Pop
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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, No. 24, No. 23, No. 22, No. 21, No. 20, No. 19, No. 18, No. 17, No. 16, No. 15 and No. 14 stars, and now we remember the century in Nicki Minaj — a one-of-a-kind crossover rapper who paved a superstar lane entirely her own in the 2010s.
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Whether you know, love or tolerate her as Harajuku Barbie, Roman Zolanski, Chun-Li, Queen Sleeze or Martha (may she rest in peace) — few figures in 21st century popular music and culture (or hip-hop history in general) can compare to the towering impact and immense talent of Nicki Minaj.
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Though she came to passionately rep Southside Jamaica, Queens (and it’s crazy!) after moving there at the age of five, the artist born Onika Tanya Maraj was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in 1982. The eldest daughter of four children, Minaj’s birthplace and stomping grounds immediately situate her at the origins of hip-hop, the endlessly influential artform that sprung out of 1970s New York thanks to the city’s rich combination of African-American, Afro-Caribbean and Latin American cultures. And just as so much of hip-hop has grappled (and continues to grapple) with the American dream and its dueling luster and infeasibility, so has Minaj throughout her career — both inside and outside of her music.
Ironically, these two truths align Minaj with traditional markers of hip-hop authenticity: a label that a significant chunk of the world has perceived her as at odds with for most of her career because of the communities – the girls and the gays – she has elected to cater to within hip-hop spaces. Minaj is arguably the single most fascinating MC of her generation; the combination of her razor-sharp wit, undeniable tenacity, irresistible penchant for the provocative and controversial, and, for better and for worse, her undying charisma have resulted in one of the most singular pop star careers of the 21st century.
Nicki Minaj
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Nicki Minaj
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation
Shortly after honing her acting skills by way of the storied Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Off-Broadway stint, Minaj briefly signed with Brooklyn R&B/hip-hop collective Full Force, through which she rapped as a part of The Hoodstars, a quartet that included her future beau-turned-hypeman-turned-critic, Safaree Samuels. She left the group after five songs – including WWE Diva Victoria’s 2004 entrance song, “Don’t Mess With” — taking to MySpace to begin fine-tuning her approach to social media and the Internet as an artist and get her music to ears of key industry players. One of those players was Dirty Money Entertainment CEO Big Fendi, who signed Minaj to the Brooklyn-based label in 2007, Minaj was signed to a 180-day contract and Fendi fatefully changed her stage name from Nicki Maraj to Nicki Minaj.
On July 5, 2007, Minaj unleashed her debut mixtape, the blistering Playtime Is Over. Playtime arrived three years before Minaj fashioned herself into a life-sized Barbie doll for the Pink Friday album cover, but she was already laying the groundwork for the imagery that would come to anchor her entire career. Minaj’s debut mixtape accompanied her appearance on Dirty Money’s The Come Up street DVD series, in which her swaggering rendition of shit-popping tracks like “40 Bars” caught the attention of Lil Wayne, who later signed her to his Young Money Entertainment imprint.
When Nicki conquered both the Internet and real-life hip-hop conversations with her 2007-09 mixtape run, the generation of female MCs before were effectively silent. For various reasons Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim, Da Brat, Eve, Foxy Brown, Missy Elliott, Amil, Remy Ma, Gangsta Boo and MC Lyte all hadn’t dropped solo studio albums since at least the first half of the ‘00s. Trina and Lil Mama made some chart impact, but otherwise, the latter half of the ‘00s and beginning of the ‘10s were largely bereft of female rappers operating in the genre’s mainstream as soloists in their own right. And here came Nicki Minaj pulling cards on her very first project: “How the f–k you in the game like ten years strong?/ You b–ches still can’t write ya own damn songs.”
Two more mixtapes followed – 2008’s Sucka Free (via Dirty Money/Young Money) and 2009’s Beam Me Up Scotty (via Young Money/Aphilliates) — but it was the latter that truly brought Minaj to the next level of her career. Scotty housed several of her most beloved tracks, including “Itty Bitty Piggy” and “I Get Crazy,” the latter of which marked her Billboard chart debut. The energy surrounding Minaj and Scotty was remarkably palpable; whether you were an NYC kid rapping her lyrics during lunch period or a blog-era disciple collecting her mixtapes online, all eyes were on Nicki Minaj. Through her, a new path forward for rap seemed possible for female artists – and she made it so.
In 2009, Portia Kirkland, then-VP of marketing at Mizay Entertainment (Minaj’s management company at the time) told Billboard, “We’re establishing her online first. Nicki always stays in touch with her fans through Twitter, MySpace and blogging. We didn’t position her as music but as a lifestyle.” It’s that approach to fan engagement, coupled with her undeniable talent, that have allowed Nicki and her Barbz to become one of the most passionate (if occasionally terrifying) artist-fan dynamics in music. Without that foundation, Nicki’s success across genres would be almost unimaginable, but, ultimately, that relationship is paramount to her (somewhat self-mythologized) position as a marquee pop star and general thought leader.
A few months after Scotty’s release, Minaj officially became the First Lady of Young Money, signing an impressive deal with Lil Wayne’s imprint and Universal Motown. The Pink Friday campaign would commence the following year, but not before she earned the first two of her record-breaking career 148 Billboard Hot 100 entries to date thanks to her appearances on Wayne’s “Knockout” and Mariah Carey’s “Up Out My Face.” The Pink Friday era started out a bit shaky, with the Sean Garrett-assisted “Massive Attack,” but paltry commercial returns caused that official lead single spot to go to the Annie Lennox-sampling “Your Love,” which reached No. 14 on the Hot 100.
