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As a longtime songwriter, artist and musical theater enthusiast, JC Chasez knows the power of a good story that strikes an emotional chord.
That’s why he was floored when his friend and Golden Globe-winning musician Jimmy Harry showed him a theatrical adaptation of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein by his late mother, playwright Barbara Field. “What I found really appealing and very inspiring about the piece is her ability to make it more direct and accessible in terms of the emotion,” the *NSYNC star tells Billboard. “It wasn’t just about a big monster and this kind of, like, growling thing that I initially had the impressions of in films and when reading Frankenstein. I guess I was just young, and just didn’t really have the time to settle in and really dig into the material. Recently, I was able to spend some time with the material and really get a good read and a good understanding of how emotional it was.”
From there, Chasez and Harry took the story’s themes of love, responsibility, loss and the human condition and channeled it into a major creative project: a 16-track musical theater concept album called Playing With Fire, which adds to Fields’ theatrical adaptation that originally written as a play and not a musical. “I was a little bit apprehensive at first. It’s like, you start messing with somebody family,” Chasez says with a laugh of musically building off of Harry’s mother’s project.
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JC Chasez and Jimmy Harry
Michael W. Abbott
Chasez brushed off those nerves soon enough, as Playing With Fire is, in a lot of ways, a culmination of the superstar’s creative talents. In addition to writing the project, Chasez also lends his vocals to a number of tracks on Playing With Fire, alongside singers Cardamon Rozzi and Lily Elise. The album marks his first major musical project since his 2004 solo album, Schizophrenic. “Playing With Fire touches on almost everything that I like,” he happily admits. “I love a good sci-fi film, so you get that aspect, and I love how music can make you so emotional in a different way. Obviously, I love pop music, so I love the fact that you can sing and dance together in musical theater. It was just a great opportunity to bring all of these things that I’ve really enjoyed together into one space.”
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Furthermore, he was pleasantly surprised at how a centuries-old story touches on themes that still exist today, contributing to just how unifying the human experience is — even if Frankenstein’s monster isn’t human, per se. “Shelly was communicating these points hundreds of years ago that we’re still wrestling with today. I was just going, ‘How did you know?’ How did she write something that is so appropriate for now and then? Then, how did Barbara Fields make this so accessible to me? I felt like I had a direct line to the emotions that Shelly was trying to convey because of the way that Barbara framed it.”
He continued, “When we first started writing, we thought that this is about humanity, technology and the dangers and the morality of ‘Just because you can create something, should you?’ We’re still dealing with all of these for questions with encountering different technologies and AI and all that. We were tinkering with the idea, but we started becoming interested in the way Barbara framed it, as a conversation between the creator and his creation, which we framed as a conversation between a father and son getting to the bottom of their issues, their denials, their neglect and the consequences of those things.”
Ultimately, Playing With Fire is a story of growth and real connection, and in accordance with that, Chasez has ambitions for the project to reach as many people as possible. “This is the beginning of a journey to make something that will hopefully end up on a stage that people can sing live every night and communicate to audiences,” he says. “That’s why this technological discussion is so relevant now. I love the fact that real people will be singing these songs. I want it to connect to humanity.”
Playing With Fire is out via Center Stage Records on Oct. 25.
Two weeks after suffering a double tragedy, Mariah Carey is gearing up to return to the stage for her international fans. On Sunday (Sept. 8) the singer posted a rehearsal video on Instagram in which she warmed up her pipes for an upcoming run of overseas gigs. “Back at work. It’s been a couple of […]
Megan Thee Stallion is ready to level up. The “Mamushi” MC has released a string of hit collaborations over the past few years, but she now has her sights set on the very peak of the pop firmament with her dream for the ultimate pop-hop crossover. Speaking to People magazine, Meg, 29, said she is […]
Sabrina Carpenter continues her reign on the U.K. Singles Chart, as her infectious single “Taste” holds the No. 1 spot for a second consecutive week.
The track, which is part of her sixth album, Short n‘ Sweet, dominates as the U.K.’s most-streamed song of the week, racking up 8 million streams. Sabrina has now accumulated a total of 14 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2024, placing her as one of the year’s most successful chart-topping artists.
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Making chart history, Sabrina is now the first female artist to simultaneously hold the top three spots on the U.K. Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks.
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Alongside “Taste” at No. 1, her previous chart-toppers, “Please Please Please” and “Espresso,” remain at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. The only other artist to accomplish this feat was Ed Sheeran, who held the top three positions for multiple weeks back in 2017 with hits such as “Shape of You” and “Galway Girl.”
The success of “Taste” has been further amplified by the recent release of the viral horror-themed music video, which features Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega.
Aside from Sabrina’s chart domination, there are other notable movements in this week’s U.K. Singles Chart.
Oasis’s 1995 single “Live Forever” climbs to a new peak at No. 8, marking a milestone for the band as it surpasses its original 1995 peak of No. 10.
