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Many bands that rose to prominence in the ‘80s have turned into oldies bands, tied to a moment in history and profiting from fans’ love for nostalgia. Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith of Tears for Fears haven’t fallen into the stagnant rut that has captured so many of their contemporaries. More than four decades after forming in Bath, England, in 1981, Tears for Fears is producing some of its best material.
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Orzabal and Smith began their creative resurgence in 2022 with their first studio album in nearly 18 years, The Tipping Point, which reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Album Sales and Top Alternative Albums charts. In October, the band continued its hot streak by releasing four new songs as part of a live album, Songs for a Nervous Planet.
“It’s because we care,” Smith tells Billboard‘s Behind the Setlist podcast when explaining the caliber of the band’s recent songwriting and recordings. “We don’t want to do bad work. We still have a desire to get better. I don’t think that’s ever going to leave us. We look at other artists and still wish we were that good. That will never leave us, because we’re never going to become that good, I don’t think. There’s always going to be someone that’s better than us, without question. So when you still have that desire, you’re going to continue to do good work because you are continuing to try and achieve something better than you’ve done before. And that’s what keeps us going.”
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Songs for a Nervous Planet is the audio complement to a live concert film, Tears for Fears Live (A Tipping Point Film), that was given a brief release in theaters in October before being made available online. Recorded at the FirstBank Amphitheater — a former quarry that provides a spectacular backdrop — in Franklin, Tenn., the film captures the band performing at the top of its game. “Everyone that had come to see the show said it was amazing,” says Smith. “We get a limited view of it because we’re looking the other way. So we agreed to record it. And the reason being that we felt the band was the strongest they’d ever been — or we had ever been, should I say. And we were playing great. We sounded great. We were singing better than we ever had, playing better than we ever had. So it seemed like a good time to do it.”
The four new songs make Songs From a Nervous Planet, as Smith puts it, more like an EP with 18 live bonus tracks rather than a live album with a few new songs. “The record company wanted us to do a couple new tracks,” says Smith. “We felt that was kind of a way of saying, ‘Add some throwaway tracks.’”
Instead, they went into the studio and emerged with “four tracks that we felt really strongly about,” says Smith. The Songs for a Nervous Planet opener, “Say Goodbye to Mum and Dad,” perfectly captures the political and environmental tension of the day (“It’s no life, this island of fear/ When tomorrow comes, we’ll brave the wild frontier”). “The Girl That I Call Home” is a love song for Orzabal’s wife with a catchy melody (“Princes adore you/ They cower before you/ You’re the girl that I call home”). The stirring “Emily Said” is classic Tears for Fears: a complex song structure that doesn’t distract or become superfluous.
To Orzabal, the new songs “hold up brilliantly” to the band’s deep catalog of beloved songs that includes “Mad World” from the 1983 debut The Hurting and “Shout” from the U.S. chart-topping 1985 album Songs From the Big Chair. He’s particularly proud of “Astronaut,” a song that mixes disillusionment with a space travel theme (“I don’t belong here/ I got one eye on a different world”), which didn’t make the cut for The Tipping Point. “It didn’t quite fit, for whatever reason just didn’t feel right,” says Smith. “A lot of these things are not easy to articulate, because it’s just a feeling you have of what works, what doesn’t work.”
But “Astronaut” was “perfect” for Songs for a Nervous Planet, says Orzabal. “The whole imagery of the astronaut and the field of sunflowers [seen on the album cover], the continuity in the videos with the astronaut and his girlfriend, always featuring them, is superb.” In a couple decades, he adds, “Astronaut” will be “a huge hit for someone — not us, but for someone.”
Listen to the interview with Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith in the embedded Spotify player below, or listen at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart, PodBean or Everand.
At her Christmas Day halftime performance, Beyoncé officially kicked off Cowboy Carter‘s live era by performing nine songs from the 2024 country album for the first time. Could a tour announcement be next? On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are discussing what Bey might reveal on Jan. 14, a date she […]
Song Exploder, Questlove Supreme, Popcast, The Wonder of Stevie and The Joe Budden Podcast are vying for best music at the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards, in partnership with South by Southwest (SXSW). The annual event will take place live on March 10 at 7 p.m. CT at ACL Live at The Moody Theater in Austin, Texas. In addition to the in-person show, the ceremony will also be live-broadcasted on select iHeartMedia Radio Stations, on the iHeartRadio app and on iHeartRadio’s YouTube Channel.
