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Lil Nas X‘s Billy Ray Cyrus-assisted “Old Town Road” might be the longest-running No. 1 single in Billboard Hot 100 history (19 weeks), but that doesn’t erase the conflicted feelings the Grammy-winning “Industry Baby” rapper has regarding his controversial reception in the country music space back in 2019, compared to how Beyoncé‘s and Shaboozey‘s country tunes have been embraced in 2024.
While he’s “happy” for the two, Lil Nas X told the BBC on May 19, “I wish this would have happened for me. I wasn’t even able to experience this.”
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Lil Nas and Billy Ray took home the 2019 CMA Award for musical event of the year, but, for the “Montero” singer, even that triumph pales in comparison to how Black artists are currently being received in the mainstream country space. Half a decade after the domination of “Old Town Road,” Black artists are making history in the genre.
At the top of 2024, Beyoncé’s smash hit “Texas Hold ‘Em” became the first song by a Black woman to top Hot Country Songs, as well as the first country song by a Black woman to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100. Months later — following the release of Queen Bey’s Cowboy Carter, the first album by a Black woman to top Country Albums — Shaboozey’s J-Kwon-interpolating “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” reached No. 1 on Country Songs, making him and Beyoncé the first Black artists to score back-to-back leaders in the chart’s 66-year history. “A Bar Song” has since reached No. 3 on the Hot 100, marking Shaboozey’s third appearance on the ranking in 2024, following his dual Cowboy Carter features: “Spaghettii” (No. 31, with Linda Martell) and “Sweet * Honey * Buckiin’” (No. 61).
Cowboy Carter also features collaborations with several ascendant Black country stars, including Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts, Tiera Kennedy and Willie Jones. Upon the release of “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Billboard reported massive streaming boosts for Black women in country music, ranging from Martell to Rissi Palmer and K. Michelle.
Lil Nas’ own post-“Old Town Road” music has further explored his affinity for rap, pop and rock, but he’s hinting at a return to country music, confirming to the BBC that he’s been “trying out some country [sounds] here and there over the last couple of years.”
“I want to feel connected to it and not force it,” he said.
Five years ago, “Old Town Road” — which ultimately won the Grammy for best pop duo/group performance — achieved the rare feat of simultaneously appearing on the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The song spent a single week at No. 19 on Hot Country Songs before Billboard removed the country-trap hit from the ranking for “not [embracing] enough elements of today’s country music” despite Lil Nas X labeling the song as “country” in the track metadata upon its Dec. 3, 2018 release.
The ejection of “Old Town Road” from the Billboard country charts sparked a flurry of debate regarding the acceptance and recognition of Black artists in the country music space, and the industry’s apparent compulsion to solely box Black artists into the hip-hop and R&B genres despite the musical composition of their songs. Some even drew parallels to 2016’s “Daddy Lessons,” widely regarded as Beyoncé’s first proper country song, which did not chart on Country Songs despite a No. 26 peak on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and a subsequent remix with The Chicks.
Since “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X has successfully transitioned from viral meme to bonafide pop star cultural lightning rod. Both of his official projects — 2019’s 7 EP and 2021’s Montero LP — reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. He’s also added a bevy of Hot 100 hits to his arsenal, including “Montero (Call Me By Your Name” (No. 1), “Industry Baby” (No. 1, with Jack Harlow), “Panini” (No. 5) and “Thats What I Want” (No. 8).
Taylor Swift declared on The Tortured Poets Department that Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist, and now, the 32-year-old musician is stepping up to the plate.
On Tuesday (May 21), Puth revealed plans to release a new single titled “Hero” and explained in an Instagram post that the decision was inspired by the 34-year-old pop star’s shout-out. “I’ve never put out a song like this before,” he wrote. “It’s very different for me, but I want to thank @taylorswift for letting me know musically that I just couldn’t keep this on my hard drive any longer.”
The “Attention” singer also shared the single’s cover art, a warm-hued photo of him lounging in a rose garden. “My new song HERO is about when you see someone you love hurting themselves, ruining the things in their life that are good, but you just can’t save them,” he added. “I’m very excited to share my next album with you, especially this song because it’s a great representation of what’s to come. HERO is yours on May 24th.
