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Continuing his chart breakthrough that began in 2022, singer-songwriter Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything” featuring Kacey Musgraves launches at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song – each singer-songwriter’s first Hot 100 leader – is from Bryan’s self-titled LP, which concurrently premieres at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” keeps at its No. 2 Hot 100 high and takes over as the most-heard song on radio, a rare feat for a country hit.
Plus, Miley Cyrus’ “Used to Be Young” debuts at No. 8 on the Hot 100, marking her 12th career top 10.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated Sept. 9, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Sept. 6, a day later than usual due to the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. yesterday, Sept. 4). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
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Here’s a look at the coronation of “I Remember Everything,” the 1,154th song to top the Hot 100 over the chart’s 65-year history, and the 70th to debut at No. 1.
Streams, sales & airplay: Released Aug. 25 on Belting Bronco/Warner Records, “I Remember Everything” drew 33.7 million streams and sold 10,000 downloads in the tracking week ending Aug. 31, according to Luminate. Not being formally promoted to radio, it also tallied 263,000 radio airplay audience impressions, with two-thirds (175,000) from reporters to Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
The single also debuts at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart (notably, it snagged the top spot on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist upon its release) and No. 4 on Digital Song Sales.
Bryan, Musgraves’ first No. 1: Bryan and Musgraves each achieve their first Hot 100 No. 1 with “I Remember Everything.” Bryan charted four entries prior to this week, with one hitting the top 10: His first charted song, “Something in the Orange,” reached No. 10 in January; with 66 total weeks on the tally (May 7, 2022-Aug. 5, 2023), it became the longest charting country hit by a solo male in the survey’s history. Plus, the U.S. Navy veteran, born in Okinawa, Japan, and raised in Oologah, Okla., won for new male artist of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May.
Musgraves completes over a decade’s journey to No. 1 on the Hot 100, having first reached the chart with “Merry Go ‘Round” (No. 63 peak, 2013; it’s also her lone Country Airplay top 10 to date). She previously charted highest on the Hot 100 with “Follow Your Arrow” (No. 60, 2014) and added her other entry before this week, “Rainbow” (No. 98, 2019). The Golden, Texas, native has won six Grammy Awards, with her most recent LP, 2018’s Golden Hour, claiming album of the year honors at the 61st Grammy Awards.
A Hot 100, country and rock first: “I Remember Everything” concurrently opens at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts (as well as Hot Rock Songs), which use the same methodology as the Hot 100. It’s the first song to top the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (dating to 2009, when the lattermost list began).
Bryan tops all three genre charts for a second time, after “Something in the Orange” led Hot Country Songs, Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Rock Songs for six, 20 and 20 weeks, respectively. Musgraves leads each ranking for the first time.
“I Remember Everything” is the 24th song to have topped both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs (dating to 1958, when the Hot 100 originated and Hot Country Songs became the country genre’s singular Billboard chart). Four such songs have led the Hot 100 in 2023, the most in a year since 1975.
Songs to Have Hit No. 1 on Both the Hot 100 & Hot Country Songs Charts:
“I Remember Everything,” Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves, 2023
“Rich Men North of Richmond,” Anthony Oliver Music, 2023
“Try That in a Small Town,” Jason Aldean, 2023
“Last Night,” Morgan Wallen, 2023
“All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” Taylor Swift, 2021
“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” Taylor Swift, 2012
“Amazed,” Lonestar, 1999-2000
“Islands in the Stream,” Kenny Rogers, duet with Dolly Parton, 1983
“I Love a Rainy Night,” Eddie Rabbitt, 1981
“9 to 5,” Dolly Parton, 1981
“Lady,” Kenny Rogers, 1980
“Southern Nights,” Glen Campbell, 1977
“Convoy,” C.W. McCall, 1975-76
“I’m Sorry,” John Denver, 1975
“Rhinestone Cowboy,” Glen Campbell, 1975
“Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” John Denver, 1975
“Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” Freddy Fender, 1975
“(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” B.J. Thomas, 1975
“The Most Beautiful Girl,” Charlie Rich, 1973
“Honey,” Bobby Goldsboro, 1968
“Harper Valley P.T.A.,” Jeannie C. Riley, 1968
“Big Bad John,” Jimmy Dean, 1961
“El Paso,” Marty Robbins, 1959-60
“The Battle of New Orleans,” Johnny Horton, 1959
As Billboard reported in July, country music has surged this year: consumption for the genre in the United States was up 20.3% year-over-year in the first 26 weeks of 2023, according to Luminate. (Comparatively, country grew by 2.5% over the same period in 2022.)
