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Taylor Swift might have been understating things when she called one of her surprise songs for night 2 in Liverpool, England, “a little bit unexpected.”
Making its Eras Tour debut on Friday night (June 14), Swift performed “This Is What You Came For” — the Billboard Hot 100 top five hit released by Calvin Harris and Rihanna in 2016, which Harris co-wrote with his then-girlfriend Swift — in a mash-up with Evermore‘s “gold rush” for the first of two surprise acoustic songs.
With a guitar slung over her cobalt-blue ombre maxi dress, Swift introduced the song by acknowledging that it might be an especially surprising surprise song. “Every single time that we have an acoustic set, I’m always trying to think of things that you might want to hear, maybe things that might be a little bit expected,” she told the Anfield Stadium crowd. “Let’s see how we did tonight.”
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While “This Is What You Came For” was making its Eras Tour debut, Swift has performed the song twice before: once in 2016 at her Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix concert in Austin, Texas, and once in 2017 at her Super Saturday Night concert in Houston, Texas, ahead of that year’s Super Bowl.
When the song was released in April 2016, it was credited as being co-written by Harris and an unknown songwriter named “Nils Sjöberg.” Following Harris and Swift’s breakup, TMZ reported in July of the same year that Sjöberg was actually a pen name for the pop singer/songwriter, and Harris confirmed her involvement on Twitter. In a 2020 Rolling Stone conversation with Paul McCartney, Swift explained her motivation for using the pen name.
“I think, when a pseudonym comes in is when you still have a love for making the work and you don’t want the work to become overshadowed by this thing that’s been built around you, based on what people know about you,” Swift said at the time. “And that’s when it’s really fun to create fake names and write under them. I wrote under the name Nils Sjöberg because those are two of the most popular names of Swedish males. I wrote this song called ‘This Is What You Came For’ that Rihanna ended up singing. And nobody knew for a while. I remembered always hearing that when Prince wrote ‘Manic Monday’ [for The Bangles], they didn’t reveal it for a couple of months.”
For her second acoustic song on Friday night, Swift performed a Midnights mash-up of “The Great War” and “You’re Losing Me” on piano.
Watch Swift perform “This Is What You Came For” in Liverpool:
Attention, Lambily: The Elusive Chanteuse herself has a special gift for you this Pride Month. On Friday (June 14), Mariah Carey dropped an expanded edition of her beloved album Rainbow in honor of its 25th anniversary. Alongside a series of new remixes of some of the superstar’s mega hits like “Heartbreaker” and “Thank God I […]
“I try to really put all my focus into the project in front of me,” says Justin Levine. That may sound like a simple enough goal – but for Levine, Broadway’s favorite musical polymath, it’s not so easy these days.
Since 2009, when Levine was music director, co-orchestrator and also a performer in the genre-smashing off-Broadway rock musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, more and more theater creators have called upon his various complementary talents to bolster their work. As a music director, orchestrator and arranger, the 38-year-old has most often found himself involved in the development of new musicals. “Sometimes I look at my résumé and feel like, ‘Oh wow, it has felt like there were twice as many projects as this,’ when in actuality it was about weaving in and out of each developmental step of a show,” Levine says with a laugh.
Case in point: Eight years ago, Levine started work on the two biggest musical projects he’s had since — Moulin Rouge! The Musical and The Outsiders, both ultimately Broadway-bound — within mere weeks of each other. Moulin Rouge! began performances in June 2019; was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reopening along with the rest of Broadway in mid-2021; and won 10 Tony Awards in 2021, including one for best orchestrations for Levine and his collaborators.
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Levine’s work on “the bullet train that is Moulin Rouge!,” as he calls it, is still far from done — he’s been “heavily involved” in mounting its iterations all over the world, including one in the Netherlands this fall, helping train the new companies for each. But that’s just one ongoing project on his slate lately. At the 2024 Tony Awards on Sunday, he’s nominated in three categories for his work on The Outsiders, making him one of the most-nominated individuals at this year’s ceremony. One of those nominations (for best original score) is in the same category as another major show whose music team he worked on this past year, Here Lies Love. And in May, Levine returned to one of his more glamorous jobs in recent years: overseeing the musical elements of the fashion world’s landmark event, the Met Gala.
