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When Maren Morris sang that “the more that you come closer, want you to push me over,” she really wasn’t kidding.
In a new video interview with Cosmopolitan, in which Morris has to decide whether to answer a question or take a shot of alcohol, Morris revealed which celebrity she would like to “push over” (aka hook up with). After taking a moment to think about it and saying that she didn’t want to “put her on the spot,” the singer revealed her celebrity crush.
“Phoebe Bridgers,” she said, bashfully. “I feel like most people would say that. So, that’s not even controversial. She’s just beloved and very hot and amazingly talented. Also, we’ve only met once. So sorry, Phoebe.”
The reference to being pushed over comes from Morris’ bisexual anthem “Push Me Over,” which she recently told Billboard was inspired by figuring out the dynamics of queer dating. “I remember I had been on a date with this girl, and the date went amazing, but I had so many questions for [co-writers] MUNA the next day,” she said. “I truly felt like a student and I was with, like, the Professors of Gay.”
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Elsewhere in the clip, Morris revealed that as she’s gotten back into the dating scene, she had one encounter with an unnamed celebrity on Raya that did not go particularly well.
“I don’t want to name the person because, they weren’t an a–hole, but they were like, really love-bomby,” she said. “I went on two dates with them, and it was just not fun. I [felt] like I’m talking to, like, my mother or something, like, ‘Why don’t you text me back?’ I was like, ‘Because I’ve been on two dates with you, and I’m on tour. I’m working.’”
Check out Morris’ full interview above.
With the first quarter of the 21st century coming to a close, Billboard is spending the next few months counting down our staff picks for the 25 greatest pop stars of the last 25 years. We’ve already named our Honorable Mentions and our No. 25 star, and now we remember the century in Ed Sheeran — who went from coffee shops to stadiums without ever changing his fundamental singer-songwriter identity.
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A single person, playing the guitar alone on stage in the middle of a stadium. It’s a fantasy — being an artist whose music and lyrics are simply so undeniable, so unifying, that they leap from the meekest clubs to the most gargantuan venues in the world! — that countless singer-songwriters from all walks of life have attempted to strum into reality over the past 25 years, and almost every single one has come up short. It’s the wrong instrument for this century, really: modern pop does not function like it did back when rock ’n roll was the dominant sound, so this Greatest Pop Stars list does not include a slew of six-string-toting chart-toppers.
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With that in mind, the scale of Ed Sheeran’s 21st century success is even more impressive. In a pop age where singer-songwriters generally bump against their commercial ceiling relatively early in their evolution, this red-headed kid from Halifax kept soaring higher and higher, eventually reaching a space where his longevity, global appeal, influence and multi-quadrant hits allowed him to stand alone. He used to be a teen busking on the streets of London; now, Sheeran often finds himself in the center of 80,000 people, an acoustic strapped to his shoulder, no one and nothing else in his vicinity. And considering everything he’s done, he doesn’t even look that out of place.
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Unlike hitmakers such as John Mayer, Jason Mraz and Gavin DeGraw — singer-songwriters who burst onto the scene in the 2000s with flashy, radio-friendly pop singles — Sheeran began his journey into the spotlight with a quiet, unassuming breakthrough hit. Following years of independent releases in between street performances and open-mic nights across the U.K., Sheeran chose “The A Team,” a pleading folk ballad about a sex worker addicted to drugs, as his debut single in 2011 – betting on its juxtaposition of finger-picked melodies and a soothing vocal tone with dark subject matter and stripped-down production.
