Pop
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Lots of changes are happening for FIFTY FIFTY. Three former members of the K-pop girl group — Saena, Aran and Sio — have reportedly signed with a new label after their fallout with the group’s agency ATTRAKT. Meanwhile, ATTRAKT has announced the addition of four new FIFTY FIFTY members. On Monday (Aug. 12), IOK Company […]
Looking for some motivation to help power you through the start of another work week? We feel you, and with some stellar new pop tunes, we’ve got you covered. These tracks from artists including Nina Nesbitt, Sophie Thatcher, Lunar Vacation and more will get you energized to take on the week.
Coolest New Pop Song of the Week: Addison Rae, “Diet Pepsi”
Before artists like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato were accepted as arena-level pop stars in the 2010s, they were largely dismissed by critics and adult listeners as Disney-kid performers, making music for the youth and not to be taken too seriously. A pop generation later, the designation previously bestowed to Disney Channel grads has been transferred to social media influencers — many of whom, from the D’Amelio sisters to Huddy to Bella Poarch, are trying to translate millions of TikTok followers into mainstream music stardom, and who are still largely brushed off by music-biz gatekeepers.
Addison Rae exists in that group, too: the 23-year-old Louisiana native is a true triple-threat as an actress, former competitive dancer and recording artist, who happens to have the fifth-most followers of any TikTok account. Last year, Rae’s debut EP AR contained some bright spots as a bubblegum project, and she popped up on the remix to Charli xcx’s “Von Dutch” in March alongside A.G. Cook, joining the Brat extended universe months before Brat Summer officially kicked off.
Now, with a newly signed Columbia Records deal, Rae has released her first solo single of 2024 — and after Rae’s past gestures at pop stardom, “Diet Pepsi” suggests that she could someday make the leap.
“Diet Pepsi” plays out like a Lana Del Rey song refracted through a radio-ready lens. Soda gets sipped and blue jeans get ripped during a backseat encounter with a dude in a gold chain, as Rae delineates between sexually charged exposition in the verses, breathless utterances in the pre-chorus and blissed-out falsetto in the hook (“When we drive in your car, I’m your baby / Losing all my innocence in the backseat,” she sings) — shifting keys on the final chorus to emphasize her yearning.
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The “Diet Pepsi” music video, directed by Sean Price Williams, leans into the Lana-esque Americana haze, with rapid black-and-white clips communicating bleary lust and pinup-model iconography. Yet Rae also puts her own playful spin on that image, grinning while covering her face with the American flag and planting her lipstick on a car window.
Regardless of its future chart impact or role in preceding a proper Columbia Records album, “Diet Pepsi” is a promising step for Rae, as a beguiling pop track that establishes an aesthetic for the multi-hyphenate. The darkly shimmering sound is more mature than that of AR, but more importantly, it’s more clearly defined; Rae’s debut EP was impressive, but we’re now starting to get a better sense of who she could be as a recording artist. For Rae, “Diet Pepsi” might not be an immediate smash, but it could very well prove to be a turning point.
Here are some new pop songs worth checking out this week…
Nina Nesbitt, “Anger”
If you’ve ever wondered: “why hasn’t anyone pitched a Curb Your Enthusiasm-style mockumentary sitcom about beloved 1980s pop singer Huey Lewis in which the News leader tries to figure out what life looks like after hearing loss with the help of his eccentric friends and clingy family?” Well, your prayers are answered, because according to […]
With Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine quickly sprinting past $1B in box office grosses on its path to unseating Joker as the highest-grossing R-rated film in history, Marvel has given the film’s fans something else to cheer about.
After extensively featuring Madonna‘s 1989 hit “Like a Prayer” in the film’s official trailer as well as prominently in the Ryan Reynolds/Hugh Jackman buddy superhero flick, the studio released two new versions of the track over the weekend. The Like a Prayer EP features the original version, as well as film composer Rob Simonsen mixing the joyous song with even more choir voices, a stirring organ line and dramatic strings.
The “Choir Version,” which features the I”ll Take You There choir, leans even further into the the spiritual side, focusing on the uplifting gospel vocalists.
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Last month, director Shawn Levy described the process of securing the rights to license the song for the film, which included a personal plea to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend. “It did involve a personal visit to Madonna, where we showed Madonna the sequence where ‘Like a Prayer’ would be used,” Levy said.
“Also, let’s preface it with the fact that they don’t license — that Madonna doesn’t just license the song, particularly that song,” Reynolds chimed in. “It was a big deal to ask for it and certainly a bigger deal to use it. We went over and met with her and and sort of showed her how it was being used, and where, and why.”
And, Madonna being Madonna, star Reynolds said the singer had some thoughts on how they should use the song in the film. “She gave a great note,” Reynolds said. “She watched it, and I’m not kidding, [she said], ‘You need to do this.’ And damn it, if she wasn’t like spot on. We literally went into a new recording session within 48 hours to do this note. It made the sequence better.”