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The announcement comes just over a month after Swift’s Billboard 200-topping Tortured Poets arrived, featuring the lyric, “We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist,” on its title track. A couple weeks later, the “See You Again” musician teased “Hero” on TikTok, writing, “These last couple weeks have been really crazy for obvious reasons, but I wanted to share something with you.”
“Sometimes I get a little nervous being overly honest in my music which is why this was sitting on my hard drive for awhile,” Puth added at the time. “But I think someone out there was giving me a sign that I needed to release it. So…. I declare ‘Hero’ will be out everywhere on May 24th as the first single of my new album. Thank you for your support…you know who you are.”
“Hero” will follow Puth’s recent singles “Lose My Breath” with Stray Kids, “Lipstick” and “That’s Not How This Works” with Dan + Shay and Sabrina Carpenter. He hasn’t released an album since 2022’s Charlie, which peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200.
With Tortured Poets, Swift surpassed her own personal best first-week sales numbers with 2.61 million equivalent album units. The project has also broken numerous records — including first-week vinyl sales and biggest streaming debut — and recently made the 14-time Grammy winner the first artist to ever simultaneously occupy the top 14 spots of the Billboard Hot 100.
See Puth’s thank-you message to Swift below.
Katy Perry has spent seven seasons on American Idol searching for the best vocalists in the country, but according to her, only one singer is the blueprint: Ariana Grande.
On the red carpet following the competition series’ season 22 finale Sunday (May 19), the “Firework” musician said that this year’s newly crowned Idol winner, Abi Carter, reminds her of the former The Voice coach. “[Carter’s] voice is unlike anything I’ve heard in pop music,” Perry told Extra.
“The last time I said that, I said that about Ariana Grande when she went on The Ellen Show,” she continued. “Like, ‘Oh, this girl is the best singer of our generation.’ I don’t say that lightly.”
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The close of Idol‘s latest season marks Perry’s final turn as a judge. She, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie have served on the panel since the ABC show was rebooted in 2018.
The singer will now set her sights on crafting her next record, which will follow up 2020’s Smile. “I’m pregnant with my next album,” she joked to Extra, teasing that the project is coming soon.
Idol still hasn’t revealed which superstar will replace Perry following her exit, but if she has her way, it’ll be a certain country star who served as a guest mentor on the show earlier this season. “I gotta say Jelly Roll was crazy when he came on the show,” she told E! News in April. “I was convinced at anything he said.”
“He could run for president, he could be my pastor, I might go back to church for him,” she continued at the time. “He could sell me anything … To have any of these guys plus Jelly on the show would be amazing. I love you, Jelly!”
For the record, the “Son of a Sinner” singer is totally down. “Of course!” he said when asked at Stagecoach in April whether he’d consider the gig. “Consider? I’ve accepted the job and they haven’t offered it.”
Watch Perry gush about Grande below.
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Billie Eilish begins and ends Hit Me Hard and Soft, her endlessly impressive third studio album, as a caged bird. The haunting imagery reframes her idiosyncratic introspection in the context of a youth that is inextricably tied to — and sometimes nearly completely consumed — by her towering fame. Five years removed from the seismic success of her nightmare-dwelling, Grammy-sweeping debut studio album, Eilish comes back home to herself on this succinct 10-song set, while also further exploring the shape-shifting song structures she explored on 2021’s Happier Than Ever.
In a recent Rolling Stone profile, Eilish remarked, “I feel like this album is me… it feels like the When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? version of me. It feels like my youth and who I was as a kid.” And she’s right: The adolescent verve of her debut LP – which she often eschewed on the more reserved, plaintive Happier — returns in the form of pulsating synths and pitched-up vocal takes, but with a melancholic maturity that she’s gleaned from spending crucial years in the scorching heat of the limelight. Those years were also hounded by stalkers and body image woes, while she was exploring her sexuality and learning to balance self-preservation with selflessness in romantic relationships – all of which she unpacks across her new record.