The bet paid off: In the heart of the EDM-fueled, turbo-pop assault at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, the minimalist sing-along of “The A Team” counteracted the spastic movement of concurrent megapop hits by LMFAO and Pitbull. There had been no shortage of hushed, bleeding-heart singer-songwriter fare that had found its way to adult pop listeners prior to “The A Team” taking off, but Sheeran’s debut was a touch smarter (“A Team” refers to the “Class A drugs” that the song’s subject has taken), more sincere (the way Sheeran warbles “She don’t wanna go-o-o-o outside, tonight” as a major emotional payoff), and altogether more striking than the soundalike songs around it, climbing to No. 3 in Sheeran’s native U.K. and to No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Beyond its chart peaks, “The A Team” introduced Sheeran as an early-twenties troubadour worth investing in long-term. He played the song on late-night talk shows, and later at the Grammys, where it was nominated for song of the year. Sheeran’s debut studio album, +, arrived a few months later in 2011, scoring a respectable No. 5 debut on the Billboard 200. And while third single “Lego House” replicated the gentle guitar-pop formula of “The A Team” (with a Rupert Grint-starring music video, as a play on the Harry Potter actor’s physical resemblance to Sheeran), in between, “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You” shook up Sheeran’s image as a hip-hop-adjacent music industry shrug-off, with the singer-songwriter rapping over drum loops, guitar and piano. The song never reached the Hot 100, but became a live staple and fan favorite; more importantly, “You Need Me” expanded expectations for what an Ed Sheeran song could sound like as his voice was reaching wider audiences.
Soon enough, those wider audiences would include Taylor Swift — a country superstar yet to fully cross over to pop in the early 2010s. Swift tapped Sheeran for the Red duet “Everything Has Changed,” which became a top 40 Hot 100 hit as one of the album’s later singles, then brought him on the road as the opening act on the Red arena tour. Swift’s co-sign was and remains a crucial stamp of approval for aspiring artists, but she went above and beyond as an early Sheeran supporter; the two remain close friends and collaborators more than a decade later, having recently re-recorded “Everything Has Changed” for Swift’s mega-selling Red (Taylor’s Version).
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By the time Sheeran’s stint on the Red Tour wrapped up in September 2013, he was a star in his own right, headlining Madison Square Garden for the first time that fall and picking up a best new artist Grammy nomination. The collaborators on his next album, 2014’s x, demonstrated the glow-up of the busker turned arena headliner: lead single “Sing” was produced by Pharrell Williams, working the same rhythmic magic that he applied to Justin Timberlake’s debut solo single “Like I Love You,” and follow-up single “Don’t” was helmed by the unlikely generation-separated super-producer duo of Rick Rubin and Benny Blanco.
To this end, x functioned exactly like its titular math symbol would suggest, taking Sheeran’s sonic blueprint and increasing its scope and sound: “Sing” was a rhythmic pop cut that brought Ed’s storytelling to the club for the first time, while “Don’t” was a jilted-lover lament (about a fling with a fellow pop star, rumored to be Ellie Goulding) that diced up sighing harmonies among rapped verses. Yet “Thinking Out Loud,” the blue-eyed soul romantic ballad, was bigger than either of them, heightening Sheeran’s earnestness and sentimentality to wedding first-dance proportions. “Thinking” reached No. 2 on the Hot 100, stuck for eight weeks behind Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk!” — but winning song of the year at the 2016 Grammys, after performing the song alongside John Mayer, Questlove and Herbie Hancock at the 2015 ceremony, made for a nice consolation prize.
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As the wins kept accumulating for Sheeran in the mid-2010s, he started scoring hits that sounded like Ed Sheeran songs but came under the names of other artists. “Love Yourself,” an acoustic kiss-off performed by Justin Bieber, became a downtempo smash from his Purpose album by essentially replicating the Sheeran songwriting formula and serving it as a change-up from Bieber’s trop-pop hits “What Do You Mean” and “Sorry.” In the years leading up to “Love Yourself,” Sheeran also co-penned songs for artists like One Direction and Jessie Ware, but Bieber’s hit (which topped the Year-End Hot 100 in 2016) was an inflection point for the songwriting calls he started answering, and was followed by top 10 hits like Major Lazer’s “Cold Water,” Benny Blanco’s “Eastside” and Liam Payne’s “Strip That Down.” More often than that, the songs co-written by Sheeran smacked of his tone and melodic instincts, a superstar bending other perspectives and sounds toward his own.
Meanwhile, he also established himself as a must-see live performer. The x Tour was Sheeran’s first arena headlining trek, and he successfully translated his long-running stage setup — no backing band, no glitz or glamour, just a collection of pedal loops that allow him to re-create the sonic worlds of his songs on his own — for tens of thousands of ticket buyers. Whether perceived as a gimmick or an act of live-show wizardry, Sheeran’s touring approach gave him an identity in a crowded market as he accrued more hits to play for bigger audiences; no matter who else was out on the road, they weren’t going to put on a show quite like Ed’s.