Four country No. 1s in a row for the first time: On the newest, Sept. 9-dated Hot 100, “I Remember Everything” supplants Anthony Oliver Music’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” at No. 1, after the latter led the last two weeks (Aug. 26 and Sept. 2). Before that, Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” rebounded for the last two of its 16 weeks on top (Aug. 12 and 19), directly following Jason Aldean’s one-week reign with “Try That in a Small Town” (Aug. 5).
Four country songs have topped the Hot 100 consecutively for the first time in the chart’s history, extending a record run for the genre. Previously, country hits reigned back-to-back twice: in 1981 (Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” and Eddie Rabbitt’s “I Love a Rainy Night”) and 1975 (Freddy Fender’s “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” and John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”).
Zach, Kacey, Kenny and Dolly: “I Remember Everything” is just the second shared Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs No. 1 by a male and female artist together. It joins Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s 1983 classic “Islands in the Stream” (written by the Bee Gees).
Zach, Kacey, Ed and Bey: Bryan and Musgraves also co-wrote “I Remember Everything,” which Bryan solely produced. It’s the first Hot 100 No. 1 by a male and female artist also boasting co-writing credit with no other billed writers since Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé’s “Perfect,” which reached the top of the chart dated Dec. 23, 2017. (Sheeran wrote and originally recorded the love song solo; Beyoncé joined for its remix and gained co-writing credit.)
Bryan begins atop Billboard 200 and Hot 100: Zach Bryan logs just the ninth instance of an act debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 simultaneously. As “I Remember Everything” opens atop the Hot 100, parent LP Zach Bryan soars onto the Billboard 200, likewise as his first No. 1, with 200,000 equivalent album units.
Bryan joins only Taylor Swift, BTS, Drake and Future and having scored such a double debut. Swift initiated the club and has earned the honor four times, while Drake has done so twice.
Artists to Have Debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 & Hot 100 Simultaneously:
Zach Bryan: Zach Bryan, Billboard 200 & “I Remember Everything” (feat. Kacey Musgraves), Hot 100, Sept. 9, 2023
Taylor Swift: Midnights & “Anti-Hero,” Nov. 5, 2022
Drake: Honestly, Nevermind & “Jimmy Cooks” (feat. 21 Savage), July 2, 2022
Future: I Never Liked You & “Wait for U” (feat. Drake & Tems), May 14, 2022
Taylor Swift: Red (Taylor’s Version) & “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” Nov. 27, 2021
Drake: Certified Lover Boy & “Way 2 Sexy” (feat. Future & Young Thug), Sept. 18, 2021
Taylor Swift: Evermore & “Willow,” Dec. 26, 2020
BTS: BE & “Life Goes On,” Dec. 5, 2020
Taylor Swift: Folklore & “Cardigan,” Aug. 8, 2020
Zach Bryan also bows at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums, Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts.
Warner back at No. 1: With “I Remember Everything,” Warner Records rules the Hot 100 for the first time since the label notched three No. 1s in 2013, when Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop” (featuring Wanz) and “Can’t Hold Us” (featuring Ray Dalton) led for six and five weeks starting that February and May, respectively (with the songs on ADA/Warner); in between, Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” (Jeffree’s/Mad Decent/Warner) reigned for five frames beginning that March.
