican & Urban Artists Teamed Up for Game-Changing Collabs

Bad Bunny fans were in for a real treat when earlier this month he announced a collaboration with his “compas” (friends) in Grupo Frontera. To everyone’s surprise, Bunny — who has been on a musical break — unleashed a romantic cumbia-norteño track called “un x100to,” co-produced by Edgar Barrera and MAG. The song, about having one percent charge on the phone and using it for an important call, debuts this week at No. 3 on the Hot Latin Songs chart. 

But this isn’t the first time the Puerto Rican trap star dips his toes in the música Mexicana realm. In 2019, he teamed up with corrido tumbado pioneer Natanael Cano on “Soy El Diablo (Remix),” which incorporated hip-hop sensibility with rapping and chanting and narrating the story of a man who runs the streets. 

In recent years, other urban and regional Mexican stars have tested out the game-changing trend. Rising act Peso Pluma, for example, has already released collaborations with Colombian rapper Blessd (“Las Morras”), reggaetón hitmaker Ovy on the Drums (“El Hechizo”), and even Argentine star Nicki Nicole (the remix of his “Por Las Noches”).  

Farruko does not stay too far behind either. In 2020, he teamed up with T3R Elemento for the corrido sierreño track “Del Barrio a la Ciudad,” which was made possible thanks to DEL Records founder Angel del Villar, T3R Elemento’s label, and producer Alex Gárgola, who sent the song to Farruko.

Below, check out 16 urban and Regional Mexican collaborations, in alphabetical order of artist name.

26 Apr 2023

FBI Warns Americans To Avoid Haiti Over Gang Violence, Kidnappings

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HAITI-VIOLENCE-GANGS

Source: RICHARD PIERRIN / Getty

As gang violence increases in Haiti, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a warning to American citizens and residents against traveling to the country.

According to reports, the directive from the FBI comes after a surge in violence enacted by warring gangs in the Caribbean nation, putting stress on the embattled national police force. It issued the warning to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, particularly those living in South Florida. The bureau’s office in Miami cites a major uptick in the report of kidnappings in Haiti it has received since the beginning of the year – an increase of 300 percent in the first three months of this year when compared to the same time period last year.

Haiti still has a State Department Level 4: Do Not Travel Advisory. “While we understand that there are strong ties between Haiti and South Florida, before traveling there one should consider the trauma and financial costs of being kidnapped not only to themselves but to their family and friends as well,” FBI Supervisory Special Agent Liz Santamaria said to the Miami Herald.

While the agency has not disclosed the exact number, it is believed that many of the victims kidnapped for ransom have ties to the U.S. The State Department has advised all citizens still in Haiti to leave immediately.

The violence between warring gangs has been prevalent in the capital city of Port-au-Prince since the beginning of the year. The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 was the event that fractured Haiti’s government infrastructure – the judiciary branch is viewed as inherently corrupt, there are no elected government officials still serving and the National Police Force has shrunk from 15,000 members three years ago to 9,000. Observers estimate that gangs now control between 60 to 90 percent of Port-au-Prince.

The warning also comes as the United Nations Security Council recently received a report that conditions in Haiti are now similar to countries at war. “The people of Haiti continue to suffer one of the worst human rights crises in decades and a major humanitarian emergency,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his report.

“With the high number of fatalities and increasing areas under the control of armed gangs, insecurity in the capital has reached levels comparable to countries in armed conflict.” Guterres is expected to reiterate a demand for the creation and deployment of a special security force when the Security Council meets again today (April 26).

26 Apr 2023

Michael Keaton’s Batman Steals The Show In Latest Trailer To ‘The Flash’

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The Flash assets

Source: Warner Bros. Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures

It’s been years since there’s been any kind of anticipation for a DC film like there is for Warner Bros. upcoming blockbuster, The Flash. And judging from its latest trailer, it seems like that anticipation is very well warranted (even with Ezra Miller’s controversial actions).

We already know the basics: The Flash goes back in time to stop the death of his mother and in the process interrupts the natural events that led to meta humans who protect the earth such as Superman, Aquaman and Cyborg. Now that he’s left the world vulnerable to the arrival of the villainous Kryptonian, General Zod, the Flash (Ezra Miller) must figure out how he can stop the all-powerful alien in a world without the Man of Steel.