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If x was the album that elevated Sheeran to pop’s arena class, its follow-up, 2017’s ÷, was the project that made him a no-doubt superstar. That’s mostly thanks to “Shape of You,” the gargantuan lead single that will likely stand as the biggest hit of Sheeran’s career: a tropical house cocktail with a propulsive marimba line, playful falsetto and vocal chants that inject some drama into Sheeran’s tipsy flirtations, the song spent a whopping 12 weeks atop the Hot 100, gobbled up millions of radio spins and billions of streams, and finished 2017 as the biggest song of the year. If Sheeran’s career prior to that moment consisted of revving up his pop bonafides, “Shape of You” slammed down the gas, as a fully inescapable smash that is now officially one of the 10 biggest songs of the Hot 100 era.
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Of course, the success of ÷ wasn’t limited to one song: “Castle on the Hill,” the racing rock single that Sheeran released on the same day as “Shape of You,” became a top 10 hit as well, and stands as one of his most emotionally resonant radio favorites. The Irish folk riff “Galway Girl” never reached the chart heights of its fellow singles on the track list, but quickly became a beloved fan track, and its streams have surpassed the 10-figure mark. And “Perfect,” another wedding-ready waltz in the mode of “Thinking Out Loud,” received a remix featuring none other than Beyoncé that December, which helped the single power to the top of the Hot 100. Toss in “End Game,” Swift’s Reputation track featuring Sheeran and Future, and Ed ended the biggest year of his career as an unquestioned A-lister, capable of leading hits on his own and holding his own alongside fellow superstars on blockbuster collaborations. (In 2019, Billboard named Sheeran the Greatest Pop Star of 2017.)
Topping that 2017 commercial apex was almost impossible to imagine — and to his credit, Sheeran didn’t really try to. His next full-length was 2019’s No. 6 Collaborations Project, a collection of household-name team-ups that was inspired by one of Sheeran’s pre-fame projects. The left turn tempered the sky-high commercial expectations of the proper ÷ follow-up, although “I Don’t Care,” the album’s dancehall-adjacent duet with Justin Bieber, still became one of the biggest pop hits of the year, reaching No. 2 on the Hot 100. Also featuring Travis Scott, Cardi B, Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars, among many others, No. 6 became another No. 1 album for Sheeran, in the same month that his two-year-plus world tour in support of ÷ finally wrapped up, as the biggest of all time to that point; he largely took the next year off at the COVID-19 pandemic raged, and became a father in August 2020.
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Sheeran’s next proper solo album, 2021’s =, powered him into his second decade as a star, with the singles “Bad Habits” and “Shivers” both riding uptempo pop productions and major hooks toward comfortable stays inside the top 10 of the Hot 100 chart. Swift appeared on a remix of the album’s “The Joker and the Queen,” and Lil Baby stopped by a new version of “2Step”; outside of =, Sheeran swung by a reworked version of “Peru,” from Nigerian star Fireboy DML, to notch another global hit that recalled some of the cross-genre pollination from No. 6 Collaborations Project. After that, a hard pivot: 2023’s – album marked a downbeat reflection on personal tragedies, including the death of Sheeran’s close friend and complications with his wife’s pregnancy, that was primarily produced by Aaron Dessner, who had helped Swift enter indie-folk terrain on Folklore and Evermore three years earlier. Both – and its surprise follow-up/counterpart, Autumn Variations, were too mournful to spawn any hit singles, as Sheeran seemingly issued both projects more for his own peace of mind than for radio gains.
But that’s the good thing about graduating to no-brainer stadium status: Sheeran can easily weather a commercial lull because he’s collected so many hits, and established his brand over the course of a decade-plus, while remaining a road warrior and onstage force. He’s been adjacent to the biggest artists of the 21st century while sneakily out-streaming a lot of them; just take a peek at Sheeran’s Spotify page, and try to count up how many of his songs have crossed the one billion mark. And while Ed has never been the toast of tastemakers, he has unquestionably written songs that are built to last — new wedding-reception staples and tried-and-true pop playlist mainstays — while also influencing the next generation of singer-songwriters, who have their sights set on the biggest crowds imaginable.
