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20 Apr 2023

U.K. Dance Phenom Yuné Pinku on Her ‘Music For Introverted Ravers’

In Billboard’s monthly emerging dance artist spotlight we get to know Yunè Pinku, the 20-year-old artist building fantastical realms with her otherworldly voice and textured sonics.

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The Project: Babylon IX EP, out April 28 on Platoon

The Origin: Born and raised in London, Malaysian-Irish artist Yunè Pinku worked a number of odd jobs before becoming a musician — including, as she told The Line of Best Fit, as a bartender, and as an intern both at Prada and at a crystal shop. Though she had learned to play piano, she seemingly found her comfort zone at her computer, where she began carving out ambient soundscapes with downloaded production software. Soon after, she started writing songs inspired by bedroom pop and what she described as “Bladee-weird Drain Gang stuff.”

During lockdown, Pinku channeled the energy she missed from dance music and going out into her experimentations. “Then I tried adding vocals on top of that, which were originally just gonna be placeholders,” she tells Billboard. By the time restrictions were lifted, she had made over 150 songs.

Despite not having any official releases to her name, Pinku earned a big co-sign from U.K. stalwart Joy Orbison (with whom she worked in music sessions), who invited her to contribute a guest mix to his Radio 1 residency in July 2021. Two months later, she featured on Logic1000’s single “What You Like,” followed by her solo debut “Laylo” in November. 

To start 2022, she found another big supporter in The Blessed Madonna, who named Pinku one to watch on her BBC Radio 6 New Year’s Day broadcast. Last April, she released her debut EP, Bluff, which led to billboard support from major streaming services and one of its tracks, “DC Rot,” landing on the FIFA 23 video-game soundtrack. (“My inner hooligan’s gassed,” she wrote on Instagram).

The Sound: Pinku has called her work “music for introverted ravers.” It juxtaposes electronic productions — an ever-evolving blend of U.K. garage, breakbeats, house, trance and more — with pop-structured songwriting to create a sound that’s animated enough for bedroom raving, yet mellow enough for introspective night drives.

But beneath the dance-y beats, a shadowy undercurrent runs through Pinku’s lyrics. Bluff, for instance, reflects the anxiety and angst of spending lockdown in isolation before re-learning how to navigate the outside world. Newer song “Night Light” takes the perspective of an AI searching for its maker.

“I would say I’ve got a default setting in my brain that’s quite existential,” she says. “A small thing could send me off into a doom scenario where I’ll be like, what’s the meaning of life, who are we? So I think it’s sort of these traces that come through.”

Part of Pinku’s strength is her use of textures, no doubt a remnant of her early soundscape sketches. Subtle sonics such as glittering synth constellations, the whirs of a machine powering up and softened glitches make her songs seem like they transcend the aural into the physical world.

“I’ve always really liked anything that sounds a bit twinkly or sparkly,” she says. “Textures are to me like 50% of a song, ‘cause you could have like a really good beat, but the textures and extra effects are how you make it interesting and more emotional.” Pinku even often treats her own otherworldly vocals as an instrument to blend and manipulate. But as she’s grown confident in her voice, she’s more open to bringing it closer to the forefront.

The Record: As Pinku was writing her new EP, she envisioned it taking place in a metaverse or cyber-realm — “So I thought, like, the idea of Babylon,” she says, “or like, the hanging gardens and cloud nine, where it’s these fantastical realms of existence.”

Pinku’s own fantastical realm took time to mold. Before Bluff, music had simply been a hobby. Post-release, she realized just how many eyes were on her. “There was like a five-month period where I literally couldn’t come up with any music, ‘cause I was like, ‘Oh god, they’re all gonna hate the music,’” she recalls. Then, during a breakthrough studio session in which she says she felt like she was “dying of hay fever,” she made two tracks in one day. One of those was recent single “Fai Fighter,” a bright, bouncy track which opens with an unhinged scream and features Pinku’s voice slicing through the air with its piercing whoops.