Luckily for him, he finds some help in the form of himself from the past, a new super ally in Supergirl (Sasha Calle) and of course, the triple-OG Batman (Michael Keaton). All these decades later and Michael Keaton is still making a solid case to be considered thee best Batman actor of all time. Who knew?

In the latest trailer, we find The Flash teaming up with the aforementioned superheroes to take down General Zod and his mercenaries along with our first look at Supergirl going toe-to-toe with the Kryptonian general. That scene along with seeing Batman take flight and use his cape to defy the law of gravity, is enough to have us opening our wallets and waiting for tickets to go on sale already.

Check out the latest trailer to The Flash below, and let us know if you’re just as hype as we are for June 15 to get here in the comments section below.



26 Apr 2023

A Familiar Tyler, the Creator Favorite Finally Hits the Hot 100

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. 
 
This week: Tyler the Creator’s new material is overshadowed by an older favorite, TikTok goes “Narcissistic” and a contemporary Christian rock classic gets a boost from an unlikely corner.

“See You Again,” Again: Tyler, the Creator’s 2017 Single Back for a Hot 100 Run

While Tyler, the Creator recently charted a trio of new cuts from his Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale deluxe reissue on the Billboard Hot 100, this week his highest-peaking entry on the chart comes from several album eras earlier. “See You Again,” the Kali Uchis-featuring love song, originally appeared on Tyler’s 2017 Columbia album Flower Boy, and just missed Billboard’s marquee songs chart, peaking at No. 13 on the Bubbling Under listing. 

But the song has remained a steady streamer in the six years since its initial release, and in the past month, it’s crossed the threshold from “reliable catalog performer” to “legitimate new hit.” The song got a big boost from TikTok, of course, in particular via a trend of users lip syncing to, or commenting on, the section where Tyler’s “OK OK OK” and Uchis’ “La la la” hooks overlap, as well as a variety of other popular videos using the video over the last month. The star duo also gave the song a spotlight with a performance at weekend one of Coachella on April 16, with Tyler making a special appearance during Uchis’ set.

The combined result has been a surge over the past four weeks from 3.9 official on-demand U.S. streams (for the tracking week ending March 30) to nearly 8.3 million on the week ending April 20, according to Luminate – a gain of 112%. Consequently, the song debuts at No. 65 on the Hot 100 this week, belatedly making it the biggest hit on the chart from Flower Boy (passing the No. 87 peak of the A$AP Rocky-featuring “Who Dat Boy”), and also Uchis’ highest-charting entry since her breakout hit “Telepatía” hit No. 25 in summer 2021. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Odetari Opens Up & Scores an Unlikely Dance Hit

This week, rising producer Odetari scores his first-ever chart entry with “Narcissistic Personality Disorder,” which debuts at No. 11 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. “Lost for words,” the independent artist posted on Twitter upon finding out about the feat — but based on the weeks-long rise of the propulsive track, the dance chart debut is only the beginning for Odetari’s viral hit.

The Houston native has described the self-released song as “about me constantly being in battle with destructive habits and asking god/universe for forgiveness,” and has used his recent singles to document his multiple personality disorders. The frankness of the lyrics (“I’m so full of myself, I’m selfish / Everybody want some help, can’t help it”), paired with the unrelenting tempo of his production, has proven affecting to listeners, and “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” has blown up on TikTok, with positive reactions to Odetari’s own posts as well as clips using the song as a soundtrack to others’ personal issues.

As a result, the song has skyrocketed on streaming platforms since its Apr. 1 release: from 65,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the week ending Apr. 6, to 1.33 million streams the following week, to 2.38 million the following week, according to Luminate. Considering its subject matter and under-two-minutes run time, “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” is an unlikely breakthrough hit — but the more listeners connecting with its powerful message, the higher it will climb. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

A Travis Scott Interlude Gets Its Due

With interludes an increasingly common fixture of major hip-hop and pop albums over the last couple decades, fans are always lobbying for their musical short kings to be given their due. In the streaming age, those songs are able to find their audiences like never before, with brief-but-captivating cuts like The Weeknd’s Lana Del Rey-featuring “Stargirl Interlude” and Paramore’s “Interlude: I’m Not Angry Anymore” becoming among the most-listened-to cuts on their respective full-lengths. 