The label formed in 1958 and first reached No. 1 with The Everly Brothers’ “Cathy’s Clown” in May 1960. It rebranded from Warner Bros. to Warner Records in 2019, making “I Remember Everything” its first leader under its newer name.
Bryan’s Belting Bronco imprint scores its first placement atop the Hot 100.
We ‘remember’ ‘everything’: Here’s something to remember. Thanks to “I Remember Everything,” the word “remember” is in the title of a Hot 100 No. 1 for the first time. Previously, Madonna notched the highest charting such song, as “I’ll Remember” reached No. 2 in 1994.
Meanwhile, the word “everything” appears atop the Hot 100 for a ninth time (and for a second time by an artist with Bryan in his name):
“I Remember Everything,” Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves, 2023
“Give Me Everything,” Pitbull feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer, 2011
“Everything You Want,” Vertical Horizon, 2000
“(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” Bryan Adams, 1991
“I’ll Be Your Everything,” Tommy Page, 1990
“Everything She Wants,” Wham!, 1985
“I Just Want to Be Your Everything,” Andy Gibb, 1977
“Everything Is Beautiful,” Ray Stevens, 1970
“Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season),” The Byrds, 1965
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Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s self-written 1988 Hot 100 top 10 “Fast Car” adds an eighth week at its No. 2 high, steady in rank. It concurrently crowns the Radio Songs chart, rising 2-1 with 78.8 million in audience.
As it led Country Airplay for five weeks, the song is just the fifth – and the first by a solo male with no accompanying acts – to have topped the Country Airplay and all-format Radio Songs charts, dating to the surveys’ 1990 inceptions (and the latter list’s 1998 expansion to include country panelists, among other format reporters). Here’s a recap, with all five songs having achieved both country and pop radio success.
Radio Songs No. 1s That Also Topped Country Airplay:
“Fast Car,” Luke Combs, one week to date atop Radio Songs, 2023
“I Hope,” Gabby Barrett feat. Charlie Puth, one, 2020 (Barrett was solely credited on Country Airplay; Puth joined for its pop remix)
“Meant to Be,” Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line, five weeks, 2018
“Need You Now,” Lady A, two, 2010
“You Belong With Me,” Taylor Swift, two, 2009
(As a writer, Chapman previously peaked as high as No. 2 on Radio Songs with her own single “Give Me One Reason,” in 1996.)
Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” pushes from No. 5 to a new No. 3 Hot 100 high, as it wins top Airplay Gainer honors (up 25% to 28.2 million in airplay audience). It leads the multimetric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts for a second week each.
Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” descends 3-4 on the Hot 100, following 16 weeks at No. 1 – the most ever for a non-collaboration; Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” slips 4-5, after reaching No. 3; and Oliver Anthony Music’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” falls to No. 6 after spending its first two weeks on the chart at No. 1 (down 8% to 21.2 million streams and 71% to 34,000 sold, although it leads Digital Song Sales for a third week; it’s up 7% to 2.4 million in radio audience).
SZA’s “Snooze” returns to the Hot 100’s top 10, at a new No. 7 best, from No. 11, up 64% to 17.3 million streams following the Aug. 25 premiere of its official video, good for the chart’s top Streaming Gainer award. It leads the multi-metric Hot R&B Songs chart for a seventh week.
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Miley Cyrus’ “Used to Be Young” bounds onto the Hot 100 at No. 8, with 25.9 million in airplay audience, 17.8 million streams and 19,000 sold from its release Aug. 25 through Aug. 31. It opens at No. 2 on Digital Song Sales, No. 9 on Streaming Songs and No. 19 on Radio Songs – it’s the second song to start in the Radio Songs top 20 this year, after Cyrus’ “Flowers” began at No. 18 in January (on its way to an 18-week command, the longest ever for a song by a woman).
