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After reimagining Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind alongside Emmy winner Evan Peters for her “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” visual, could Ariana Grande be gearing up to feature another beloved television actor in her next music video? On Monday (May 27), Grande teased an upcoming visual for “The Boy Is Mine,” […]
In December, fans suspected that Camila Cabello and Drake were dating after paparazzi cameras captured the pair on a luxury vacation together in Turks & Caicos. Months later, however, the pop star has finally revealed via her Wednesday (May 29) Billboard cover story that the only “couple” they ever made with one another was a couple of collaborators — with a couple of songs.
That’s right: Drizzy is featured on not just one, but two tracks on Cabello’s fourth studio album C,XOXO, which arrives June 28. They weren’t just partaking in some jet-skiing last winter, says the Fifth Harmony alum — while in the Islands, the duo was also finishing up a track.
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“He’s the f–king GOAT, so it felt like shooting for the stars,” she told Billboard, noting how she first connected with the rapper by sliding into his DMs. “I showed him the album when I felt comfortable enough and he really liked it. [The feature] came out of a nontransactional place. He had this idea of a song called ‘Hot Uptown,’ and it just felt like I was in the city. I was in Miami.”
Drake is also featured on a two-minute-long interlude titled “Uuugly,” which comes immediately after “Hot Uptown” on the C,XOXO tracklist. The snippet, which was apparently all Champagne Papi’s idea, finds him singing over a blend of synth beats and Cabello’s vocals.
“Why does he have his own song? Because selfishly, I just want to hear Drake on my own album,” Cabello continued. “I love that for me — it’s like that rebellious mood. Who says I can’t do that? It’s Drake talking his s–t.”
The interview arrives about five months after the “Havana” singer and Drake’s trip. Cabello previously quelled dating rumors that arose from the outing in March, simply telling Call Her Daddy‘s Alex Cooper, “I really felt like he would like my album, and so I DM’d him and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m just gonna put it out there.’”
“We hung out, I played him my album. He loved it,” she added at the time, not yet revealing that Drake was actually featured on the project.
Cabello’s upcoming LP also features City Girls, The-Dream and BLP Kosher, as well as the previously released singles “I Luv It” with Playboi Carti — which peaked at No. 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 — and “He Knows” with Lil Nas X. The effort marks the “Bam Bam” artist’s first time writing all of her own lyrics and top-line melodies for an album, which she thinks makes the body of work sound “purer.”
“I think that’s why it sounds so cohesive,” she told Billboard. “Because it really feels like me.”
Elton John is gearing up to give one of his fans an LGBTQ+ Pride Month for the books. Ahead of next month’s festivities, the rock star announced Wednesday (May 29) that he and his Elton John AIDS Foundation are challenging fans to take on his hit “Your Song” as part of a new “Speak Up Sing Out” campaign, giving one entrant the chance to meet him and David Furnish, who is his husband and the foundation’s chairman, in June.
Designed to help end the stigma against LGBTQ folks on social media, the challenge asks participants to post vertical videos of personalized renditions of the icon’s 1970 song, which peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was co-written by John and his longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin. More specifically, the foundation is calling on fans to sing one of the track’s final lines — “I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind, that I put down in words how wonderful life is while you’re in the world” — and mark their clips online with the hashtag #SpeakUpSingOutGiveaway.
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After finishing the song, contestants are to name and tag someone who has inspired them to embrace their authentic selves. Fans should also make sure they’re following the Elton John AIDS Foundation on Instagram before entering.
“Living boldly and fearlessly is what I strive for every day, but I know firsthand the importance of having a support system that empowers you to do so — a privilege I’m immensely grateful for,” John said in a statement. “This Pride Month, I extend a heartfelt invitation to stand with me and the Foundation to honor the champion in your life.”
The giveaway ends June 18 at 8 p.m. ET. Afterward, one contestant will be chosen to win a trip to meet John and Furnish later that month.
“Add your unique touch to one of my songs and spread waves of love and support throughout the LGBTQ+ community,” the five-time Grammy winner added. “As a special thank you, one participant and their guest will have the chance to join me and David in New York City during Pride Month — an opportunity to celebrate love, acceptance, and all that makes us who we are!”
