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When Alessandra Alarcón was named president of SBS’ entertainment division in 2019, she became, at 31 years old, the first woman to ever lead the Latin media company’s very lucrative live events division.
“We have a sweet little nickname at corporate for my division,” she says with a laugh. “They call us the ‘profit center.’”
“The profit center,” as Alarcón calls it, puts together SBS Entertainment’s many highly regarded and successful music events, including Los Angeles’ Calibash, the urban fest that takes place every January. In the three years since Alarcón took over, Calibash has gradually pared down the number of acts and emerged with a more star-studded lineup. “I thought the audience would be okay, because I would be okay with there being less acts but more quality sets. And I’m happy to report that I was right,” she says.
Garnering success was especially important for Alarcón given that she’s the granddaughter of SBS founder Pablo Raúl Alarcón and one of the daughters of SBS Chairman Raúl Alarcón.
In this episode of the Billboard podcast “Latin Hitmaker,” Alarcón, in her first in-depth interview since being appointed to her post, spoke about the importance of legacy, the new U.S. Latin market and balancing work and motherhood. Below you can find some highlights from the conversation.
On bringing a bilingual, bicultural perspective to a Spanish-language media company: “It gives me a very unique perspective on business and how business is done. There are a lot of deep relationships [in Latin] and there’s a certain way of thinking of how things have to get done, because that’s the way it was always done. And I think that being born in L.A., and then [living] in New York and raised in Miami […] and having that more bicultural view of business and how things get done has certainly helped me accomplish a lot of things and not getting lost in the noise, which sometimes happens.”
On her negotiating style: “I’m definitely more of a velvet hammer. This is a very male-dominated industry. Women are making strides, but it is a very male-dominated industry. There’s a time and a place to be tough, but I always like to come in, hearing someone out, making them feel heard and respected. But certainly there’s a hammer that has to come down every once in a while.”
On work advice from her dad: Raúl Alarcón always imparted on his daughter the importance of being respectful to others. “He said, ‘There’s nothing worse than having an enemy that works for you. The solution is going to come to you, but you’re not going to get it by berating someone or making them feel bad about themselves.’”
On balancing work with her six and four-year-old children: “This [is a] piece of advice I got from my aunt. She worked and she had two children and she said: ‘You can have it all, just not at the same time.’”
On her advice to those new in the business: “The obstacle is the way. There is a way through anything. There’s a solution to every problem. It might not be the exact thing that you want, and that’s where the humbling and the flexibility comes in. You know, you have to be limber and ready to adapt because if you don’t adapt, you die. You have to pivot.”
Listen to the full episode of Latin Hitmaker here:
Audible is launching a new eight-part audio series called Origins that will feature a number of A-list musicians answering the question “Where are you from?” Billboard can exclusively announce. The show will feature everyone from Billie Eilish, Doja Cat and Camilo to Koffee, Mickey Guyton, King Princess, Flying Lotus and artist-rapper Tobe Nwigwe interpreting the central query, with all episodes slated to drop on Nov. 17 on Audible.
“Audible has been fortunate to work with some of the most beloved and iconic musicians of our time through our ‘Words + Music’ series – one that focuses on the work of immensely talented artists and their incredible and varied impacts musically and personally, and has struck a chord with Audible listeners,” said Rachel Ghiazza, Audible’s vp and head of U.S. content, in a statement. “As we continue to dive head first into our expanding music vertical, we are thrilled to introduce Origins, a transcendent audio experience. This series breaks down the barrier between artist and human, as we get up close and personal with these remarkable contemporary musicians and find the source of each of their creative drives.”
The show promises that each episode will bring listeners closer to “the moments that shaped some of today’s most notable artists through a mix of spoken narrative, immersive sound design, and original music performance.”
Thinking about her own origin story, Oscar-winner Eilish said in a statement, “It was so weird to me when I was first coming up and, and the thing everybody said was, like, ‘Billie Eilish’s music is so depressing and it’s so sad and it’s too dark,’ and I was like, ‘What are you talking about? Have you listened to The Beatles and ‘As My Guitar Gently Weeps,’ and ‘Yesterday’ and Lana Del Rey? Like, what the hell?’ It was so surprising to me that people thought anything I was creating was dark. I mean, it’s real.”
Doja also said the question inspired some deep thoughts. “I’ve always tried to bring my fans into my world,” she shared. “I am more interested in being myself than what others want me to be. I want people to get a real understanding of who I am, and I think Origins will help them do that.”
Audible Original Origins
Courtesy of Audible*
Origins follows on the heels of Audible’s acclaimed Words + Music series, which has featured deep dives with artists including Pete Townshend, Beck, John Legend, Chuck D, Eddie Vedder, Alice Cooper, Rhiannon Giddens and more.
Check out the descriptions of each episode below:
Billie Eilish challenges origin, resists definition, and rejects the very idea that who she was yesterday is who she has to be tomorrow.Doja Cat rediscovers her origin through a process of reinvention.Camilo lives and breathes origin, not only as the source of everything he has ever known, but also as his most inspiring teacher.Koffee reflects on the importance of trusting instinct and her love of the island that nurtured her creativity.Tobe Nwigwe, whose origins have led him far from his initial ambitions, recalls the path that led him to his true calling.Flying Lotus looks at origin through the lens of loss and longing to consider if the most powerful lessons are those that encourage us to return to the simplest version of our story.King Princess takes on origin in the frame of identity, a place where we are formed, informed, and then transformed.Mickey Guyton, whose story is full of triumph in the face of rejection, unpacks origin with survival as her only point of reference.