“I just wanna make music, but I also want to perform that music, I want to create music for others,” says Levine, who studied theater in college but says he doesn’t have a formal musical background. Actually, add one more goal to that list: providing a place for others to do all of the same and more. Amid all he has going on, Levine says, the project he’s actually most excited about is far from New York City: He’s in the process of turning a “real fixer-upper” of a house he bought an hour north into “a place that will foster creativity and inspiration” for other artists, where “art can be made but also where it doesn’t have to feel that way.” He imagines it as a less productivity-obsessed artist residency, where he’ll also be able to indulge in his latest creative hobby: vegetable gardening.
Below, Levine breaks down his work on three of his recent high-profile projects.
The Outsiders
The cast of The Outsiders on Broadway.
Matthew Murphy
For the intimate musical adaption of S.E. Hinton’s young adult classic, Levine occupied three roles: contributor to playwright Adam Rapp’s book; co-creator of the score with Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance of Jamestown Revival; and co-creator of the orchestrations with music director Matt Hinckley and Jamestown. “I used to play in bands, and played music that definitely feels in the same world as the score,” says Levine. “I have a wide and varied musical taste: I love American roots music, soul, early country, bluegrass and folk, Americana, gospel. When I first encountered John and Zach and listened to Jamestown’s music, it reminded me of some of my favorite music. Overall, the world of [The Outsiders] is both familiar and unique unto itself.”
Levine helped the Jamestown duo preserve the integrity of their music within a theater context, focusing on the ways in which it could be used most effectively within the show to build and advance the story and character development. With Rapp, who had never written the book of a musical before, “it was largely a matter of me from an early stage working with him on the structure of the book, stitching together the book and the songs, finding the most effective ways to trade those off. Adam and I did that together, and John and Zach were often part of that process.”
Here Lies Love
Conrad Ricamora, Arielle Jacobs and the cast of Here Lies Love on Broadway.
Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
The immersive David Byrne and Fatboy Slim disco-driven musical about the rise and fall of Imelda Marcos in the Philippines had an unusually long and winding path to reaching Broadway in 2023, and Levine was the show’s original music director, involved since its early workshops in 2011. “I loved it from the moment I started working on it,” says Levine. “I learned so much from David.” As Here Lies Love was based on a concept album of the same name, Levine’s roles working on music production and additional arrangements meant helping the creators flesh out the show and figuring out how the album songs would be adapted to the stage.
“That involved working directly with the cast, with David, as far as bridging the gap between the pop and theater world,” Levine explains. “On the one side it was about the cast’s approach to singing the material, exploring the ways in which these songs could be performed with the Integrity of the style and the story telling; how they’re placed; where there’s vibrato vs a straight tone. The concept album itself has so many different styles of vocal technique.” Besides examining the ideal forms of those songs, Levine also worked with Byrne and Matt Stine [Levine’s collaborator on music production and additional arrangements] to find ways to “maximize the storytelling and [the songs’] viability in the context of a musical.”
The Met Gala
Ariana Grande performs onstage during The 2024 Met Gala Celebrating “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2024 in New York City.
Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images
Four years ago, Levine was approached with an unusual assignment: to create a musical medley celebrating the return of Broadway and theater in New York for the first post-pandemic Met Gala. Vogue’s Anna Wintour “didn’t call me or slide into my DMs,” he says with a laugh, “but she did request me because of my work on Moulin Rouge!” He admits that, prior to the invite, he “didn’t really know much about [the event],” but thought it “might be fun to build something with pieces of musical theater that have crossed over into the pop world, or been sampled, or just been a major piece of the fabric of popular culture.”
Since then, Wintour and her team have continued to invite him back, and his role has expanded to include everything from creating random musical moments throughout the spectacular evening to working closely with the headliner — this year, Ariana Grande — to build their setlist and starring performance. “She’s such a collaborative person — so enthusiastic and passionate and hardworking,” says Levine of Grande; he also worked closely with her “humble and brilliant” music director and producer Natural (aka Johnny Najera).
As for Wintour, who Levine calls “one of the biggest supporters of theater in New York,” she pays attention to every musical detail of the evening — and, Levine adds, “gives the best notes. But she’s very much a supporter and a fan of the arts; it never feels like she’s giving a note just to give one. It’s clear it comes from a genuine place and that there’s a real vision behind it.”