Ed Sheeran has transcended every pop trend, succeeded in a variety of styles, and made his voice a familiar sound in every context of modern pop music. He’s still enormous, and probably will be for a long, long time. Not bad for a guy with an acoustic guitar and loop pedal.
Read more about the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century here and check back on Tuesday when our No. 23 artist is revealed!
Ariana Grande is giving her fans everything in honor of her sophomore album’s 10-year anniversary.
On Thursday (Aug. 22), the pop star commemorated a decade of My Everything by sharing new vinyl and digital deluxe editions of her 2014 era, a year that found her dominating the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 with hits such as “Break Free,” “Love Me Harder” with The Weeknd and “Problem” featuring Iggy Azalea. The pink-tinted vinyl, which is available for preorder on Grande’s website, features the original set’s track list plus songs that were previously never made available in the format: “Bang Bang,” “Only 1,” “You Don’t Know Me,” “Cadillac Song” and “Too Close.”
The Grammy winner also unveiled a brand new digital deluxe edition of My Everything including “Too Close” and “Cadillac Song,” marking the first time those bonus tracks have ever been available for streaming. The celebration continues next week, with Grande planning to release a limited 7″ vinyl bundle featuring “Problem,” “Break Free,” “Love Me Harder” and “One Last Time” on Monday (Aug. 26), followed by a digital bundle with a capella and instrumental versions of those same singles as well as “Bang Bang” on Tuesday (Aug. 27).
Plus, the star released a new line of anniversary merch on her website, complete with pastel pink, lavendar and black shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants.
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By the time Grande released My Everything in 2014, opening at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, she was already a full-fledged pop superstar thanks to her debut record, Yours Truly. The latter LP celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, which the Florida native commemorated by releasing filmed live performances of “Honeymoon Avenue,” “Daydreamin,’” “Baby I,” “Tattooed Heart” and “Right There.” She also engaged with fans through Q&As on social media, as well as dropped an extended anniversary edition of the album.
Eleven years ago, Yours Truly also debuted at No. 1 on the albums chart, but Grande told Billboard in 2014 that she allowed herself to celebrate for only about an hour before immediately getting back to work on the project that would become My Everything. “I’m a workaholic, and a perfectionist,” she said at the time. “I never thought I’d be able to say this, but I love this [album] five times as much as I love Yours Truly. They’re different, but I love this one so much more.”
Stream the 10th anniversary edition of My Everything below:
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The pop star’s sophomore record debuted atop the Billboard 200.
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Two weeks after Taylor Swift was forced to cancel a run of shows at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium after officials uncovered a planned terror plot, Coldplay‘s Chris Martin paid tribute to the singer by covering one of her most beloved songs during his band’s gig at the venue on Wednesday night (August 21).
Taking to the Music of the Spheres satellite stage on the floor of the 65,000-capacity stadium with opening act Maggie Rogers, Martin said, “If this is not good, please, please don’t put it on YouTube because I don’t want to get in trouble with Taylor.” He then asked the crowd to help him by singing along to an acoustic version of Swift’s “wonderful” 2008 Fearless classic “Love Story.”
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“We sing this song with so much love for Taylor, with so much love for Swifties,” Martin said after finding two “genuine Swifties” to join him on stage to help with the tribute. “And we sing this song with love for young people who are brainwashed into doing stupid s–t and we send them our love too.”
Strumming an acoustic guitar, Martin sang the swoony Romeo & Juliet-inspired lyrics as the stadium crowd provided vocal support, with Rogers joining him on the second verse before taking over the dreamy chorus. She even briefly handed her mic over to the pair of excited fans for a bit of vocal assistance during the special moment that came on the same day that Swift addressed the “devastating” terror threat for the first time in a statement.
“The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows,” Swift said of the foiled plot targeting the shows that were booked to take place on August 8-10. According to authorities, the main teenage plotter reportedly admitted that he’d planned to attack Swifties with knives and explosives outside the venue to inflict maximum casualties.