New Heights With Jason & Travis Kelce is among the nominees for best sports. Travis Kelce has become a household name since he began dating pop superstar Taylor Swift. The other nominees in that category are The Herd with Colin Cowherd, The Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz, The Bill Simmons Podcast and All the Smoke
Winners in each category will be determined by a panel of podcast industry leaders and creatives. Each year, podcast fans help decide the winner of the podcast of the year award by voting online at the awards’ website. Fan voting will begin Tuesday, Jan. 7, and runs through Feb. 16.
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The 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards will also present three icon awards. Sarah Spain, host of Good Game, will be honored with the 2025 social impact award for her role in championing equity in sports coverage, equal pay for female athletes and better investment in women’s sports infrastructure. Dan Taberski will be honored with the 2025 audible audio pioneer award for his influence in the podcasting landscape, including his latest podcast Hysterical (nominated for podcast of the year and more). The 2025 innovator award will honor Daniel Alarcón, a Peruvian-American journalist and novelist, for his work on The Good Whale (nominated for podcast of the year), which revisits the life of Keiko, the orca who gained fame as the star of the 1993 film Free Willy.
“Following our in-person return to SXSW last year, we’re thrilled to be bringing the iHeartPodcast Awards to an even bigger stage in 2025,” Conal Byrne, CEO of iHeartMedia’s Digital Audio Group, said in a statement. “Podcasting is growing in both scale and influence every year, and SXSW brings a level of innovative spirit and excitement that makes it the perfect setting to celebrate the very best of our industry.”
“We’re thrilled to once again partner with iHeartMedia for the return of the Podcast Awards, amplifying its impact within an even larger footprint at SXSW,” said Peter Lewis, SXSW chief partnerships officer. The iHeartPodcast Awards will be open to select SXSW badge holders for the first time.
Executive producers for the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards are John Sykes, Tom Poleman, Conal Byrne and Bart Peters for iHeartMedia. Audible is a sponsor of the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards.
Here’s a full list of 2025 iHeartPodcast Award nominees across 29 categories.
Podcast of the Year
Normal Gossip
Three
Giggly Squad
Call Her Daddy
Las Culturistas With Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Hysterical
The Telepathy Tapes
Who Killed JFK?
Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD
The Good Whale
Best Overall Host
Alex Cooper (Call Her Daddy)
Jamie Loftus (Sixteenth Minute (of Fame))
Sabrina Tavernise (The Daily)
Mel Robbins (The Mel Robbins Podcast)
Dan Taberski (Hysterical)
Best Overall Ensemble
We Can Do Hard Things
My Favorite Murder With Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
Handsome
Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard
The Breakfast Club
Best Music
Song Exploder
Questlove Supreme
Popcast
The Wonder of Stevie
The Joe Budden Podcast
Best TV & Film
Films to Be Buried With With Brett Goldstein
Two Ts in a Pod with Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge
How Did This Get Made?
The Rewatchables
Blank Check with Griffin & David
Best Pop Culture
Las Culturistas With Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
The World’s First Podcast With Erin & Sara Foster
Still Processing
Keep It!
Pop Culture Happy Hour
Best Sports
New Heights With Jason & Travis Kelce
The Herd With Colin Cowherd
The Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz
The Bill Simmons Podcast
All the Smoke
Best Kids & Family
Good Inside With Dr. Becky
Koala Moon – Kids Bedtime Stories & Meditations
Smash Boom Best: A Funny, Smart Debate Show for Kids and Family
Story Pirates
Wow in the World
Best Comedy
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Fly on the Wall With Dana Carvey and David Spade
Normal Gossip
The Joe Rogan Experience
Call Her Daddy
Best Spanish Language
Radio Ambulante
Duolingo Spanish Podcast
Leyenda Legendarias
Mija Podcast
Escuela Secreta
Best Business & Finance
Planet Money
How to Money
Networth and Chill With Your Rich BFF
Money Rehab With Nicole Lapin
The Ramsey Show
Best Crime
Three
Betrayal
Up and Vanished
CounterClock
Something Was Wrong
Best Food
Gastropod
Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio
Be My Guest With Ina Garten
The Recipe With Kenji and Deb
The Sporkful
Best Wellness & Fitness
Huberman Lab
The Mel Robbins Podcast
10% Happier With Dan Harris
A Slight Change of Plans
We Can Do Hard Things
Best History
The Rest Is History
Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD
Throughline
American History Tellers
You’re Wrong About
Best News
The Journal.
