Pop
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Ironically, this year in pop was defined by a pair of 2022 blockbusters: Taylor Swift’s Midnights and SZA’s SOS. Although the two Billboard 200-topping albums are starkly different in sound and tone, there is a lyrical through line of unflinching self-examination and sarcastic self-deprecation that courses through each. “Anti-Hero,” the lead single from Midnights that ruled the Billboard Hot 100, became one of Swift’s biggest chart hits thanks, in part, to its cheeky refrain: “It’s me, hi/I’m the problem, it’s me.” Likewise, SZA dominated the Hot 100 with her Grammy-nominated “Kill Bill,” in which she sings, “I’m so mature, I’m so mature/I’m so mature, I got me a therapist to tell me there’s other men.”
Olivia Rodrigo, a pop powerhouse who this year scored a Hot 100 No. 1 with “Vampire” and another top 10 with “Bad Idea, Right?,” built the entirety of her Grammy-nominated GUTS album around this concept. In “ballad of a homeschooled girl,” she croons, “Everything I do is tragic/Every guy I like is gay/The morning after, I panic/Oh, God, what did I say?!” Delivered with a tone that carefully swells from apathy to mania, Rodrigo’s lyrics are biting — but she’s the subject of her own takedown. Through revealing the social and romantic cues that still confuse her in spite of her superstar status, Rodrigo goes from inaccessible celebrity brand to virtual friend and confidante in just a few bars.
This sort of tongue-in-cheek accountability — which struck a particularly resonant chord in the context of the evolution of Swift’s public persona and perception — harks back to a pivotal album released a decade earlier. Lorde’s 2013 debut, Pure Heroine, was defined by its pointed pop songwriting, with couplets that bemoan the singer’s own shortcomings just as much as they deride and analyze the world around her. Ten years later, pop music in 2023 has proved that not only is this style of songwriting here to stay, but it has also become increasingly reflective of diversity and representation in popular media.
SZA’s brand of self-deprecation speaks more directly to Black women. When she sings, “I used to be special/But you made me hate me/Regret that I changed me/I hate that you made me/Just like you,” in “Special,” she’s speaking from a place that’s uncomfortable, embarrassing and valid — especially to Black women who must fight various compounding forms of misogynoir in their quest for love. She’s making emotional space that holds just as much weight as more positive anthems like Beyoncé’s “Brown Skin Girl.”
For as many pseudo-protest songs as summer 2020 produced, that period also intensified the already-brewing ramifications of a pandemic on the human psyche. “I think between people being on lockdown and dealing with all the hardships of the last few years, [they] have had much more time to turn inward and sometimes face their own demons,” says “Special” co-writer Rob Bisel. “I think having music that’s self-deprecating helps make that process of turning inward much less difficult and makes people feel less alone during these turbulent times.”
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Bisel also worked on Reneé Rapp’s standout debut, Snow Angel, which features several sarcasm-drenched pop tunes including “I Hate Boston” and “Poison Poison.” The former is a cheeky rebuttal of Beantown due to a no-good ex, while the latter is a fiery rumination on a friendship with a woman that went up in flames. As an out bisexual woman in pop, Rapp writes lyrics that capture the minds and attitudes of an audience rarely targeted — but often objectified — by top 40 radio. Troye Sivan’s Hot 100 hit “One of Your Girls” — which details the minefield that is being a gay man messing with romantic interests who have not previously been with other men — functions in a similar way for gay men. Even Barbie (by way of Ryan Gosling’s worldview-shattering viral hit, “I’m Just Ken”) and Paramore (with the sassy “Running Out of Time”) employed this trend of sardonic, intimately self-aware songwriting this year.
According to Alexander 23, who co-wrote “Poison Poison,” this style of songwriting is “here to stay because we just see too much of people now via social media to believe something too positive.” He adds, “I think people are hearing things that feel more conversational, more like the artist is someone [who] they actually know and [is] their friend.” Of course, this hasn’t completely pushed aside flashy, confidence-boosting pop jams — take Tate McRae’s “Greedy” and aliyahsinterlude’s “IT GIRL,” for example — but there’s no mistaking its dominance.