Lauren Jauregui is in Normani‘s corner, no matter what. The “Expectations” singer made sure to give her former Fifth Harmony bandmate a shout-out on Normani’s Dopamine album release day — six years after the girl group split. Retweeting the “Motivation” artist’s announcement that the LP had officially dropped, Jauregui wroteon Friday (June 14), “AHHHHH HAPPY […]
At Greenwich Village’s much-beloved gay bar Julius’, a humble crowd of patrons milled around the decades-old establishment, enjoying refreshments and song stylings ranging from late ’70s disco hits to Lizzo and Dua Lipa. Phone numbers were exchanged, flirtations made, jokes laughed at. All in all, it’s a fairly typical night at the local pub.
That is, until Sam Smith strutted through the bar.
Dressed in a Julius’ T-shirt with a studded belt, plaid skirt and a pair of platform heels, Smith graciously greeted their guests on Thursday evening (June 13), thanking them for joining in on this special occasion — a celebration of their debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour.
Released in late May 2014, Lonely Hour became a cultural phenomenon, boosting Smith from relative obscurity to near-instant star status in a matter of months. The album dominated the Billboard 200 (it debuted at No. 2 and remained on the listing for 372 weeks), spawned three Hot 100 top 10 singles (“Stay With Me,” “I’m Not the Only One” and “Lay Me Down”) and earned Smith four Grammys (for best new artist, record of the year, song of the year and best pop vocal album).
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To commemorate their breakthrough’s latest milestone, Smith threw a full-blown karaoke party at Julius’ in honor of their inaugural LP. With performances ranging from Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” to Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats,” to Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em,” participants worked the front of the bar, while drag icon Lady Bunny served as the evening’s emcee. “So far we’ve only got one entrant, and I know y’all don’t want me to get up there and sing,” Bunny chastised early on in the evening. “I don’t sing in the same room where Sam Smith sings!”
Bunny also served as the evening’s DJ, though she underestimated her own abilities after a patron’s rendition of “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield. “I’m about as good at DJing as they are at singing,” she cracked with a laugh. But the New York icon proved herself wrong throughout a wide-ranging set, seamlessly weaving between modern hits and classic disco gems, carefully curating her performance to keep spirits high.
“I am obsessed with Lady Bunny,” Smith gushed to a party-goer at one point as they danced along to TLC’s “No Scrubs.”
By 11 p.m., Julius’ was jam-packed with just over a hundred fabulously dressed patrons. Stars such as Dylan Mulvaney and Kim Petras were spotted entering the bar and gleefully greeting Smith, while other patrons sipped on specialty cocktails such as the “Life Support” margarita or the “Good Thing” cosmopolitan.
Then, Bunny announced the evening’s performer, as Sam Smith made their way onto a makeshift stage at the back of the bar alongside R&B icon Alicia Keys. As the crowd screamed for the pair, Smith humbly thanked them for attending before turning to his duet partner. “Thank you to Alicia Keys. This is a dream come true,” they said.
“This is amazing,” she said back, smiling. “Can you believe we never did this before? Except for right now? That’s crazy!”
Launching into Smith’s heartbreak anthem “I’m Not the Only One,” the pair traded verses back in forth as the eager crowd chanted along to the song’s soulful chorus. By the time they reached the track’s tender finale, the two had combined forces with some otherworldly harmonization on the final “and I know, and I know, and I know, and I know” run, much to the audience’s delight.
Bunny put it best as the performance came to a close. “Look at this, the queens of New York,” she declared. “Give it up for them both!”
Watch a clip of Sam Smith and Alicia Keys performing “I’m Not the Only One” below:
Two months after performing “Bad Romance” at a concert in Cincinnati, Chappell Roan has earned the approval of none other than Mother Monster herself. After a video of the 26-year-old singer performing the 2009 smash onstage started recirculating on TikTok, Lady Gaga shared some kind words in the comments. In the clip, Roan — wearing […]
Every year, the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony usually provides at least one wow moment by having a superstar deliver a breathtaking version of a song written by one of the honorees, or delivering a pairing that creates a watercooler moment, but this year, the 53rd annual edition — held Thursday (June 13) at the Marriott Marquis in New York — topped itself by reuniting inductees R.E.M. on stage for the quartet’s first public performance in more than 15 years.