Cyrus collects her 12th Hot 100 top 10. Her previous top 10s, including one under her former Hannah Montana alter ego: “Flowers” (No. 1, eight weeks, 2023); “Without You,” with The Kid LAROI (No. 8, 2021); “Malibu” (No. 10, 2017); “Wrecking Ball” (No. 1, three weeks, 2013); “We Can’t Stop” (No. 2, 2013); “Can’t Be Tamed” (No. 8, 2010); “Party in the U.S.A.” (No. 2, 2009); “He Could Be the One” (Hannah Montana; No. 10, 2009); “The Climb” (No. 4, 2009); “7 Things” (No. 9, 2008); and “See You Again” (No. 10, 2008).
Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” holds at No. 9, after reaching No. 7, and Gunna’s “Fukumean” drops 7-10, after hitting No. 4.
Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated Sept. 9), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Sept. 6).
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.
Miley Cyrus learned early on that if you’re going to invest, invest in yourself. As part of her ongoing “Used to Be Young” TikTok series, Miley dove into the money-losing 2014 Bangerz Tour, the surreal 78-date celebration of her hip-hop inspired album of the same name featuring the hits “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball.”
“The Bangerz tour was an investment in myself. A lot of these ideas were kind of so outlandish that no one really wanted to support me in making these pieces,” Cyrus said of the wild show that opened with her sliding down a giant slide in the shape of her own tongue and also included a parade of furries, a life-sized puppet of Big Sean and a giant flying hot dog, among other amusements.
“So I had big puppets, oversized beds, I came out of my own face on my tongue,” Miley recalled. The trippy fantasia was cooked up by Cyrus and creative director Diane Martel, with the latter asking Miley how she wanted to end the concert each night and getting an answer she likely didn’t expect.
“[Martel] goes, ‘How would you want to end this concert?’ Like, ‘The show is so big, how do you want to end it?’ And I wanted to end it in a Truman Show reference,” the singer said of the beloved 1998 Jim Carrey movie about a mild-mannered insurance salesman who slowly begins to realize his whole live has taken place inside a reality TV series.
“So I flew out on a giant hot dog, obviously, and I left through all the clouds and the exit sign, the way Jim Carrey does, because I felt like The Truman Show was really a reflection of my life.” The singer, who, like Truman Burbank, has spent her entire life in front of the cameras, was savvy enough at that age (21) to realize that the best money she could spend to promote her passion project was on her own, admittedly quirky, vision.
“‘Why are you doing this? You’re going to do like 100 shows and not going to make any money,’” Cyrus recalled being told. “I said there’s no one I would rather invest in than myself. So I paid for it all to make it exactly what I thought I and the fans deserved.”
Watch Miley talk Bangerz tour below.
For her next project, Vanessa Amorosi will unleash some Hall of Fame vibes.
The Australian artist’s new full-length studio album Memphis Love is slated for release Nov. 17, her first through Bay Street Records, Dave Stewart’s independent music label.
With Memphis Love, the powerhouse singer goes eight albums deep into a recording career that exploded out the gates in the late 1990s with “Absolutely Everybody.” Amorosi was just a teen at the time. The world opened up all at once, as the song crashed the U.K. top 10, and she was invited to perform on the biggest stages of them all, including the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
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Amorosi has called Los Angeles home for the past 13 years. Now she calls Bay Street Records her label home, joining such artists as Joss Stone.
During her time Stateside, she has immersed herself in gospel music, soul, funk and blues, sounds that influence this forthcoming collection. “It’s very, very different to what people are used to hearing me do in Australia,” she tells Billboard. “I’m really excited for this chapter to begin.”
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Memphis Love is co-produced with Stewart, was recorded at Willie Mitchell’s Royal Studios in Memphis, TN, and features the gorgeous tones of Tennessee Mass Choir.
Lead single “Wolf,” which Amorosi co-wrote with Stewart one afternoon in downtown L.A., is a confident, blues number. It rolls with the punches and gives out a few of its own. At the top, Amorosi flexes with a howl, the kind of swagger that comes with having been there, done it. That animal instinct “kind of lightened the mood in the studio,” she recounts.