In addition to spreading awareness amid the influx in anti-LGBTQ legislation introduced across the U.S. in the past year, the “Speak Up Sing Out” challenge will support the foundation’s Rocket Fund. The $125-million, multiyear initiative was launched in 2023 in response to rising stigma and growing rates of HIV in vulnerable communities, causes for which the organization has already raised $100 million of its goal.
See John’s announcement below.
Zayn returns to Billboard’s charts with his first album in more than three years, and with a shift in sonics, as his fourth LP, Room Under the Stairs, debuts at No. 3 on the Top Album Sales survey (dated June 1). It also opens at No. 4 on Top Rock Albums and No. 5 on both Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Americana/Folk Albums, marking his first foray onto those rankings.
On the all-genre Billboard 200, the album debuts at No. 15. Released May 17, it earned 29,000 equivalent album units, with 24,000 in album sales, in the U.S. in the week ending May 23, according to Luminate.
The set was largely produced by Dave Cobb, who previously produced albums by artists including Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell and Chris Stapleton.
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“I was pretty much on my farm having a glass of whiskey and listening to a bit of Stapleton by the fire with my dog, playing guitar,” Zayn recently told Nylon of the album’s inspiration. “People are in search of a little bit more depth from the lyrics,” he mused. About Stapleton, he said, “He’s got class, right? He’s telling you a real grown man’s story. I was like, ‘This is cool. It’s something I can do.’ ”
The new collection is Zayn’s first on Mercury/Republic, after his first three pop-focused albums were issued by RCA. Nobody Is Listening hit No. 44 on the Billboard 200 in January 2021, Icarus Falls reached No. 61 in December 2018 and Mind of Mine, his first LP after leaving One Direction, soared in at No. 1 in April 2016.
Before Zayn went solo, One Direction released four LPs, all of which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2012-14.
It’s a sunny May afternoon in Miami’s lush Coral Gables neighborhood, and Camila Cabello greets me at her family’s one-story home accompanied by a small menagerie: four dogs — including her golden retriever, Tarzan, and German shepherd, Thunder — along with her rescued cockatoo, Percy.
Cabello is home “to recharge” amid a hectic few days that included time in California and will soon take her to New York for the Met Gala. But today, with her messy pigtails, Daisy Duke shorts and silver flip-flops, Cabello looks more like a college girl on break than a major pop star about to release her fourth solo album — a fearless artistic statement coming June 28 titled C,XOXO. Her father washes the driveway, her mother offers me cafecito, and her aunt plays with the dogs.
Cabello will receive the Global Impact award at Billboard’s Latin Women in Music, produced by and airing on Telemundo on June 9.
“Let’s go to lunch — I’ll drive!” Cabello exclaims as she grabs her tote. The 27-year-old got her license just two years ago and learned to drive during the pandemic; as we hop into her white Tesla — nicknamed “Tessie” — she admits that getting behind the wheel (with a good album or podcast on the stereo) is her favorite form of stress relief. She takes us to Pura Vida, one of her favorite local health spots, where we sit down outside with summer chicken bowls. “Girl, it’s this Met Gala coming up… I can’t wait to stuff my face after,” she jokes.
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With her still fairly new platinum blonde tresses (a fresh ’do she debuted on social media in February), Cabello largely goes incognito; some passersby seem to recognize her but are perhaps too shy to approach. Just one screams, “Camila, I love you!” — a reminder that while Cabello might periodically crash at her parents’ house, she’s still a global superstar. But while she jokes that her new look has the side benefit of granting her some anonymity in public, she explains that it has a deeper meaning.
“The voice that I found with my new album has this big baddie energy vibe,” she explains animatedly. “Part of that spirit is taking risks, not giving a f–k and doing whatever you want. I think the blonde was me staying true to that feeling. With the hair, it was like, ‘How do I tell people, visually, that this is my new era?’ Sometimes you need the physicality to let them know, ‘Oh, this is a new thing, a new character.’ ”
CD1974 courtesy of Retail Pharmacy top, SHAY earrings and rings.