In addition to the seminal alternative rock band, this year’s class included Timbaland, who innovatively blended R&B, hip-hop and pop elements; Dean Pitchford, whose songs for movies have proved as indelible, if not more so, than the films themselves; Steely Dan, who created a whole new cool paradigm with their combination of ennui, jazz and rock; and Hillary Lindsey, whose more than 27 No. 1 country songs have taken artists such as Little Big Town and Carrie Underwood to new creative heights.
A songwriter whose catalog has made a significant commercial and artistic impact is eligible for induction 20 years after their first song was commercially released. The exception for the 20 years is made for the recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award, which is presented to a rising songwriter who has already delivered a distinguished body of work. This year’s honoree was multiple Grammy winner SZA.
The SHOF’s highest honor is the Johnny Mercer Award, which is given to a past honoree whose body of work upholds the esteemed standards set by legendary songwriter Mercer. This year’s recipient, Diane Warren, was originally inducted into SHOF in 2001. In a separate ceremony in Nashville, trailblazing country writer Cindy Walker was posthumously inducted into SHOF.
The event opened on a sad note with SHOF show committee chairman Evan Lamberg (who is also North American president of Universal Music Publishing Group), announcing that SHOF’s president/CEO and the organization’s heartbeat, Linda Moran, was missing her first ceremony in 23 years because she is fighting leukemia. “She is under great care and is pointed in the right direction,” Lamberg said assuringly before filming a video of the audience sending love and cheers Moran’s way.
From R.E.M.’s unexpected reunion to Warren’s delightfully profane acceptance speech and SZA’s heartfelt comments on being a songwriter, here are some of the best moments from the 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame.
R.E.M. Leads the Crowd to Lose Their Religion (and Minds)
Image Credit: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Normani’s debut album is at long last with us, as are new sets from Don Toliver and NxWorries, and a new Father’s Day-ready LP from Luke Combs. Check out all of this week’s picks below.
Normani, Dopamine
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That’s right, everyone: We made it to Normani release week. After years of teases, delays and false starts, the 5H alum’s impossibly long awaited solo debut album Dopamine is finally here. The 13-track affair, featuring pre-release singles like the Cardi B teamup “Wild Side” and “1:59” with Gunna, is an impressively tight affair, with its biggest thrills including the Slim Thug sample (via Mike Jones’ “Still Tippin’”) on “Still,” the shredding guitar solo late in “Insomnia,” the skipping house beat on “Take My Time” and of course the Billboard shoutout on the album-opening “Big Boy.” Only her longtime fans can really determine whether the set was worth the wait, but it’s a welcome listen this Friday regardless.
Tommy Richman, “Devil Is a Lie”
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If you’ve finally gotten your fill of breakthrough hit “Million Dollar Baby” — unlikely, given how the song is still hanging around the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 — breakout singer-rapper Tommy Richman is back this week with its follow-up. “Devil Is a Lie” is intoxicating in many of the same ways “Baby” was, with his buttery falsetto floating over clean, throwback-tinged trap-n-B beats, and a chorus hook (“I’m not no Travis, baby, not no Chase B/ I work too hard, can you f–kin’ pay me?”) that should do big business on TikTok. We’ll see whether it’s enough to disqualify Richman from one-hit wonder status in his first post-“Million” try, but it certainly sounds like another potential smash.
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Luke Combs, Fathers and Sons
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Happy Father’s Day from Luke Combs! The country superstar announced his new album, Fathers and Sons, just a week ago, planning it for release just before the patriarch-celebrating holiday. The album, which was previewed last Friday (June 7) by the advance single “The Man He Sees in Me,” is a predictably emotional and heartfelt set of tributes to his two sons Tex Lawrence Combs and Beau Lee Combs, as well as to his own father, Chester Combs. Touching (and occasionally tear-jerking) stuff, of course — though some of us who prefer the less-sentimental version of Combs may stick to his booming Twisters: The Album soundtrack hit “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” when building our summer playlists.
