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“This has been the biggest labor of love,” Pentatonix’s Kirstin Maldonado says of the group’s latest seasonal album, Christmas in the City. “We’re all just really proud of it.”
The project, which the quintet began planning in January, was inspired by the magic of the holidays in New York and features a bevy of original songs as well as a host of Christmas classics.
On the latest episode of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below), Pentatonix’s Maldonado and Matt Sallee join the show to chat about their new album (which marked the act’s 11th top 10 on Billboard’s Top Holiday Albums chart), all things holiday music, and their current tour.
The concept of Christmas In the City was initially sparked by a holiday ornament that Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying spotted at a festive holiday market in New York, says Sallee. That led the group to put together the title track, and soon, the rest of the collection snowballed from there. (And, while the album’s genesis may be owed to the Big Apple, Sallee notes the group is “trying to bring joy” to “every city” with the album and the tour.)
“We really wanted to make this album feel like it was a classic Christmas album paying homage to the ‘40s and the ‘50s and it can live in those classic playlists,” says Sallee, “so that’s a big reason why we used different instrumentation [and] sonics.” Certainly the “classic” vibe is aided by how the album not only showcases Pentatonix’s soaring harmonies, but also boasts dozens of musicians playing live instruments.
Further, more than half of Christmas in the City consists of newly written tunes, with all five of Pentatonix’s members (Mitch Grassi, Hoying, Maldonado, Kevin Olusola and Sallee) writing material on the effort. There are also some familiar favorites present, including “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Silver Bells” and a new take on “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” with the late, great Frank Sinatra (who died in 1998).
“They blessed us with his voice,” says Maldonado of the Frank Sinatra Estate, who let Pentatonix use a previously unreleased vocal take of Sinatra singing the Irving Berlin-penned standard. “This arrangement is perfectly what we wanted to achieve within this album too… I feel so proud of it. I love it so much.”
“I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” also serves as the album’s first radio-promoted single, and the track jumps 12-9 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary airplay chart dated Dec. 6. It marks the eighth top 10 for Pentatonix and the 21st for Sinatra (and his first since 1980).
JoJo also joins Pentatonix on the album on one of the set’s new originals, “Snowing in Paris.” “She sounds so amazing” on the track, says Maldonado. “She’s so talented and so kind. We love her.” Sallee adds, “She’s so insanely talented and gifted as a vocalist. It’s one of those, like, whoa, speechless moments when you hear her singing on the track. It’s just so good.”
And it wouldn’t be Christmastime without a holiday tour from Pentatonix, as the group has mounted a seasonal trek yearly since 2017 (save for 2020, owed to the COVID-19 pandemic). This year’s tour, aptly titled the Christmas in the City Tour, launched on Nov. 8 and is slated to wrap on Dec. 22 in Fort Worth, Texas. The group will then mount a U.K. and European tour next year that is scheduled to start April 7 in Budapest and continue on through May 3 in Stockholm.
As Pentatonix has become a staple of the holiday touring season, Sallee says he can “recognize faces” of fans who have come to the show year after year. “We’re blessed to be able to be families’ traditions each year. … It’s just such a special, humbling gift that we’re something that could bring a family…together and listen to our music and come to a concert and just have a good time together.”
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Also on the podcast, we’ve got chart news on how there’s a brand-new No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 thanks to Stray Kids’ DO IT; how the Wicked: For Good soundtrack casts a spell on the charts; and how a legendary rock band returns to the Billboard 200 top 10 for the first time in over 10 years. Plus, hosts Katie and Keith chat about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, how holiday music is starting to take over the top of the Billboard Hot 100, and much more.
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.)
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We’ve known Kevin Jonas for the better part of 20 years as the eldest member of the Jonas Brothers, and last week, we were introduced to what he sounds like when he’s all on his own.
Jonas officially released his first solo single “Changing” last week, but he’s been playing an abbreviated version of the track on the JoBros’ ongoing Greetings From My Hometown Tour, starting with their August date at Boston’s Fenway Park.
“What a great way to start it off,” Jonas told Billboard‘s Pop Shop Podcast of making his solo debut at the famed ballpark. “Really thrown into the fire, getting to actually do that at Fenway Park, which was wild. You know, this tour has been about surprises. It’s been about the surprise guests we’ve been bringing out from the start of it. And so I guess, in essence, I was also another surprise guest.”