Before Pink Friday arrived in its entirety on Nov. 22, 2010, Minaj built up her notoriety through a series of knockout guest verses – Trey Songz’s “Bottoms Up,” Usher’s “Lil Freak,” Sean Kingston’s “Letting Go” and a Grammy-nominated turn on Ludacris’ “My Chick Bad” — that established her as the go-to artist to inject a singular mixture of camp and sex appeal on virtually any song. Her verses were unabashedly animated and wholly electrifying; accent switches, a rotating cast of alter egos and slick wordplay proved to be hallmarks of a Nicki Minaj verse – and everyone wanted to prove they could rap a Nicki verse from memory. Throughout her career, Minaj’s brilliance has most consistently shined on her guest verses; something about a limited amount of space and time automatically makes her shift into a higher gear.
This pivotal feature run culminated in her culture-quaking verse on Kanye West’s “Monster,” her first truly iconic pop moment: From the second she commenced her verse, Nicki’s voice carried an undeniable gravity. Her fearless verse was packed with tongue-in-cheek ménage à trois requests and blood-curdling screams, but “$50k for a verse, no album out” was the kind of room-silencing flex that Minaj would continue to back up and build upon for years to come. The “Monster” verse cemented her as not just the next big thing, but also one of the most gifted working MCs.
Pink Friday eventually debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 375,000 copies sold in its first week, coming in behind West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which housed “Monster.” The album later reached the pole position, assisted by a stunning run of singles that included the Hot 100 hits: “Right Thru Me” (No. 26), “Moment for Life” (No. 13, with Drake), “Fly” (No. 19, with Rihanna), “Did It On ‘Em” (No. 49). Reaping a trio of Grammy nods – including best rap album and best new artist – Pink Friday unequivocally stands as a landmark album for 2010s hip-hop. Featuring a glossy blend of rap, pop, dance and R&B, Pink Friday marked a notable departure from the rap-focused trio of mixtapes it succeeded, which naturally courted a controversy that still plagues Minaj’s releases to this day. On her debut, Minaj rapped ferociously and sang earnestly – sometimes in the same song – a combination of skills that, coupled with the sparkly beats of Drew Money, Swizz Beatz, and Pop & Oak, confounded those who encountered her on a vibe closer to The Come Up DVD.
What remains so striking about Pink Friday is that it simultaneously feels like an album made distinctly for Nicki Minaj and album intentionally made for a generation of female rappers that hadn’t yet arrived. “I felt like I had something to prove to everyone who said a female rapper could not make an album unless she was talking about her p—y,” she told Vibe in 2012. “So, I went above and beyond to prove that I could not talk about sex and not talk about my genitalia and still have a successful album. And I proved that.” Interestingly, as much as Pink Friday found Minaj looking out for her future peers (“’Cause before they could begin, you told ’em it was the end/ But I am here to reverse the curse that they live in”), the album also found her twisting the knife in the chest of one of her foremothers, Lil Kim, responding to the Brooklyn rapper’s accusations that she copied her style and image on the fiery Eminem team-up “Roman’s Revenge.”
Nicki’s previous pop crossover attempts had reaped relatively middling returns, but “Super Bass” — originally placed as a Pink Friday deluxe track, before receiving an official single release in 2011 — sent her into the stratosphere. Thanks to its relentlessly sticky hook and an impromptu cover of the song by Taylor Swift during an interview with a Nashville radio station, “Bass” eventually peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and earned a Diamond certification from the RIAA. Not only did the song help Minaj crash through Top 40’s front doors, it’s also still considered to be one of the greatest pop songs of all time, coming in at No. 13 on Billboard’s list of the 500 Best Pop Songs. From the candy-coated music video and her trademark pink wig to her cheeky choreography and suggestive bars, “Super Bass” was the ultimate culmination of Nicki Minaj as a bonafide pop star and topline rapper, a balancing act she would continue for the next ten years.
“Y’all hate fun,” is a phrase often thrown around in online spaces to laud works that people may enjoy regardless of their quality. With Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, her sophomore studio album, Minaj wasn’t using “fun” as a cop-out, she genuinely just wanted to enjoy herself after executing a seismic hip-hop moment amid her transition to pop music’s upper echelon. In 2012, she told Ryan Seacrest during a call-in interview, “I’ve never had this much fun recording music in my life. My first album I was very guarded. I felt like I was making music to please everyone else. I had to be politically correct, but this album I am just creating music, and there’s such a big difference.”
In that freedom, Minaj sourced her Pink Friday follow-up: a double album that balanced her hip-hop side with her desire to delve deeper into EDM and dance-pop. She traded her Harajuku Barbie aesthetic for neon paint and bikinis galore as she pushed hip-hop further to where the zeitgeist was at the time, nimbly flowing over blaring synth breakdowns and delivering delectable pop hooks to boot. Lead single “Starships” reached No. 5 on the Hot 100, bridging rap and Europop to set the stage for later singles such as “Pound the Alarm” (No. 15) and the deluxe edition’s “Va Va Voom” (No. 22). Minaj’s dance-pop pivot was a critical moment in her career.
Despite what she and Pink Friday did for hip-hop just months prior, her decision to experiment with her sound and further flaunt her versatility was met with haughty dismissal and harsh disrespect by some fans, peers and industry players. Infamously, Hot 97 radio host Peter Rosenberg lambasted “Starships” as “not real hip-hop,” at the station’s annual Summer Jam concert on the day she was scheduled to perform at MetLife Stadium, spurring Minaj to cancel her headlining appearance. Perhaps, Minaj’s experimentation proved too radical for hip-hop – the Barbie aesthetic was one thing, but what were gatekeepers supposed to do with RedOne productions that sounded closer to Calvin Harris than the ricocheting snares of Mike Will Made-It?
