Podcasts
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It’s the first day of August, which has us thinking about Taylor Swift’s timely song “August” from her 2020 album Folklore. Folklore was surprise-released on July 24, 2020 — so just ahead of August that year — and in the Augusts since, we’ve seen the song re-emerge on various Billboard charts timed to the month. […]
Since the end of the 13-year conservatorship that controlled her personal and professional lives, Britney Spears has released two new songs: her “Hold Me Closer” duet with Elton John last year and, on Friday, “Mind Your Business” with will.i.am. On the latest Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking about the new (or […]
Morgan Wallen‘s “Last Night” is currently spending its 14th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — but does it have a shot at the 19-week record currently held by Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus? On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, we’re talking about the seemingly unstoppable […]
We always knew Taylor Swift was a mastermind, but she really outdid herself with the music video for her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) “From the Vault” track “I Can See You.” Late Friday, Swift surprised Eras Tour concertgoers in Kansas City when she was joined onstage by the top-secret cast from the new visual: 2011 […]
It had been more than two years since we’d heard new music from Olivia Rodrigo, but that all changed first thing Friday when she released “Vampire,” the lead single from her Sept. 8-scheduled sophomore album GUTS. In a tight, under-four-minute package, the melodramatic new song transitions from a “Drivers License”-style piano ballad to a My […]
Toad the Wet Sprocket had “the most audacious” idea when they were asked to participate in a collection of Kiss cover songs. “We knew we were not going to out-rock anybody,” recalls singer Glen Phillips on Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast. “And so the idea was to just make fun of ourselves and do it as if it were like a young life campfire song. Turn it into a waltz. Just make it, like, distressingly Toad-sounding.”
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Rising to prominence in the days of college radio in the early ‘90s, Toad the Wet Sprocket defied the musical trend of the day — the grunge movement that spawned Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden — to score a pair of platinum albums, Fear and Dulcinea, filled with hooky songs featuring with melodic counterplay. The Santa Barbara, Calif.-based band had more in common with the acoustic-driven music they’ve covered live — Crowded House and Indigo Girls — than the heavy, raw rock music that dominated rock radio and rose high on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Lending its distinctive sound to a classic rock standard was a stroke of genius, though. Toad the Wet Sprocket’s version of “Rock and Roll All Nite” for the 1994 compilation Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved is arguably the most memorable recording on a collection that features such luminaries as Garth Brooks (“Hard Luck Woman”), Lenny Kravitz and Stevie Wonder (“Deuce”), Anthrax (“She”) and Gin Blossoms (“Christine Sixteen”).
“[Kiss bass player] Gene Simmons loved it,” Phillips boasts.
“He has gone on the record as saying it’s not only his favorite song on that album, but it’s one of his top 10 favorite recordings ever,” adds bassist Dean Dinning.
“Rock and Roll All Nite” has never been in heavy rotation on the band’s set lists — one performance at The Metro in Chicago in 1994 can be found on YouTube — but one performance stands out in the band members’ minds. “Jon Bon Jovi actually came on stage with us at a big radio show in New York at Madison Square Garden and sang that with us,” recalls Phillips.
Even for a band that had just put two songs — “Walk on the Ocean” and “All I Want” — into the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, sharing the stage with the “Living on a Prayer” singer was surreal. “It was so strange to be out there,” says Phillips. “On the one hand, I feel like, man, we’re playing Madison Square Garden. This is cool. We’re winning! We’re doing all right here! And he walked on stage and it was, like, goosebumps.” Phillips recreates the roar of the crowd like a burst of white noise or, as Dinning describes it, a jet engine. “It was like, Oh, that’s how it feels to be a real rockstar,” Phillips says.
As for the performance of the 1975 Kiss classic, Dinning thinks it was well received. “It’s not really fair to judge because Jon Bon Jovi was on stage with us, but it seemed like the crowd reaction was good,” he jokes.
After an eight-year break from recording, Toad the Wet Sprocket released a new studio album, Starting Now, in 2021, followed by a bonus version of the greatest hits collection All You Want. The 19-track compilation includes an unreleased version of the track “Best of Me” from Starting Now that originally featured the legendary Michael McDonald on backing vocals. The 2023 version of “Best of Me” is the original, McDonald-less version.
“This is the band version of the song that almost went on the record,” says Dinning. “It’s nice to bring the song back to the sound of just of just the band without the guest. It was it was a track that we hadn’t released yet and it’s a great song and the version is great. And so we made it the single off this new All You Want project.”
Listen to the entire interview with Phillips and Dinning at Behind the Setlist on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music or Audible.
Dua Lipa announced the third season of her popular podcast, Dua Lipa: At Your Service, on Wednesday (June 28) with a slew of star-studded guests. Billie Eilish, BLACKPINK’s Jennie Kim, You star Penn Badgley, drag superstar Sasha Velour and relationship expert Esther Perel are all set to join the podcast as guests this season, which […]
There’s a saying that people learn more from their failures than their successes. If so, prepare to be enlightened by Yeah, I F–ked That Up, the latest podcast from Interval Presents, Warner Music Group’s podcast network.
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Hosted by hit songwriter-producer-entrepreneur Billy Mann, the podcast features artists and executives — including Kelly Rowland, Steven Van Zandt, L.A. Reid and Peter Asher — sharing mistakes in their careers that led to teachable moments and growth. The series, produced by Silver Sound and available on all major podcast platforms, premieres July 11 with the first two episodes, which will feature Rowland and Van Zandt. New episodes release every Tuesday.