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With brother Finneas once again joining her at the helm, Hit Me Hard and Soft creeps into being with “Skinny,” a finger-picked guitar ballad that returns to the breezy sonics of Happier Than Ever to dismantle the destructive false equivalency of thinness and happiness. “Twenty-one took a lifetime/ People say I look happy/ Just because I got skinny/ But the old me is still me and maybe the real me/ And I think she’s pretty,” she coos forlornly, before going on to call out society’s hunger for wickedness (“The internet is hungry for the meanest kinda funny/ And somebody’s gotta feed it”). Here, Eilish’s voice takes on a quietly choral quality, as if she’s singing in an empty underwater cathedral; her tasteful riffs on the back half preview the unexpected parts of her range she’ll flaunt later on the record, while the intentionality of her phrasing recalls the incisive heartbreak of 2023’s Oscar-winning tearjerker “What Was I Made For?”
From there, Eilish launches into “Lunch,” an immediate standout and clear radio single. Reminiscent of the winking whimsy of 2019’s Billboard Hot 100-topping “Bad Guy,” “Lunch” is a glorious queer awakening. The hook is obviously sticky, but Eilish’s greatest display of her handle on quirky pop-isms comes in the lyric, “Said, ‘I bought you somethin’ rare/ And I left it under “Claire”’” — a playful rhyme that builds on her admission of alias usage in 2021’s “Billie Bossa Nova.” “Lunch” unquestionably returns Eilish to the bass-driven feel of her debut, but she’s older, wiser, and freer – from both her own mind and outside expectations.
“Chihiro” — named after the main character of Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning Spirited Away – continues the reemergence of her debut’s aesthetics, with a symphony of synths slowly swelling into a shimmering haze. “Open up the door, can you open up the door,” she asks repeatedly, nodding to both her own closet and the walls put up by a lover she is willing to sacrifice anything for. In the song’s refrain, Eilish employs falsetto that, at its peak, sounds just short of manic, emphasizing the frantic reverberations of obsession, the overarching theme of Hit Me Hard and Soft. Across the album, she delivers a virtually peerless understanding of how to manipulate her voice to best amplify the storytelling of her lyrics. The wistful, conversational tone she opts for on “Birds of a Feather” morphs into a breathtaking display of range and balance across “Wildflower” and “The Greatest.”
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On “Wildflower,” Eilish poses the question: Is it crossing the line to get with the person you’re helping another person get over? At 22 years old, she’s finally understanding what makes love so enticing – its innate messiness and tension. Drawing on the soft rock of Fleetwood Mac, Billie embodies the ethereal longing of the band’s biggest classics, pairing her emotive vocals with some of the most gut-wrenching narratives of her career: “But every time you touch me, I just wonder how she felt/ Valentine’s Day, cryin’ in the hotel/ I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, so I kept it to myself,” she croons, effectively rejecting verbosity for simplicity. The steady build of the song’s instrumentation provides the perfect segue into “The Greatest,” which is arguably Eilish’s strongest, most arresting vocal performance yet.
The complexities of love and obsession and the ways in which the two concepts inform each other are laid bare in “The Greatest,” with her voice capturing the devasting self-pity that comes with realizing a stark imbalance of love and affection in a relationship she’d do anything to maintain. It’s a harrowing tale through which Billie eventually finds some semblance of peace in the song’s cathartic, string-laden breakdown. By its close, Billie finally accepts that her commitment to the relationship means that she deserves a partner who will match the depths of her love and patience. “I shouldn’t have to say it/ You could’ve been the greatest,” she sings. Billie isn’t philosophizing anything new in regard to romance and relationships, but you can hear the youthful naïveté fracturing in her tone. Through her eyes, it’s all brand new.
After that brief detour through Happier Than Ever-esque pop-rock amalgamations, hints of her debut return. “L’Amour de Vie” blends a Édith Piaf-inspired groove with a post-disco synth-pop explosion that finds Eilish throwing shots at a no-good ex; “Wanna know what I told her/ With her hand on my shoulder?/ You were so mediocre/ And we’re so glad it’s over now,” she smugly taunts. Here, Billie skews apathetic, juxtaposing the song’s rose-tinted title with a story of a former partner who proved anything but the love of her life.
