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Paramore is celebrating their Eras tour trek with Taylor Swift. The band took to their Instagram page on Monday (Aug. 26) to share appreciation for Swift, posting a photo in which frontwoman Hayley Williams and the band smile alongside the pop star, who is giving a thumbs up to the camera. “Thank you for asking […]
Charli XCX accidentally on purpose drew herself into the current heated American presidential race with what she thought was an innocuous tribute to Vice President Kamala Harris’ ineffable, no f’s given qualities. And while her “Kamala IS Brat” tweet last month helped boost the enthusiasm about what was then the very-new White House campaign by the current VP-turned-Democratic-candidate, Charli told Vulture that the tweet fired off while hanging around her pool in L.A. was meant to be something “positive and lighthearted” rather than a strict political endorsement.
Just days after Harris announced her intention to run for the Democratic nomination following President Joe Biden’s historic decision to give up his second run for the nation’s top job, Charli made noise by announcing “Kamala IS brat.”
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The reference was to the title of XCX’s new album and a messy-on-purpose lifestyle Charli has described as someone who can be high lux at times, or who has a “pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra” at others. Very aware of what she was doing and how it might land, Charli watched as the Harris campaign immediately seized on what seemed like a cool girl nod to their insurgent effort, by instantly rebranding the Kamala HQ‘s X page with the same font and lime green logo style as the singer’s album title.
“To be on the right side of democracy, the right side of women’s rights, is hugely important to me,” said Charlie, who as a British citizen cannot vote in the U.S. election, but whose tweet became a cringe-worthy talking point on cable and broadcast news programs where confused anchors tried to figure out what the kids were talking about.
“I’m happy to help prevent democracy form failing forever,” she added, appearing to nod to the existential threat to the American political system that President Biden and Harris have said former President and third-time White House aspirant Donald Trump represents. “I obviously knew what I was doing.”
That said, she had no inkling the tweet would be seem more than 55 million times and turned into its own meta meme. “Did I think me talking about being a mess b–ch and, like partying and needing a Bic lighter and a pack of Marlboro Lights would end up on CNN? No,” she said, noting that she is not, and has never aspired to be, “a political artist… I’m not Bob Dylan and I’ve never pretended to be… My music is not political. Everything I do in my life feeds back into my art. Everything I say, wear, think, enjoy — it all funnels back into my art. Politics doesn’t feed my art.”
In the same interview, Charli revealed that she is already working on another “full-length other project” that will definitely be “in the bratosphere, so to speak.” At press time no additional information was available on that project.
Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” nests atop both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts for a third week. Two weeks earlier, the song became her first leader on each list.
Plus, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars bound in at No. 2 on each tally with “Die With a Smile” and LISA’s “New Woman,” featuring Rosalía, debuts at No. 6 on Global Excl. U.S.
The Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.
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Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
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Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” holds atop the Global 200 with 86.4 million streams (up 1%) and 10,000 sold (down 35%) worldwide Aug. 16-22. (A week earlier, its sales were boosted after she performed the song at the 2024 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony on Aug. 11.)
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Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” soars onto the Global 200 at No. 2 with 75.1 million streams and 31,000 sold worldwide following its release Aug. 16. The former adds his third top 10 since the chart began, while the latter lands her first.
Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” slips 2-3 on the Global 200, following three nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in June; Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen, jumps 12-4, following a week at No. 1 upon its debut in May — as parent album F-1 Trillion debuts at No. 1 on the U.S.-based Billboard 200; and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” tumbles to No. 5 from its No. 3 high.
“Birds of a Feather” concurrently leads Global Excl. U.S. with 64.1 million streams (up 2%) and 5,000 sold (down 30%) outside the U.S. Aug. 16-22.
“Die With a Smile” starts at No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S. with 48.2 million streams and 13,000 sold outside the U.S. It’s Bruno Mars’ second top 10 and Lady Gaga’s first on the chart.
Karol G’s “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” retreats to No. 3 from its No. 2 Global Excl. U.S. best; Carpenter’s “Espresso” falls 3-4, following eight nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in May; and Jimin’s “Who” backtracks 4-5 after logging two weeks at No. 1 earlier in August.