The Daily
Up First from NPR
Pivot
Today, Explained
Best Fiction
Hello From the Magic Tavern
Welcome to Night Vale
Impact Winter
The Magnus Archives
Midnight Burger
Best Science
Hidden Brain
StarTalk Radio
Stuff To Blow Your Mind
Ologies With Alie Ward
Science Vs
Best Technology
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Hard Fork
Better Offline
Darknet Diaries
Ted Radio Hour
Best Ad Read
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (Sometimes)
My Brother, My Brother and Me
SmartLess
Office Ladies
Best Political
Native Land Pod
The NPR Politics Podcast
Pod Save America
The Megyn Kelly Show
Breaking Points With Krystal and Saagar
Best Advice/Inspirational
Wiser Than Me With Julia Louis-Dreyfus
On Purpose With Jay Shetty
The Mel Robbins Podcast
Life Kit
Savage Lovecast
Best Beauty & Fashion
Naked Beauty
The goop Podcast
Glowing Up
Breaking Beauty Podcast
Lipstick on the Rim
Best Travel
Travel With Rick Steves
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
Zero to Travel Podcast
Women Who Travel
JUMP With Traveling Jackie
Best Green
Unf–king the Future
Environmental Insights: Conversations on Policy and Practice From the Harvard Environmental Economics Program
Green Dreamer: Seeding Change Towards Collective Healing, Sustainability, Regeneration
Threshold
TED Climate
Best Spirituality & Religion
Elevation With Steven Furtick
Oprah’s Super Soul
WHOA That’s Good Podcast
Bible in a Year With Jack Graham
Transformation Church
Best Branded Podcast
Nerdwallet’s Smart Money Podcast
Into the Mix (Ben and Jerry’s)
Symptomatic: A Medical Mystery Podcast (Nova Nordisk)
You Can’t Make This Up (Netflix)
Mind the Business: Small Business Success Stories (Intuit Quickbooks)
Best Emerging
Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce
So True With Caleb Hearon
Hysterical
Wild Card With Rachel Martin
Shell Game
Best International
The Business of Doing Business With Dwayne Kerrigan – Canada
Mamamia Out Loud – Australia
Between Two Beers Podcast – New Zealand
The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett – United Kingdom
Las Alucines – Mexico
Wham!’s “Last Christmas” has become a holiday standard over its 40 years in release — not just because of the extraordinary success of the original 1984 recording by the pop duo (George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley), but also because of its numerous covers by the likes of Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift, among others.
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What’s it been like for Ridgeley to see the song have so many new interpretations by such artists through the years?
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“It’s testament to the brilliance of the song,” he tells the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen to his interview below), “to its appeal as a Christmas record, its appeal as a pop song, its attraction to the younger generation and those that recognize what a really good Christmas song it is.”
“Someone told me there’s over 400 ‘Last Christmas’ covers,” Ridgeley says. “I can’t verify that, but I wouldn’t be too surprised. It’s extremely flattering and I think George (who wrote, produced, and solely performed “Last Christmas”) would have been really really pleased that so many people recognize — so many of his peers, so many of contemporary musicians of this era and in between — recognize it as a definitive kind of Christmas record.”
“Last Christmas” has become a fixture on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the holiday season and recently reached a new peak of No. 3. Ridgeley says it has been “extremely satisfying” to see the tune climb the Hot 100, and adds that Michael (who died in 2017) “would have been utterly delighted… and it would have meant a great deal to him.”
In Ridgeley’s chat with the Pop Shop, he also discusses the continued popularity of Wham!’s overall catalog of music and how it’s “surprised” him a “wee bit” that their music has grown in popularity over the decades with new fans. He says it’s all owed to the “enduring vibrancy and youthful nature of Wham!’s music and Wham! that (the catalog) continues to draw in new cohorts.”
Also in the Pop Shop interview, Ridgeley talks about the new documentary Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped, the possibility of a boxed set with unreleased Wham! material, and if the public will ever hear Michael’s original demo recording of “Last Christmas.”
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
This week on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we are finally up to the top two of our Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 list — and even though it’s been an insane year for pop stars, and we’ve discussed some absolutely incredible ones on this podcast already, these are the two who ended up best personifying […]
Jennifer Hudson is no stranger to covering songs and making them her own, after getting her start on American Idol and continuing through her Emmy-nominated daytime talk show. So when she started work on her first-ever holiday album, The Gift of Love, Hudson understood the assignment: She would need to Jennifer-ize some of the most beloved Christmas classics of all time.