In truth, Travis Scott’s “sdp interlude,” from 2016’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, isn’t even that short – over three minutes, practically prog rock by this era’s standards. But fans have still made the case for it being underrecognized on TikTok over the past few months, saluting the original and also sharing clips of an unreleased fuller version with more of Scott’s actual rapping on it. As a result, fans have returned to the proper McKnight version on streaming, with official on-demand U.S. plays of the song raising from 1.1 million for the week ending March 30 to nearly 2.0 million for the week ending April 20, according to Luminate – a gain of 81%. – AU

Hillsong’s ‘Oceans’ Becomes a Streaming Knockout

While boxing and worship music aren’t the most natural fit together, a much-ballyhooed heavyweight bout in Las Vegas last Saturday night (Apr. 22) caused a streaming uptick for one of the biggest Christian music hits of the past decade. Before taking the ring for his match against Gervonta “Tank” Davis, 24-year-old lightweight fighter Ryan Garcia used “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail),” the 2013 smash from Hillsong United, as his walkout music, causing an eruption of chatter about the decade-old song from fans surprised by the choice as well as unfamiliar listeners newly discovering the track.

Although Garcia ultimately lost the fight, “Oceans” won a healthy streaming gain: the song rose 56% in daily streams from Saturday to Sunday, up to 360,000 streams, according to Luminate. That’s a nice boost for the winner of the Top Christian Song prize at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, which spent a record 61 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Hot Christian Songs chart. – JL

Q&A: Alex Tear, VP Music Programming at SiriusXM + Pandora, on What’s Trending Up in His World

What’s been the most interesting pop trend over the first four months of 2023, in your opinion?

As we rolled into 2023, David Guetta & Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good” sampled Eiffel 65’s “Blue,” and Metro Boomin with The Weeknd & 21 Savage have a chart-leading presence with “Creepin,” that’s maximizing Mario Winans’ 2004 hit [“I Don’t Wanna Know”]. We’ve now got several new sample-led entries at pop radio, from [songs that use] Haddaway’s “What Is Love” to La Bouche’s “Be My Lover” to Alice Deejay “Better Off Alone” to Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You.” What’s old is new, and we’ll keep close to audience reaction to amplify or minimize our latest artist/industry appreciation or short-cut for appeal to the masses.

We’re getting close to Song of the Summer territory. What are some tracks you’re keeping an eye on?

I feel we’re still a few rollercoaster clicks from reaching our song(s) of summer vision, but I do like the continued mass appeal movement with Pop Country artists finding their way at top 40. Although a remake, Luke Combs kills it with “Fast Car.” Kane & Katelyn Brown and Morgan Wallen continue to rise up the pop charts. No doubt, there’s more to be had! Let’s not forget Dan + Shay, who’ve had great success at mainstream pop and are currently climbing the chart with Charlie Puth [collaboration “That’s Not How This Works”]. We’re also embracing Avery Anna on HITS 1: her track “Self Love” is reacting well with our SiriusXM audience.   

We’ve seen multiple years-old songs, from The Weeknd’s “Die For You” to Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” to Miguel’s “Sure Thing,” push toward the top of the charts in recent months. How has that trend affected how you consider your programming?

These are all welcome additions that are in the moment of pop culture for one reason or another. We’ll continue to track fatigue with our SiriusXM listeners who will tell us enough is enough.

– Fill in the blank: the artist I’m most interested to see how the rest of their year plays out is ______.

First: so proud of SZA’s continued breakthrough. She’s been a force, but 2023 feels to have solidified her dominance. I’m keeping close to the continued K-Pop movement. XG’s “Left Right” & FIFTY FIFTY’s “Cupid” are topping Shazam and streaming very well. NewJeans is lurking, Stray Kids are making noise, and of course Blackpink had a solid 2022 U.S. pop presence. Let’s also keep a close watch on BTS’s Jimin, coming off a recent No. 1, and Jin, who’s climbing the U.S. charts. – JL

Season’s Gainings: Up in Smoke & Up in Streams

Whether they were celebrating the annual stoner holiday or unwinding from the blue check purge on Twitter, listeners unsurprisingly flocked to a variety of smoking- and weed-themed anthems this past 4/20. Among the bigger gainers were Sublime’s “Smoke Two Joints” (up 114% to 161,000 in official on-demand U.S. streams from April 19-20, according to Luminate), Rick James’ “Mary Jane” (up 92% to 142,000), Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It” (up 149% to 49,000) and Afroman’s “Because I Got High” (up 164% to 250,000). But if you were more concerned with the blaze outside your home than the blazing inside, you might’ve instead turned to Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” – which, with temperatures spiking nationwide, rose 23% to nearly 7.1 million streams for the week ending April 20. – AU

26 Apr 2023

Billboard Introduces Industry-Voted Award for Annual Country Power Players List

Billboard is introducing a peer-voted award to run alongside its annual Country Power Players list of country music industry’s most influential executives. This new Country Power Players’ Choice Award will honor the executive whose peers believe has had the greatest impact across the music business over the past year, from recording and publishing to managing and touring and beyond. Vote here.