As hurtful as the backlash was, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded became Minaj’s first album to debut at No. 1, selling 253,000 copies in its first week. Meanwhile, Minaj collaborated with some pop music’s biggest names – Alicia Keys (“Girl on Fire”), Justin Bieber (“Beauty and a Beat”) and Madonna (“Give Me All Your Luvin’”) — which helped keep her a consistent presence across radio formats as discourse around her own music continued to swirl. That Madonna collaboration brought Minaj all the way to the 2012 Super Bowl halftime show, which aired just one week before the most controversial performance of Minaj’s career to date: At the 2012 Grammys, Minaj performed “Roman Holiday” in a set that found her Roman Zolanski alter-ego overcoming an exorcism attempt. The performance drew the ire of The Catholic League, and years later, Minaj alleged that former Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich blackballed her from ever winning an award at the show because of the performance’s sour reception and her refusal to pull out from the show following his last-minute request to do so. (After 12 career nominations, Minaj still has yet to take home a Grammy.)
Two other songs from Roman Reloaded also helped cement Minaj as an A-list pop star during this era: “Stupid Hoe” and “High School” (with Lil Wayne). The former once again found Minaj hurling jabs at Lil Kim, and its colorful music video broke the Vevo record at time with 4.8 million views in its first 24 hours of release. “High School,” which remains one of Minaj’s most beloved tracks, found her its music video to introduce Myx Moscato, a product in a Minaj co-owned line of alcoholic drinks that she would regularly reference in her verses for years to come, marking her transition from hot new star to budding mogul. In this era, Minaj also reunited with Carey as the two served on the judging panel for a particularly tense season of American Idol and returned to acting with a voice role in Ice Age: Continental Drift, the highest-grossing animated film of 2012.
Like any smart pop star, when Minaj’s back got shoved against the wall, she went back to basics. She kicked off 2014 with what was arguably her most fondly looked upon collection of remixes and guest verses: “Lookin Ass,” YG’s “My N—a,” “Danny Glover” (with Young Thug), “Chi-Raq” (with G-Herbo), “No Flex Zone” (with Rae Sremmurd),” and Young Money’s “Senile,” among others. Those new tracks ushered Minaj into her most dramatic change in fashion and aesthetic yet: For the red carpets celebrating the release of Nick Cassavetes’ rom-com The Other Woman, her live-action feature film debut, Minaj hung up the heavy makeup and zany colored wigs of her past two eras and instead opted for a strikingly natural look. Her highly lauded new looks set the stage for The Pinkprint, her remarkably personal third studio album.
Led by the somber, revelatory “Pills N Potions,” The Pinkprint marked a moment of significant maturation for Minaj. She spent the record working through family trauma (“All Things Go”) and detailing the most harrowing parts of failed relationships (“I Lied”; “The Crying Game”), while also finding time to rep her heritage (“Trini Dem Girls,” “Four Door Aventador”). The sprawling set reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, shifting 244,000 album units in its first week, while also spawning additional top 40 hits like the Drake/Wayne link-ups “Only” (No. 12, with Chris Brown) and “Truffle Butter” (No. 14), and “The Night Is Still Young” (No. 31) — one of her few post-Roman Reloaded solo dance-pop tracks.
But the biggest hit from the album was easily “Anaconda” — which, between its iconic music video, cover art and outro, remains one of the most remembered tracks of both The Pinkprint and Minaj’s career in general. Her flip of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” forced open a Pandora’s box of discourse regarding body politics, Black feminism, and white women and victimhood as it relates to Taylor Swift centering herself in Minaj’s questioning of why her wildly successful music video was passed over for top honors at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. Of course, Swift was instrumental in helping “Super Bass” cross over to pop audiences back in 2010, so the duo’s kerfuffle was nothing that a joint performance opening that year’s VMAs couldn’t fix. 2014 also found Minaj joining forces with Beyoncé and Ariana Grande — the two hottest non-Swift pop stars of the year – both as guests on her own album, then as co-stars on the former’s world-stopping “Flawless” remix and the latter’s “Bang Bang” (along with Jessie J).
Between dominating the summer with “Anaconda” and “Bang Bang” and closing out the year with The Pinkprint, 2014 was a winning year for Minaj. That success continued into the following year with the release of Barbershop: The Next Cut, another live-action film that helped insert Minaj into both the legacy of the beloved film series and the lineage of rappers-turned-actors like her co-stars Eve, Ice Cube and Common. Although The Pinkprint lost all four of its Grammy nods, the album did wonders for those who were still seeking a solid, authentic album from Minaj – and it even previewed where she was headed in her love life (peep those two Meek Mill collabs).
Nicki Minaj
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Nicki Minaj
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
After The Pinkprint, something shifted. With three successful albums and two proper world tours under her belt, Minaj was no longer a bright-eyed new star. She was now lounging on the throne in the house she built, but there were quite a few new and veteran female rappers looking to get some skin in the game. Minaj’s worst trials would come in 2017. After kicking off the year announcing her split from Meek Mill – who she later accused of physical violence against women, including herself, in 2020 – Minaj received a little gift by the name of “Shether.”
Named in reference to “Ether,” Nas’ legendary 2001 diss track, “Shether” was a scathing seven-minute diss towards Nicki Minaj from Bronx rapper Remy Ma. The pair’s beef dates back to 2010, but “Shether” quickly transcended their specific shared history. Through “Shether,” anyone who didn’t like Minaj – or was just plain tired of her dominance – was granted both an avenue to exercise that hate and a rival artist to support in spite of her. The well-received “Shether” was the first diss track to truly put a dent in Minaj’s armor: Although she did respond through “No Frauds,” Nicki survived the lashings mostly by continuing to churn out hits.
But not even a force of nature could thwart the clearly changing tides of the industry: “Shether” dropped just three and a half months before Cardi B’s Hot 100-topping “Bodak Yellow.” With Cardi’s rise soon giving way to a new class of rising female emcees and Remy’s diss still permeating the wider culture and painting Minaj as a fraud and laughingstock, the Head Barb found herself in a wildly different position from the lane she had cultivated for the past decade. 2017 also marked the first time in seven years that Minaj didn’t win best female hip-hop artist at the BET Awards (Remy won). The foundation of Minaj’s world had shifted significantly.