Whereas Bluff dons a shield of bravado and toughness, Pinku describes Babylon IX as being “gentler” and “more vulnerable on the lyrical side”: “This one is more about a delve into parts of desperation or being honest with yourself about yourself.” Her newest single, “Sports,” laments the idea of someone putting their screens before their IRL relationships over barraging drums and thunderous synths, while on opening track “Trinity,” she softly muses, “I never wanna be this lonely.” Additional tracks “Heartbeat” and “Blush Cut” bring out the EP’s dreamier, more delicate side with their crystalline production. It’s intimate yet vast, sad but sweet.

“Me and my friend were talking about it the other day,” Pinku says, “and we were saying [the EP sounds as] if a DJ was trying to summon a spirit on a mountain or something.”

Managed By: Emma Reid & Ferdy Hall, Outlier Artists

Management Strategy: “Our main aim managing Yunè has always been to make sure that this whole process remains not only fun and creative for her, but grows at a rate that she’s comfortable with,” say Reid and Hall. “This means saying ‘no’ to things is just as important as saying ‘yes.’ Growing her team independently via artist services company Platoon has allowed us the space and time to consider each step forward. Focusing on her long term ambitions rather than being preoccupied with short term trends that can often box in an artist’s growth rather than encourage it. This plays into our measurement for success, as long as we take a step forward with every move, then our plan and strategy is working. 

“Her biggest strength as an artist,” they continue, “is the quantity of quality music she’s able to make fast and her ability to envision the world that should sit around her releases. All we need to do is lean into that and put the pieces around her to make sure it’s all coming to life.”

First Song That Made Her Love Dance Music: Pinku was not a dance music fan growing up, thinking it to be only the trance her mother played around the house, but lockdown led to a change of heart. When she left her Spotify running in the background, the algorithm’s resultant “clubby drums” breached her subconscious. Pinku specifically remembers hearing songs from New York-based artist Eartheater’s 2019 album Trinity during those run-ons:

“They’re like trappy, kind of electronic, weird, blend stuff,” she says. “It’s cool ‘cause it’s quite experimental. It’s a mix of multiple genres and it kind of made me think, club music and electronic are like a whole [spectrum], and not just this or that.”

Advice Every New Dance Artist Needs to Hear: “Don’t be afraid to experiment or get quite weird with it. It’s electronic: you have so much space and there’s no rules with it, really.”

Why She Makes Music: “I think it’s just something I just do regardless of if anyone was listening to it. To me, it’s like getting things out of your soul in a way, which sounds very deep, but it’s like a diary for me. You free yourself a bit when you put it into a song.”

Up Next: In Pinku’s words: “A lot of shows.” She embarks on the next leg of her U.K./European tour next month, and in June she’ll venture this side of the pond for her first U.S. live shows at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere (June 15) and Los Angeles’ El Cid (June 22). SoCal fans can catch her again at HARD Summer (Aug. 5).

The rest of 2023 isn’t all planes and stages, though. Pinku’s also thinking about her eventual debut album. “I always enjoy the early stage of putting a project together ‘cause you’re just throwing out ideas of what you want it to be,” she says. “So I’m still kind of in the early stage where I’m just making tracks here and there and seeing if there’s any sound overall that’s coming out clearly and then just tweaking away at them.”

20 Apr 2023

Jay-Z Prison Reform Doc, Latino Music Diaspora Series Featuring Fat Joe Premiering at 2023 Tribeca Festival

This year’s Tribeca Festival is packed with musical stories, from biopics and documentaries to hard-hitting investigative films and docuseries that seek to inspire and shine a light on the sounds of the Latino diaspora.