“The Diner” brings Billie back to the macabre trenches of her Billboard 200-topping debut LP. She assumes the perspective of a stalker, giving us a “Stan” for the 2020s. Probably the darkest moment on the album, “The Diner” pairs a campy carnival-of-horrors feel with lyrics that explore the bone-chilling lengths obsession drives people to. “You’re lookin’ right at me/ I’m here around the clock/ I’m waitin’ on your block/ But please don’t call the cops,” chillingly illustrating the unsettling experience of dealing with manic infatuation mistaken for love. Are we talking about stans, an Eilish ex– or Billie herself?
The two closing tracks — “Bittersuite” and “Blue” — end the record with a pair of shapeshifters that combine and innovate on the grounding sounds of her first two albums. The former is a musical triptych that blends bossa nova influences with blaring synths, further exploring the conflicting feelings of self-preservation and self-sacrifice. Hotels are a major symbol across Eilish’s lyrical oeuvre, in part because of the demands of her touring life, but mostly because they’re the perfect environment to riff on emotional and physical impermanence. Between “do not disturb” signs and a distinct lack of homelike warmth, hotels amplify how cold clandestine meet-ups can feel. “I’ll see you in the suite/ We can be discrete,” she coos before offering, “L’amour de ma vie/ Love so bittersweet/ Open up the door for me/ ‘Cause I’m still on my knees.”
“Blue” closes the album in the spirit of 2019’s “Goodbye” and 2021’s “NDA.” Eilish alludes to the titles and lyrics of the other tracks on the album – save for “The Diner” because that’s not from her perspective… right? — and draws on synth-rock to internalize the fact that she can understand her ex-lover’s troubled past without holding herself responsible for their “saving” or “fixing.” It’s heady stuff for sure, but she brings the whole affair back to the light with the cheeky question, “But when can I hear the next one?”
Whether that’s a tease for a rumored companion album or a reference to how quickly we collectively move through new works of art, Hit Me Hard and Soft stands as the sharpest volume of of Eilish’s three-album bildungsroman. With each of her studio albums, Eilish has soundtracked the breakneck speed of the maturity and life-experience arcs you experience between age 18 and 21. Her question at the close of her latest is as tongue-in-cheek as it is forward-thinking; now that she’s completed the odyssey of adolescence, where does the openness of the rest of her 20s take her?
Expanding into a two-day event to uplift Asian and AAPI artists, culture and connection, the 2024 MetaMoon Music Festival hits New York this fall with Henry Lau and Eric Nam as headliners, Billboard can exclusively reveal.
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Taking place at the Brooklyn Paramount on Sept. 27-28, the fest brings Lau and Nam together with rising stars Emei and SUNKIS, as well as unique educational opportunities in partnership with the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at Long Island University. The one-day student conference, “The Summit: Rise of Asian Artists and their Global Fandom,” takes place on Friday, Sept. 27, with panel discussions and masterclasses by industry professionals to foster dialogue on Asian representation in the music industry as well as networking opportunities.
“The ethos of MetaMoon is to amplify Asian/AAPI talent on stage by giving underrepresented artists a consistent platform to perform in front of their fans in the U.S.,” Grace Chen, founder of MetaMoon Music Festival, tells Billboard. “Just as importantly, we want to empower Asian/AAPI voices behind the scenes, in the rooms where decisions are made and agendas are set. Our collaboration with the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment equips students and the next generation of music executives with the access and insight, and hopefully inspiration, to show up and get involved.”
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Produced in collaboration with Live Nation, the pre-sale for the MetaMoon concert tickets begins on May 22 and goes on general sale via Ticketmaster on May 24. Registration for the Roc Nation School x MetaMoon Summit opens on Sept. 4.
Ahead of MetaMoon Music Festival 2024, Billboard sat down with headliner Henry Lau for 20 Questions to discuss his involvement in the show for his first-ever headlining slot in a U.S. festival, latest music developments and more.