She kicked off 2018 with another breakup – this time with fellow Queens icon Nas – and quickly turned her attention to rolling out Queen, her fourth studio album. Lead single “Chun-Li” (No. 10) became her first solo Hot 100 top 10 hit since “Anaconda” and previewed an album that would inject Minaj’s hip-hop foundation with notes of trap, pop, R&B and dancehall. Although she put out dual lead singles and a handful of pre-release tracks, Queen felt like the first Nicki Minaj era where everything but the music was at the center of attention. She launched Queen Radio on Apple Music to coincide with the album drop, but the stop-start nature of the release gave way to attention-grabbing rants that would quickly become a defining characteristic of the radio show – and Minaj’s general late ‘10s and early ‘20s online presence.
Queen opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, falling behind the second week of Travis Scott’s Astroworld. Naturally, an album that bears an honorific as its title missing the top spot and earning a smaller debut than Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy (2018) was far from ideal – and Minaj spent the following weeks casting blame on everyone from her record label to Billboard, streaming services, Travis Scott, Irving Azoff and even Stormi Webster. It also didn’t help that – outside of “Chun-Li” — Queen failed to generate any real hits of its own. In fact, the biggest hit of this Nicki era is technically “FEFE,” a Murda Beatz-produced collaboration with embattled rapper 6ix9ine that peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and was tacked onto the album’s deluxe edition. Couple that with Future dropping out of his planned co-headlining tour with Nicki – he was later replaced by Juice WRLD — and the Queen era was easily Nicki’s messiest yet. Did we mention that Fashion Week altercation with Cardi?
It would take another half-decade for Minaj’s next studio album to arrive, and in the interim she rode out the most confounding period of her career yet. 2019 brought her massive records like “Tusa” (with Karol G) and smart remixes like “Welcome to the Party” (with Pop Smoke), but her link-up with Megan Thee Stallion on that year’s “Hot Girl Summer” proved to have a quite mind-boggling snowball effect. Just like “MotorSport,” her 2017 collaboration with Cardi B and Migos, “Summer” was the latest example of a Minaj collaboration with a younger female rapper ending with the two at odds.
While Bardi and Minaj have still yet to spar on record, the events of the “Hot Girl Summer” music video shoot – Minaj alleges that Thee Stallion tried to force her to drink while she was trying to get pregnant — later gave way to 2024’s “Big Foot,” a poorly received response to Megan’s Hot 100-topping “Hiss.” In “Hiss,” Megan rapped, “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law,” a bar many perceived to be a shot at Minaj, whose husband, Kenneth Petty, is a registered sex offender. Though it was a general shot that could be directed to a number of Thee Stallion’s adversaries, most minds went to Nicki because of her history of aligning herself with alleged abusers and predators – one of the darkest and most troubling throughlines of her career.
Though 2020 might have been the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, for Nicki, it mainly marked a return to commercial triumph. She earned her first two Hot 100 chart-toppers: “Say So” (with Doja Cat), the first collaboration between two female rappers to top the chart, and “Trollz” (with 6ix9ine). In 2021, she re-released Beam Me Up Scotty to streaming services, earning a No. 2 Billboard 200 peak for the decade-old mixtape in the process.
By the time 2022 rolled around, Minaj seemed to swing the pendulum back in her favor, earning her first unaccompanied Hot 100 No. 1 with the Rick James-sampling “Super Freaky Girl.” The viral track repurposed the “Anaconda” formula and gifted Minaj her biggest crossover hit in years, which then gave way to her earning the Video Vanguard and best hip-hop awards at a victory-lapping 2022 VMAs. “Super Freaky Girl” was also the center of another brouhaha between Minaj and a younger female MC: This time, she sounded off about “Super” being placed in the pop field instead of the rap field at the 2023 Grammys. On Instagram Live – which she frequently uses along with Stationhead to corral her fan army and speak her mind – Minaj argued that both her song and Latto’s “Big Energy” should compete in the pop field because they have the same producer (Dr. Luke, another Minaj collaborator with troubling sexual assault allegations – he countersued and the two later settled out of court).
“Super Freaky Girl” would go on to serve as the de facto lead single for Pink Friday 2, but not before Minaj began 2023 with a remix of Ice Spice’s “Princess Diana,” which served as the first release on Heavy On It Records, an imprint she launched through a venture with Republic Records that year, and reached No. 4 on the Hot 100. She and Ice would later reunite on the No. 7-peaking “Barbie World” (with AQUA) — the two-time Grammy-nominated track from Barbie the Album – before their relationship turned icy. On December 8, 2023, Minaj released Pink Friday 2, an official sequel to her 2010 debut that combined hip-hop with Afrobeats, Jersey club, dancehall and pop. The LP became her record-breaking third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, earning over 228,000 album equivalent units in its first week. Over half of the album charted on the Hot 100, including the singles “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” (No. 13), “Last Time I Saw You” (No. 23), “Everybody” (No. 24, with Lil Uzi Vert) and “FTCU” (No. 15). Received warmly by critics and fans alike, Pink Friday 2 mined nostalgia to handsome returns, culminating in the highest-grossing concert tour by a female rapper of all time with the Pink Friday 2 World Tour.
For Minaj, 2024 has been marked by the continuation of her Pink Friday 2 trek and the creation of the forthcoming next installment in her Pink Friday album series. With a career that spans two decades across the hip-hop underground and pop’s apex alike, Nicki Minaj has been the ultimate victor, villain and survivor of 21st century pop music and culture – sometimes all at the same time. Her allegiance to alleged predators and abusers, embrace of problematic conspiracy theories and weaponization of her and her fans’ parasocial relationships are all truths that are unerasable from Minaj’s legacy. A provocateur in the truest sense, Minaj knows what buttons to press and she’s always ready to Hulk smash them – she’s fearless in that way. But it’s her seeming fear of being replaced and cast aside that keeps her demanding the spotlight like any great pop star; watching her grapple with that battle is a priceless front-row seat to the madhouse that is 21st century fame.