Erica Hernández
On March 27, Cabello unleashed the first taste of what C,XOXO might bring: the Playboi Carti-featuring “I Luv It,” co-produced by Spanish hit-maker El Guincho (Rosalía) and Jasper Harris (Jack Harlow, Doja Cat). “I Luv It” samples Gucci Mane (“Lemonade”), interpolates a 2011 Rihanna loosie (“Cockiness [Love It]”) — and has a hyperpop aesthetic that marked a significant departure from the more conventional pop (and more recently Latin-influenced) sound that made Cabello a household name, first as a member of Fifth Harmony, then as a solo artist.
The unexpected track was also significant for another reason: It was Cabello’s first Interscope Records release after leaving Epic Records, her label home of nearly a decade where she had been since Fifth Harmony’s debut and released her first three solo albums — Camila, Romance and Familia — between 2018 and 2022.
Reactions to “I Luv It” on social media were mixed, and the song debuted and peaked at No. 81 on the Billboard Hot 100. Still, the song (and its somewhat unhinged vibes) piqued interest in Cabello’s next musical chapter. “The unpredictability of it is so different for me,” she says. “It’s such a kick-the-door-down moment, sonically, that it makes me feel strong and powerful. At least for me, in this stage of my life, it would feel so unfulfilling to just have a song that was big but felt like something that I’ve already done before. That brings me no joy. I would rather have a song that’s weird and be new territory to me.”
While the strangeness of “I Luv It” encapsulates Cabello’s new era, it was a different track that truly set the tone for the C,XOXO sessions. “At first, we played around with different genres, trying to find the sonic world the album lives in,” she explains. “ ‘Chanel No. 5’ really cracked open the album. For me, as a writer, that was the voice I wanted for the album: coy, cheeky and kind of devious.”
Gucci jacket, SHAY earrings, Harlot Hands rings.
Erica Hernández
On “Chanel No. 5,” Cabello sings between trippy piano interludes, her falsetto distorted, about being a “cute girl with a sick mind.” At one point she even raps — she has recently taken inspiration from “c–ty, cocky girl rap” like Flo Milli and Baby Tate, she explains.
“We realized we hit this key transition in the process,” says Harris, who co-produced the album, of the track. “That’s the first song we knew was very C,XOXO, and creating every song forward, we would ask if it felt as true as ‘Chanel.’ It was our north star.” (“Chanel No. 5” will be released pre-album drop as a fan track.)
Cabello, El Guincho and Harris devoted most of 2023 to working on the album — in New York, Los Angeles and the Bahamas but primarily Miami — and along the way, she had another creative epiphany: Her previous sets all had a why, a when and a who at their center, but never a where. C,XOXO would: It’s a love letter to Miami.
Cabello wasn’t always a Miami girl, but her journey here — a city full of sounds and culture enriched by immigrants — was a big part of what ultimately made her one.
Born in Havana, Cuba, she moved to Mexico City with her parents at age 6 and ultimately arrived in Miami with her mother (her father joined almost two years later). Her mom, who had been an architect in Cuba, worked in the shoe department at Marshalls; her dad washed cars at Dolphin Mall. Today, they run a successful contracting company called Soka Construction (named after Camila and her younger sister, Sofia).
In ninth grade, Cabello auditioned for The X Factor, where she eventually joined contestants Ally Brooke, Normani, Lauren Jauregui and Dinah Jane to form Fifth Harmony. With Cabello in the fold, the girl group — one of the most commercially successful ever — went platinum with its first two albums, in 2015 and 2016, and notched a top five Hot 100 hit with the Ty Dolla $ign-featuring “Work From Home.”
Erica Hernández
Amid Fifth Harmony’s success, Cabello started exploring opportunities outside the group. In 2015, she teamed with Shawn Mendes for “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” which cracked the top 20 of the Hot 100; the following year, she released “Bad Things” with Machine Gun Kelly, which went to No. 4. In December 2016, Fifth Harmony announced Cabello’s departure from the group on social media. “After 4 and a half years of being together, we have been informed via her representatives that Camila has decided to leave Fifth Harmony,” the other four members stated. “We wish her well.”