The synch in the summer’s biggest movie helped “Like a Prayer” make its debut on the global charts last week when the song came in at No. 181 on the Global 200 and No. 189 on Global Exlu. U.S.; the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks back in 1989.
Listen to the Deadpool & Wolverine Like a Prayer EP below.
Sometimes celebrities really are just like us. Take, for example, the unmitigated joy Adele took over the weekend in watching the debut of the Summer Olympic’s latest sport: breaking. The anticipation for the first-ever breakdancing competition was feverish leading up to Friday’s debut of the women’s qualifying rounds.
And the athletes did not disappoint, with b-girls from around the globe proving that the American-born sport that judges scored on the dancer’s skills at elements such as toprocking, power moves, footwork and freezes was indeed worthy of inclusion. While dancers such as the Netherlands’ nimble India, fleet-footed bronze medal winner 671 and mind-blowing gold medalist Ami of Japan earned love from the judges, there was one b-girl who stood out among all the athletes.
“I’m not saying anything, I think it’s the best thing that’s happened in the Olympics the entire time,” Adele said during a break at one of her massive shows in Munich on Saturday about the thing she and her friends had been talking about non-stop since the night before. “Did anyone see the breakdancing lady?” she asked her audience to the sound of loud laughing.
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Adele explained that she wasn’t aware that breaking had been added for the first time at the Paris games — a situation she deemed “f–king fantastic.” She thensurveyed her band to see if any of them had watched, with the singer proclaiming that one of her musicians was “p—ing himself laughing” while thinking about 36-year-old Australian teacher Rachael Gunn, who won hearts and launched a million memes with her unique stylings under nom-de-break Raygun.
“I can’t work out if it was a joke, but either way, it has made me very, very happy and me and my friends have been s–ting ourself laughing for 24 hours,” Adele said of the dancer who scored zero points but who grabbed lots of attention for her floppy, unorthodox moves. “I just wanted to know if you’ve seen it. If you haven’t seen it, please leave the show and Google it because it is LOLZ!!! It is so f–king funny. Anyway, it’s my favorite thing that’s happened in Olympics this whole, whole time,” Adele said.
It wasn’t the first time Adele had stopped one of the shows at her bespoke German stadium to pay attention to the Paris games. Last week, she took a break to watch the anticipated Women’s 100M sprint final, broadcasting the 11-second race on the big screen for her 75,000 fans in the midst of her 10-night residency at custom-built Adele Arena.
While some mocked Raygun’s kangaroo hop moves and PE teacher-worthy outfit, the proud dancer who took up the sport at 20 and won the Oceania Breaking Championship crown last year told reporters after her wash-out that it was no joke.
“I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best, the dynamic and the power moves,” Gunn, who has a Ph.D. in cultural studies and studies breaking and hip-hop culture, told reporters afterwards according to NBC. “So I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get that in a lifetime to do that on an international stage.”
Watch footage of Adele talking Raygun and check out some of the funniest Raygun memes below.
At this point Lorde fans are looking for any crumb of a clue that the singer is gearing up to release a new album. And they appear to have gotten that sliver of daylight over the weekend when Lorde wiped her social media accounts clean.
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That’s right, if you one of the nearly 11 million people who follow Lorde and you dipped into her Instagram over the weekend you would have seen a “no posts yet” message in place of the series of teasers the “Green Light” vocalist had amassed over the past year. In their place was just the phrase that appears to be the prompt for the New Zealand star’s upcoming era: “THE THEMES ARE ALWAYS THE SAME— A RETURN TO INNOCENCE— THE MYSTERIES OF THE BLOOD— AN ITCH FOR THE TRANSCENDENTAL.”
One fan wrote, “Lorde deleting all her insta… oh LORDETEMBER is coming,” while another responded to the wipe with a tinge of frustrated anticipation: “Lorde I love you but how long are you gonna TEASE this project.”
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Lorde, 27, has been slow-rolling the details on her follow-up to 2021’s Solar Power for almost a year now, and recently she posted exactly a few seconds of what sounded like new music. The two-second clip came along with a pic of Lorde in the studio, smiling as she rocked her head side-to-side as the instrumental beat with a techno-like vibe rocking in the background. The caption to the post read, “will be back in touch.”
In June, Lorde posted a number of cryptic pictures, writing “use the existing tools wherever possible” alongside a variety of images including a copyright symbol, three variations of the letter L, the number four in parentheses and a recycling logo. “If the tools do not exist you are spiritually obligated to create them,” she added along a another string of unexplained images, with more Ls, another 4, a run of stars, the number 27, what looked like a Tarot card, the infinity symbol, a shark, a rabbit and an Egyptian figure.
That post, along with a video in which she spit off a balcony and held a pill in her hand that read “spit” were among the Instagram posts that went missing when the feeds got wiped. To date Lorde has not provided any additional details on when her fourth album will be released.
She has popped up in a few other musician’s feeds lately though. Including in pics over the weekend with Marina (or Marina and the Diamonds) in which the pals are playing pool, as well as at Charli XCX’s 32nd birthday party in Los Angeles on August 3, where the pair danced on couches and sang along to their remix of Charli’s Brat single “Girl, so confusing.”