Voting is now open to all Billboard Pro members, both existing and new, with one vote per member.

Billboard launched its first Players’ Choice Award with the Power 100 list earlier this year.

The first round of voting will begin April 25, with an open call for nominees.

The second round of voting will begin May 8, in order to narrow down the top 25 nominees into the final five top executives.

The third round of voting will begin May 15, to select the winner from that list.

If you are not yet a member of Billboard Pro, you can join here.

26 Apr 2023

Billboard’s Country Power Players’ Choice Award: Vote for the Most Impactful Executive

Billboard is introducing a peer-voted award to run alongside its annual Country Power Players list of country music industry’s most influential executives. This new Country Power Players’ Choice Award will honor the executive whose peers believe has had the greatest impact across the music business over the past year, from recording and publishing to managing and touring and beyond.

Voting is open to all Billboard Pro members, both existing and new, with one vote per member.

Billboard first launched its Players’ Choice Award with the Power 100 list earlier this year.

The first round of voting is now open and will run through May 7 with an open call for nominees. Vote below.

The second round of voting will begin May 8, in order to narrow down the top 20 nominees into the final five top executives.

The third round of voting will begin May. 15, to select the winner from that list. Voting concludes May 21 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

Vote here:

26 Apr 2023

Lizzo Shakes Her ‘Tailfeather’ in a Bikini Ahead of St. Louis Concert

Lizzo stripped down to nothing but swimwear to dance it out ahead of her show in St. Louis on Tuesday.

In the clip posted to TikTok, the singer wears a blue-and-white tie-dyed bikini, pink swim cap and oversize black shades as she gets down to “Shake Ya Tailfeather,” Nelly, P. Diddy and Murphy Lee’s 2004 single from the Bad Boys II soundtrack. In the background from her rooftop view, the famous St. Louis arch is clearly visible as sirens blare and the song starts with the rappers chanting, “We do it for fun/ We just do it for fun/ We Derrty ENT/ We do it for fun/ Bad Boy/ Nelly, Diddy, Murphy Lee!”

Lizzo is currently back on the road for another leg of her ongoing Special Tour, which has recently kicked off again with stops in Knoxville, Tenn. — where she trotted out drag queens Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, Kandy Muse, Aquaria and Asia O’Hara to protest the state’s discriminatory anti-drag and anti-LGBTQ+ laws — and Lexington, Ky. Next, she’s headed to Canada for a show at Montreal’s Bell Centre on May 4 before continuing on to Hartford, Conn.; Baltimore; Raleigh, N.C.; and beyond.

The pop star’s carefree dance moves prove she continues to remain determinedly unbothered by the recent onslaught of fat-phobic insults and other body-shaming commentary sparked by conservative commentator Candace Owens and perpetuated by swarms of online trolls.

Over the weekend, Lizzo emerged as the big winner at the 2023 Detroit Music Awards by taking home four awards and sweeping the night.

Watch Lizzo’s bikini-clad dance to “Shake Ya Tailfeather” below.

26 Apr 2023

Taeyang Says New Album ‘Down to Earth’ Let Him Find ‘Joy in Creating Music Again’

It takes three different people to help perfect the translation, but Taeyang is eventually satisfied with the explanation of his Down to Earth album title. Almost two decades after his music-industry debut, a time that’s included historic accolades such as being the first K-pop soloist to send a Korean-language album to the Billboard charts, the singer-songwriter-dancer emphasizes the details because now, more than ever, it’s personal.

Until last year, Taeyang and his generation-defining group BIGBANG (which BTS’ Suga recently cited as having “practically made” his chart-topping band) hadn’t released new music since 2018. TY’s last solo album, White Night from 2017, spent two weeks atop the World Albums chart and after the single “Louder” was released in conjunction with the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea, the star began his mandatory military service for the country.