Meanwhile, another Oasis classic, “Don’t Look Back In Anger,” returns to the Top 10 for the first time in 28 years, landing at No. 9, bolstered by the band’s recent reunion tour news.
This marks the first time the iconic Britpop group has had two singles in the Top 10 simultaneously. Other movements include Benson Boone’s “Slow It Down” rebounding to No. 19, and Gigi Perez’s viral hit “Sailor Song” jumping to No. 24.
Check out “Taste” by Sabrina Carpenter below.
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JC Chasez is ready to delve into the world of musical theater. The *NSYNC superstar revealed exclusively via Billboard on Sunday (Sept. 8) that he’s teaming up with Golden Globe-winning songwriter and composer Jimmy Harry for a musical theater concept album called Playing With Fire. The 16-track project is inspired by Mary Shelly’s seminal 1818 […]
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet stays steady atop the Billboard 200 (dated Sept. 14) for a second week, after opening at No. 1 a week ago. In its second frame, the album earned 159,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 5 (down 56%), according to Luminate.
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That 159,000-unit sum is substantial for an album’s second week in recent times. In the last 12 months, only three other albums have logged a second week as big as Short n’ Sweet’s. Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department tallied 439,000 units in its second week (chart dated May 11; down from its 2.61 million-unit debut), Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) earned 245,000 in its second week (Nov. 18, 2023; down from 1.653 million), and Drake’s For All the Dogs earned 164,000 in its second week (Oct. 28, 2023; down from 402,000).
Notably, Republic Records is the distributing label of all four albums. Short n’ Sweet was released via Island/Republic, For All the Dogs was issued via OVO Sound/Republic, and Swift’s two albums are straight Republic titles.
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Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, LE SSERAFIM captures it third top 10-charting effort with the No. 7 arrival of CRAZY, while Destroy Lonely achieves his first top 10 as Love Lasts Forever enters at No. 10.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Sept. 14, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Sept. 10). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of Short n’ Sweet’s 159,000 equivalent album units earned in its second week, SEA units comprise 126,000 (down 28%, equaling 168.45 million on-demand official streams of the album’s 12 songs; it holds at No. 1 on the Top Streaming Albums chart, as well), album sales comprise 32,000 (down 83%) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (down 38%).
Post Malone’s former leader F-1 Trillion (released via Mercury/Republic) rises one rung to No. 2 with 86,000 equivalent album units earned (down 23%), Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (KRA/Amusement/Island/Republic) is up a spot to No. 3 with 64,000 (down 10%), Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time (Big Loud/Mercury/Republic) steps 5-4 with 55,000 (down 5%) and Swift’s former No. 1 The Tortured Poets Department climbs 6-5 with 54,000 (down 6%).
Republic Records holds the entire top five titles — a feat that it’s achieved four times. Republic remains the only label to claim the entire top five since the Billboard 200 combined its previously separate mono and stereo album charts into one all-encompassing chart in August 1963. Republic previously controlled the top five on the Jan. 13 and 20, 2024, charts, and on the Dec. 9, 2023-dated list.
Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft rises one rung to No. 6 on the latest Billboard 200, earning 49,000 equivalent album units (down 7%).
LE SSERAFIM’s CRAZY debuts at No. 7 with 47,000 equivalent album units earned, landing the Korean pop ensemble its third top 10-charting effort — and largest week by units earned. Of its starting sum, album sales comprise 38,000 (it’s No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart), SEA units comprise 9,000 (equaling 12.08 million on-demand official streams of the set’s five songs; with over half of that sum driven by the title track) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. CRAZY’s first-week was bolstered by its availability across more than 20 CD variants, all containing collectible branded paper ephemera such as photocards, postcards, stickers, and posters.
Noah Kahan’s Stick Season rises 10-8 on the latest Billboard 200, with 40,000 equivalent album units earned (up 7%) in the week ending Sept. 5. The set’s gain is concurrent with the Aug. 30 arrival of Kahan’s new album, Live From Fenway Park.
Zach Bryan’s The Great American Bar Scene is a non-mover at No. 9 on the new Billboard 200 with 39,000 equivalent album units earned (down 6%).
Rapper Destroy Lonely lands his first top 10-charting set on the Billboard 200 as his second studio album, Love Lasts Forever, bows at No. 10 with 37,500 equivalent album units earned — his best week by units. Of its starting sum, album sales comprise 19,000, SEA units comprise 18,500 (equaling 25.19 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album’s first week was bolstered by its availability in a signed CD edition and two digital download album variants — all exclusive to the artist’s webstore. The latter two were each sold for $5 and each included five additional bonus songs (five different songs per variant).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Former A&M Records executive Derek Taylor captured the sound of Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 in a few well-chosen phrases in in his liner notes to the group’s first album for the label. Taylor wrote excitedly about its “delicately-mixed blend of pianistic jazz, subtle Latin nuances, cool minor chords, a danceable beat, gentle laughter and a little sex.”
With all that going for it, how could it miss?