In addition to the tour, Kevin’s role in A Very Jonas Christmas Movie — which arrived earlier this month on Disney+ alongside a soundtrack album via Hollywood and Republic — also set up his solo debut, but that hadn’t been the plan all along. Listen to Kevin’s full interview in the podcast below, and find highlights from our chat as well — including whether there’s more solo music on the way.
Why was now the right time for Kevin’s solo music?
I didn’t have the right song. I think for me, it was about finding my voice in the music, and it took a long time. You know, I’ve recorded and wrote songs and recorded music for 15, 16, 17-plus years, and nothing ever really just felt like authentically me and real and honest and like how I wanted it to sound. And also, maybe my vocal ability didn’t feel as strong as I wanted it to be. I’m pretty critical of myself. You know, it’s kind of challenging when you’re standing next to two of the best vocalists I’ve ever met.
How did he find the perfect song?
I wrote Jason Evigan — a longtime friend, songwriter, producer — and I wrote him in February, and I said, “Hey, man, do you have any songs that you feel could work for me?” … And I didn’t hear back from him until June, and he wrote me and said, “I thought about you last night, and I remembered I have this song.” I’m like, oh, OK, five months later. [Laughs] It doesn’t matter; it’s all about timing, right? And he sent me “Changing,” and it just instantly felt like a song I’ve heard before. It felt weirdly like a part of the ether for me. And I was like, “I know this song. I feel like I’ve lived this song.” It’s weird. And I was like, “I’m coming to L.A. in two weeks. … I would like to cut it.” I flew in early, and we cut it, and instantly, while singing it, it was the first time I’ve ever felt at ease cutting vocals like that for myself. And I was like, “OK, this feels different.” And I got the cut, and [producer] Mark Schick and team, they killed it, and they really made me feel great and comfortable.
Is more solo music on the way?
I have been recording more music with this team, yes, but I luckily, as an independent artist — which is fun to say, outside the Jonas Brothers, right? I’m really able to do kind of whatever I want, so I don’t have to follow specific rules. I don’t know if an album’s in the works. Maybe an EP, maybe just a collection of some music that I like over the course of the year. I really don’t have exact plans. I know the next song I want to release, but as of right now, I’m gonna get through this one first.
How did A Very Jonas Christmas Movie set up his solo debut?
My song “Changing” wasn’t even a thought yet. And so for now, for this movie to come out, which has that storyline, and then the next thing comes out, and it’s a week later, [is] my song. The stars are kind of aligned on it.
Why now for a Jonas Brothers Christmas movie?
I will say, it’s been a bucket-list item for us to do a Christmas movie ever since the days back working with Disney, like when we were much younger. We met with Bob Iger and team, and we said, “We’ve always wanted to do a Christmas movie.” Who doesn’t love the holidays, right? And it didn’t come together then, but then the last couple years, we’ve been reigniting our relationship with Disney, and now we’re doing Camp Rock 3 as executive producers, and we’re in the film and then working with them on this project. It really happened at the right time. Our families are involved. I think we can speak to the adult nature of things now, at the same time of allowing it to be just enough fun so kids will love it, but still, like, you know, I’m almost 40, so I think it’s a little easier to digest as a film.
How did the movie soundtrack come together?
The album and soundtrack is incredible. You know, it really is special that we got to work with an incredible team. Justin Tranter did a great job of creating and helping us craft this universe. “Coming Home This Christmas” is a song that we’ve actually held on to for a while. We had it before the movie, and we kind of ended up knowing that it felt perfect for this film, and so we kind of built the story around that as well. Sometimes you’ve just got to collect those songs and just hold on to them for a little bit.
How did Kevin prepare for his first non-music-video acting gig with his brothers since their Disney Channel days?
I leaned on [Joe and Nick] a lot. I worked with an amazing acting coach who’s a really good friend, Michael Park. He’s a Broadway actor. We’ve seen him in a lot of things, but he’s like one of our best friends, and I really called him every day. Just leaned on him. Because playing yourself to start is a weird challenge. … Nick’s done a lot of movies, Joe’s done a lot of movies and acting, and I just kind of had to do the best version.