“But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives,” Swift added. “I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us.”
According to a fan video, Martin acknowledged the reason he chose to cover the song in the introduction, noting, “We haven’t mentioned that Vienna was in the news all over the world for all the wrong reasons. But what reached us was the beauty and the togetherness, and kindness of all of Taylor Swift’s fans. So we felt — of course Taylor is in America, she’s not here — but we’re here, so we have to do the best we can do. So, I don’t want to let you think that we don’t care about Swifties in our band.”
Last month, Coldplay dedicated a performance of their 2016 song “Everglow” to Swift while performing in Düsseldorf, just days after Taylor performed in nearby Gelsenkirchen. “This is for Taylor Swift because she left town,” Martin said during the gig at Merkur Spiel-Arena. “This is for all of you who feel sad today because Taylor had to go to the next city. So we sing this love song, this heartbreak song, and send it to Taylor wherever she is today.”
Swift wrapped up her five-show run at London’s Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, bringing and end to the European leg of her Eras Tour. Officials in Vienna said they’ve arrested three suspects in the case, the main 19-year-old suspect, who was reportedly radicalized online and had pledged fealty to the Islamic State, as well as an 18-year-old man who had also pledged allegiance to the terror group ISIS and a 17-year-old young man who was reportedly hired by a company providing services to the venue for the shows just a week prior.
Rogers shared a clip of the cover on her Instagram, writing, “From Vienna with love [three heart emoji] @coldplay @taylorswift.”
See a bit of the “Love Story” cover below.
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Sabrina Carpenter has cranked up the anticipation for her upcoming single “Taste” by releasing a teaser for its music video, featuring a dramatic encounter with Wednesday star Jenna Ortega.
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The clip, shared on the “Please Please Please” singer’s social media on Aug. 21, immediately sent fans into a frenzy.
In the teaser, the 25-year-old pop star, dressed in dark attire, selects a knife from a bed filled with ominous weapons. The tension mounts as she prowls through a dimly lit house, building up to a tense confrontation with Ortega, who is caught in a compromising shower scene.
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Just as Carpenter rips back the shower curtain to see Ortega and an unnamed man canoodling, the screen cuts to black, leaving viewers on edge. The teaser wraps with Carpenter coolly using the knife as a mirror to adjust her lipstick, uttering the chilling line, “Oh, I leave quite an impression.”
“Taste” is the third single from Carpenter’s highly anticipated sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet, which drops on Aug. 23.
Carpenter co-wrote “Taste” with songwriting powerhouses Julia Michaels and Amy Allen, with production handled by John Ryan and Ian Kirkpatrick.
The track dives into complex relationship dynamics, a theme Carpenter doesn’t shy away from. “I will write any song. It doesn’t mean I’ll put it out, but I’ll write it,” the singer revealed in a recent interview with Paper magazine
“I think the series of unfortunate events I’ve encountered in relationships are no secret to people who know me or think they know me.”
Directed by Dave Meyers, known for his work on iconic videos like Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” and Kendrick Lamar’s “HUMBLE.,” the “Taste” video is set to elevate the song’s drama with his trademark cinematic flair.
Sabrina has made a strong impact on the Billboard charts of late, with her single “Please Please Please” reaching No. 1 on June 29. “Espresso” also performed well, peaking at No. 3 on June 22. Earlier hits like “Feather” and “Skin” reached No. 21 and No. 48, respectively.
Short n’ Sweet is set to showcase Carpenter’s growth as an artist, with tracks like “Good Graces,” “Sharpest Tools,” and “Juno” exploring themes of love, heartbreak, and self-discovery.
Check out the teaser video for “Taste” below.
Taylor Swift officially wrapped the European leg of her Eras Tour on Tuesday (Aug. 20), and the superstar took to Instagram the day after to reflect on the special run, as well as break her silence on the canceled Vienna shows due to a terror threat.
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“We have officially wrapped the European leg of The Eras Tour. With it came the most passionate crowds I’ve ever played for, new traditions in the show, and an entirely new era added in. It was a more hectic pace than we’d done before, and I’m so proud of my crew/fellow performers for being able to physically perform that show and build our massive stage, take it apart, and make magic with so few days in between for recovery and travel. They’re the most impressive people I know and I’m so lucky they gave The Eras Tour their time, their energy, and their expertise,” she wrote.