Don Toliver, Hardstone Psycho
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The Cactus Jack lieutenant is back with his fourth studio album of booming trap beats and piercing R&B vocals. Don Toliver‘s Hardstone Psycho is divided into four sections of four tracks each, and features the advance singles (and Billboard Hot 100 hits) “Bandit” and “Attitude” (featuring Charlie Wilson, Cash Cobain and a clever sample of Pharrell’s hook from Snoop Dogg’s “Beautiful”). Additional guests include Future and Metro Boomin on “Purple Rain,” label boss Travis Scott on “Ice Age” and Kodak Black on album highlight “Brother Stone,” while other inspired samples include a pitched-up Whitney Houston singing “Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)” on “Glock.”
Pharrell, “Double Life”
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Pharrell plus the Despicable Me franchise always equals pure pop soundtrack gold, right? Maybe, though this new entry from the upcoming Despicable Me 4 film probably doesn’t quite sound like what you’d expect: “Double Life” rides a grungy guitar riff, sharp chorus harmonies and an action-packed bridge to maybe the most dramatically high-stakes Pharrell soundtrack single yet. “It doesn’t matter to you if you get heads or tails/ You just don’t like the flip all the time,” a double-tracked P belts on the chorus, sounding more like he’s trying to match “One Night in Bangkok” than “Happy.”
NxWorries, Why Lawd?
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Yes, it’s the return of the other superduo featuring R&B critics’ darling Anderson .Paak. We haven’t gotten a full-length project from NxWorries, which pairs .Paak with underground favorite hip-hop producer Knxwledge, since 2016 — with .Paak also experiencing pop stardom in the interim as half of Silk Sonic with Bruno Mars. The new project Why Lawd? might not experience that level of chart-topping success, but it should be a joy for longtime fans of the producer and singer-songwriter — with its 19 tracks of chill grooves also soundtrack from big names like H.E.R., Earl Sweatshirt, Snoop Dogg and of course R&B legend Charlie Wilson, who appears to be absolutely everywhere in 2024.
ATEEZ scores its third No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated June 15) as Golden Hour: Part.1 opens atop the tally with 127,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending June 6, according to Luminate. That sum marks both the largest sales week for any K-pop album in 2024, and the year’s fifth-largest sales week among all albums.
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Also in the top 10 of the latest Top Album Sales chart: The Marias log its first top 10 with the No. 4 debut of Submarine, Crowder’s The Exile enters at No. 7, Shaboozey nets his first chart entry with the No. 8 start of Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going and Black Sabbath’s boxed set Anno Domini: 1989 – 1995 bows at No. 10.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
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Golden Hour: Part.1’s first week sales were largely powered by CD sales, as the set was available in 25 CD variants, along with six vinyl variants, all containing branded paper merch and other collectibles. It was also issued as standard digital download album.
Taylor Swift’s chart-topping The Tortured Poets Department rises 3-2 on Top Album Sales with 27,000 copies sold (down 35%), while Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft climbs 4-3 with 25,000 (down 39%).
The Marias score its first top 10 and largest sales week yet as Submarine starts at No. 4 with 17,000 copies sold. Its sales were supported by eight vinyl variants (which totaled 15,000 of its overall sales), a standard CD, a CD with an alternative cover, and a boxed set containing a T-shirt and a CD.
Twenty One Pilots’ Clancy falls 1-5 in its second week on Top Album Sales with 12,000 sold (down 90%) while TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s chart-topping minisode 3: TOMORROW is a non-mover at No. 6 with 8,000 sold (down 11%).
Crowder collects his fourth top 10-charting set on Top Album Sales as The Exile bows at No. 7 with 8,000 sold. In its first week, the album was issued as a standard CD, a signed CD and a standard digital download album.
Shaboozey scores his first entry on Top Album Sales, with his third album, as Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going debuts at No. 8 with nearly 8,000 sold (all from digital downloads). RM’s Right Place, Wrong Person falls 2-9 with just over 7,000 sold (down 83%).
Rounding out the top 10 is Black Sabbath’s boxed set Anno Domini: 1989 – 1995, which bows at No. 10 with 7,000 sold.
The accent might be a bit different, but the one thing Scottish Swifties have in common with their American brethren and sistren is that they make the earth move under their feet. The British Geological Survey reported this week that seismometers around Edinburgh were triggered after mega-hyped fans at Taylor Swift‘s three Scottish Gas Murrayfield […]