Among the highlights of the NOW portion of the fest are Exposing Parchman, an investigative doc that explores the efforts to reform the Mississippi correctional system led by attorneys on behalf of the inmates of Parchman Prison. In addition to telling the inside stories of these inmates and their families, the movie zeroes in on the work of a team of Roc Nation attorneys and features Roc founder Jay-Z.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with the legal team, some of the film’s subjects and Roc Nation executives.

The fest will also feature the debut of the docuseries De La Calle, a journey into the Latino musical diaspora with special guests Fat Joe and Juelz Santana that a festival description says explores, “the evolution of Urbano music and cultures that ignited the musical revolution of Rap, Reggaeton, Bachata, Latin trap, Cumbia and other sounds that are influencing music and culture worldwide.”

Additionally, Choir will seek to lift up the spirits via the Disney+ film based on the Detroit Youth Choir, who went from rehearsing in a church basement with a handful of kids to taking the stage on one of the biggest reality platforms in the country as finalists on America’s Got Talent. The movie follows the new faces in the choir as they are put through their paces in auditions, asking the question, “can the DYC stay relevant in their hometown and on the national stage?”

The screening will be followed by a conversation with DYC artistic director Anthony White, director Rudy Valdez and executive producer Sara Bernstein, as well as members of the choir and a performance by the DYC.

This year’s event will also feature films about Alicia Keys, Gogol Bordello, Milli Vanilli, Gloria Gaynor, Biz Markie, The Indigo Girls, Tierra Whack and legendary Marvel comic book writer Stan Lee. Click here to see the full 2023 lineup of films.

20 Apr 2023

Troye Sivan Would Like to Know Why Kelly Clarkson Is (Not Really) Mad at Him: ‘I’m Ready to Fight’

We bet you didn’t have “Kelly Clarkson writes a Troye Sivan diss track” on your 2023 bingo cards — yet the “Angel Baby” singer would like a word with Miss Independent herself over a recent lyric.

In a TikTok posted late Wednesday night (April 19), a shirtless Sivan looked bewildered as he asked his audience, “What did I do to upset Kelly Clarkson?” The clip then cut to Clarkson’s recent debut performance of her new single “Mine” on her daytime talk show.

The captions of the video appear to show Clarkson wailing the words “Troye Sivan/ Who the hell do you think you are” at the song’s final bridge. Adding one final jab, Sivan wrote a demand to the American Idol alum in the caption of his clip, saying “@kellyclarkson drop your location im [sic] ready to fight.”

Of course, Clarkson wasn’t actually taking a swing at the “My My My” singer on her latest single — the real lyrics to “Mine” see Clarkson examining the fallout of her relationship with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. The bridge lyrics that led to the mondegreen that got Sivan so concerned are actually, “Sabotage, your choice of art/ Who the hell do you think you are?”

Clarkson released “Mine” alongside her other recent single “Me” on Friday (April 14), saying in a statement that she wanted the two songs to speak to the emotional weight of her forthcoming album, Chemistry. “We decided to release ‘mine’ and ‘me’ at the same time because I didn’t want to release just one song to represent an entire album, or relationship,” she said. “There are many stages of grief and loss on this album. Each song is a different stage and emotional state.” 

Check out Sivan’s hilarious reaction to the misheard lyric below.

20 Apr 2023

Not97: The Podcast Where Your Favorite Artist Finds Their Favorite New Artist

Matthew Schonfeld and RaShaad Strong used to play a simple game to pass the time while working at Manhattan’s Only NY boutique.

“We started going on SoundCloud to find the artist with the least followers [who had] the song that was more fire than the next one,” Schonfeld says. The pair would alternate playing “SoundCloud rabbit hole” finds from now-established acts. While Strong usually had the best picks, Schonfeld unwillingly admits, both music lovers emerged as winners.

In 2016, the duo began their music discovery podcast Not97 — its name, of course, a “tongue-in-cheek” reference to renowned New York hip-hop FM station Hot97. “We love Hot97,” Schonfeld says. “It does its thing for [big] artists, and we’re going to do what we do for [emerging] artists.”