Cabello quickly flourished on her own: Her first three solo albums all reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200, and she has logged 21 Hot 100 entries as a solo artist, plus picked up two Latin Grammys. All the while, she continued notching star collaborations, like “Hey Ma,” an early-2017 teamup with Pitbull and J Balvin from the Fate of the Furious soundtrack. But her solo career really took off in August of that year with the Young Thug-featuring “Havana,” which climbed to No. 1 on the Hot 100 the following January. Her second Hot 100 chart-topper followed two years later: the steamy duet “Señorita” alongside Mendes, with whom she was in a much-photographed, two-year relationship.
Still, Cabello hasn’t yet delivered her lasting, full-length statement — the one that strongly defines her creative ethos and is entirely her own. Her latest album, 2022’s Familia, scored a top 40 hit with the Ed Sheeran-featuring “Bam Bam,” but it was Cabello’s lowest-charting solo project. (Her feature film Cinderella the previous year — a splashy starring role that could’ve further boosted her profile — received, at best, middling reviews.) In September 2022, Cabello left Epic to sign with Interscope — home to young stars like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo, who have become some of the biggest names in pop music by unapologetically establishing strong musical identities. With C,XOXO, Cabello is poised to potentially do the same.
“This was the first time she had the chance to decide on her own record label,” says Cabello’s longtime manager, Roger Gold of Gold Music Management. “[Epic was] wonderful and super supportive, but there’s a difference between being signed to a label without your own selection process and making decisions and then really getting to do that for the first time. It was a big deal for her to find people who deeply wanted to work with her, respected her and understood her. [Interscope] truly makes us feel like we’re the only artist on the label sometimes.”
“She’s the kind of artist who doesn’t compromise,” says Michelle An, Interscope Geffen A&M president and head of creative strategy. “It sounded like Camila wanted a label team that really gets into the weeds of everything. What are the big looks with the [digital service provider] partners? What is the strategy with radio? How are we implementing it internationally? She’s the boss of the boardroom, and she can tell us how she feels and how she wants to market. She’s really embracing the fact that she has a big team that operates like a boutique.”
No Sesso dress, SHAY earrings.
Erica Hernández
That level of label support, Gold says, allowed Cabello to treat C,XOXO as the kind of creative departure she had never explored before. “She’s feeling very confident in her womanhood, owning her own power,” he says, “and feeling like this is her time to bravely say the things she wants to say.” It may have been a sonic jolt and, to some fans, an outlier, but “I Luv It” was no red herring.
On C,XOXO, Cabello’s musical hallmarks remain — her hypnotic falsetto, her vulnerable ballads, her heartfelt songwriting — but in an entirely different sonic context that now blends hip-hop, Afrobeats, R&B, reggaetón and electronic music. They’re the sounds of Miami itself, vividly evoking the scenes of the city: driving past the clubs on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach or through bustling, artsy Wynwood on a busy weekend.
“So much of the inspiration for this album was driving, listening to music, rolling the windows down and hearing what people in the city are listening to,” Cabello says. “The voice she was using as a writer felt very much like the city itself,” El Guincho adds. “I thought it was a very interesting angle to have Camila represent her city strongly in a pop album context, which are usually very displaced and decentralized.”
Because the album was made almost entirely in Miami, Cabello says she looked at the city “with binoculars and extra-close attention. Sonically, it feels like it’s a Miami art piece.” For her palette, Cabello drew on a diverse group of collaborators to add unique colors, including Carti, Lil Nas X, The-Dream, fellow Floridians City Girls and BLP Kosher — and, most notably, Drake. That much-discussed (and paparazzi-snapped) jet ski adventure Drake and Cabello took in the Turks and Caicos Islands last year? They were finishing up a track together.
“He’s the f–king GOAT, so it felt like shooting for the stars,” Cabello recalls of initially approaching the Canadian rapper by sliding into his Instagram DMs. “I showed him the album when I felt comfortable enough and he really liked it. [The feature] came out of a nontransactional place. He had this idea of a song called ‘Hot Uptown,’ and it just felt like I was in the city. I was in Miami.”
ABLONDI dress
Erica Hernández
The flirtatious, Caribbean-infused track (which until their Turks meetup was, according to Harris, the only album cut created with a remote collaborator) isn’t Drake’s only C,XOXO appearance. On the nearly two-minute-long interlude “Uuugly,” sequenced immediately after “Hot Uptown,” he sings over soft synth beats and Cabello’s ghostly backing vocals. According to Harris, the interlude was Drake’s idea: “He wanted to do one more thing for the album.”