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1. Where are you in the world right now, and what’s the setting like?
Right now, I’m traveling around everywhere so I tell my friends I’m like a stewardess. I’m currently in Korea. In a few weeks I’ll be going to, I don’t know, Paris. I was just in Thailand last week. It’s all over the world. But right now, I’m here in my studio/office/gym — there’s a whole entire gym area here.
2. You’re coming to the 2024 MetaMoon Music Festival for your first time headlining a U.S. festival. What can we expect?
This is the first time I can really show my stage and sing as much as I want for my fans who know that all my shows have a very unique stage. Because I don’t just go up and sing, there’s a lot of instruments and then there’s a lot of live recording, looping, I like to take a lot of props on stage and record them into songs. I’m really excited that people in America can see that from me for the first time. And, of course, mixing in classical music.
3. Is there any new music we’ll hear at MetaMoon?
I actually haven’t told anybody about this yet, but right around that time, I’ll probably be releasing a new single. I’ve already teased this with my fans very personally, but it’s a song called “Always Been You.”
4. You’ve teased your full-length album for a while now. What’s the status?
I have put the album on hold. I’ve already apologized personally to all my fans. But it is completed. It’s just that I have so many projects right now that when I release it, I have to—and my fans would appreciate it—promote it properly. I’m just waiting for the right timing; I just don’t know when that will be exactly.
5. You’ve spoken about representation in Hollywood in the past, and MetaMoon celebrates and highlights AAPI artists and culture. What’s the significance to you of being part of such an event?
I don’t really think of it. I’m there to perform music, right? There are no borders to music so I think I’m just so happy that I could perform in the States and and it could be a cross-cultural festival. That’s my opinion. For me, it’s music first — I’m not thinking that this represents anything like that.
6. You are so multifaceted in all your music inspirations, the languages you speak and sing in, or how you release music. What is your approach when you’re creating the music itself?
For every song, it’s totally different. The one really big element of my songs is not just the audio, but I think about how I will perform this onstage. For example, one of my latest singles was called “Moonlight.” I made that song and then had a different version where I used a loop station process performing on stage. And for the songs I’ll be performing at the festival this time, you will be able to see all of that. That’s one way I approach a lot of the songs. When you have too much going on in an audio track, it’s just too crazy, so I like to leave it for the performance. When you actually listen to my songs, those are probably the most basic versions.
7. if you could travel to any musical era, when and where would you go?
I used to think it would be the ’80s or ’90s because it feels like all the great melodies, the simple melodies, weren’t thought of back then. I used to think that way, but then you see the amazing pop music that comes out today, too — I’m not saying every song. But I think the earlier you go and when a new genre of music is being born, I’d say at the start of any musical era. If it’s the start of classical music, that’d be amazing.
But right now is a really great time for mixing different genres since there are so many amazing genres out there. And if you’re arguing that a genre has already matured, if you start mixing genres and mixing cultures, then the possibilities are limitless. And I think that’s where my role is now in the music field overall — I think that’s my purpose.
6. MetaMoon is not just about the concert, but there is a summit, panels, and other ways to help build the community and music-industry network. What will you bring to these events?
First of all, I’ve never done anything like this before, so I’ll usually just go up, perform and, you know, say hi. And that’s it. So this is something very, very new and I’m very excited to do it. I have no idea what it’s going to be about but I’m just excited to share what I’ve learnt. Maybe not everything I say will be the most correct, but it’s just my experience. I think I’ve gotten to an age — I’m pretty old now [Laughs] — where there are a lot of aspiring musicians, and I hope that my experiences can help give them a good idea of what to expect and what they need to work on in certain aspects. I’m just very excited to be sharing my story.
9. The Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at LIU is collaborating with MetaMoon for their “The Evolution of Asian Artists and their Global Fandom” summit. You also went to a music school. How significant are these opportunities?