Nicki Minaj isn’t just the greatest female rapper to ever do it and one of the greatest pop stars of this century, she’s also one of the key architects of how pop music sounds, how pop fandom functions and how pop stars are perceived both online and in real life in 2024. Now that’s some single-handed annihilation, word to “Itty Bitty Piggy.”
Read more about the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century here — and be sure to check back on Thursday when our No. 12 artist is revealed!
Brat summer is now officially brat autumn! Charli XCX has been teasing her upcoming remix version of her recent album Brat, and she’s confirmed a series of new collaborators via billboards popping up around the United States. So far, Bon Iver and Tinashe billboards have been spotted by fans, indicating that the two artists will […]
At the end of 2022, pop singer-songwriter Mark Ambor felt lost in his music career. Despite recently signing a record deal and releasing his debut EP, Hello World, something didn’t feel right.
“I fell into this routine of teasing a song, [and] if it did well, putting it out, but I was feeling like I wasn’t saying anything I really mean,” he remembers. “I wasn’t digging deep or singing about things important to me.”
To clear his mind, Ambor, 26, embarked on a months-long international backpacking trip with his then-girlfriend — and returned feeling grounded with a whole new wave of inspiration for songs. He quickly wrote the whimsical, acoustic “Good to Be” and now refers to it as the first time he was musically “genuine and fully expressing myself.”
Just a few months later, he struck gold: While playing guitar in his bedroom, he wrote the lyrics, “You and me belong together/Like cold iced tea and warmer weather,” which would become the instantly catchy hook to the cozy, uplifting “Belong Together,” his ultimate breakthrough and first Billboard Hot 100 hit.
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Meredith Jenks
Ambor grew up with a musical background in Pleasantville, N.Y., playing the piano from a young age at his parents’ request. Though the skill took a backseat in high school, he rekindled his love for the instrument as he approached graduation, trading the classical pieces he previously learned for modern-day pop songs. He proceeded to pen his first song that summer, as he grappled with the emotions of having to leave his small hometown to attend Fairfield University in Connecticut. “I didn’t want to leave home,” he says, “and I tried to write a song to get those feelings out.”
He then returned to work that night as a barback and casually sent the song to his parents in a group chat. “My mom was like, ‘Dad and I love this song. Who’s the artist?’ ” he recalls with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Mom, what do you mean?’ It’s me!”
Ambor self-released a few songs while obtaining a marketing degree in college, and upon his graduation in 2020, decided to take six months to completely immerse himself in chasing his dreams as a musician before considering a different job. “COVID happened after I said that,” he recalls. “I got to spend time working on music at home.”
Thanks to a suggestion from a friend, he joined TikTok later that year. He steadily began to grow a following with his cool guy next door vibe: People gravitated not only toward his big smile and curly brown hair, but to his voice and disarming demeanor as well. He soon began posting covers — including breathtaking renditions of Coldplay’s “Yellow” and Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” — as well as a few originals, and ultimately caught the attention of then-independent manager Kyle Thomson, who admits he’s a “sucker” for a great voice over a piano melody and asked Ambor to send a few demos.
“It was so early on in both of our careers,” says Thomson. “I was excited to dive into something that I felt was going to be a fun project to build.” By the end of 2020, Ambor had signed a management deal with Thomson.
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Like Ambor, Thomson knew that some of his artist’s early work wasn’t playing to the singer-songwriter’s strengths. “At the beginning, he told me he wanted to make early 2000s festival, opera-rock music, like Passion Pit or Grouplove,” he says. “I was like, ‘That doesn’t make sense for what I think your qualities are. Why would you take your natural, raspy voice and distort it with synths?’ What he meant [initially] was that he wanted to make music that made him feel the same way that those bands made people feel.”
But after hearing “Belong Together” for the first time, Thomson knew that Ambor had succeeded in his mission. On the heels of his release of “Good to Be” in October 2023 — and its growing popularity on a global scale — Ambor began to tease the forthcoming new track in late December. And following a few months of building hype on TikTok, “Belong Together” arrived on streaming services on Feb. 16.
Ambor continued to stoke the fire well after its release, posting many videos on the platform of him walking the streets of major European cities while on tour and singing its dialed-up final chorus, several of which have compiled more than 10 million views each. Per Thomson, user-generated content and influencer marketing was crucial in making “Belong Together” “as big as humanly possible.”
By May 11, the single debuted at No. 87 on the Hot 100. It later reached a No. 74 high — and has spent 21 weeks and counting on the ranking. It has also reached Nos. 24 and 20 peaks on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. and Pop Airplay charts, respectively. “Belong Together” has earned 141.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 610.2 million official on-demand global streams through Sept. 26, according to Luminate.
“It has been really surreal to write something that is so heartfelt and authentic to myself and then feel it resonate around the world the way it has,” Ambor reflects. “The way a song can mean something to a fan that’s different than my own experience, but it’s their own story that they’ve attached to a song of mine … that part blows my mind.”
Meredith Jenks
In August, Ambor’s debut album, Rockwood, arrived through Hundred Days/Virgin Music Group, despite some hesitation from the rest of his team to put out a full project too quickly. (Ambor notes the success of “Belong Together” helped in convincing them otherwise.) He split with the label soon after its release, and while he doesn’t divulge much on specifics, he emphasizes trusting his gut while continuing to grow his career.
“I think people sometimes get too caught in the industry of it all,” he says. “Maybe I’ll sign to a major; maybe I’ll stay independent forever. What really matters is putting out good music and meeting and talking to the fans.”
“He has the best work ethic of anyone I’ve ever met,” adds Thomson. “Mark thinks that he can be Taylor Swift, and I’m not going to stop him.”