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Plus, LISA’s “New Woman,” featuring Rosalía, launches at No. 6 on Global Excl. U.S. with 54.5 million streams and 10,000 sold outside the U.S. Aug. 16-22, following its Aug. 15 release. LISA earns her fourth top 10 on the chart – the most among BLACKPINK members; Jennie boasts three, and Jisoo and Rosé have one each. Meanwhile, LISA matches the four top 10s that BLACKPINK has achieved as a group. Rosalía adds her fifth top 10 on the chart.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Aug. 31, 2024) will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Aug. 27. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
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.
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” adds a seventh nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single, which became the singer-songwriter’s first leader on the list in July, claims outright 2024’s longest reign, surpassing the six nonconsecutive weeks on top for Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help” featuring Morgan Wallen. The latter, […]
Coldplay closed out their four-night run at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium on Sunday (August 15) with yet another tribute to Taylor Swift. Performing in the same venue that Swift had to abandon earlier this month after local police uncovered an alleged terror plot to attack Swifites, Coldplay singer Chris Martin and opening act Maggie Rogers paid homage to Swift with a meditative song from the singer’s 2020 pandemic album Folklore.
Again posted up on the smaller satellite b-stage in the midst of the audience on the stadium floor, Martin played piano on the “beautiful song” co-written by Swift and producer Aaron Dessner. “I’m doing good, I’m on some new s–t/ Been saying yes instead of no/ I think I saw you at the bus stop, I didn’t though,” Martin sang in a fan video of the performance.
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The 65,000-plus fans were remarkably hushed during the quiet, keyboard-and-voice cover, with Rogers coming in to sing the refrain, “I guess you never know, never know/ And if you wanted me, you really should’ve showed,” before the two singers joined voices for the wistful chorus, “But it would’ve been fun/ If you would’ve been the one.” As usual, Martin brought a pair of fans up on stage for the tribute, one of whom was rocking a Coldplay concert tee along with a colorful sign that read: “Dear Chris, Swifties Will Remember You. Thank you!”
The thanks came after Coldplay opened their run last Wednesday with a cover of Swift’s “Love Story,” and then performed “Shake It Off” twice, once with the band on Thursday and a second time with two fans on Saturday.
Swift wrapped up her five-show run at London’s Wembley Stadium last week, bringing a close to the European leg of her Eras Tour. The triumphant final run came after officials in Vienna said they’d arrested three suspects in the alleged plot to attack the stadium during what was planned to be a three-show run by Swift in an effort to “kill as many people as possible.”
The main 19-year-old suspect, reportedly radicalized online, had allegedly pledged fealty to the Islamic State, while a another suspect, an 18-year-old man, had also allegedly pledged allegiance to the terror group ISIS. A 17-year-old young man who has been detained was reportedly hired by a company providing services to the venue for the shows just a week prior. None of the men have been formally charged yet.
Watch video of Martin and Rogers performing “The 1” below.
With just a few weeks left to go, Taylor Swift has officially joined in on Brat summer. While speaking to Vulture for a profile on Charli XCX, the 34-year-old pop superstar sang her former Reputation tourmate’s praises, complimenting everything from her songwriting to the success she’s seen this year with her sixth studio album.
“I’ve been blown away by Charli’s melodic sensibilities since I first heard ‘Stay Away’ in 2011,” Swift told the publication. “Her writing is surreal and inventive, always. She just takes a song to places you wouldn’t expect it to go, and she’s been doing it consistently for over a decade.”
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The 14-time Grammy winner added, “I love to see hard work like that pay off.”
Swift’s remarks come amid rumors of tension between her and the “Boom Clap” singer, fueled by the latter’s Brat song “Sympathy Is a Knife,” which some fans believe is about the former. “This one girl taps my insecurities,” Charli sings on the track before seemingly referencing Swift’s romance last year with The 1975’s Matty Healy: “Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show.”
Charli — who is engaged to the 1975’s George Daniel — touched on the song’s alleged pot stirring in her Vulture interview. “People are gonna think what they want to think,” she said. “That song is about me and my feelings and my anxiety and the way my brain creates narratives and stories in my head when I feel insecure and how I don’t want to be in those situations physically when I feel self-doubt.”
When asked whether she considered omitting the line about being backstage at Daniel’s show to make the song’s subject less “obvious,” she simply said “No.” “You do the silence game,” she then told the reporter. “But I know that well — where you go silent and want me to talk more. But I don’t care about it being awkward. We’ll sit in silence.”