Stewart is a good guy to have your corner. As one half of the Eurythmics, the legendary British synth pop act elevated last year into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, Stewart is a creative force. He’s a real-deal multi-hyphenate, whose resume includes production across TV, stage, feature films, operating venues, and a thirst for technology. The Brit also owns Dave Stewart Entertainment (DSE), a full-service production and management company, involved in music, commercials, film, music videos, documentaries, independent productions and more.
“He is fearless,” she explains. “He understands technology. He’s always looking for ways for artists to be able to generate income to make more art. And he’s always very proactive on trying to keep an artist making art. I learned so much from him, and he’s just the most incredible human being.”
Stewart feels the same way. “I’ve stood on stage next to Vanessa Amorosi on several occasions and I’m always immediately taken aback by the intensity and the power of her vocal delivery,” he says in a statement announcing the new LP. “In getting to know her as a friend and as a true artist, I’ve found that her vocal capabilities are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Memphis Love is the followup to Amorosi’s City Of Angels, which debuted at No. 7 on the ARIA Albums Chart in March 2022, for her fourth career top 10 appearance. Prior to that, her last top tier appearance on the national survey was with 2009’s Hazardous, also peaking at No. 7.
European dates are on the slate, and Amorosi is looking forward to a homecoming jaunt that includes the Grapevine Gathering festival tour, and a performance at the 2023 AWMA in Brisbane, on Sept. 27. Expect her to share some of that Memphis Love.
“It has all the soul and the feel and the groove,” she enthuses. “I’m really, really proud of this record. And I feel like it’s gonna make people feel good.”
Memphis Love tracklistWolfHow LongLift Us UpDon’t Judge MeOnly So MuchMemphis LoveShakeToo Much of a HeartacheSeriousWhat Do I Get
Taylor Swift shared the song that she’s currently listening to on Monday afternoon (Sept. 4).
“damn griff i love this one,” Swift wrote in an Instagram Story.
She linked to Griff‘s new single “Vertigo,” potentially encouraging up to 271 million followers to click over to the track.
Griff responded excitedly to the co-sign: “What!! Is!! Happening!! I have no words,” she wrote, and then directed a whole lot of emojis Swift’s way. “Now everyone go do what the queen says and stream vertigo.”
Although Griff seemed surprised by the social media support from Swift, the two artists have connected before. They met and took photos together at the 2021 Brit Awards, where Swift was the recipient of the global icon award and Griff was named rising star. Swift has previously called Griff’s “Shade of Yellow” an “excellent” song.
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Griff recently told Dork that “Vertigo” is a “sad, heartbreak” sort of song.
“When someone leaves your life, you spend a lot of time asking if it was your fault. This song lists all those reasons why it could be, but it’s also about trying to reassure yourself that there was nothing you could have done to make it better. With the way it crescendos, I’ve always heard it as a bit of an emotional rollercoaster,” the singer-songwriter said of the new release.
“There’s a darkness to ‘Vertigo’ that maybe I haven’t tapped into as much before,” Griff continued. “It’s still major, but there’s something quite dark and moody about it too.”
Griff is working on her debut full-length album, which will be the follow-up to her 2021 mixtape, One Foot in Front of the Other.
“It’s the start of a new season for me, for sure,” she told Dork of the new music she’s been creating.
Check out Swift’s Instagram Story here, and see Griff’s “Vertigo” visualizer below.
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Music, fashion and artistry blended seamlessly into a mesmerizing, three-hour extravaganza at Beyoncé’s weekend at SoFi Stadium.
Steve Harwell, who performed as the lead singer of Smash Mouth until announcing his retirement from the group in 2021, is in hospice care, a representative for the band tells Billboard.
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Harwell, 56, is resting at home and being cared for by his fiancé and hospice care, Smash Mouth’s manager confirmed on Sunday (Sept. 3).