Mendes, who died on Thursday Sept. 5 at age 83, had the kind of career artists dream about. He had enormous success in the 1960s fronting Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, which had three top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 and two top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. But Mendes’ success didn’t end when that group’s fortunes cooled. He enjoyed periodic comebacks and periods of rediscovery for decades to come.
He had a big comeback in 1983 with the Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil power ballad “Never Gonna Let You Go,” which reached the top five on the Hot 100. He enjoyed another rediscovery in 2006 when his album Timeless, which he co-produced with will.i.am, reached No. 44 on the Billboard 200 and received a pair of Grammy nods. (The album featured such guest artists as The Black Eyed Peas, Erykah Badu, Stevie Wonder, John Legend and Justin Timberlake.) In 2012, he was nominated for an Oscar for best original song for a song he co-wrote for the film Rio.
Mendes won a Grammy for best world music album for his 1992 album Brasileiro and two Latin Grammys for best Brazilian contemporary pop album for Bom Tempo and Timeless. He received a lifetime achievement award from the Latin Recording Academy in 2005.
In 1966, Mendes came to the attention of Herb Alpert, co-founder of A&M Records, and one of the top-selling album artists of the 1960s. Alpert produced the group’s first three albums, all of which went gold. Alpert also took Brasil ’66 on tour with him and even wrote an enthusiastic recommendation that appeared on the back cover of their debut album: “One afternoon recently, a friend of mine called to ask if I wanted to hear a new group. From the first note I was grinning like a kid who’d just found a new toy.” That album remained on the Billboard 200 for more than two years (a rarity in those days) and was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012.
Alpert was a close friend of Mendes’ for nearly 60 years. “Sergio Mendes, my brother from another country, passed away quietly and peacefully,” Alpert said in a statement on Friday. “He was a true friend and extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its iterations to the entire world with elegance and joy.” (Another bond between the two musicians: Lani Hall, to whom Alpert has been married since 1973, was one of two female singers in Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66.)
The group’s sound was cool, yet hot, and brimming with confidence. Still, it was a new sound in 1966, so new that A&M took no chances and supplied parenthetical phonetic spellings for five song titles on the album, including “Mais Qu Nada (Ma-sh Kay Nada).” That pronunciation gambit may seem quaint in an era when Bad Bunny gives acceptance speeches on general-audience award shows in Spanish, but, hey, baby steps. One generation paves the way for the next.
The group’s music was often featured in “lounge music” compilations of pop songs from the 1960s, which were a forerunner to today’s “yacht rock” collections of pop songs from the 1970s and 1980s. Some people, it seems, can only enjoy pop music if they’re being ironic about it. (But they’re listening, so I’ll take it.)
Here are 10 Mendes tracks which will remind you of his greatness or give you a good place to start in exploring this talented and innovative musician.
I wrote the liner notes for a CD compilation, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66-86, which was released in 1987 amid A&M’s 25th anniversary celebration. This piece draws some material from those notes.
“Acode” (2008)
Kim Petras and The Chainsmokers are sneaking in one last song of the summer contender, with the pop star and EDM duo releasing a new collaboration titled “Don’t Lie” and music video Friday (Sept. 6). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the video, bandmates Alex Pall and […]
Selena Gomez is showing off her musical talent as well as her acting chops! The multihyphenate took to Instagram to share a clip of the dance-ready track, “Mi Camino,” which is featured in the upcoming film, Emilia Pérez, in which Gomez stars as Jessi Del Monte. “A little sneak peek of the song “Mi Camino” […]
Halsey is officially killing their ego.
The singer dropped a music video for her latest single, “Ego,” on Friday (Sept. 6). In the clip, Halsey plays two characters representing two versions of themselves. On one end of the dinner table, the star is seen with long, red hair with full glam makeup and a black mini dress. On the opposite end, Halsey rocks short hair of the same color, wearing no makeup and a tuxedo.
“I think that I should try to kill my ego/ ‘Cause if I don’t, my ego might kill me/ I’m all grown up but somehow lately/ I’m acting like a f—ing baby/ I’m really not as happy as I seem,” Halsey sings in the rock-tinged chorus, as her two egos fight each other around a dimly lit home, using any weapons necessary to get the job done.
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“Ego” is the fourth single from Halsey’s upcoming album, The Great Impersonator, set to drop on Oct. 25. The star has described the project as deeply personal, saying, “I made this record in the space between life and death, and it feels like I’ve waited an eternity for you to have it.”
This week, the three-time Grammy nominee also shared the album’s main cover art, which features a black-and-white close-up of them with rosy cheeks and a star-shaped sticker with the title on her forehead. “Step right up, ladies and gentlemen,” the sticker’s fine print reads. “Behold the marvel of a century. Witness the uncanny ability of a woman who can become anyone, anything your heart desires.”
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The Great Impersonator will mark Halsey’s first album since 2021’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The project also features previously released singles “The End,” “Lucky” and “Lonely Is the Muse.”
Watch the “Ego” music video below.
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