“Why does he have his own song? Because selfishly, I just want to hear Drake on my own album,” Cabello says with a laugh. “I love that for me — it’s like that rebellious mood. Who says I can’t do that? It’s Drake talking his sh-t.”
Another ballsy move for Cabello: This is the first time she has written all her lyrics and lyrical melodies for an album, taking full responsibility for the ideas and concepts behind them. “She’s fast, curious, has great instincts for melody, is strong with her opinions but also open for them to be challenged. She’s pretty much a freestyler with great first takes,” El Guincho says. The producer “really believed in me to take on the writing,” Cabello says. “That felt good and important to me. It makes me feel different when the whole body of work is purer, my thoughts and my taste in words. I think that’s why it sounds so cohesive, because it really feels like me.”
Today, at Pura Vida, Cabello pulls out her phone and opens a Pinterest board she created last fall. It has movie stills from Spring Breakers, girls wearing balaclava masks, long manicured nails, BMX bikes, photos of the city at night — all conjuring the quintessential DGAF Miami girl energy that Cabello telegraphs on the cover of C,XOXO, which features the sweaty-haired star with heavily mascaraed, just-out-the-club lashes, licking an electric blue lollipop, her tongue stained with its fluorescent color.
“She had specific memories of Miami and growing up there,” An says. “She described driving through the tunnels, with [their] very specific yellow lighting that you don’t see anywhere else. She described a specific hue of blue at the beaches and was focused on blue hour. The blonde hair was also a big deal. The party culture. She spent a lot of time trying to get us to understand the visual world of Miami.”
Erica Hernández
As she honed the album’s voice and vision, Cabello started dressing differently, always wearing lip gloss, fully embracing her bold new persona. “It was important for me on this album to feel that way,” she explains. “Pop music is so uncomplicated — it’s very one-toned. In a weird way, this album shows these chaotic, sometimes toxic scenarios, and I think we as humans are like that — we’re messy, complicated, super twisted.”
“There’s a lot of people that want you to be formulaic in this business,” Gold says. “There’s pressure in general to not rock the boat too much: If something isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Camila is not that type of artist.”
With C,XOXO finished, Cabello has some time to unwind and focus on herself. She finally started watching Breaking Bad; she’s currently into cold plunges; and she’s maximizing the time that she spends in chancletas (flip-flops).
“It’s when I feel the freest. I just want my toes to be free,” she confesses with a smirk. “I hate heels, I hate sneakers, I just want to be in chancletas all the time. This is actually the first time that I’ve gone to an interview in chancletas, and I feel that this album has given me the permission to do that.”
C,XOXO also allowed her to embrace her personal relationships. Simply being able to hang out with her friends at home enriched the creative process, she says: “That energy of being with your friends and that girl gang vibe felt so sick to me.”
That vibe particularly comes through on “Dade County Dreaming,” the final track she recorded for C,XOXO. Inspired by its namesake county, the collaboration with Miami hip-hop duo City Girls (who Cabello connected with through her sound engineer) captures the essence of both the album and who Cabello is today: a city girl herself, having fun and living life. The hard-hitting track — with its ’90s freestyle undertones, haunting piano lines and geographic name drops — was, Cabello says, “the missing piece on the album [because] City Girls represent Miami so hard.”
Erica Hernández
Just weeks ahead of releasing C,XOXO, Cabello tells me she doesn’t have any expectations. “Many things can happen, and they are out of my control,” she says. But she’s ready to face the feedback with the clarity and maturity she has cultivated in the 12 years since her Fifth Harmony debut.
“[When I was starting out], I wish I knew that not everybody is going to like me, and it has nothing to do with me,” she admits. “That affected me a lot in the beginning. When you’re that young all you want is acceptance and love, and you can’t understand when people don’t like you. You take it so personally, and it makes you feel like you’re doing something wrong. Once you get older, you realize that people’s reactions have nothing to do with you, and you don’t have to take it so personally and be affected by it. I’m way more at peace with it today.”