She added that walking on stage at London’s Wembley Stadium was “a rollercoaster of emotions” after the “devastating” news that her Vienna shows were canceled. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows,” she shared. “But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us.”
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Swift also explained her reasoning for not speaking out until now. “Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows,” she wrote. “In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that. And then London felt like a beautiful dream sequence. All five crowds at Wembley Stadium were bursting with passion, joy, and exuberance. The energy in that stadium was like the most giant bear hug from 92,000 people each night, and it brought me back to a place of carefree calm up there.”
See her full statement here.
In a statement on Wednesday (Aug. 7), Barracuda Music, the concert promoters for the Austrian shows said, “With confirmation from government officials of a planned terrorist attack at Ernst Happel Stadium, we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety. All tickets will be automatically refunded within the next 10 business days.”
The person identified as the main plotter reportedly quit his job and “conspicuously changed his appearance and adapted to IS [Islamic State] propaganda,” despite his North Macedonian roots. Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, Austria’s head of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, said the suspect wanted to use knives or homemade explosives to attack Swifties outside the stadium at the event, which was expected to draw more than 195,000 fans.
Authorities also said that I.S. and al-Qaida materials were found at the home of a second, 17-year-old Austrian suspect, who was reportedly recently hired by a company that provides services at the venue. Both suspects are currently in custody.
Lady Gaga is promoting her song with the help of her adorable new puppy . The superstar took to TikTok to share a video in which she’s seen singing along to her freshly released Bruno Mars collab, “Die With a Smile.” In the clip, Gaga has a bright blue eye makeup look as she sweetly […]
Imagine Dragons’ drummer, Daniel Platzman, officially announced on Wednesday (Aug. 21) that he is leaving the band to focus on his film composing career. “After an incredible journey of over a decade, I will be departing the amazing band that is Imagine Dragons,” Platzman shared in a press statement. “I wanted to share my deepest […]
Adam Met may have just wrapped a tour with his brothers – with whom he formed the Billboard chart-topping indie pop band AJR – but he isn’t making a beeline for vacation time. Instead, the bass guitarist headed to Chicago, IL, for the 2024 Democratic National Convention to show his support for the party’s presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Minnestoa Gov. Tim Walz.
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Climate activism has been as passion of Met’s just as long as music has. In 2021, he earned his PhD in human rights law and sustainable development from the University of Birmingham, and two years prior he founded Planet Reimagined, a sustainability-minded think tank. Though most wouldn’t consider climate activism and music to be analogous interests, Met has made it his mission to not just work in both arenas, but also illustrate where they crossover. Not only is he a globe-trotting rock star, he’s also an adjunct professor at Columbia University where he teaches about climate policy and campaigning.
AJR’s Maybe Man Tour – launched in support of their fifth studio album, 2023’s The Maybe Man, which peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard 200 – took the trio to arenas across the country, allowing them to implement new initiatives to secure heightened political engagement from their fanbase. In addition to having fans register to vote and sign petitions, the band and their partners also provided concertgoers with a prewritten script to recite on calls urging their Congressperson to vote certain ways on local climate issues.
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“We designed it differently for every single city that we went to,” explains Met. “Phoenix was about asking FEMA to designate extreme heat as an emergency. We did something around the Great Salt Lake when we were in Salt Lake City; we did things around forest fires in California. We’ve found that people are much more willing to engage at the concert — and then again after the concert — if it’s something that affects them and their community. It’s a mix between responsibility and giving the fans an opportunity.”
From record-breaking hurricanes to extreme heat waves, the impact of climate change can be felt across industries. In the wake of Hurricane Beryl, AJR had to cancel a Houston show, because of the devastating intersection of feeble infrastructure — “We couldn’t get in touch with people to figure out food, power, etc.” — and climate change-induced shifts in weather patterns. With the 2024 presidential election just 11 weeks away, Met remains steadfast in his commitment to climate activism. Prior to the DNC, Met was one of many speakers on a Harris Climate Campaign Zoom call that included former secretary of state John Kerry, actress Jane Fonda and TV scientist Bill Nye.