Both Bisel (Beck, Green Day) and Alexander (LCD Soundsystem) point to past generations of pop artists as evidence of this songwriting style’s legacy. “One of the most powerful things you can do as a songwriter is to share the feelings that everyone experiences but are too afraid to say out loud,” Bisel says. “A self-deprecating song in some ways is a vehicle for listeners to share their own burdens and to feel seen.”
With self-critical records from Lana Del Rey (“A&W”) and boygenius (“Not Strong Enough”) scoring key Grammy nods and tongue-in-cheek tracks from Swift and SZA dominating commercially, pop is staunchly in its sarcastic era. “I’m a big believer that trends in music are cyclical and constantly come back around,” Bisel says. “At the same time, honest music will never go out of style.”
This story originally appeared in the Dec. 9, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Barry Manilow turned 80 this year, but don’t think for a second that he’s slowing down. He’s too booked to even consider it. Tonight (Dec. 11) at 10 p.m. ET/PT, NBC will air Barry Manilow’s A Very Barry Christmas.
The show was filmed about five weeks ago at Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino where he performs his long-running show, Manilow: Las Vegas – The Hits Come Home! The special consists of half holiday songs (“Jingle Bells,” “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Feliz Navidad” and “White Christmas”) and half Manilow hits (his three Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits – “Mandy,” “I Write the Songs” and “Looks Like We Made It” – and what is probably his most famous song “Copacabana”). The special was directed by Matt Askew, who directed Weekends With Adele.
A Very Barry Christmas is Manilow’s third Christmas-themed TV special. He has also released three Christmas albums and was planning to record another one this year, but didn’t get it done. “I started to lay out all the songs that I was going to do, and then this year happened,” Manilow told Billboard. “This year was like the craziest year ever.”
Manilow was honored by the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall in May. He played five consecutive nights (there are no nights off for this trouper) at Radio City Music Hall in May and June – and he’s already booked for five more shows at the legendary venue in April 2024. He was a presenter on the Tony Awards in June. Harmony, the stage musical he wrote with longtime collaborator Bruce Sussman, which had spent decades in development hell, finally opened on Broadway in November.
Manilow has probably done more TV – and used it more effectively – than just about any other pop music performer. He won a Primetime Emmy in 1977 for his first special, The Barry Manilow Special. The show, which featured Laverne & Shirley star Penny Marshall, was seen by 34 million viewers. He won his second in 2006, for the PBS show Manilow: Music and Passion.
He won that first Emmy, at least in part, because he was hot as a pistol in 1977, with a No. 1 single on the Hot 100 (“Looks Like We Made It”) and a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 (Barry Manilow/Live). He won his second, at least in part, because his fellow professionals respected the way he had survived the ups and downs of a long career. He had “made it through the rain,” to borrow the title of one of his best songs – one that a longtime Fanilow (that would be me) ranked No. 6 on this list of his 25 top 40 hits on the Hot 100 that we posted in June to coincide with his reaching the big 8-0.
Manilow talked to Billboard on the eve of tonight’s special. This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
How did this new special for NBC come about?
NBC executives came to see my regular [non-holiday] show at the Westgate and we were talking afterwards, and they were saying they were looking for Christmas product because everybody was on strike. And I said, “I have a Christmas show. We’ve been doing it for the last four years, and everybody seems to love it.” We sent them a video of it and they loved it. Before we knew it, we were taping the show.
You’ve taken this Christmas show on the road too.
It’s always received really well. I figured out a way of not only doing Christmas songs but my hits. It goes back and forth. It still always feels like a Christmas show, even when I’m singing “Copacabana.”
Christmas songs are right in your wheelhouse because so many of them are filled with yearning and emotion.
Even the [up-tempo] ones feel emotional because we’ve heard them all of our lives. That’s the only way I write, arrange or perform. If it doesn’t make me feel something, and if it doesn’t make the audience feel something, whether it’s sad or happy, then I’ve missed; then I haven’t done it right.
When did you tape the special?