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Five years later, Not97 was picked up by Human Re Sources and The Orchard after seven seasons, and recently landed at No. 2 on the Apple Music Podcasts Chart. Along with their newest co-host Athena Yasaman, the trio of music lovers — who double as professional managers, curators and fashion industry creators — search the depths of the internet to find the best under-underground artists and pass the aux back and forth, highlighting their favorite finds across genres.

“What I liked most about Not97 is how it felt similar to our mission as a company of being disruptive,” says Human Re Sources CEO and EVP of creative development at Sony Music, Jay Erving. “They have a very high taste level and batting average in terms of picking artists that are ultimately going to have success.”

Each episode also features guests who bring two of their own music picks — including fashion designers, curators, DJs, A&Rs, music journalists, artists, music executives and directors. This season’s guests will include artists Jordan Ward, Fana Hues and Alex Vaughn.

“[Not97] has given artists an outlet that’s less abrasive,” explains co-founder Strong. “We’re one of the few platforms that if you come on to the show, we’re not even going to ask you many questions about your actual artistry. It’s a safe space.”

Instead, the artists spend their time uplifting other artists smaller than them that they admire, leaning into a community-based approach that is uncommon in the world of music interviews.

Founded in 2016, Not97 carved out its own uncharted space amidst an influx of music podcast start-ups, including Drink Champs and The Joe Budden Podcast (formerly known as I’ll Name This Podcast Later), among others. While wildly popular podcasts from known veteran music personalities like N.O.R.E., Joe Budden and Angie Martinez have thrived with superstar guests, co-founders Schonfeld and Strong made a name for themselves by leaning into the exact opposite.

“I got bored of blogs — I didn’t feel like I was finding new music there,” Schonfeld explains. “I was trying to figure out how I could effect some sort of change within music discovery for young artists. The podcast is kind of built as a means to an end for that.”

Schonfeld’s strategy has remained the same over the years: going down those SoundCloud rabbit holes in the hopes of finding a diamond in the rough. And his strategy has worked: Not97 featured Baby Keem, King Princess, Giveon, Kenny Mason, Arlo Parks, Tierra Whack, Fousheé and plenty of other now-notable acts before their breakout moments.

“You can read 500 words about an artist and still not press play on the song,” he says. “So [we thought], ‘Let’s streamline it and create a way to listen to a podcast and to eight songs.’”

Not only does Not97 expose small artists to an audience of thousands, but the platform has also become a strong networking tool for small acts to secure otherwise inaccessible opportunities. Schonfeld says he and his collaborators spent the first year of Not97 building relationships with artists, reaching out to ask permission before playing their songs. Featuring recorded tracks soon turned to holding full performances, when the team began their Not a Showcase series in Los Angeles and New York, setting the stage for a few acts to perform live for a ticketed audience and creating opportunities for those acts to profit from their art.

Beyond opportunities directly tied to Not97, the podcast allows for the show’s guests to be exposed to music from acts with small audiences. Over the course of nine seasons, Not97 has had music industry guests including artists, sync licensing coordinators, label executives and music journalists, with some artists whose music was featured going on to secure booking agents and performances thanks to their inclusion on episodes.

“When we started this, we didn’t set out to be the biggest podcast — we were using the podcast medium as a means of sharing music,” Schonfeld says. “We were like, ‘This is the easiest way for us to play this music, have these conversations and get it out there.’ In the last, like, four or five years, everybody started a podcast — it’s just gone crazy. That being said, I do think that the music podcast world is still fairly untapped.”

But despite the boom of podcast listenership, some companies are cutting back. In March, NPR announced that it would be canceling four podcasts — Invisibilia, Louder Than a Riot, Everyone & Their Mom and Rough Translation — to close a $30 million budget gap. In an article from NPR announcing the cancellation and a layoff of 10 percent of their staff, the platform attributed the slashing of those podcasts to “advertisers’ growing reluctance to spend money, particularly on podcasting, in an uncertain economy.”