Aside from “Sympathy Is a Knife,” Charli XCX and Swift’s efforts to dominate the Billboard 200 with their respective albums — Brat and The Tortured Poets Department, which has spent a total of 15 weeks at No. 1 so far — has also caused fans to speculate that there might be beef between the two singers. In June, the “Von Dutch” artist called out concertgoers who began chanting “Taylor is dead” at Charli’s shows, writing on Instagram Stories, “can the people who do this please stop … it is the opposite of what i want and it disturbs me that anyone would think there is room for this in this community.”
Before that, though, Swift championed Charli by inviting her to perform as a special guest on the 1989 Tour in 2015. Three years later, the “Anti-Hero” musician asked the 32-year-old Brit to open for her on the Reputation Stadium Tour alongside Camila Cabello.
In a 2019 interview, Charli was quoted as saying the Rep trek felt like “getting up on stage and waving to 5-year-olds,” shortly after which she clarified that she meant no shade. “I am extremely grateful to Taylor for inviting me to open for her,” she wrote at the time. “She’s one of the biggest artists of my generation and the reputation tour was one of the biggest tours in history.”
NCT‘s Jaehyun dropped the video for the first single from his just-released solo debut album, J – The First Album, which is available now digitally and on all streaming platforms. The singer also issued the focus track “Smoke” in English and Korean, a slinky R&B jam whose video finds the K-pop star battling an unseen […]
Joe Jonas’ upcoming album is not technically his solo debut: Back in 2011 during a Jonas Brothers hiatus, the middle JoBro released Fastlife, a club-aimed rhythmic pop foray featuring contributions from Lil Wayne and Chris Brown that couldn’t quite turn the then-22-year-old into a radio star. “I have so much love for those songs — they actually aged pretty well!” Jonas says today with a wide smile. “But it feels like a different person.”
Fastlife might as well be a lifetime ago for Jonas, now 35. Since then, he found his radio hit with 2015’s “Cake by the Ocean” as the leader of pop collective DNCE, then reunited with his siblings Nick and Kevin in 2019, for a Jonas Brothers comeback that produced the No. 1 smash “Sucker” and a global arena tour, among other achievements.
Jonas also married actress Sophie Turner in 2019, welcomed two daughters, then experienced a very public divorce in 2023. “I was going through a lot of life changes,” he says of the past few years, “finding out who I was as a person and father and friend, and living under the microscope of what the music industry can be. And I think, at such a crazy time in my life, I looked to music as an outlet.”
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The result is Music for People Who Believe in Love, a solo album full of unvarnished thoughts and sonic experiments that Republic Records will release Oct. 18. The full-length doesn’t sound anything like Fastlife, but it doesn’t resemble Jonas Brothers or DNCE, either. Jonas lands on a shimmery pop sound that synthesizes a wide array of influences, from garage-rock to alt-pop to ’90s country, while singing about navigating life’s uncertainties and finding gratitude amid loss.
“Things you can’t imagine/Remind you of what you’ve always had/Maybe they need to happen/So you know the worst ain’t all that bad,” he sings on “My Own Best Friend,” a pleading anthem marked by mournful whistling. Elsewhere, Jonas races through a fuzz-heavy synth workout on “Velvet Sunshine,” offers a gently strummed “lullaby to my kids” on “Hey Beautiful” and, on the wide-reaching lead single, “Work It Out,” addresses his “head full of insecurities” while slipping into falsetto over a percolating beat.
Jonas says that Music for People Who Believe in Love began with the song “Only Love,” a funked-up and flirtatious pop-rock jam that he originally conceived with his brothers. During the writing process in Australia as they worked with producer Joel Little, “I noticed that the song was going toward the direction of some personal stuff that I went through,” Jonas recalls. “So I go to Kevin and Nick, ‘Hey, can I use this as a catapult to go explore what this sound could be, and also what I’m trying to figure out emotionally?’ They were very supportive — Nick said, ‘Well, damn, I really like that song. But I get what you need to do, so go for it.’ ”
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Jonas quickly went to work, corralling studio whizzes including Alexander 23, Justin Tranter, Jason Evigan and Tommy English to Los Angeles’ House of Blues studio and knocking out the majority of the album in two-and-a-half weeks. Following the sunny Jonas Brothers full-length The Album in spring 2023 — and then a slew of tabloid headlines detailing his divorce last fall — Jonas says that hunkering down on a more personal project ultimately proved to be therapeutic.