About four or five weeks ago. We did two tapings. When I did my first batch of specials back in the ’70s and ’80s, there were about five cameras. [On this one,] they brought in 12 cameras. They had every angle they possibly could. It’s a beautiful-looking special. It looks otherworldly.
Any guests?
No, but we have Santa, little children, loads of Christmas trees — and it snows on the audience.
Why do you think TV works so well for you?
I try to be as genuine and as honest with every word and everything I say as I possibly can. If I’m right, that works to the camera, just like it works to an audience. If I can’t feel that I am being truthful in every lyric that I sing, then I shouldn’t be on the stage.
Last night I watched your 2019 interview for the Television Academy’s The Interviews series. You talked about how that first special in March 1977 took you to another level of fame and recognition – which is saying something, because you had had two No. 1 hits by that point.
The next morning [after the special aired], I went to the airport and everybody was yelling at me, “Barry! Barry! Barry!” The day before that, nobody paid any attention, but after that, it changed.
Did ABC ever offer you a summer replacement TV show, like a lot of music stars did back did back then?
They did, but I turned it down. I didn’t think it was the right thing to do — but I told them I would love to do one special a year, and they were OK with that. I didn’t think summer replacement [series] were helping the artist, and I didn’t want to be the guy that introduced people and did comedy sketches. That’s really not what I do. I would be terrible at that.
I didn’t realize the term “Fanilow” came from your 2003 appearance on Will & Grace.
One of the characters [played by guest star Sara Gilbert] was waiting [in line with Will, played by Eric McCormack] for tickets to a show of mine and said she was a Fanilow. It was a joke. It was clever and people picked up on it.
That phrase was a gift to you, because it’s catchy and affectionate.
I didn’t like it in the beginning. I thought it was kind of a put-down. But people would come up to me and say, ‘I’m a Fanilow,’ and they’d be so proud that I began to like it. And now I do like it.
I’m impressed that, 50 years into your career, you played five nights at Radio City.
For a New York guy like me, just to do [one night at] Radio City would have been enough — but to sell out five nights, that was really a thrill.
I’m also impressed that you played five consecutive nights. Artists half your age take nights off.
Oh please. I don’t even worry about that. I never get tired. I don’t sleep and I don’t eat. That’s my secret.
Harmony finally opened on Broadway this year. When did you and Bruce first write it?
We got the idea in 1997. It took awhile for us to put it together. And then the producer couldn’t get [it to Broadway] so we’d put it back in the drawer. Then there was another producer waiting to try it. Most of the time, we signed with a production company for three years. Every time we had to wait [until the previous deal was up]. Most of the time they just couldn’t get it to New York.
Dionne Warwick [whose 1979 comeback album Manilow produced] got the Kennedy Center Honors last week. The ceremony will air on TV later this month. It seems to me that if they base their selections on artists who have risen to the top in many different fields of entertainment, you should have gotten it by now. You went to the top in recordings, TV and live performances. If you ever do get that call, what would it mean to you?
Well, it’s quite an honor. No, they’ve never called and asked, and I don’t think they ever will. Maybe I just don’t do the kind of thing they want their honorees to do. I don’t understand why. If they did, would it be the top of the line? It would be pretty close to the top of the line to get an honor like that.
Ed Sheeran can’t get enough of The Darkness. The British glam rockers hosted a surprise pop-in from the “Eyes Closed” singer on Saturday (Dec. 9) during their set at London’s Roundhouse, where Sheeran played an unannounced six-song warm-up set, which, (according to setlist.fm) featuring Sheeran playing such hits as “Shivers,” “Thinking Out Loud,” “Bad Habits” […]
It’s probably safe to say that the NPR Tiny Desk series hasn’t seen this much pop joy and pain mixed with so many four-letter words before. Olivia Rodrigo stopped by public radio’s most famous cubicle recently and after ripping through “Love is Embarrassing” from the her sophomore album, GUTS, Rodrigo recalled that her first visit […]
Tired of carrying around a big bag? Looking for something impractical to add to your Christmas list? SNL cast members Marcello Hernández and Ego Nwodim, host Adam Driver, and musical guest Olivia Rodrigo have got just the product for you: the Tiny Ass Bag. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, […]
“All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride” might accurately describe Taylor Swift‘s night after Tony Romo accidentally referred to the superstar as Travis Kelce’s “wife” Sunday (Dec. 10).