A version of this story appears in the Oct. 5, 2024, issue of Billboard.
How you like that! BLACKPINK‘s ROSÉ announced that her solo studio album, titled rosie, is set to arrive just in time for the holidays.
“I cannot believe I am finally announcing my first album release to you all,” wrote the K-pop star in an Instagram post featuring the album cover, a closeup of the singer that shows her lying down, blonde curls cascading around her face in waves as she looks at the viewer. In her caption, she goes on to explain that as BLACKPINK wrapped up its yearlong Born Pink World Tour, she found herself at a studio session in L.A., and spent the next year working on music with songwriters and producers, trying to figure out what was next for her.
“I fell asleep many nights feeling confused and lost. But with the support of my dear friends and family, my team, and of course my number ones, I am sat here today excited to announce the date of my album release,” shared the global star, revealing that her album will arrive on Dec. 6 via Atlantic Records. “I have poured my blood and tears into this album. I cannot wait for you to listen to this little journal of mine. Rosie – is the name I allow my friends and family to call me. With this album, I hope you all feel that much closer to me.”
Before signing off, she confirmed one big piece of information for BLINKs: “And yes, it’s a full length album.”
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According to the press release, ROSÉ coproduced and cowrote the album, which includes 12 tracks and is her “most personal and candid” project yet.
Aside from the K-pop supergroup’s world tour and working on her own music, ROSÉ has been busy the past year. Last September, she inspired a Tiffany’s capsule collection that included a locket, earrings and more; attended Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in February and sang along to all 10 minutes of “All Too Well”; partnered with Puma for a campaign in July and more.
ROSÉ isn’t the only member of BLACKPINK with new music. Bandmate LISA has been releasing new music in the past few weeks, including a collab with Rosalia called “New Woman,” as well as a new track titled “Moonlit Floor,” which she debuted at the Global Citizen Festival in NYC and arrives Oct. 3.
See ROSÉ’s album announcement and message below:
The sun will shine on Ariana Grande fans throughout this next week. The pop star just surprise dropped another deluxe edition of her seventh album, Eternal Sunshine, Tuesday (Oct. 1), featuring new live performances of seven tracks — videos of which will go up on her YouTube channel over the next seven days.
Dubbed Eternal Sunshine (Slightly Deluxe and Also Live), the revamped LP features all 13 of the original tracks on Grande’s Billboard 200-topping album, plus her previously released remixes with Mariah Carey (“Yes, And?”), Troye Sivan (“Supernatural”) and Brandy and Monica (“The Boy Is Mine”), as well as the acoustic version of “Imperfect for You.” The new material includes live versions of album opener “Intro (End of the World),” “Don’t Wanna Break Up Again,” “Eternal Sunshine,” “Supernatural” and “Imperfect for You,” along with Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles “Yes, And?” and “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).”
“wanted to surprise you all with one more Eternal Sunshine related something before i head back into my bubble and meet you over the rainbow next month…,” Grande wrote of the release on Instagram, referencing the upcoming premiere of Wicked in late November. “so i performed seven songs (from ag7) with this wonderful group of musicians.”
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The Grammy winner also shared the first video of her performing one of the new live versions — “Intro (End of the World)” — and revealed that the remaining six videos will go up one at a time each day through Oct. 7. “Peaches says thank you for all of your love and that she cannot wait to see you again later,” she added, referring to her Eternal Sunshine alter ego.
In the first video, Grande stands in a dimly lit studio in the center of a group of string players, a guitarist and drummer. Wearing a cream tulle dress and sparkly decals on her eyes, the Victorious alum adds new vocal runs and fresh emotion to the anxiety-ridden track, which begins with her asking the crucial question: “How can I tell if I’m in the right relationship?”
The project comes seven months after the March 8 release of Eternal Sunshine, which spent two weeks at No. 1. Grande has previously treated fans to similar live-performance videos, including the series she dropped in August 2023 to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of her debut album, Yours Truly, and her dreamy Vevo collection of Positions performances.
Watch Grande’s live take on “Intro (End of the World)” above and listen to the full Eternal Sunshine (Slightly Deluxe and Also Live) below.
Hailey Bieber celebrated her fifth wedding anniversary with Justin Bieber on Monday (Sept. 30) by posting a loving tribute to late fashion designer Virgil Abloh. She posted a picture of herself with the beloved fashion icon who created the custom Off-White gown and veil for the model’s wedding on what would have been Abloh’s 44th […]
Lady Gaga is smitten. During a red carpet chat at Monday’s (Sept. 30) Los Angeles premiere of Joker: Folie à Deux the singer could not stop gushing about her fiancé, tech entrepreneur Michael Polansky, with whom she collaborated on her just-released Joker companion album, Harlequin. “It’s just the first time that we decided to fully […]
In one of the many unprecedented turn of events in K-pop this decade, the beloved girl group LOONA experienced an emotional split after terminating contracts with their label before each of the 12 members landed safely to pursue new K-pop paths. Alongside Chuu and Yves‘ new starts as soloists, to five members reconfiguring as Loossemble, the final step of these re-debuts came in ARTMS, consisting of LOONA stars HaSeul, HeeJin, Kim Lip, Choerry, and JinSoul coming together to rebrand themselves, reimagine their artistry and remember their roots as a new quintet.
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See latest videos, charts and news
After releasing a series of solo and unit singles, the group launched their debut full-length album, DALL, to return the girls to the Billboard charts (main single “Virtual Angel” cracked the Top 10 on the World Digital Song Sales chart, while DALL itself landed in the Top 10 of World Albums), and to the delight of fans and critics alike (even earning a spot on Billboard critics’ Best K-Pop Albums of 2024 So Far list).
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Riding the exciting comeback success, the group is embarking on their ARTMS World Tour ‘Moonshot,’ which has already wrapped its North and South American legs. As they prepare to conquer Europe, Australia, and Asia this fall and winter, ARTMS is eager to reflect on their journey from LOONA to their current iteration.