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Also on the podcast, we’ve got chart news on how Taylor Swift continues to dominate both the Billboard 200 albums and Billboard Hot 100 songs chart; how Summer Walker, NF and 5 Seconds of Summer all debut in the top 10 on the Billboard 200; and how Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” jingles back into the top 10 on the Hot 100. Plus, Katie tells Keith about seeing Robyn’s first concert in six years (plus the live debut of her newest single “Dopamine”) and the penultimate show of Sabrina Carpenter’s year-plus Short n’ Sweet Tour.
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.)
Trending on Billboard Mariah Carey might say “It’s time” for Christmas, but what about Thanksgiving? On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are making sure we don’t ski right over Thanksgiving on our path to the December holiday season, because there is a lot of good pop entertainment lined up for your […]
Trending on Billboard It’s not officially Grammy season until there’s some spirited debate about this year’s nominations — and here we are. On this week’s Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are chatting through the 2026 Grammy nominations, starting with the Big Four categories (album, record and song of the year, plus best new […]
Trending on Billboard It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Yes, we officially have the all-clear from Mariah Carey to start celebrating the Christmas season — as messaged in her new Sephora commercial — but it’s a big week for music lovers for another reason: 2026 Grammy nominations will be announced on Friday. Sabrina […]
Trending on Billboard If there were a pop version of the Avengers, we think Ariana Grande‘s trio of early mentors would all be included. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are chatting about Ari kicking off the Wicked: For Good press tour by sitting down with Evan Ross Katz on his […]
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As Taylor Swift sang on last year’s Tortured Poets Department: “We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.” Maybe the pop singer/songwriter just needs his next era to get even bigger than he already is (the man has four Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits, including the 12-week No. 1 “See You Again” with Wiz Khalifa, after all). And that next era is on the horizon, with the announcement of his fourth studio album Whatever’s Clever!, due in March, and the release of the lead single “Changes” last week.
Over the past month, Puth has been testing out some of his new material during a 16-show residency across Blue Note New York (Sept. 25-28) and Blue Note Los Angeles (Oct. 16-19), bringing jazzy reimaginings of some of his biggest hits to the legendary jazz club stage. Billboard was inside the final Los Angeles concert over the weekend, and on the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie is telling Keith all about seeing Puth play at such an intimate venue.
Katie was mostly struck by what a good fit the venue was for Charlie and his catalog, as “Professor Puth” (known for sharing his music education with the TikTok audience) led an incredibly talented band of instrumentalists and backup singers through a masterclass of live pop. And as for the new songs — we heard “Beat Yourself Up” and “Changes” from the upcoming album on Sunday night — the crowd was just as into the brand-new tunes as they were into “Attention,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” “How Long” and, of course, “See You Again.” It seems that this new Dad Rock vibe Puth is leaning into (appropriately, the “Changes” music video also doubled as a pregnancy announcement for him and his wife Brooke) is going to be a perfect match.
Listen to the full conversation here:
And speaking of Taylor Swift… also on the show, we’ve got chart news about how Swift continues to hold down the No. 1 spots on both the Billboard 200 albums and Billboard Hot 100 songs charts with The Life of a Showgirl and lead single “The Fate of Ophelia,” while Olivia Dean makes gains on the Billboard 200 with The Art of Loving.
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.)
At this point, we should be conditioned to expect pop stars to behave in a controversial manner. And yet, when Sabrina Carpenter released the cover for her upcoming Man’s Best Friend album, social media was up in arms about the provocative artwork, which features the singer/songwriter on all fours with her hair being grabbed by […]
Thanks to a decadeslong love of Frank Sinatra and a relationship with his family that started when Frank Sinatra Jr. guest-starred on Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane was entrusted with a gold mine of never-released material arranged for the late crooner that has become his just-released ninth studio album, Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements.
“If you’re an aficionado of this kind of music, it’s like being a Lennon-McCartney fan and finding something that was written in like 1969 that was just never played,” MacFarlane tells Billboard‘s Pop Shop Podcast of Frank’s daughter, Tina Sinatra, approaching him with the opportunity to dig into 1,200 archival boxes of unrecorded sheet music arranged specifically for her dad. “And you hear it, and it’s like, ‘My God.’
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“You know, the songs that we have are the songs that we have from his discography; obviously he’s gone, the arrangers are gone, so there’s nothing new. And then all of a sudden, it’s like, ‘Oh, you know what? There’s one more cookie at the bottom of the bag.’”
Listen to MacFarlane’s full interview in the new Pop Shop Podcast episode below:
Below, find highlights from our conversation with MacFarlane, and listen to the full chat in the podcast above.