“Any time I do a classic — which I get to do a lot — I always want to stay true to the base but then allow space for my artistry to come through, which made making this album the most fun I have ever had recording an album,” the EGOT winner tells Katie & Keith on our special Christmas episode of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below). “Whether it’s me lyrically or musically, my expression is there in some form, in my interpretation. … So it was fun to reimagine the classics, Jennifer Hudson-style. I call it ‘Jennifer-izing’ them.”
How did she choose which holiday hallmarks to tackle? “I picked what was most personal to me. Like ‘The Christmas Song,’ for instance, my grandmother used to love that song, so I recall hearing that as a little girl throughout each and every holiday of her playing that song — Nat King Cole with the satin voice — so that made me want to pay tribute to her in that way,” Hudson says. “Or ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain,’ I grew up singing that in church during the holiday season and ‘Carol of the Bells’ in high school. ‘Hallelujah,’ that’s my favorite song; that’s the heart of the album. And ‘O Holy Night’ is my favorite Christmas song.”
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She was also conscious of bringing a diversity of sounds, styles, genres and tempos to the project, because, according to Hudson: “There are different Christmases. Some years it’s a winter wonderland Christmas, it’s a big-band Christmas, it’s a North Pole Christmas with the reds and the greens and the candy canes for the kids, a ‘Jingle Bells’ type of Christmas. It can change through each year — which is why my album has a lot of variety in it, because it’s like: Is your Christmas the icicle Christmas? Is it a green Christmas? Is it a white Christmas? What type of Christmas do you want, baby?”
Hudson spoke with Katie & Keith from the set of The Jennifer Hudson Show, and she said it was her tightknit work family that was the original “inspiration towards why the time is now to do a holiday album. Our [show] theme is ‘Choose Joy.’ And on the Christmas album is the song ‘Let There Be Joy.’ So that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what I love to do. And the best gift and the best way I know to do it is through music. And it’s just a blessing to come in here every day and work with such beautiful people. And it’s like a party every day. We call it The Happy Place.”
The 15-song project also includes a half-dozen originals, all co-written by Hudson. Below, J-Hud breaks down the messages behind four of those brand-new holiday songs.
“Santa for Someone”
“My assistant inspired it because he he’s a scrooge. [Laughs] And I was like, ‘What is it about the holidays you don’t like?’ He’s like, ‘Getting gifts for everybody and trying to figure it out.’ So that’s where ‘Santa for Someone’ came from. Because we all can get frustrated looking for those gifts. Will we get it in enough time? Will we get them what they want? … I can’t think of too many men, like uncles and brothers, that are listening to ‘Jingle Bells,’ so how about I give them something to bop to throughout the holiday season? So I was trying to think of everyone, as we do during the holidays.”
“Find the Love”
“It meets the times that we’re in, and I feel like it’s a song that could be played throughout the year. … We’re in such a difficult time as a people, and it’s like, what unifies us? Music. We’re all human. We all have to go through a season no matter what — no matter if it’s the holiday season or life has seasons in itself. But that one thing that can bring us together on one accord is music, and that’s why the album is called The Gift of Love. And a song like ‘Find the Love’ is on there because it doesn’t just sit within the holiday season; it’s something you can carry throughout your life, and it can speak to you and it can speak to the times.”
“Make It to Christmas”
“‘Make It to Christmas’ is my son’s favorite song. It speaks to like, we all work all year, right? But we are waiting to get to the end of that tunnel, where the lights are red and green, to that holiday season, where we can go home at that one time of year and enjoy each other and our families.”
“Go Tell It on the Mountain”
“‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’ is for the mourners, those who may have lost. It’s kind of like a remake of that song, but from a personal perspective.”
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Also on the podcast, we’ve got chart news on how Taylor Swift spends a 17th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with The Tortured Poets Department; how Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” nets a 16th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, tying “One Sweet Day” as her song with the most weeks atop the list; and how Sabrina Carpenter’s “Fruitcake” flies into the top 10 for the first time on the Billboard 200 with the single-largest sales week in the modern era for a holiday album on vinyl. Plus, Madonna announced new music with her longtime collaborator Stuart Price coming next year, and we’ll hear from the Queen of Pop’s biggest fan, Keith, about why this is especially exciting news.