On an ordinary day, she’ll go to the beach, read a book, invite her friends to her condo in Sunny Isles for dinner, sip a Bacardi and sparkling water, put on a cute outfit and go dancing at Swan, a chic Euro-style spot in the luxurious Miami Design District, or Dirty Rabbit, an edgy Wynwood dance club. After a night out, she’ll make a mandatory stop at the 24-hour Pinecrest Bakery for some croquetas. Even if she’s tired, she pushes herself to go out and won’t hold back from dancing with a cute guy if she feels a vibe. “I’m living the Sex and the City life, but Miami,” she says with a laugh. But really, it’s the C,XOXO life.
“To me, it’s about going out more, going to more parties and just being a bit more fearless and rebellious,” she muses. “Before, I would go out and not care about what I looked like. If I felt kind of ugly, it was whatever — but now, I always want to feel pretty for myself. It’s about really enjoying life, and I always think to myself, that’s what sensuality is all about. It’s a sensory thing: enjoying the food you eat, enjoying putting on a few outfits in the mirror, enjoying the senses of being alive. It’s about taking in that baddie energy.”
This story will appear in the June 1, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Epik High is preparing a pumped-up comeback as the K-hip hop trio prepares to release their first-ever mixtape, embark on a new tour, and deliver more projects after celebrating their 20th anniversary last year.
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Viewing the group’s 21st year since releasing their debut album Map of the Human Soul as a fresh start akin to their rookie days, Tablo tells Billboard how “our fans call this Epik High’s ‘+1st Year,’” pointing to a revitalized spirit driving their latest efforts. “It really does feel like a fresh start after the milestone year we had last year.”
In an exclusive Q&A with Billboard following Epik High’s announcement of their PUMP mixtape and accompanying North American tour today, Tablo teases the mixtape’s tracks, an elevated concert experience plus more new music from himself, Mithra Jin and DJ Tukutz.
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Peep all 23 of Epik High’s The Pump Tour dates in the official poster below and then dive into the full interview for more insights on PUMP and more.
Epik High
OURS Co.
Congratulations on the latest mixtape and tour news. After your 20th anniversary, you shared how “it feels like our first year again.” Tell me about the energy in Epik High today.
Tablo: Our fans call this Epik High’s “+1st Year.” And it really does feel like a fresh start, after the milestone year we had last year with the stadium show in Seoul and the resulting movie in theaters in quarter one of this year. Artists can feel lost after a milestone because it usually marks the end of an era, but we have somehow managed to make it a new beginning. Our fandom is energized more than ever. What better way to start this “first year” than by dropping our very first mixtape, jam-packed with energy reminiscent of our rookie days? It’s time to get our fans pumped all over again.
You teased the mixtape tracklist in your announcement. Are there any tracks you’re particularly excited for fans to hear?
You have to listen from track one to track nine straight because Epik High’s transitions are the best and this album has the greatest transitions. Also, there are a few songs that are going to generate tons of memes…we have a lot of visual content coming, so I suggest subscribing to our YouTube channel.
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Epik High has such a wide range of collaborators. What can you tell us about those on the record or behind the scenes?
The album is pretty much entirely self-produced, with only one featuring artist. Our core fans will get a lot more Epik High with this one.
How will an Epik High mixtape differ from past album or EP projects?
The format frees us from having to make radio hits, allowing us to refocus on the irreverent and raw side of Epik High that our core fans love. It also allowed us to make songs that are optimized for live performance. This year’s tour setlist is gonna be amazing.
The Epik High All Time High Tour hit Europe and North America last year. What can we look forward to in The Pump Tour?
It’ll feel very new, even if you’ve come to every previous show. We are leveling up everything: the production, the merch, you name it. We’ve even revamped the VIP experience so our most dedicated fans can get rare merch and share more personal close-up moments with us. Seriously, don’t miss it.
I’m sure we’ll see Epik High’s brilliant lightstick — the “Park Kyu Bong” — on the road. Can you share more about its conceptualization? Any worries it might be banned at certain venues?
It’s the lightstick that transcends fandoms, it’s the lightstick you hold if you’re a fan of yourself. On social media, I have seen our lightstick pop up at other artists’ shows and big festivals all over the world. So if a venue blocks it, we will block the venue — because that venue probably sucks.