“Although Steve is here with us still, sadly it will only be for a short time,” he says, adding, “We would hope that people would respect Steve and his family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
TMZ first wrote of Harwell’s current health status earlier on Sunday, reporting that he’s reached the final stage of liver failure.
Harwell was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that can makes it hard for the heart to deliver blood to the body, several years ago. Following his initial diagnosis, he suffered from “nonstop serious medical setbacks including heart failure as well as acute Wernicke Encephalopathy,” a condition that greatly impacted his motor functions, including speech and impaired memory, a statement said in 2021.
Harwell shared the news that he was retiring from the “All Star” group due to his ongoing health issues in October 2021.
Harwell’s comment about retiring from Smash Mouth read: “Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of being a rock star performing in front of sold-out arenas and have been so fortunate to live out that dream. To my bandmates, it’s been an honor performing with you all these years and I can’t think of anyone else I would have rather gone on this wild journey with.”
The band’s first single was 1997’s “Walkin’ on the Sun,” and they landed a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with the earworm “All Star,” which peaked at No. 4 on the chart in 1999. Astro Lounge, Smash Mouth’s sophomore album that included “All Star,” reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart that year. “All Star” was nominated for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals at the Grammy Awards in 2000, an award that ultimately went to Santana for “Maria Maria.”
Smash Mouth’s most recent album is 2012’s Magic, though they released an acoustic version of debut set Fush Yu Mang in 2018, following the 20th anniversary of the original recording’s release.
Smash Mouth continues to tour with vocalist Zach Goode, who joined the band in 2022.
Taylor Swift‘s “Cruel Summer” is the latest song to enter Spotify’s Billions Club. The music streaming service announced on Sunday (Sept. 3) that the hit single from the pop superstar’s 2019 album, Lover, has surpassed 1 billion streams. “It’s been no cruel summer for @taylorswift13 this year,” potify wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Congratulations on […]
Is Olivia Rodrigo‘s “Vampire” about … Taylor Swift? Rodrigo commented on fan speculation that the lead ballad from Guts, on which she scathingly sings about an unnamed “bloodsucker, famef—er,” is somehow about one of her childhood idols.
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“How do I answer this?” Rodrigo reportedly whispered to Guardian journalist Laura Snapes, when the question about “Vampire” arose during an interview ahead of the Sept. 8 release of Guts.
“I mean, I never want to say who any of my songs are about,” said Rodrigo. “I’ve never done that before in my career and probably won’t. I think it’s better to not pigeonhole a song to being about this one thing.”
“I was very surprised when people thought that,” she added in the article that was published on Saturday (Sept. 2).
Swift championed Rodrigo, who was a self-proclaimed Swiftie, very early on. “I say that’s my baby and I’m really proud,” she sweetly shared on social media when Rodrigo’s breakout smash “Drivers License” first started appearing on charts next to Swift’s music. Swift gifted her a ring like the one she wore when working on her Red album — “She is absolutely the kindest individual in the whole world,” Rodrigo gushed at the time — and the pair met in person and posed together for a cute photo at the 2021 Brit Awards.
After Rodrigo’s debut album, Sour, dropped, interpolations found in her work proved costly. Rodrigo ended up retroactively sharing songwriting credits for “deja vu” with Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) for its reminiscence of Swift’s “Cruel Summer.” She also gave writing credits to Swift and Antonoff on “1 step forward, 3 steps back” before Sour‘s release for including an interpolation of Swift’s “New Year’s Day” on the song.
Rodrigo and Swift seemingly haven’t associated with each other since, at least publicly. In a recent New York Times profile, Rodrigo said she hasn’t seen a show on Swift’s Eras Tour.
Back to the song meaning of “Vampire”: To her point, Rodrigo’s lyrics could have been inspired by a number of personal experiences the singer-songwriter might have encountered since “Drivers License” made its mark in 2021 — so her answer to the question doesn’t really answer much at all.