Billboard caught up with Met ahead of the second night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention to chat about what most excites him about the Harris-Walz ticket, the music industry’s role in climate activism and a potential deluxe version of The Maybe Man.
What specifically are you most excited about in terms of climate and the Harris-Walz ticket?
I’m excited for the Harris-Walz ticket to continue the progress that we’ve already made on climate. I’m excited to see more movement in that direction, and we’ve seen so much investment in new technologies, new types of infrastructure, electric car charging, and moving towards solar and wind that are going to be more sustainable. That’s great, but we’re still maybe 25% of the way to the place that we need to get to.
I do work with the Department of Energy and the EPA and the Department of the Interior; those three are the trifecta where I feel like we can make the rules a lot stronger. Government is the best place where we can hold the private sector accountable, and I think that I want to see more of that in this next administration. We need to hold the private sector accountable for their emissions and for transitioning their businesses [away from oil and gas].
What was your experience in gathering bipartisan support for your plan to streamline the permits needed for new wind and solar projects?
This all started as I was working on the Inflation Reduction Act, which was the largest investment in climate in the United States.
My PhD was focused on making sure that we can have indigenous communities own renewable energy projects that are being built because as we’re moving in this transition, we want to make sure that environmental justice is key. I looked at communities in Kenya, Bangladesh, and Canada, and I developed this proposal for how we can allow these communities to own pieces of the projects to help them build out their community via new infrastructure, etc. I sat down with Republicans and Democrats, and actually ended up finding a lot of common ground between the two, which was really surprising, especially for something that was so focused on climate.
Eventually the Inflation Reduction Act passed without any Republican support, but I didn’t want that to be the end of the line. I took all of the information home back to my nonprofit, Planet Reimagined. We had a bunch of researchers and advocates work together to figure how we can fix the permitting process to allow new solar and wind to exist on top of oil and gas so we won’t disturb any additional land for wind and solar and we can help oil and gas companies transition their business to wind and solar. Democrats loved it because it’s increasing renewables and it’s moving away from oil and gas. Republicans loved it because it’s creating new jobs, it’s boosting the economy in their district and it is directly engaging with the oil and gas companies as opposed to saying we need to end all oil and gas tomorrow. I firmly agree that we need to end all oil and gas as soon as possible. But from an economic and realist perspective, there are hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are employed by industries that are directly built on oil and gas. We need to look at it as a systemic approach, so that’s how we developed this strategy.
What do you think about artists producing an exorbitant number of album variants and the impact that may have on the environment?
There are a lot of different pieces in the music industry that contribute to the impact of climate. My philosophy on this is that the music industry should be early adopters to new technologies, but the music industry is not set up to develop these new technologies.
When we’re on tour, everyone uses semi-trucks, tour buses, etc. We should be the earliest adopters in electric trucking [and] electric buses. Music industry shouldn’t be the people that are working on creating those because there are people who are way more [knowledgeable] in those fields. In production, like you were talking about, there are all of these different polymers that are being developed right now in labs that are the same material as vinyl. The music industry should absolutely be the earliest adopters of [that].
It’s about investing in the tech, so the tech gets to a place where we can implement it as fast as possible.
Outside of the polymers, what other kinds of tech do you think can be integrated sooner rather than later?
A huge part of the income of venues is food and beverage. There are new ways of thinking about how agriculture can be farmed and produced locally under different kinds of conditions, and genetically modified things that can work in different markets. Once the music industry is buying as local as possible, [it] proves to the larger market that these things are not scary. These things are actually feasible.
Merchandise, too, is a huge area in the music industry and we’ve already seen a lot of artists specifically choose to work with companies that are not doing fast fashion. The music industry taking a stand and saying we’re going to go for something that is going to be long lasting. You might have to pay a tiny bit more for [it], but it is significantly better for the environment.
What kinds of stands did AJR take on its most recent tour?