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard’s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard’s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
We’re done recapping the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century — find all of our past episodes for that series here — but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still plenty of Greatest Pop Stars Podcast discussion to be had, as we begin to dive into our annual top 10 Greatest Pop Stars of the […]
Gene Simmons spent decades traveling the world as the fire-breathing bass player for KISS, taking with him the large road crews required for massive — and expensive — productions on some of music’s biggest stages. Since KISS’s final show in December 2023, Simmons has been traveling considerably lighter as the frontman for the Gene Simmons Band, playing KISS favorites, some rarely heard Simmons solo tunes and familiar classics by the likes of Van Halen and Motorhead.
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Simmons says he has stripped down the tour to the essential elements — the musicians — and pockets more money from a Gene Simmons Band show than he netted as a member of KISS. “The local promoters provide the back line, and we just get up there and play,” Simmons tells Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast. That’s a sharp contrast to the complex — and expensive — production required to take KISS on the road.
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As a solo artist playing festivals and theaters, Simmons has “no managers, no private jets, no 20 tractor trailers, no 60-man crew, no huge shows — and the pyro alone for every [KISS] show is ten grand, sometimes 50 [thousand dollars] if you go outdoors,” he explains. “Enormous, enormous costs for doing that.”
Simmons is “proud” to have performed those massive productions, but the Gene Simmons Band tour isn’t trying to replicate the KISS stage show. “It’s almost as if you decided to rent some amps in a garage and plug in,” he says, “and then everybody from the neighborhood comes in … It’s very informal and a lot of fun.”
Outside of the four band members, the band takes two additional people on the road, says guitarist Brent Woods, who manages the travel and concert production details: an assistant who helps with business duties and Simmons’ security, and one crew member for the musicians. As for equipment, Woods says the band — which also includes guitarist Zach Throne and drummer Brian Tichy — takes only its guitars and pedal boards, and Tichy may take his own snare drum on the upcoming tour. Otherwise, everything is rented. “It does save a lot of money,” says Woods. “And then in turn, everybody benefits, right? The band included. Everybody makes more money.”
The stripped-down traveling arrangement wouldn’t work with a larger group of people, Woods admits. Nor would it work if Simmons wasn’t comfortable riding in a splitter van and going without rock star trappings. “But Gene’s so easygoing,” says Woods. “He’s just so relaxed and he’s low maintenance. He doesn’t need a lot. He’s not the quintessential rock star that has to have a certain room or a suite that’s on this floor far away from the elevator. He just is not that way.”
Simmons readily admits he didn’t pioneer this approach to touring. “It used to be done by black musicians on the Chitlin’ Circuit, what used to be the black clubs, because they couldn’t play white clubs,” he said. Rock pioneer Chuck Berry took it a step further, touring only with his guitar and arriving in each city with a local band that had learned and rehearsed his songs. (Bruce Springsteen once played in Berry’s backing band for a concert in 1973.) “Now, I don’t do that,” said Simmons. “I take my band with me, but Berry would show up and would, you know, he’d tell the guys, ‘Study the records, learn these songs, I’m going to show up,’ and no rehearsal, nothing.”
To Woods, the Gene Simmons Band’s do-it-yourself touring approach is simply a longer version of the “weekend warrior” touring artist. “Bands go out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and they play two, three shows. It’s the same thing. They’re flying to the destination, the back line’s there for them.”
Extending the weekend warrior approach into longer tours requires the knowledge Woods gained from decades as a traveling musician for decades, first as a member of the group Wildside and more recently as a member of Sebastian Bach’s band. “I’ve learned since the 90s,” he says, “when I started going out and touring. And you kind of learn by a lot of mistakes and your own mistakes and other people’s mistakes, and you finally figure it out.” Woods’ time on the road has also allowed him to built a network of professionals he can call to work at his shows in different cities. “It’s hard for younger bands to do that because they don’t know a lot of people,” he says.
Listen to the entire interview with Gene Simmons in the embedded Spotify playlist or go to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, Podbean or Everand.
‘Tis the season for new holiday hits! On the latest Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are taking their annual sleigh ride through a half-dozen Christmas songs impacting the Billboard charts this year. For 2024, we’re taking a look at Jimmy Fallon and Jonas Brothers’ “Holiday”; Cher’s “DJ Play a Christmas Song” remix with […]
On today’s (Dec. 6) episode of the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century podcast, we’re finally out of new rankings and pop stars to discuss — so we take a look back at the top 10, and the entire Greatest Pop Stars project, with some help from AJ Marks, moderator of Reddit’s r/Popheads forum and […]