In what should have been a routine enlistment required for all able-bodied men, unforeseen events such as the departure of original bandmate Seungri and the COVID-19 pandemic canceling BIGBANG’s comeback performance for Coachella 2020 complicated a simple musical return. Frustrated with an inability to address the situations or express himself musically during enlistment, it nearly turned the star off from music entirely.

“It was a pretty devastating time for me,” Taeyang tells Billboard during a morning call from Seoul the weekend before Earth‘s release. “Five years ago, I couldn’t make music in the military. But it wasn’t just the outside limitations like the army or COVID. It was also internal and things going on in my personal life that were out of my control that made me even more anxious and that much harder to deal with the situation. At one point, I even thought, ‘Maybe this is the end of my career as an artist.’”

Not confident he’d find his voice as a more mature, now-married K-pop star with a boy band shaken up while serving his country, Taeyang struggled to find a viewpoint.

“I was unsure about what messages to put in the music,” he says, not naming any specific instance that affected him, but an overall unease during the period. “I couldn’t create a song with a ‘We are the best’ kind of message, and I also couldn’t make heartbreaking music. It was really awkward and weird. I had a lot of thoughts and was having quite a difficult time getting started. I contemplated a lot on the direction and story of the music, so I was stuck for a period of time where I could barely do anything.”

An unconventional approach was able to pull him out of his hole thanks to producers and other creatives at THEBLACKLABEL (the subsidiary agency under mega-label YG Entertainment, whose roster includes a range of Korean talents such as Zion.T, Jeon Somi, LØREN and, now, Taeyang), the star began to find his groove again.

“THEBLACKLABEL producers started making some music for me, really fun songs where we were just messing around with the music almost in a joking type of way,” the singer explains. “That’s how the process started, very organically. I was going through so much and I was being so serious about music, but the producer would throw out these funny melodies and lyrics. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really fun.’ I’d respond to them like, ‘Oh, what about this? Like that?!?’ and we’d just be playing. I found the true joy of making music then. I was like, ‘This is really fun — let’s just start this way.’”

His super catchy, trap-heavy new single “Shoong!” with Lisa of BLACKPINK, Back to Earth‘s international focus track following Taeyang’s signing with Interscope Records, was created in this style and set the path for the project. “The song that played the most important role in making the album was ‘Shoong!’” he says. “That’s how the album process started.”

It all speaks to his all-important album title, Down to Earth, which Taeyang (whose real name is Dong Young Bae) landed upon for his most personal yet.

“Whenever I started the ideation for an album, I really did think it was important to use the sun as a main starting point,” he says, referencing his stage name (Taeyang means “sun” in Korean, and he performs in Japan as SOL, or sun in Spanish) as well as past solo records (Hot, Solar, Rise, White Night).

“But for this album, instead of it starting for ideation and choosing a concept necessary for the album, it really stemmed out of my life experiences,” he shares.

“There are a lot of limitations as to what you can do in the army. One of the things I found was to go for a run around the time the sun was setting. It wasn’t like I always loved running, but that was all I could do; I wasn’t really in control. One day, I saw a beautiful sunset I had never seen before in Korea, and a lot of thoughts crossed my mind. The sunset meets the darkness, right? It meets the night and I saw myself as the sunset because that was how my life was at that time. The setting sun can’t complain; it has no say in where it’s going. I found solace in that and realized that I could also meet my darkness in a similar way, and I decided to be more peaceful throughout these stressful experiences. I wanted to create a new morning, which meant resetting my approach and mindset.”

In the process of coming down to Earth, and returning to music, Taeyang notes how “going back to basics and going back to my core” during his time in the military comes through in new songs like the moving piano ballad “Seed,” a throwback to ’80s and ’90s South Korean music to let TY’s vocals shine unaccompanied, and the surging feel-good anthem “Inspiration” with clever references to his biggest artistic influences. Undoubtedly one of Taeyang’s tightest collections to date, Down to Earth not only sounds like an artist refreshed and reminded of his superstar abilities but also one who’s back to expressing himself in the only way he knows how.

Read on for more from Taeyang’s journey, including his favorite new song, reaction to hitting the Hot 100 and comforting news on what’s next.

First, congratulations on entering the Hot 100 with “Vibe” earlier this year. It was both your and Jimin‘s first entry. Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?