“The problem is a lot of these companies don’t necessarily know what they’re doing with this content,” Schonfeld says. “I don’t think NPR realizes how important what they have is. They’re going to be producing Louder Than a Riot for this whole season and I hope by the end of it, NPR rethinks their [decision].”

When asked if he worries for Not97, Schonfeld is confident. “Not97’s tagline is, ‘Not a podcast, not a radio show.’ That has put us in a space that’s one foot in, one foot out,” he says. “A lot of our success up until now has been on the music side of things. I think of Not97 as an overarching brand and the podcast being the nucleus of that.”

Schonfeld says that the collaboration with Human Re Sources and The Orchard will allow them to provide resources to artists that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. “Having a global distribution platform behind us where I can pitch artists to internal teams that [handle] music distribution, marketing, digital marketing services,” he lists. “The Orchard really builds itself out to be a full support system for artists.”

“Both Spotify, Apple and others are really leaning into podcasts,” says Erving. “I think we’re gonna start to see them behind the paywall, which will lend itself to a lot more revenue in the space.”

When it comes to the future of Not97, co-founder Strong has big plans for expansion. “[We’re thinking about] potentially going to a larger platform to amplify what we already do in terms of video,” he says. “Matt has always wanted to do a label from when I met him, before we even did the podcast. So a label would be the next thing. That was the ultimate goal.”

20 Apr 2023

Weed Songs: 25 Tokin’ Tunes Ranked By Potency

It’s hard to imagine that Bob Dylan, Three 6 Mafia and Toby Keith have much in common, but all three artists understand the power of a knockout stoner track. 

Marijuana has served as the inspiration for smoking cuts in rock, hip-hop, pop, and (of course) reggae, and is still influencing more than a few of our biggest artists today. Whether it’s Dylan’s “everybody must get stoned” double entendre or Wiz Khalifa boasting, “Roll joints bigger than King Kong’s fingers/ And smoke them hoes down until they’re stingers” on “Young, Wild & Free,” his collab with the doggfather of all stoners, Snoop Dogg, musicians have bravely fought cottonmouth and given voice to the sticky icky for decades. Most of them, in fact, began singing or rapping about the ganja back when it was straight-up illegal in America. But now, as people wise up and draconian regulations about marijuana roll back, it’s safe in many states to roll one up and enjoy (responsibly, of course).

A number of artists, from Willie Nelson (duh) to the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart to Jay-Z to Travis Barker, have gotten in the game, either endorsing or becoming owners (or partial owners) in various brands of THC and CBD, which you can read about here.

Since it’s probably 4:20 somewhere, Billboard has put together a countdown of 25 tracks that talk about toking up, with each song including a “potency” level that measures their inebriated energy on a scale of one (mildly buzzed) to 10 (totally stoned).

20 Apr 2023

Nick Cannon Says Dem Babies ‘Enjoy’ Being the Oldest of His 12 Kids

Nick Cannon spilled the tea in a new interview on Wednesday (April 19) about how his twins with Mariah Carey feel about having 10 younger half-siblings.

“At this point, they enjoy it,” he said of Moroccan and Monroe during an appearance on the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast. “They have fun and they’re the oldest. But who knows where that will go when 16 hits?”

The host of The Masked Singer also opened up about the twins, who were born in April 2011, growing older, saying, “It’s my first time having 12-year-olds and I have a set of them! And we’re having real conversations. Because, you know, their lives are far from normal. Their mom is one of the biggest entertainers to ever live and their dad is me.”

“They’re so intelligent, they’re so in tune with their own values,” he continued. “One thing they do know is that dad f–ks up. [They know] Dad makes mistakes.”