Sitting down with Billboard at the New York office of The Orchard, ARTMS shine with a sense of unity, growth, and playfulness. HaSeul, more confident than ever in English, jokes about accidentally spoiling upcoming tour surprises, while HeeJin candidly confesses her hair is mostly extensions, JinSoul speaks about immersing herself into the A&R process, Choerry balances the group’s past with an exciting future, as Kim Lip looks ahead to what’s next for the group’s personal and professional lives.
Despite the challenges faced, ARTMS beam with a sense of pride over their collective growth and how they’ve taken control of their music and artistic direction. Here, the five idols discuss their creative evolution, navigating the K-pop industry post-LOONA, and their deep connection to the fans who have supported them every step of the way. Read on for more below alongside exclusive photos provided for Billboard.
I’m so proud to see ARTMS here in New York. Kim Lip, JinSoul, and Choerry toured as ODD EYE CIRCLE, but all five of you are here now. How do you feel about ARMTS’ first shows outside Asia?
HaSeul: I’m so excited and a little nervous too because it’s ARTMS’ first concert and tour.
HeeJin: Of course it feels great, and we have lots of thoughts on starting off strong as New York, a big city, is our first stop for this tour.
Congratulations on your first album, DALL, which got such great reactions. Was it a relief to get such a positive response?
Kim Lip: Since we’re releasing an album as ARTMS instead of LOONA, I was worried yet excited about how the public would react to our music. But we’re getting on the charts and receiving lots of attention, so we felt at ease, and I’m so happy to go on tour and meet with our fans.
HaSeul
Lauren Nakao Winn
How did you five come together and decide to move forward as ARTMS?
HaSeul: I was the last member to join ARTMS, but all five of us are very passionate about music. I think the members who came together and gathered [here] had the biggest will to bring ARTMS to life. When producing this album, I felt how sincere we all were about music…we had many solo and unit albums when we were promoting as LOONA, and you can see it as us continuing that identity. In a way, [ARTMS] can be seen as us taking back our identity. And since our skills are outstanding, we released solo, unit, and group albums.
It seems like you have more ownership and responsibility this time. There must have been pressure, but did it feel like you could share something more personal under ARTMS?
HeeJin: Usually, the company tells us what to do, but now, since we’re active players and debuting again, we wanted to work on the identity of ARTMS. We gave a lot of input in the songs and concepts. Our company took them positively and reflected them in our work, so I’d say it’s an album we produced all together.
I imagine reuniting with LOONA’s original producer, Jaden Jeong, must have been special. Was it fun to return to this production style?
JinSoul: We have had a storyline in our group [LOONA] and the fans like this aspect. We further developed the storyline by working again with Jaden Jeong, who [first] created this storyline — and it’s great to add ARTMS to it as well. While adding ARTMS’ colors, everything became more diverse. We maintained a bit of tradition for the fans, and it’s great to show more sides of us and go deeper.
HeeJin: I think fans love it the most that we’re going with the storylines and expanding onto it.
JinSoul
Lauren Nakao Winn
While we know about LOONA’s contract story, I’m more interested in how all 12 of you found strength and came out of it together?
JinSoul: The members share lots of conversations together. But during that time, we looked into what we could do and thought of methods to use to go through with it.
Kim Lip: The members cooperate well together, so we tend to respect each other’s opinions since we’re like a family. I think that’s how we came to a conclusion.
HeeJin: It’s also meaningless if we don’t do it together. So, we did it all together.
HaSeul: We are a family.
Putting the past to rest, if there are fans — whether they’re Orbits or OURII — who are still worried about you or want to check in, what words would you share with them?
HeeJin: We’re always simultaneously thankful and sorry to the fans. It took a lot of time for ARTMS to debut. Despite that, I’d like to thank the fans for waiting for us. There are also fans who became our fans as ARTMS debuted. We’ll promote more from now on, so please be at ease and keep an eye on us. Don’t worry…
Looking ahead, what are some of the special aspects of the Moonshot tour?
HaSeul: During our concerts in South Korea and Japan, we performed TWS’ “Plot Twist.” But for the USA, we prepared a different song to perform — “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift. I look forward to performing that song the most.
JinSoul: When we performed in Korea and Japan, we changed the choreography of “Sparkle” and “Flower Rhythm” for the concert version. Many fans looked forward to it after seeing the choreography video. We also do different ad-libs at different times, so I’m always looking forward to the various ad-libs we’ll do.
HeeJin: The setlists will be similar, but there are always impromptu changes during our concerts, so the fans can really look forward to it. In Japan, there was a moment we performed the same song twice and a time we’d suddenly go off-stage. I look forward to those kinds of impromptu moments. And, of course, I brought my guitar.
Kim Lip
Lauren Nakao Winn
How has it been reuniting with fans in the States?
Kim Lip: We just had a fansigning today. It was fascinating to hold new events like this fansign during this tour. There was one moment that I remember when one fan started to sing in front of us — the fans are very, how do I say this, open when it comes to expressing their feelings. They’re different from the fans in Korea. I really felt the way they so enthusiastically express their feelings this morning, and it makes me really look forward to our concerts.
HeeJin: That’s why I love it. Even if the fans in Korea really want to express themselves, they are very reserved. But on the other hand, fans in the U.S. openly show their support, so it excites us and gives us lots of strength.
Whether it’s your concerts or album production, what is ARTMS’ creative process nowadays?
HeeJin: We’ve been deeply participating in the process, but shall we start off with an answer from the main A&R member?
JinSoul: Jaden Jeong usually brings forward a lot of the music, but we look into the smallest details of the production. For example, we direct the vocals for each other or select the photos to be included in the album. We also selected the album cover design, hair colors, and styling. We participated in lyric writing this time, too. The company works on big tasks and we give our detailed inputs to showcase the best of us.