Taeyang: I was at home eating lunch with my family when I first heard the news. I was pretty startled at first and didn’t quite understand what that meant because, well, I had been away for so long. It didn’t hit me that hard — not that I wasn’t thankful, but I wasn’t sure about the degree of successfulness. I had to call my producers and ask what it meant. They said, “Oh, this is such an amazing result,” and that’s when I really realized.

It’s been a long time since my last comeback and, thankfully, K-pop and the industry have grown a lot, so I was unsure to what the new standard of how a track does well. But I put all my best in it and to be able to get such a nice result with Billboard, it’s quite a miracle. And it was possible through the people that I works with; I was really glad to have gotten such good feedback for “Vibe,” but I did not expect that.

Do you have any new reflections on “Vibe” now that it’s been out for a few months?

After “Vibe” was completed, the specific plans for the album and the timing of the release were all set. The fact that I collaborated with Jimin is very, very special and, on top of that, “Vibe” played a huge role in completing my album. It’s a meaningful song to me and I am very grateful.

It’s pretty impressive to have a BTS member featured on your album and a BLACKPINK member with Lisa on “Shoong!” It feels like only Taeyang could pull this off.

Actually, it’s not that I planned to get features from BLACKPINK and BTS in one album. It was a very natural process. And I’m really, really thankful for that.

Tell me about the Korean focus track “Seed.” It has that classic Taeyang ballad vibe.

Although K-pop has a certain image now, like what the current generation now knows as K-pop with boy groups and girl groups, what I believe is true to K-pop is the golden era of the ’80s and ’90s [music in South Korea] because music from that era was entirely in Korean and the lyrics are really beautiful. I thought it’d be good to express in that modern way.

That’s how [BIGBANG’s 2022 comeback single] “Still Life” was created. After that song was released, I read a lot of comments from fans and thought about how I could express my thoughts honestly in my new solo music [too]. That’s how “Seed” was created too. If you listen, you can tell that I had a lot of thoughts and feelings put into the song. I’m expressing the feelings of what I went through in the past, but there’s also what I see and think about the future.

“Inspiration” feels very special for shoutouts to artists we know you love, like Michael Jackson. What went into this song?

“Inspiration” is the song I created with Beenzino, a friend I met during the military. He’s a really great rapper, and we share many similarities, so I wanted to collaborate with him. I’ve always wanted to create a song with the color and mood of Michael Jackson and Prince for a song about what I am most inspired by in my own life. I wanted to connect the dots and all the sources of my inspiration, I mentioned the artists’ names from all different genres, but I tried to combine them into one story and in the lyrics.

Do you have a favorite song on the album?

Wow, that’s really hard to say because every song is my own, but if I have to pick one, it would be the last track, “Nightfall” featuring Bryan Cha$e, because it describes my thoughts very well on my album. Many fans like the intros of my albums, but in this EP, I do not have an intro. When I first started to work on “Nightfall,” I thought of putting it as the intro to my album, but when I was finishing creating the song, I thought it should be an outro as the mood of the song really fits as the outro — it explains about the album and my thoughts.

Earlier this year, you and Suga of BTS bonded over how you write out what’s on your mind, which shaped your lyrics on Down to Earth. What are you writing about lately?

I am really, really busy these days due to promotional activities, so I don’t have much to write. [Laughs] But I can say, thankfully, after finishing this album, I already have a vision for the upcoming albums and about the theme, concept and mood. I’m already gathering the thoughts to motivate myself for the next album.

26 Apr 2023

How a Bob Dylan Drawing From ‘Basement Tapes’ Era Ended Up for Sale at an Antiquarian Book Fair

While Bob Dylan has painted a handful of album covers and released several books of drawings over the years, the singer-songwriter’s fervent fans have had few chances to see original art pieces from his hand up close and personal.

But lo and behold! Fans in the New York City area will soon have an opportunity for a close encounter with some odds and ends drawings done by Dylan circa the 1967 recording sessions for the legendary The Basement Tapes album (released in 1975). And if you have a spare $60,000, you could be the one bringing it all back home.

Somewhat improbably, these captioned drawings – done on the blank side of a brown paper bag when Dylan was recording at Big Pink in Saugerties, N.Y. – will be on hand at the 63rd annual ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, which returns to the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan from April 27-30.