Along with Dem Babies, Cannon also shares his 10 other kids with five different women including Brittany Bell, DJ Abby De La Rosa, Alyssa Scott, Bre Tiesi and LaNisha Cole. However, despite calling himself a “man of abundance,” he’s not sure he’ll be adding to the large brood anytime soon. “Everything is challenging, but the fact that I get to see all my children in one day, and get to see them each and every day when I’m in town, even when I’m not in town, I take them with me. I love the challenge,” he said. “I’m good with my dozen.”

Listen to Cannon’s full conversation with Howie Mandel below.

20 Apr 2023

Watch BTS Give J-Hope an Emotional Send-Off Before Starting His Military Service

J-Hope entered South Korean military boot camp on Tuesday (April 18) in order to fulfill the country’s mandatory 18-month service requirement, but before heading off, the members of BTS gave him an emotional send off as captured in a video shared to the K-pop group’s BANGTANTV.

Suga, RM, Jung Kook, Jimin and V all arrived at the drop-off location to send off the rapper and lift his spirits. While the military service hung heavy among the members, the Bangtan Boys tried keeping the mood light by making several comments on J-Hope’s newly buzzed hair.

“It really suits you,” several of the members remarked throughout the video, with V cheekily telling the rapper to “think of me when you wash your hair.” J-Hope couldn’t help but be delighted by the praise, and frequently ran his hands and fingers though his shortened hair. “The rain just bounces off,” he joked.

Once Jimin arrived, he told the camera, “Our J-Hope … they’re leaving one by one,” before embracing the rapper in a long hug. “You’ve come a long way. How do you feel? Did you get some sleep?” J-Hope replied that he only got three hours and drank a cup of coffee before heading out.

Jung Kook added a few jokes of his own. “I was fine when Jin left, but with J-Hope leaving, I’m pretty sad. I’m kidding!” he said. Meanwhile, V made sure to keep the tears at bay, telling the group, “If someone cries here, won’t it be too different than it was with Jin?”

Jin — who took a day off from service — showed up later in the video, but due to restrictions, was not shown.

After taking several pictures with his fellow BTS members, J-Hope gave BTS ARMY one final message: “Yes, ARMY, I’m off now. I’m fulfilling my duty as an able-bodied Korean man. I’ll be sure to make a safe return and be better than ever and greet you then. Fighting! I love you.”

J-Hope’s entrance into the military makes him the second BTS member to fulfill the requirement after Jin, who started his mandatory military service last year. The remaining BTS members will also be required to complete their mandatory military service over the next couple of years. 

Watch J-Hope’s send off in the video above.

20 Apr 2023

Jennifer Coolidge to Receive Comedic Genius Award at 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards

Actress Jennifer Coolidge is slated to receive the Comedic Genius Award at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards. Drew Barrymore is set to host the show, which airs live on Sunday, May 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. 

Coolidge will become the sixth recipient of the award, following Will Ferrell (2013), Kevin Hart (2015), Melissa McCarthy (2016), Sacha Baron Cohen (2021) and Jack Black (2022). The award “honors actors who have made incomparable contributions to the world of comedy, providing a major influence through their work and transforming the genre at large,” according to MTV. 

Coolidge is nominated in two competitive categories at this year’s show. She is up for best comedic performance for the rom-com Shotgun Wedding, in which she starred opposite Jennifer Lopez, and most frightened performance her portrayal of the wealthy, unstable, and oblivious Tanya McQuoid in HBO’s The White Lotus. The latter performance has brought her several awards, including her first Primetime Emmy last year for outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie.

Coolidge, 61, has been a Hollywood mainstay ever since playing Stifler’s mom in the 1999 comedy classic American Pie. She is well-known for her role as the love-starved beautician Paulette in the Legally Blonde franchise opposite Reese Witherspoon, and for her frequent collaborations with director Christopher Guest in Best In Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006).

The actress and comedienne recently starred in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series The Watcher opposite Naomi Watts, and in Netflix’s family adventure We Have a Ghost opposite David Harbour. She has also made scene-stealing appearances in A Cinderella Story opposite Hilary Duff, and Promising Young Woman opposite Carey Mulligan.