We did a partnership with an organization called Reverb. They “green” the backstage area, meaning that any leftover food is donated to local organizations. We have water stations everywhere and everyone on our crew has reusable bottles. There are probably 30 or 40 different actions that happen both backstage and in front of house to make sure that our crew is being as sustainable as possible, and that when the fans come in, they are getting a sustainable experience.
Is there a way these practices can become standardized across the touring and live music industries?
That’s the goal. Reverb works with a lot of artists, from Harry Styles to Billie Eilish to Dave Matthews Band. However, the goal here is for these to be the norm in every venue. No artist should have to ask the venue, “I want to make sure there’s no single-use plastic cups being used to serve drinks to fans.” That should just be the standard. We’re seeing that implemented at some of these venues that we go to where they have [initiatives like] waste programs.
But the problem is, we are a little bit of time away from that being implemented everywhere on the “greening of the venue” side. I would say we need to expand those initiatives to as many venues as possible. So many artists, especially at the club level, don’t have the capacity to be thinking about these things.
What’s stopping this from being standard across the A-list tier of touring musicians?
Education is the first [roadblock]. Many crews, tour managers and production managers don’t understand that this is relatively easy to implement. For some people, it’s cost. You generally need to bring one to two people on the road with you, and when you’re at a club level and you have a tour manager who’s also front of house, who’s also selling merch, it’s adding another job. That’s why having it built into the venue itself is gonna solve a lot of these problems with the cost barrier and the education barrier.
What does Planet Reimagined have planned as the election draws nearer?
With the election coming up, a lot of what I do personally outside my capacity as executive director of Planet Reimagined is going to schools and help people think about how whatever they’re doing in school is connected to climate. Climate is an everyone issue and is an everything issue. On the medical side, obviously more and more people are dying from extreme heat, but the more complex example is that as temperatures increase as we get farther and farther away from the equator, we are creating more space for insects that are carrying certain diseases. It creates a whole new kind of health system to look at. We’re talking about immigration, there is going to be the largest change in where people are living over the next two decades due to the effects of climate change
This is the most important climate election ever. I fully believe that there are people across the political spectrum who all are on the side of climate. My call to action for most young people is: when they’re going to the voting booth, take 10 or 15 minutes, look up people’s climate voting record — because it might surprise you how many people across the political spectrum are actually voting with climate change interests in mind.
I recently spent some time in Grenada, which was hit really hard by Hurricane Beryl recently. Hurricanes that strong arriving so early in the season are a direct result of climate change. How can artists from nations with larger infrastructure support artists in the Global South, especially since they’ll feel the worst impacts of climate change earlier than anyone else?
The countries that are now feeling and going to feel the worst impacts of climate change are the ones that are least responsible for it. It’s a massive problem. There have been so many promises from industrialized countries and it’s just not happening.
The voice of musicians is so unbelievably powerful. A lot of musicians write their own music, and the audience knows who the musician is because they’re writing their own music. When their voice is consistent with the thing that they care about, you’re much more likely to move people. I’ve seen more and more musicians take on this role of advocate [in Washington and the private sector].
Change can happen, but it’s only when artists are holding people’s feet to the fire. It’s all going to take musicians banding together, trying to hold the for-profit and the government’s feet to the fire to make sure we’re making the right investment in order to prevent these horrible effects.
When you look at Harris and Walz, what song comes to mind?
I don’t want to be cheesy and name any of the trending songs that are associated with the campaign. [Laughs.] For some reason, I was listening to “Saturday in the Park” by Chicago and it just feels like the right song right now.
What do you think about the campaign’s embrace of Top 40 music this election cycle?
The Harris-Walz campaign is doing an amazing job of embracing pop culture in a way that we haven’t seen before, whether that’s through music or specific sound bites or social media platforms. I think meeting people where they’re at is an important thing, but my philosophy on that is that we need to meet people five steps ahead of where they are, in order to get them there. With the joy that we’re seeing from this campaign, we met people five steps ahead of where they are, and brought them to that joy.
If you were running for president, what would be your campaign song?
“Rainbow Connection” [from The Muppet Movie] — because it’s real, it’s emotional, and it’s also inspirational.
What does AJR have planned next?
We are going to be doing a bunch of festivals over the next year, and we are working on some new music — potentially for a deluxe version of this album!