Did Seth know these songs before digging in?
In many cases, no one has ever heard of them, because they just didn’t exist. There’s a song called “Who’s in Your Arms Tonight” — you could travel to the ends of the earth before we did this, and you would not find a single person who knows that song, because it just was never recorded, and everyone involved with this writing is long gone. … We asked the oldest guys in the band — I mean, our bassist played for Frank Sinatra for years in the last part of his life, and he had no idea what this was. So about a third of the songs on the album are songs in which both the song and the arrangement are just completely unknown.
What stood out in these unreleased arrangements?
Particularly in the case of [Sinatra arranger] Nelson Riddle, you could instantly hear his signature trademarks, like those flutes. And that was what was so interesting. There was no question who wrote this, but it was new. It was familiar stylistically, but it was new, in the same way you watch a Wes Anderson movie that’s brand-new, you’re instantly going to know it’s him. You’re going to see his visual touchstones, but the movie’s brand-new. That’s kind of how it was. It was so clearly Nelson Riddle, but we were hearing the first new Nelson Riddle chart that anyone has heard in decades. So it was a pretty profound moment.
Is there a duet opportunity for frequent collaborator Liz Gillies or Carpool Karaoke partner Ariana Grande?
It would have been nice if we had found some, you know, Rosemary Clooney or Peggy Lee duet. I mean, Liz would have been my first call. For this kind of music, there’s just no one better on the planet, but so far, we have not found any duets. We haven’t dug through these boxes in such detail that there couldn’t be one — there may be. There are 1,200 boxes. We couldn’t play everything on that day because an orchestra is expensive. … But there’s so much in that archive that it is possible, and, yeah, if we find something, then we’ll give Liz a call.
How long could Seth be mining this material?
There are a couple [songs] that we recorded that we cut from this album, just because we had, I don’t know, some edict to get it down to 12 songs or less. All I know is we were told initially, I think they wanted it to be like six songs. I’m, like, “Guys, that’s not an album.” I don’t know, there’s all this, like, marketing data that they go by, and really, nobody knows sh–, because if they did, everything would be a monster hit. [Laughs] So I do remember us pushing back and saying, “Let’s do an album’s worth of songs for this thing.” So it’s a dozen songs, which, for a Sinatra album, was in the ballpark. And there were a couple songs that we did record that were not included that would be on the next one. … There are probably two albums’ worth of real, honest-to-God songs that can be released.
Is three days a residency? [Laughs] I once spent a week in Vegas, and I was like, “I’m forgetting who I am. I’m an insane person. The walls are moving.” That’s a lot of Vegas.
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Also on this week’s Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 album reputation, released in 2017, jumps from No. 78 to No. 5 on the Billboard 200 following an outpouring of fan support of the project after Swift announced she had acquired her Big Machine Records-era music catalog. Plus, SEVENTEEN and Miley Cyrus’ latest releases debut in the top five, while the top slots on both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 are static, with Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” and Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” staying put.
We also hit the biggest pop headlines of the week, including Sabrina Carpenter’s new “Manchild” single and video, Darren Criss and Nicole Scherzinger winning at the Tony Awards, David Byrne joining Olivia Rodrigo onstage at Governors Ball, and Mariah Carey returning with her new Eric B. & Rakim-sampling single “Type Dangerous.”
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.)
After Taylor Swift surprised the world late last week with the news that she now owns the masters of her first six albums, once the dust settled, fans wondered: Will the final two planned re-recordings of her self-titled 2008 debut album and of 2017’s Reputation ever see the light of day?
The thing is, even though Swift no longer has an express reason to re-record the projects to reclaim their ownership, her fans have grown accustomed to the fanfare around the Taylor’s Version releases, including unheard “From the Vault” tracks and new music videos.
Swift addressed the burning question directly in her open letter to fans posted on her website Friday, revealing that she had only re-recorded “a quarter” of Reputation, while she had “completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now.” She also said both “can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.”
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On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking all about Swift being reunited with her first six albums and what the circumstances might be for their Taylor’s Version re-releases.
Listen to the full podcast here:
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Alex Warren hits No. 1 for the first time on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with “Ordinary,” and, while Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem holds at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a second week, two more Wallen albums join Problem in the top 10, making him only the seventh act in the last 60 years to have at least three albums simultaneously in the top 10.
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.)