“It was scary at times, and also freeing,” he says. “I’m not trying to come for anyone on this album. I’m not trying to put stuff on blast. I have a beautiful life that I’m grateful for. I’ve got two beautiful kids. I’m a happy person, and the music needed to resemble that — but also, the journey to get here.”
Republic vp of marketing strategy Alyssa LoPresti adds, “This campaign starts and ends with Joe. From his personal taste in music, which is highlighted by [his] notable and exciting choice of collaborators, to the way he’s engaging with fans on his platforms and the content he’s filmed to support the release, it is all authentic to who Joe is and reflective of this chapter of his life.”
Jonas says that more album tracks, and their featured guests, will be unveiled in the coming weeks following the July release of “Work It Out,” and that he’s “definitely” planning to showcase the album live, potentially around release week.
If Jonas’ last solo project was a bid for stardom when he was still figuring out who he was, Music for People Who Believe in Love represents a check-in from an artist at peace with his choices. “At the core of it,” he says, “if this body of work helps people through what they’re going through, that’s all I can really wish for.”
This story appears in the Aug. 24, 2024, issue of Billboard.
BTS‘ Suga issued another apology to ARMY over his recent drunk scootering incident in a handwritten note posted to Weverse on Sunday (August 25). According to a translation of the post, Suga, 31, said, “I would like to apologize again to you with shame. I deeply apologize for the disappointment and hurt of my misbehavior to my fans and everyone who loves me.I’ve made a big mistake, forgetting the responsibility to repay you with actions worthy of the love I’ve received.”
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He continued by describing the night in question (August 6), saying he made the mistake of driving on an electric scooter after drinking and apologizing for the “confusion” caused by his first, “hastily posted” apology on the day after the incident. “I should have thought more deeply and been careful, but I couldn’t,” he wrote.
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“It’s all my fault. My carelessness is giving everyone who cares about me a hard time. I will try not to do anything wrong again and live with repentance,” he added. “Due to this incident, I have greatly damaged the precious memories I made with the members and fans and put a lot of pressure on the name of the BTS. I feel so sorry and painful that it’s hard to express because it’s causing damage to the members and the team. I’m sorry that the members who always trusted me have a hard time because of me. And I know the disappointment that the fans who supported and supported me must have felt.”
The rapper had his license suspended after police said he operated the seated electric scooter while impaired in the Yongsan District in central Seoul, with a blood alcohol content above the 0.08 level that triggers license revocation. At the time, Suga said he didn’t realize he couldn’t drive the scooter while intoxicated, explaining that he felt comfortable making the trip because he was close to his apartment. According to Suga’s original account, he fell over while trying to ride the electric kickboard, which police observed, leading to a breathalyzer test.
BTS’ label BigHit also shared a pair of statements on Weverse at the time, noting that Suga was wearing a helmet and had only traveled about 500 meters before falling down while parking the scooter.
In the new statement, Suga also asked ARMY for forgiveness for letting them down. “I just feel sorry for the fans who have always given me too much love… I know that it is difficult to heal the wounds and disappointments that my fans have received with any words, so I regret it deeply and reflect on it with a heavy heart every day,” he said. “Once again, I sincerely apologize to the fans who were hurt by me. We will receive criticism and reprimand as well as future dispositions. Finally, once again, I sincerely apologize for causing a social stir and disappointing many people.”
At press time it did not appear that South Korean police had issued an official sanction yet to the BTS member over the incident, though Korean media reported that he “admitted” to the alleged DUI during three hours of police questioning last week.
Suga has less than a year left on his alternative mandatory South Korean military service; he was deemed unfit for regular combat duty due to a 2020 shoulder injury.
What was meant to be a triumphant weekend for Reneé Rapp at two of England’s most legendary festivals instead turned into a waterlogged nightmare for the “Not My Fault” singer when torrential downpours and technical difficulties washed out her anticipated Reading and Leeds debuts. As often happens during the English summer festival season, the skies […]