Through three albums of guitar-driven, melodic ear candy, Soccer Mommy has reveled in the sounds of ‘90s indie rock. So it was no surprise the band was chosen to perform at Pavements 1933 to 2022, the indie rock legend Pavement‘s pop-up museum in New York City that ran from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 and will be displayed permanently in the band’s hometown of Stockton, California.
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“It was really fun,” Sophie Allison, a.k.a. Soccer Mommy, tells Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast. “I mean, it was it was something that we were dying to do, honestly, because me and all the people in my live band love Pavement.” Allison and her band covered three songs at the Oct. 1 performance: “Here,” “Gold Soundz” and “Spit on a Stranger.”
Although many Soccer Mommy fans weren’t born when Pavement broke up in 1999, the song “Here,” from Pavement’s 1992 album Slanted and Enchanted, got a good reaction at the Glasgow, Scotland, concert that concluded the European tour in support of Soccer Mommy’s latest album, the critically acclaimed Sometimes, Forever. “I said I was gonna play a Pavement song and everyone was really excited,” says Allison of the audience’s reaction. The band reunited in 2010 and again in 2022 for U.S. and European tours. “I think that people from my audience do really like [Pavement]. I think they’re specifically really a band that has had this huge renaissance like 20 years after [breaking up]. Even when I was in high school, everybody loved Pavement.”
Earlier this year, Allison branched out into podcasts when Soccer Mommy scored the music for We Were Three, a podcast series by the New York Times and Serial Productions. “I’ve always been really interested in in the idea of getting to score something but I’m usually so focused either with touring or, you know, writing new songs for a record and recording,” says Allison. Finding herself with free time this summer, Allison says she enjoyed the process of writing music intended for background accompaniment – featuring guitar, bass, drums and synthesizer – to the spoken word rather than her own lyrics. “It was really fun getting to write music that I didn’t then have to write a chorus for and lyrics and a hook.”
Now home in Nashville after performing more than 50 concerts in 2022, Allison is working on material for the follow-up to Sometimes, Forever. “I don’t have anything done. But I just want to keep keep working on new songs. If anything else comes up that’s exciting, I’ll definitely try to do it. But in the meantime, [I’m focused on] just touring and working on writing new songs.”
You can listen to the entire interview with Soccer Mommy at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, Audible or Stitcher.
“We went through a bit of a rough time,” 311 singer and guitarist Nick Hexum tells Billboard‘s Behind the Setlist podcast when asked about the band’s status following comments made online by bass player Aaron “P-Nut” Wills.
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In May, founding member P-Nut ignited speculation about his future with the band after saying on Twitter he was “planning on taking a break from the band after I fulfill my obligations,” which extended to 2023 “and slightly beyond.” Five months later, however, the band is on stable ground, says Hexum.
The band members have had “some really good conversations lately about getting getting back on track,” Hexum shares. “And you know, we’re looking forward to the future. Again, I think breaks are healthy, and we have had a fairly intense touring schedule” that has included 62 concerts so far in 2022 and continues with dates in Chicago (Oct. 22 and 23) and Los Angeles (Nov. 11 and 12) before heading south to Slightly Stoopid’s Closer to the Sun festival in Mexico in early December. “Everything feels pretty well on track,” says Hexum. “And we’ve we’ve had some really good talks and discussions lately. We’re excited about the next chapter — P-Nut included.”
This year, 311 made a concerted effort to include secondary markets in the middle of the U.S. as the band returned to the road after two years slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Being from the middle of the country, we’re also in the middle of a lot of different styles,” shares Hexum. “We don’t want to be like elitist in any way, you know what I mean? We want to make it known that everyone’s welcome in our community. And so it was nice to show some love for the smaller towns that we have probably just been neglecting out of, you know, being being pulled to the bigger cities.”
311’s spring and fall tours took them to such cities as Fargo, N.D.; Bozeman and Missoula, Mont.; Green Bay and Superior, Wis.; Garden City, Idaho; Tulsa, Okla.; and Wichita, Kan. “Personally, it’s been a fun year to get to go to play, like, Missoula,” says Hexum. “Who knew that we had a good amount of fans there?”
This fall, 311 is streaming six concerts that each highlights a different album. Fans can purchase livestreams of the album sets and upgrade to bundles that include limited-edition merchandise such as T-shirts, autographed posters and animated NFTs. The band’s two performances at Terminal 5 in New York City on Oct. 1 and 2 featured 1993’s Music and 1994’s’s Grassroots. 311 will perform its breakthrough, self-titled album from 1995 and the successful follow-up, 1997’s Transistor, in Chicago on Oct. 22 and 23, respectively. As the tour continues west, shows in Los Angeles on Nov. 11 and 12 will perform Soundsystem from 1999 and From Chaos from 2001.
Listen to the entire interview with 311’s Nick Hexum and drummer Chad Sexton at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, Stitcher or Audible.