“In a small screen world of autotuning faces and voices where we tend to only post our highlights, my goal in creating this show is to remind listeners that it’s actually the scary, vulnerable moments of self-doubt and failure that often turn out to be the best breeding ground for growth and success,” said Mann in a statement. “I’m so excited to partner with Interval Presents to share these inspiring — and sometimes surprising — anecdotes from so many favorite names in entertainment with an audience that is surely navigating its own unique paths and obstacles.”
In his 30-year career, Mann went from being an artist on A&M to a Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer, working with such acts as P!nk, Cher, John Legend and Celine Dion. In addition to holding executive positions at EMI and BMG, he has also started a number of music companies including Stealth Entertainment (sold in 2007), Green & Bloom Music Publishing, Topline Songs, Ready Set Songs, Manncom Creative and independent label icons+giants
Other podcast guests include Renée Elise Goldsberry, Liz Gillies, Aly & AJ, Hari Kondabolu, Evan Handler, Jill Kargman and Chely Wright. In the audio trailer, Van Zandt talks about how he thought his life was over when he left Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, while Goldsberry talks about unsuccessfully auditioning for The Lion King multiple times.
Courtesy of Interval Presents
“I was really intrigued by Billy’s idea for Yeah, I F–ked That Up, a heartfelt and inspirational show with compelling stories about not only regret and loss, but also triumph and success,” said Allan Coye, general manager of Interval Presents and WMG’s senior vp of digital strategy & business development. “Authenticity is important for every Interval Presents show and we know this series will resonate — the topics will touch many chords, but do so from a place of care, vulnerability and thoughtfulness.”
The podcast joins Interval’s existing slate that also includes Drink Champs, co-hosted by N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN, Rap Radar featuring Elliott Wilson and Brian “B.Dot” Miller; Holding Court with Eboni K. Williams, and The Last Resort narrated by Xiuhtezcatl. Forthcoming podcasts hosted by Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o and Grammy-nominated singer Jason Derulo are in the works.
The production company founded by Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, is splitting ways with Spotify less than a year after the debut of their podcast Archetypes.
It is unclear why the podcast, hosted by Meghan, is leaving the platform but Spotify and Archewell Audio said in a joint statement that the decision was mutual.
Archewell landed a multiyear partnership with Spotify in 2020 to create podcasts and shows that would tell stories through diverse voices and perspectives.
The podcast premiered in August last year with tennis great Serena Williams as a guest and it was an instant hit.
It topped Spotify charts in seven countries, including the U.S. and the U.K., and it won the top podcast award at the People’s Choice awards last year.
“I loved digging my hands into the process, sitting up late at night in bed, working on the writing and creative. And I loved digging deep into meaningful conversation with my diverse and inspiring guests, laughing and learning with them, and with each of you listening,” Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, said at the time.
The show also had as guests Mariah Carey, Trevor Noah, Mindy Kaling and Paris Hilton.
Tech companies have been cutting costs in a rough economic environment and Spotify has not been immune. Six months after announcing that it would cut 6% of its global workforce, or about 600 jobs, Spotify said last week that it was trimming another 200 jobs.
The company said at the time that it would be combining podcast networks Parcast and Gimlet into its Spotify Studios operation.
Prince Harry has been at the High Court of London this month. He is accusing the publisher of the Daily Mirror of using unlawful techniques on an “industrial scale” to score front-page scoops on his life. The Duke of Sussex became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in more than a century.
Papa Roach’s music hasn’t softened in its nearly three-decade career, but the four-piece metal band from Northern California has become wiser with age and experience. “We’re growing as people,” guitarist Jerry Horton tells Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast, “and our music has matured as well.” The trick, he says, is “about “finding a way to grow up but not lose our edge.”
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The band rose to prominence with a rap-metal hybrid that rubbed elbows with Limp Bizkit, Slipknot and Korn at the turn of the century. Papa Roach gained popularity in 2000 with “Last Resort,” a song about suicidal ideation built around an instantly memorable guitar riff. That song sent the band’s Dreamworks Records debut, Infest, to No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
“I use to bash the microphone into my head and just bleed,” says singer Jacoby Shaddix of the performing in the band’s early days. “I was burning myself with cigarettes just to get a reaction.”
“For the time period, for how old we were and that period of our lives, and also the type of music we were doing, all of that went hand in hand,” says Horton. “And I feel like for that time period, it wasn’t necessarily wrong. That’s just where we were. And pretty much all of our peers were mentally and stylistically — that’s just where everybody was at.”
The band’s latest album, Ego Trip, finds Papa Roach growing as businesspeople, too. After releasing albums for both major and independent labels, Papa Roach decided to release Ego Trip through its own New Noize imprint. “We always go back to something Davie Bowie said: ‘I had to become a better businessman to become a better artist.’,” says Horton. “It just kind of hit us in the face. We’re just like, this is what we need to do. Here it is, time to seize it.”
Launching a record label was a risk, but it felt right, says Horton. “It just feels like something we needed to do — whether we fell on our faces or not.” That means the buck stops with the band. “You can’t just say a bunch of shit,” says Shaddix. “It’s like, alright, let’s talk about how we’re going to create this and then let’s go find the people to do it, and then execute it.”
Listen to the entire interview with Shaddix and Horton at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Stitcher, Amazon Music and Audible.