I think the biggest benefit was meeting my peers and fellow musicians. At that time, there weren’t a lot of forums like this. Usually, these days in music school, they have a lot of guest speakers and successful musicians come up and share their stories. And I actually watch those now and look for them on Instagram or YouTube. It’s something that I wish I had when I was younger. I think it’s very, very important because there’s no textbook for music or the music business or guide to let people actually know these are the hard things that you have to deal with…I’ll do my part and I hope it helps because everybody’s story or way to success is very different. So, I think the more you listen, the more you hear these stories, the more you can apply it to yourself.
10. I want to give you your flowers for your place as such a unique musician in pop music. Do you see yourself having a role in shaping or changing perceptions of popular music?
I used to think that I came from a unique background, but I’m coming to realize there are so many more people who are similar to me background-wise. I have a lot of people that come up to me like, “Hey, I also learned piano, I also learned violin,” “I’m living in Canada, but I don’t have anything to do with K-pop, what do I do?” [or] “How did you do that?” Everyone from my hometown is almost identical to me background-wise. I think I have a role to let people know that it is possible. I hadn’t a probability of like 0.01% of this happening to me, but then there were certain steps I took and I think that maybe it’s my role to share that with people.
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11. Looking wider, what are your hopes or aspirations in representing kids from your hometown who might want to pursue a similar path?
Right now, I’m just focused on giving all my fans the best music possible, the best stages and the best content. Before COVID, I was planning on a tour and that’s something I still want to do in the near future. And through that, they can see what is possible. But what’s different about America, compared to performing in Asia which I usually do 99% of the time, is I think in the States, they can recognize that I’m more similar to them. So, I think that one main difference when I’m performing or working in the States, it’s like, “Hey, he’s one of us and he’s doing this.” I think similar to Eric [Nam] as well. I’m very happy to let people know that things are possible.
12. You and Eric Nam are both headlining MetaMoon Music Festival together. Are you friends?
At the start of our careers, we were both on different shows and came up together. Sometimes, I would be on shows where he was the MC; I would watch it later and be like, “Whoa, he was there with me.” We basically grew up together and we came up very, very similarly from a similar background.
13. Fans have also watched you grow in your acting career. Do you have a movie that always makes you smile?
To be honest, I don’t watch many movies. I don’t have much time. I watch movies when I feel like I need to be lifted up — movies that show somebody going through a harder time than me or any movie following any genius. What’s that movie with Russell Crowe being a mathematician? A Beautiful Mind. Yes, that’s a beautiful movie. So when I watch movies like that, it’s like, “Ooh, they went through so much; what I’m going through is actually nothing.”
14. If you don’t mind sharing, what was a hard time you went through recently and how did you overcome it?
There’s everything. Just even preparing for one stage, people see me play a lot of instruments. I record things up on stage, and [with] every little thing I do, I’m the one directing it. I make all my equipment, I make custom instruments for myself, and I do all the mixing for everything that’s recorded. If the stage performance is 30 minutes, I will spend at least five days just doing technical things: dealing with lighting, visual effects, all the LEDs, all the logos, everything. I have a habit of trying to do everything. It gets stressful when you’re dealing with that and under a tight timeline. There’s just a lot of that but what I like to show people are not the hardships.
15. You shared that you recently went to Nashville and met with the members of OneRepublic. What is the importance of traveling for music to you and did anything come from this trip?
I was actually on a journey to explore music and explore myself. This could be a whole separate interview, but in short, it was to find the best way to combine classical violin and pop music. The perfect place for that is actually country music because, if you think about it, violin is in maybe 50% of country music. So I went to the birthplace of country music, explored that, and we actually came up with something amazing. It’s all in that new album, all the new concepts, something the world’s never heard. Concept-wise, it would be “country x K-pop x violin.” That’s the reason why I’m putting off the album and waiting for the correct timing because I believe so much in this project.
16. What’s something you learned in Nashville?
I actually didn’t know, but the fiddle is violin — it’s the same thing, it’s just the way you play it. So, I actually learned how to fiddle. When you pull out a violin in Nashville, everybody plays it, so it was kind of shocking. Hopefully, if we can get one of those songs done before the festival, that would actually be really cool…maybe there’s a chance of me performing…you just gave me an idea.