미니박규봉 인기 미쳤네요… 빛의 속도로 품절. 리오더 준비중! 👀mini park kyu bong sold out way too fast. preparing restock! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ARbDpmUkaA— tablo (@blobyblo) March 19, 2024
Tablo, you buy new K-pop acts’ records because you “remember what it was like being a rookie and no one buying my album.” Any recommendations?
At the moment, I’ve been so busy with our [music] that I’ve been slacking on my K-pop shopping. I will be visiting a lot of K-pop stores on this tour.
While the tour will keep you busy up til nearly October, is there anything else for fans to look forward to with Epik High in 2024?
At the end of the tour, we will have another huge show in Seoul. Also…my members are gonna kill me for saying this…but this new album PUMP is not the whole album. Lastly, I have a long awaited song with someone, finished and waiting in my hard drive. That is all I can say. [Laughs]
Way back before his shelves were crammed with Grammy Awards for his work with Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and St. Vincent, Jack Antonoff was best known as that guy from fun., or maybe the one who sang in Steel Train.
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But in a new video for Vanity Fair in which former Girls co-stars Allison Williams (M3GAN) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) reunite after seven years to revisit the show that helped launch both of them to stardom, the pair also reveal that some of the mega-cringey songs they crooned together as their characters, Marnie and Desi, were actually written by Antonoff.
And, they noted, the Bleachers singer — who dated the show’s star and creator, Lena Dunham, during the five-year run of the HBO series — originally wrote some of them for a major pop star who rejected the tracks. The volatile on-screen couple often played music together onscreen as they struggled through a tumultuous courtship and brief marriage, with Moss-Bachrach telling VF that he just recently learned that most of their duets were “just discards from Kelly Clarkson.”
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“I like that song,” Moss-Bacharach said of “Breathless,” — which Antonoff reportedly wrote for Clarkson, according to Williams. “It’s a great song, she should’ve done it! But we got it, as a result,” Williams added of the track she performed in the first episode of season four that featured the so-Marnie lyrics, “I don’t wanna dream if dreamin’ is without you/ I don’t wanna run unless I’m runnin’ towards you, every single thing I do is all about you.”
Regardless of whether you kind of disliked Marnie or actively despised her, Williams said she actually thought a lot of the couple’s songs “were really beautiful,” though she copped to the fact that “the lyrics are what made them cringey.” She liked so many of them, but her favorite was “Oaxaca,” the final Marnie-Desi song, which, she again notes, has lyrics that are “so cringey” she hardly wanted to repeat them out loud. Moss-Bachrach, however, insisted that she do so. For example: “Shakin’ my maracas, doin’ what you do/ Yeah, you’ll find me in a dark bar/ Where no gringos are.”
“Marnie singing the word ‘gringo’ should be illegal. I shouldn’t be allowed to happen,” Williams laughed, noting that the actors were often were really performing on screen, which was so “nerve-wracking.”
“What was nice that was built in, was that they were supposed to be maybe not so great,” Moss-Bachrach said of the creative release valve that allowed them to lean into the cringe of lyrics he described as often “guileless” and “embarrassing” at best. “Nobody had very high expectations, so that felt very safe to me just go for it.” Williams said that twist made it hard to know how good they should actually try to be, with Moss-Bachrach claiming that he “tried as hard as I could try.”
To put a finer point on it, Moss-Bachrach said the lyrics were often so bad, “Leonard Cohen could sing them and they would still suck.” At press time it did not appear as if Antonoff had responded to the video.
Speaking of mortifying, Williams brought up the absolute peak Marnie moment when her character sang a cover of Kanye West’s “Stronger” as a torch ballad at a party to the stunned mortification of the entire room, including her friends. “It was quiet, except for my voice,” she said of the ninth episode from season two. “There’s no more vulnerable experience than a room full of background, silent and just your little voice in the room echoing against nothing else, singing, ‘I’ll be your white Kate Moss tonight,’” Williams said.
Watch Williams and Moss-Bachrach break down their Girls musical chemistry below (music talk begins at 1:20 mark).
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