“Hate to give the satisfaction, asking how you’re doing now/ How’s the castle built off people you pretend to care about?” she sings in the opening of the song.
Later in the profile about Rodrigo and her sophomore album, Guardian writer Snapes, in her own words, notes that “‘Vampire’ is primarily about a romantic relationship with an older guy.” Many of its lyrical barbs do point toward this interpretation: there’s a line directed at a “cool guy,” and one pointing out that “every girl I ever talked to told me you were bad, bad news.” In the track’s second verse, Rodrigo says, “Went for me, and not her/ ‘Cause girls your age know better.”
Read the full piece at The Guardian here.
Before Jimmy Buffett appeared on Billboard’s charts, he was writing about other artists who did.
Buffett, who died Friday (Sept. 1) at age 76, worked as a Nashville reporter for Billboard from 1969 to 1970. He quit when his first album, Debut to Earth, was released because he was told that continuing, would be a conflict of interest.
Among the concerts he reviewed was Isaac Hayes at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium, writing, “The Hot Buttered Soul Man combined his songs and his keyboard work on both organ and piano with a full and powerful voice range that created a style [that] was truly his own.”
In 2021, Buffett revisited his time as a reporter, telling Billboard during an interview that as a burgeoning artist, he couldn’t bring himself to write anything negative about a fellow performer.
“I can never give anybody a bad review because I knew how hard it was to get up there,” he said. “Now, there has to be something toxic that [a review] says, but I can never do it because I knew how hard it was. I know performers who are scared to death to get up there and still do it. And I go, “Why are you that scared to get up there?” I mean, you should be doing something else if you get scared to go up there. It’s one of the greatest joys you could ever have on planet earth to me.”
The best part of the job was the free music. Although unbylined, Buffett believed he reviewed Elton John’s 1970 album, Tumbleweed Connection, glowingly writing, “Although this is but his second LP, Elton John’s track record already speaks for itself and the album is sure to be one of the biggest of the new year.”
Talking to Billboard again in 2022, Buffett recalled the thrill of getting John’s album in the mail while writing for the magazine. “People were sending me free albums because I was the reporter for Billboard, and that album came in a stack of records from I think it was MCA,” he said. “When I got [to Billboard], my editor told me, ‘Just let them know you’re a Billboard reporter and give them your address and they’ll give you records so hopefully you review them or you’ll say something about them.’ So I went ‘free albums? No sh—!’”
He also wrote of his time at Billboard in his 1998 autobiography, A Pirate Looks at Fifty, calling it “the only real job I would have in my adult life.”
From the first day, he was wined and dined as he traveled with his boss, Bill Williams. “In twenty-four hours, I had gone from just another nobody songwriter who couldn’t get his foot into a music publisher’s door to the assistant Southern Editor of Billboard,” he wrote. “Hell, people took me to lunch. I had business cards. I flew to New York for editorial meetings. I had an expense account. I had a WATTS line at work on which I called all my friends after working hours, and I got free albums from the record companies. Not bad for a real job.”
Buffett even managed to break some news, including bluegrass titans’ Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ split.
After switching from covering country music to pop, Buffett interviewed Otis Redding and James Brown, reviewed Led Zeppelin at the Palladium, and learned a little about the importance of taking care of business. “What I mainly saw were a lot of wonderfully talented artists and writers who let somebody else worry about ‘all that stuff,’ and I saw the trouble it got them into,” he wrote in the book.
Billboard threw Buffett a going away party when his album came out, gifting him a guitar case. Even though that chapter of his life was over, it’s clear his time at Billboard remained a treasured memory and set him on his way: “One of the true joys of my later success was going back and sharing it with Bill,” he wrote in the autobiography. “He was as proud as a parent when I finally broke out.”
Nelly Furtado is back and better than ever, and in celebration of her reunion with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake on “Keep Going Up,” she sat down with Billboard‘s Jason Lipshutz to discuss where she’s at in her career at the moment. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]