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Romo’s slip-up came when Kelce caught an amazing pass during the second quarter of Sunday night’s Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills game at Arrowhead Stadium.
“As you see Kelce’s wife, Taylor Swift, in the audience…” said Romo, who was commenting on the play. With a nervous chuckle, he quickly corrected himself: “I’m sorry, girlfriend.”
On Sunday, Swift, wearing a vintage Chiefs sweatshirt, stood in a suite beside her beau’s mom as they watched the game together.
The pop star, who was just named TIME‘s Person of the Year, confirmed to the public that she’s in a relationship with Kelce in her cover story interview published this week, in which she referred to herself and Kelce being a “couple.”
“We actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple,” said Swift, talking about her first appearance at a Chiefs game in September. “I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”
“Tony Romo” trended on X (formerly Twitter) right after he referred to Swift as Kelce’s “wife.”
“They need to play lavender haze at half time,” read a text screenshot from one fan to another. On the Midnights track, Swift sings about people asking her when she’s getting married, and only seeing her “as a one night, or a wife.”
Other Swifties shared funny GIFs, or joked about how news headline writers and Swift’s publicist would react.
See the televised moment captured below, followed by some fan reactions.
Olivia Rodrigo returned to Saturday Night Live on Dec. 9 to deliver a pair of unforgettable performances from her chart-topping album Guts. During the Adam Driver-driver hosted episode, the 20-year-old singer opened her musical guest appearance with a stripped-down piano version of her hit song “Vampire,” which spent two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 […]
A surprise “Oh Santa!” reunion happened in New York City Saturday night (Dec. 9). Mariah Carey, bringing her Merry Christmas One & All! Tour to town, was joined by Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson at Madison Square Garden, where the pop trio debuted a festive live collab of “Oh Santa!” on the stage. Carey’s version […]
Olivia Rodrigo, Saturday night’s SNL musical guest, stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for an interview and a round of the “Singing Whisper Challenge” while she was at 30 Rock. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The game goes something like this: one player has a […]
Jung Kook is reflecting on failed love in the somber music video for his ballad “Hate You.”
The minimalistic new clip, which dropped on Saturday (Dec. 9), opens with black-and-white shots of the BTS superstar sitting by himself on a bed and overlooking a brightly lit cityscape while solemnly singing about the scars of a past relationship. The video later shifts to color and features an animated snippet of two lovers running through a snowy forest.
“Audiences are taken on a transformative journey alongside the artist as the video unfolds, shifting from a melancholic black and white ambiance to a burst of colors with the vibrant hues breathing life into the visuals,” Big Hit and HYBE wrote in a press release about the video.
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“Hate You,” co-written with Shawn Mendes, appears on the K-pop singer’s first solo album, Golden. The set debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in November.
“‘Hate You’ is a pop ballad track that evokes a deep surge of emotions with a simple blend of lofi piano and Jung Kook’s vocals,” the news release continues. “It portrays the heartbreaking moment of forcing oneself to hate one’s innocent beloved as the love one feels is too much to bear.”
The vulnerable “Hate You” videos follows Golden remixes of “3D” (with Justin Timberlake) and “Standing Next to You” (with Usher).
The fresh releases arrive as Jung Kook prepares to enlist in the South Korean military. In late November, he took to Weverse to share a sweet message with ARMY.
“In December, I will start a new journey I’m leaving you for a while to serve in the military,” he wrote. “As I share this news, I feel heavy on one hand, and on the other hand, I’m reminded of precious memories with ARMY, so my heart warms up. Every moment I’ve spent with you has been the brightest time of my life. ARMY’s laughter, support, and love led me to this point. Thank you so much for supporting my dream and walking with me silently.”
South Korean requires an 18-month military service stint for all able-bodied men by the time they turn 28. BTS announced a pause in their group work in October 2022 to allow all the singers to enlist. The group is expected to reconvene in 2025 when all have completed their duty to country.
Watch Jung Kook’s “Hate You” video below.
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