Bet you didn’t know: She is a sixth cousin twice removed of Calvin (“Silent Cal”) Coolidge, who served as U.S. President from 1923-29.

Executive producers of the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards include MTV’s Bruce Gillmer, Wendy Plaut and Vanessa Whitewolf along with Den of Thieves’ Jesse Ignjatovic and Barb Bialkowski. Jackie Barba and Alicia Portugal are executives in charge of production; Lisa Lauricella and Mike Ostolaza serve as music talent executives.

20 Apr 2023

Usher & Roberta Flack to Receive Honorary Doctorates From Berklee College

Usher and Roberta Flack are upgrading to doctors. As announced Thursday (April 20), Berklee College of Music will award the the artists with honorary doctorate degrees at this year’s commencement ceremony.

The ceremony will take place the morning of May 13 at Boston University’s Agganis Arena, where multi-instrumentalist Sona Jorbarteh will also receive an honorary degree. All three of the honorees will have the chance to address the 2023 class of graduates at the ceremony, and each will be further celebrated with a reception and concert on the eve of commencement, featuring more than 200 student vocalists, musicians, dancers, arrangers and producers from the graduating class performing a musical tribute to their work.

Usher and Flack join an impressive and diverse list of musicians who’ve received honorary degrees from Berklee in years past, including Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, Celine Dion, B.B. King, Joni Mitchell, Chaka Khan, Esperanza Spalding, Willie Nelson, Missy Elliott, Ringo Starr, Gloria Estefan and John Legend. An eight-time Grammy winner and nine-time Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper, the “Yeah!” singer is being recognized for his accomplishments in music, film and activism.

“No. 1 is always going to mean a lot to everybody. But it doesn’t, and shouldn’t, change your passion,” he told Billboard in 2021. “It hasn’t changed mine, whether I put out a record that hit No. 1 instantly or took time to get there. I have a record company that’s willing to fight for it and get it heard, to connect with my audience and prospective new fans. I’ve tried a lot of stuff. There’s a way to play in R&B where you can be as creative as you want. Don’t cut yourself off — don’t feel you need to be tied so authentically to one thing.” 

Four-time Grammy winner Flack has topped the Hot 100 three times: “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” in 1972, “Killing Me Softly With His Song” in 1973 and “Feel Like Makin’ Love” in 1974.

20 Apr 2023

The Revivalists Crown Adult Alternative Airplay Chart With ‘Kid’

The Revivalists reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart for a third time with “Kid,” which jumps to the top of the April 22-dated survey.

The song is the band’s first leader since “All My Friends,” which ruled for three weeks in 2018.

Previously, the band led with “Wish I Knew You” for two weeks in 2016.

In between “Friends” and “Kid,” The Revivalists appeared on the chart twice, paced by the No. 2-peaking “Change,” the other of its four top 10s, in 2019.

Concurrently, “Kid” bullets at its No. 3 high on Alternative Airplay. There, it’s the band’s top-charting song since “Wish” ruled for a week in 2017; in between those hits, the group notched its other of three top 10s, “Friends,” which rose to No. 7.

On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, “Kid” rises 5-4 with 4.1 million audience impressions, a 10% boost, according to Luminate. The band’s best is “Wish” which peaked at No. 2.

The Revivalists’ new Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1 follows the solo sojourn of lead singer David Shaw, who released an eponymous album in May 2021. “Shaken,” a song from the set, hit No. 21 on the chart that January. He told Billboard ahead of the project’s release, “From the beginning, this album was all about self-exploration and the joys that come from finding strength and confidence in places that might not have been accessible before.”

“Kid” is the lead single from Pour It Out Into the Night, The Revivalists’ upcoming fifth studio album and first since 2018’s Take Good Care. The new LP is due June 2.