17. You grew up in a musical family. What do your parents think of what you’re doing today?
Well, in the very beginning, they were against it. Sending your kid off away from home to become a singer doesn’t sound too promising, you know? But I decided to take the risk and I convinced them to let me do it. And I haven’t been doing so bad. Ever since then, they’ve been supportive. I think what’s really important for an artist, or anyone, is that the people around you support you. And I know not everybody has supporting families, bu it’s really important to build the people around you. I was thinking how that’s something really important through this forum that maybe some people who don’t have enough support can meet other people there.
18. Do you have a proudest moment of your career so far?
No, I actually don’t. I’m the type that I ask my company to remove all my trophies and awards that they like to put on display and stuff. I don’t look at those and feel satisfied; I’m not that type. Of course, I’m very thankful but I don’t think about those kinds of things. I just think about what I’m going to be doing tomorrow, what I’m going to be doing next month, when I’m going to perform at the MetaMoon Festival.
19. That’s interesting because you said your first celebrity crush was Christina Aguiler. She’s said she puts away her Grammys and awards when recording. But you said you liked her because she was not only pretty but talented. What draws you to an artist?
I actually totally forgot that I said that, but now that you’re saying it and I’m like, “Yeah, that’s actually true.” First, I think talent is very important and, until very recently, I only looked at talent. What I’m actually finding that I’m drawn to these days is the character of the artist. If you wanted to be just an artist, you should release music and not come onto the screen. But if you decide now to be in the media, to even show your face or let people know who you are, then you have a responsibility of also leading people in a good direction — not doing, you know, stupid shit. One thing that’s really inspiring to me when I see an artist is when they’re 360 [degrees], the whole picture of what they’re doing and what kind of energy they’re bringing to people. I think that’s something that also really draws me into them. Before, when there was less social media, it wouldn’t be that important; you could get by with just having art or your music because there were no platforms to constantly show your personality.
20. What’s your relationship like with social media as an artist?
For me, Instagram is just a way of communication between me and my fans. I don’t like to put my entire life up there and I’m very careful with what I want to put up. But I’ve done so many silly things on TV and everything that I have very little to hide from my fans. So, there’s no certain image for me to upkeep or anything — I can put up a picture of me looking horrible and it wouldn’t be so much of a shock to my fans because they’ve already seen everything they have to see of me. I’m more lucky in that aspect, but I’m still not the type to put up my whole life on Instagram. I would say everything I’m doing is all for the fans.
Tickets to MetaMoon Music Festival 2024 are available via Ticketmaster.
Adele might be laid up with boyfriend Rich Paul, but she’s really thinking about Sabrina Carpenter in bed — at least according to the “Nonsense” singer.
On Sunday, Carpenter took to her official X page to respond to the “Hello” singer’s recent show of affection for her smash hit single “Espresso.”
After recounting a story about an uncharacteristically late-night performance during her Weekends with Adele Las Vegas residency, Adele joked, “As I got into bed last night, because [it] was a very late night for me, I found myself singing ‘I’m working late, ’cause I’m a singer’, that Sabrina Carpenter song — that song is my jam!”
Released on April 11, “Espresso” exploded into an instant smash for Carpenter, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, her highest career peak, and spending three consecutive weeks atop the U.K. Official Singles Chart. The frothy Italo disco-tinged jam quickly went viral due to its cheeky “me espresso” lyric, with the aforementioned Adele-approved lyric also proving to be a fan favorite. Carpenter recently performed her new smash at last month’s Coachella and the season finale of Saturday Night Live over the weekend.
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“[‘Espresso’] came out when I couldn’t f—ing talk,” Adele exclaimed. “It came out when I couldn’t talk or sing, so… all last night and this morning, that’s what I’ve been singing. From tomorrow, it’ll be ‘I’m sleeping late, ’cause I’m a singer’ — because that’s what I’m going to do tomorrow.”
