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Katy Perry‘s 143 has topped this week’s new music poll that features artists in various genres of music.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Sept. 20) on Billboard, choosing the pop superstar’s sixth album as their favorite new music release of the past week.
143 brought in nearly 59% of the vote on the poll, securing a notable edge ahead of new releases from Gwen Stefani (“Somebody Else’s”), Bad Bunny (“Una Velita”), Keith Urban (High), Bon Iver (“S P E Y S I D E”), Future (Mixtape Pluto), and others.
143, which is code for “I love you,” marks Perry’s first album since 2020’s Smile, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200. The project features previously released singles “Woman’s World” and “Lifetimes,” as well as Doechii and 21 Savage collaborations on “I’m His He’s Mine” and “Gimme Gimme,” respectively. Other song titles include “Crush,” “Nirvana,” “All the Love,” “Truth” and “Wonder,” among others.
“I set out to create a bold, exuberant, celebratory dance-pop album with the symbolic 143 numerical expression of love as a throughline message,” Perry previously shared in a statement about the project. On TikTok, she added, “143 is honestly a dance party. All fandoms, invited. And it’s high energy, lots of love, mostly lots of love and BPM, summer, sexy. And it’s for y’all.”
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This is Perry’s second week in a row to top Billboard‘s new music poll. Last week, the star’s “I’m His, He’s Mine” collab with Doechii brought in 30% of the vote.
Trailing behind Perry on this week’s poll is Stefani’s “Somebody Else’s,” which brought in nearly 27% of the vote. The new single, which nods back to No Doubt’s brand of new wave and radio-ready pop, will be featured on the singer’s fifth album, Bouquet, set for release on Nov. 15.
See the final results of this week’s poll below. Check out Billboard‘s Friday Music Guide to catch up with more must-hear releases from this week.
Lizzo isn’t letting hurtful comments get in the way of her fitness journey.
On Friday (Sept. 20), the 36-year-old “Truth Hurts” singer respond to allegations on social media that she’s been using the popular weight loss drug ozempic after sharing videos of her weight loss transformation.
“When you finally get Ozempic allegations after 5 months of weight training and calorie deficit,” the pop-rap star captioned a video on Instagram of herself sighing into the camera.
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Lizzo’s carousel also included a screenshot of a rude follower commenting on one of her posts. “Did she use Ozempic or did she snort coke,” the person wrote, prompting the star to respond, “whyyyy do u follow me?”
Days earlier, the four-time Grammy winner shared clips on social media of herself hard at work in the gym. The videos feature the artist sharing before-and-after shots of her weight loss while donning her shapewear brand Yitty. One of the clips is soundtracked by Nicki Minaj saying, “The fact that you would even discuss my looks is insane. I’m a bad b—-, always been a bad b—-.”” Lizzo captioned the Sept. 19 post, “FINE BOTH WAYS,” alongside exhaling face emojis.
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Lizzo has also recently shared an update about new music. “JUST A LIL ALBUM UPDATE 4 MY REAL LIZZBIANS: I’m making the BEST music of my life— this album (like all my other albums) is a BODY OF TWERK,” she wrote on Instagram alongside photos of herself in the recording studio. “I want you to listen to the WHOLE THING/IN ORDER with a glass of ur favorite wet stuff and ur heart open. This is more than music to me… this is my soul poured out and bared to the world.”
The “About Damn Time” hitmaker has been giving fans a look into her fitness routine in recent weeks. In an Aug. 25 post revealing that she’s “taking a gap year,” the star shared fitness footage from Bali, where she’s seen jumping rope on a balcony.
Just before summertime, the star gave an update on her mental health, a topic she’s been candid about over the past year amid harassment allegations and public scrutiny. (In August 2023, three former tour dancers filed a lawsuit against her, alleging sexual misconduct and hostile work conditions. Lizzo claimed the accusations to be false and deemed them “sensationalized stories”; the lawsuit was put on hold in March pending appeals.)
“I’m the happiest I’ve been in 10 months,” she wrote on Instagram in May. “The strange thing about depression is you don’t know you’re in it until you’re out of it. I’m definitely not all the way as carefree as I used to be. But the dark cloud that followed me every day is finally clearing up. My smile reaches my eyes again and that’s a win.”
See Lizzo’s post about her weight loss on Instagram below.
Janet Jackson questioned Kamala Harris’ race in an interview published by The Guardian on Saturday (Sept. 21).
The interview touched upon the singer’s Together Again Tour, how she’s recorded “a lot of music that’s just sitting on the shelf,” and being a parent. It also shifted to the topic of the upcoming U.S. election, with the reporter noting Americans could elect their first Black, female president: democratic nominee Harris.
“Well, you know what they supposedly said?” Jackson chimed in. “She’s not Black — that’s what I heard, that she’s Indian.”
Added Jackson, “Her father’s white, that’s what I was told. I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days. I was told that they discovered her father was white.”