Madonna is wishing her oldest son a happy birthday. On Sunday (Aug. 11), the Queen of Pop shared a sweet tribute on social media in honor of her son Rocco Ritchie’s 24th birthday. To commemorate the special occasion, she shared 20 age-spanning photos and videos of Rocco, whom she shares with ex-husband Guy Ritchie. “HAPPY […]
Shawn Mendes‘ “Why Why Why” has topped this week’s new music poll that features artists in various genres of music. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Aug. 9) on Billboard, choosing the 26-year-old pop star’s comeback single as their favorite new music release of the past week. “Why Why Why” brought in 50% […]
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department clocks a 14th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Aug. 17), with 142,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 8 (up 98%) according to Luminate.
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The last album to spend at least 14 weeks at No. 1 was Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which logged 19 total nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 between March 2023 and this March. The last album by a woman to spend at least 14 total weeks at No. 1 was Adele’s 21, which earned 24 nonconsecutive weeks on top in 2011-12.
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 2 debuts at No. 2 with 107,000 equivalent album units, marking the 13th Ye album to reach the top two (his entirety of charting releases), while Ty Dolla $ign ups his tally of top 10s to three.
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The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Aug. 18, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 13. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of The Tortured Poets Department’s 142,000 units earned in the week ending Aug. 8, album sales comprise 84,000 (up 606%), SEA units comprise 57,500 (equaling 75.43 million on-demand official streams of the set’s widely available deluxe edition’s 31 songs) and TEA units comprise 500. Poets is No. 2 on the Top Streaming Albums chart (behind Wallen’s One Thing at a Time) and No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart.
Poets’ album sales in the latest tracking week were bolstered by a number of drivers. The set was released in five new digital album variants via Swift’s official webstore for a limited time, each containing the standard album’s 16 songs, along with one exclusive bonus track for $4.99 each (one album contained a “first draft phone memo” version of “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” while the other four contained one live track each from recent stops during her The Eras Tour). In addition, for a limited time, the store restocked three previously available digital album variants with exclusive bonus cuts, and a signed CD edition. Her store also staged a brief sale pricing promotion, whereby 16 previously available physical variants of the album were all discounted by 13% (as 13 is Swift’s favorite number).
With Poets — Swift’s longest-leading album on the Billboard 200 — she adds her 83rd career week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, extending her record among soloists. (Elvis Presley has the second-most among soloists, with 67.) The total encompasses her 14 No. 1 albums. (She’s tied with Jay-Z for the most No. 1s among soloists.)
At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 2 swoops in with 107,000 equivalent album units earned. The album was released on Saturday (Aug. 3). It’s the long-awaited sequel to the chart-topping Vultures 1, which opened atop the Feb. 24-dated chart with 148,000 units. Of the new album’s first-week figure, album sales comprise 60,500 in album sales, SEA units comprise 46,000 (equaling 50.44 million on-demand official streams of the standard set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 500 units. Vultures 2 also bows at No. 6 on the Top Streaming Albums chart and No. 2 on the Top Album Sales chart.
The opening sales of Vultures 2 were aided by its availability across a widely available standard explicit edition, and a late-in-the-week-released clean edition (on Aug. 8). Ye’s official webstore also issued five additional explicit digital album variants on Wednesday (Aug. 7) and Thursday (Aug. 8), each containing the standard album’s 16 tracks, along with one exclusive studio bonus track per album. All digital albums on Ye’s webstore sold for $5 each. The Vultures 2 album, both clean and explicit, was also discounted to $4.99 in the iTunes Store in the tracking week.
Vultures 2 was originally slated for release on March 8.
Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess climbs to a new high, as it rises from its prior No. 4 best to No. 3 with 64,000 equivalent album units earned (up 20%). The album’s ascent comes after Roan’s rousing reception at Lollapalooza on Aug. 1.
Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time dips 2-4 with 63,000 equivalent album units (down 2%), while Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft is steady at No. 5 with 57,000 units (up 8%).
Charli XCX’s Brat bolts 9-6 with 56,000 equivalent album units earned (up 39%), following the release of the album’s “Guess” remix with Eilish on Aug. 1.
Zach Bryan’s The Great American Bar Scene falls 3-7 (51,000 equivalent album units; down 16%), Wallen’s former leader Dangerous: The Double Album rises 11-8 (just over 37,000; down less than 1%), Noah Kahan’s Stick Season lifts 10-9 (a little more than 37,000; down 5%) and the Twisters: The Album soundtrack drops 8-10 (37,000; down 16%).
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.
Sabrina Carpenter brought out a special guest to perform a Nancy Sinatra classic at Outside Lands 2024. During her headlining set at the San Francisco festival on Saturday (Aug. 10), the 25-year-old pop star welcomed Kacey Musgraves for a surprise performance of Sinatra’s 1966 hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” “She won’t come out […]