In her typically saucy fashion, Carpenter quoted an X post about Adele’s love for “Espresso,” writing, “All [I] read was Adele thinks about me in bed
Taylor Swift came to Stockholm, saw Friends Arena and conquered the stadium’s all-time attendance record, as shared by the pop star in a new post on social media. Sharing a quartet of photos from her three Eras Tour performances at the venue on X, Swift thanked her Swedish Swifties for showing up and showing out […]
“This might not sound right, but it’s alright, it’s real/ I’m findin’ my way on the highway this year.” The chorus of “Concrete Kisses,” delivered in a peaceful lilt and surrounded by homespun guitars, gets at the heart of Room Under the Stairs, Zayn’s fourth solo studio album and what is clearly a transitional project […]
Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” becomes her sole longest-charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100, adding a 54th week on the survey, dated May 25. It one-ups the 53-week run of her fellow former No. 1, “Anti-Hero.”
“Cruel Summer” claims the mark among Swift’s 263 career Hot 100 entries, the most among women in the chart’s history.
The song was originally released on Swift’s 2019 Republic Records album Lover. The label began promoting the song as a single last June, after Swift began performing it on her The Eras Tour, her first in which she’s been able to spotlight songs from Lover, which was released shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Cruel Summer” debuted at No. 29 on the Hot 100 dated Sept. 7, 2019, and remained on the chart the following week. It returned on the June 3, 2023-dated ranking, reached the top 10 last July and notched the first of its four weeks at No. 1 on the chart dated last Oct. 28, becoming the 10th of Swift’s 12 career No. 1s. It places at No. 20 on the May 25-dated Hot 100.
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Among Swift’s Hot 100 hits, “Cruel Summer” has also logged the most weeks in the top five (20) and top 10 (34).
Swift and Jack Antonoff co-produced “Cruel Summer” and co-wrote it with St. Vincent. Notably, in between its Hot 100 debut and re-entry, the three were credited as co-writers of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Deja Vu” for its interpolation of “Cruel Summer.”
“The song we said was the best [on Lover], but we thought, ‘Oh, you know what? This will be our secret best song,’ ” Antonoff said of “Cruel Summer” upon its Hot 100 coronation. Added Swift, “We just wanted to say thank you so much for making ‘Cruel Summer’ a Hot 100 No. 1, and it’s not even summer anymore. It’s deep fall, I’m wearing a sweater.”
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Here’s an updated look at Swift’s longest-charting Hot 100 hits (through the list dated May 25, 2024).
54 weeks, “Cruel Summer,” No. 1 for four weeks, beginning Oct. 28, 2023
53 weeks, “Anti-Hero,” No. 1, eight weeks, beginning Nov. 5, 2022
50 weeks, “Shake It Off,” No. 1, four weeks, beginning Sept. 6, 2014
50 weeks, “You Belong With Me,” No. 2 peak, Aug. 22, 2009
49 weeks, “Love Story,” No. 4, Jan. 17, 2009
48 weeks, “Teardrops on My Guitar,” No. 13, March 1, 2008
38 weeks, “Blank Space,” No. 1, seven weeks, beginning Nov. 29, 2014
36 weeks, “I Knew You Were Trouble.,” No. 2, Jan. 12, 2013
36 weeks, “Our Song,” No. 16, Jan. 19, 2008
35 weeks, “Delicate,” No. 12, July 28, 2018
“Cruel Summer” additionally became Swift’s longest-leading hit on the all-format Radio Songs chart, reigning for 12 weeks – twice as long as her second longest-ruling single (“Blank Space”). It’s her also her longest-leading No. 1 on Adult Pop Airplay (23 weeks – the most for a song by a woman) and Pop Airplay (10 weeks). Plus, it crowned the all-genre Streaming Songs and Digital Song Sales surveys for a week each.
All charts dated May 25 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, May 21.
Sabrina Carpenter is amped up after making her Saturday Night Live debut, and it’s not just because of all that “me espresso” she’s been drinking. Following her first-ever performance on the show Saturday (May 18), the 25-year-old singer shared her excitement the next day on Instagram. “literally working late cuz I’m a singer,” she joked, […]