The drawings, like the artist himself, are unusual. One depicts a man with a guitar waving and shouting a variation on a Basement Tapes lyric — “Long Distance Operator, This call is Not For Fun!”; another shows what the seller describes as “robot guitar machines”; and yet another features a visage not unlike the one that Dylan painted for the cover of 1970’s Self Portrait.

The story of how the drawings ended up at a book fair is just as unusual as the artwork – though significantly less mysterious. In 2022, Gabe Boyers, a dealer in antiquarian music manuscripts, art and books, was contacted by a man whose late sister maintained a friendship with Levon Helm of The Band during the heady Basement Tapes days. “[She was] in the middle of things with The Band, Eric Clapton and Dylan,” explains Boyers. After inspecting the materials, Boyers – whose gallery Schubertiade Music & Arts (at “B” Dry Goods) is selling the drawings – says he was struck by the way these pieces provided “an incredible impression of this moment and time.” Some of the materials he viewed included “calendars where she meticulously records which drugs they were taking on which day.”

The drawings, on the other hand, are a bit less meticulous. “Like Dylan and his lyrics – they’re difficult to pin down,” he says.

One thing that wasn’t difficult to establish, however, was the validity of the connection to Dylan. The previously seller’s late sister, who died tragically young, had an established history with The Band and Dylan during the period.

“There’s an incredibly deep provenance history that puts her in this room in a well-documented way,” he says. Not only that, but her brother had previously sold some of her personal items from that period via Sotheby’s, meaning the venerable auction company had already vetted items from her collection. Even so, Boyers – who has been doing authentication services for universities and libraries for nearly two decades – made a point to show the drawings to several major Dylan archivists, who confirmed the authorship. “You can tell instantly it’s the same hand, the same quirky confidence.”

You can gawk firsthand at that quirky confidence starting April 27, when the piece will be “very much on display” at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. “The fair is an incredible opportunity for people to come see things that are normally in museums,” says Boyers, who is also selling a Beethoven manuscript with Ludwig van’s first thoughts on Symphony No. 9.

Elsewhere at the four-day event, music history lovers can see the design archive of Alex Steinweiss, the man who essentially invented album cover art in the 1930s as Columbia Records’ first art director (that collection is being sold by James Cummins Bookseller). Boyers notes that while not everyone has tens of thousands of dollars to drop, the fair offers plenty of items that go for hundreds of dollars.

That price point doesn’t, of course, include the 60k Dylan drawing – but that isn’t just any item. “There’s a lot of fake stuff on the market,” Boyers says. “The opportunity to get things that are undeniably from a certain time and have a strong provenance…. It’s not just a rare item. We know exactly when this was created, who it was made for, and who the other person’s handwriting is on it — she was in that room. It’s a special piece.”

26 Apr 2023

Selena Gomez Cooks Up a Daytime Emmy Nomination for ‘Selena + Chef’

Catch her in the fridge right where the ice be, because Selena Gomez has just snagged another Emmy nomination! This time, the singer-actress’ HBO Max cooking show, Selena + Chef, has received a 2023 Daytime Emmy nod for outstanding culinary series. Nominations were announced Tuesday (April 26).

The star is up against some stiff competition from some celebrated food personalities. The other cooking shows nominated in the category are Andrew Zimmern’s Family Dinner, Martha Stewart’s Martha Cooks, Jose Andres and Family in Spain, and Roadfood: Discovering America One Dish at a Time. The winner will be announced during the 50th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, which will air live June 16 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Selena + Chef is currently available to stream on HBO Max. The most recent season — the show’s fourth — features the star learning how to cook from various all-star chefs at a Malibu beach house. As with previous seasons, the chefs on each episode highlight a different charity to benefit. (The program has so far raised $400,000 for 26 non-profit organizations.)

This is Gomez’s second Emmy nod. She received a nomination in 2022 as an executive producer for the hit Hulu series Only Murders in the Building, which was up for best comedy series. She did not receive an acting nomination for her portrayal of Mabel Mora, while co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short were both nominated in the best actor in a comedy series for their roles on the show.

Martin and the rest of the Only Murders team were disappointed by Gomez’s acting snub. “Marty and I, and the whole team at ‘Only Murders in the Building,’ are thrilled with our nominations,” he said in a statement to Billboard at the time. “We’re also loving that our crucial partner Selena Gomez is recognized as a producer in the Best Comedy Series category.” But, he went on to tell The New York Times, “We’re dismayed that Selena was not nominated because she’s so crucial to our performances, really.”