HeeJin
Lauren Nakao Winn
What are you really proud of to say you’ve worked on?
Kim Lip: We can proudly say that we wrote the lyrics for “Sparkle.” And the light stick!
HeeJin: We got ideas for the light stick and sent over drafts. The final design was our idea. And personally, during the “Virtual Angel” promotions, I wanted to dye my hair white because I thought an angel had a very white, bright image. So, even though I had to sacrifice my hair, I wanted to do it. I discussed it with my company and went on with it.
You’ve never been blonde; your hair looks great!
HeeJin: This is not my hair. [All Laugh] It’s extensions, my hair looks bad.
I’m sure your hair looks great. But from watching K-pop, it feels like the fans can give artists new chances today. Do you think the industry has changed from when you debuted to today?
Choerry: I definitely wouldn’t have expected this back then. We were very young. The situation the 12 of us went through was saddening, but I’m very satisfied with ARTMS right now. I’m happy to have released great songs with the members, my sisters. I also believe we have lots of time to spend with fans, so I hope we can have fun and come to them with better sides.
HaSeul: I’d say we were able to stand on stage again 100% because the fans were waiting for us. And it was made possible because we have fans. The reason why we look forward to the concerts on tour as the time went by is because we want to show a great performance to the fans who’ve been waiting for two years. We’re really looking forward to this tour.
Choerry
Lauren Nakao Winn
I loved HeeJin’s interview with InternetsNathan when she ranked every LOONA song. To give everyone the opportunity, I’d love for you to choose your “favOriTe” song released from LOONA solo days to ARTMS today.
HaSeul: I think “Virtual Angel.” Since the title song [single] is the song you listen to the most due to promotions, there are times you can get sick of it, but I like the song so much that I can listen to it in the car every day.
Kim Lip: “Hi High”? We had lots of solo and unit songs, but we went a long way to release the “Hi High” album. I think it was a relieving album for the members, staff, and fans who were waiting for a long time. I think it’s the most meaningful album; fans still love this song. I can call this my favorite.
HeeJin: I’m going to choose “Butterfly Effect” because ARTMS is starting anew with Jaden Jeong and he told us the story behind this song. It was one of the songs he wanted to release when we were LOONA. He held onto this song for six years and finally got it on the tracklist for DALL. The song feels like a continuation of LOONA to ARTMS. Some lyrics make you think of the past, so it became a song I love.
Choerry: I choose “Singing in the Rain.“ It’s my favorite song because, during concerts, it has a bursting beat and the sound is full and harmonious. And JinSoul’s vocals suit the song so it’s a song that I always wanted. It’s so good that I want to do a collab stage.
HeeJin: I want to do a collab stage for it too!
JinSoul: I choose “Butterfly.” I think this song really shows LOONA’s identity. When I look at past performances, there were times I looked shy, but I think this song was one I was most proud of. The choreography was amazing. It’ll be difficult for me to perform it again, but I think it was a synergy only we could show during that time.
Others: We can do it again! We can do it!
What can we look forward to from ARTMS from here, the tour, what’s next?
Kim Lip: ARTMS is…
All: Vacation! After tour…
Kim Lip: This is a secret, but I think we’ll prepare for the next ARTMS album after the tour. We don’t know the details, but I think it’ll be an album to really look forward to. But it’s not confirmed…
Both of those are important! Any last messages to fans if they couldn’t see you on tour this time?
HeeJin: Thank you so so much for waiting for us. Fans who attended our concerts will know, but even though we’re fewer members as ARTMS, you’ll be able to see perfect performances. We’ve become very experienced performers. Thank you so much for loving us and coming to see us. I hope the members stay healthy throughout the tour because we wish to promote the group to many people.
HeeJin, Kim Lip, HaSeul, JinSoul and Choerry of ARTMS
Lauren Nakao Winn
Britney Spears is recalling a terrifying incident that almost led her to visit the emergency room. The pop princess took to Instagram on Monday (Sept. 30) to share a video recalling a story that happened about six months ago. “I was in my room and I turned the fire on and, all of a sudden, […]
When Taylor Swift‘s Midnights dropped in 2022, one of the most-talked-about lyrics came on the second verse of lead single “Anti-Hero.” Two years later, actress Cristin Milioti is addressing whether she might’ve inspired the line in question.
On the track, the pop star sings, “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby, and I’m a monster on the hill.” And while there were many theories as to what she meant by the term “sexy baby,” one of the most common was that Swift was referencing Milioti’s 30 Rock character, Abby Flynn.
The speculation comes from a scene in which Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon slams Flynn for adopting a “sexy baby” persona to get attention from men. And in a recent interview with SiriusXM, Milioti touched on the possibility of her character — who ultimately has a much more complicated backstory than her air-headed personality suggests at first — giving the 14-time Grammy winner the idea for “Anti-Hero.”
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“I gotta say, when that album dropped, my phone really blew up with people asking about that,” Milioti said. “And I don’t know. I mean, in my wildest … that would be such a compliment. I would love that to be true.”
However, the Penguin star shared that she can’t actually say for sure whether 30 Rock served as Swift’s inspiration. “I have no confirmation if it is,” Milioti added.
Though the “sexy baby” impetus remains a mystery, “Anti-Hero” in general examines Swift’s personal fears and insecurities, something she spoke about in October 2022 in an Instagram video shortly before Midnights dropped. “Track three, ‘Anti-Hero,’ is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written,” she said at the time. “I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized.”
“Not to sound too dark, but I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person — don’t feel bad for me, you don’t need to,” she continued. “But this song really is a real guided tour through all the things I tend to hate about myself.”
“Anti-Hero” went on to become the longest-running No. 1 hit of Swift’s career, spending eight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. Its corresponding music video — which the star self-directed — later took home video of the year at the 2023 VMAs.
Watch Milioti discuss Swift’s “sexy baby” lyric and her original 30 Rock scene below.