She didn’t elaborate on where she’d heard this information, which is false.
Harris is both Black and Indian. Her father, Donald J. Harris, came to the U.S. from Jamaica. Her mother, the late Shyamala Gopalan, came to the U.S. from India. They both moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California, Berkeley, which is where they met in 1962.
The Guardian approached the topic again with Jackson, asking if she thinks America is ready for a president who is a woman of color.
“I don’t know,” Jackson said. “Honestly, I don’t want to answer that because I really truthfully don’t know. I think either way it goes is going to be mayhem.”
The singer’s quotes about Harris trended on social media, where many fans expressed disappointment in one of their idols repeating misinformation.
“You had the chance to stand with a Black woman loud and proud and you didn’t. This is hard for a lifelong fan,” says a top comment on Jackson’s most recent Instagram post, which was taken over with reactions to what Jackson said about Harris.
On X, formerly Twitter, a post read, “Janet Jackson is one of the most influential people in music history. It was simply irresponsible of her to repeat something she ‘heard’ regarding the very thing that they use against Kamala! Her own race. We are less than 50 days away from the election. We gotta talk smarter!”
Over the summer, Donald Trump brought up Harris’ racial identity at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, where he claimed, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
At the Sept. 10 presidential debate, Trump said, “All I can say is I read where she was not Black … And then I read that she was Black, and that’s OK. Either one was OK with me. That’s up to her.”
Harris later responded, “Honestly, I think it’s a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president, who has consistently, over the course of his career, attempted to use race to divide the American people.”
Jackson, according to the reporter behind the The Guardian article, was not feeling well on the day of the interview. She had a cold.
Chappell Roan says she’s been diagnosed with severe depression, but she hasn’t been feeling sad.
The “Good Luck, Babe!” singer-songwriter, just named best new artist at the MTV VMAs, tells The Guardian she’s “in therapy twice a week” while on the road for her Midwest Princess Tour. The trek currently has her in London (Sept. 21), with a stop in Berlin next (Sept. 23) before she returns to the U.S. for a handful of concerts, beginning with the All Things Go Festival in New York City on Sept. 28.
“I went to a psychiatrist last week because I was like, I don’t know what’s going on,” Roan shared with the publication for a profile released on Saturday.
“She diagnosed me with severe depression — which I didn’t think I had because I’m not actually sad,” she said. “But I have every symptom of someone who’s severely depressed.”
Roan’s symptoms have included brain frog, forgetfulness, poor focus and “a very lackluster viewpoint.”
“I think it’s because my whole life has changed,” she said of her current symptoms. “Everything that I really love to do now comes with baggage. If I want to go thrifting, I have to book security and prepare myself that this is not going to be normal. Going to the park, pilates, yoga — how do I do this in a safe way where I’m not going to be stalked or harassed?”
Later in the article, she said that “every time I walk through my front door, it just comes out of me … I can’t even help it, I just start sobbing and either being so angry at myself for choosing this path, or grieving how the curiosity and pure wonder I had about the world is somewhat taken away from me.”
The upside of fame: the opportunity it brings. “I get to feel the energy of other people. It’s so cool to have shows so packed and have so much joy in the room,” she said.
Roan — whose debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and who has seen seven songs chart on the Hot 100 in just the past five months — isn’t alone in experiencing complex feelings about fame (“I was warned that it’s going to feel like going through puberty again,” she told The Guardian. “My body does feel different. It’s holding tension in a very different way: I have all these new emotions and I’m really confused”). She’s bonded with peers in the industry over the pressure that comes with such a sudden rise, meeting up with Sabrina Carpenter and texting Lorde for advice.
“We’re both going through something so f—ing hard,” said Roan of Carpenter in a recent Rolling Stone cover story, sharing that the “Espresso” hitmaker “feels like everything is flying, and she’s just barely hanging on.”
Roan has been open about how she’s feeling with fans, too. In August, she penned a statement on Instagram about setting boundaries with those engaging in “predatory behavior (disguised as ‘superfan’ behavior) that has become normalized because of the way women who are well-known have been treated in the past.”
“I embrace the success of the project, the love I feel, and the gratitude I have. What I do not accept are creepy people, being touched, and being followed,” she wrote.
The singer-songwriter, now 26, has also been candid about pre-fame mental health struggles. Roan was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder at age 22.
She described her childhood experience in an interview last year with the University of Southern California’s Daily Trojan: “Being bipolar, I was so depressed as a little kid and so angry. You just think you’re such a bad person, and don’t realize that you’re really sick and need help, and our parents don’t know how to deal with it. I think it’s like rewiring my brain to be like, ‘Actually, you’re a good person, and you’re creating a safe space and music for people to dance to.’”
In 2022, she posted on Instagram about her bipolar II disorder, telling fans “it’s pretty hard to keep it together” and balance work and fan commitments with her therapy schedule. She noted, “I don’t really talk about it much, but it affects me daily and is a pretty big part of my music.” In 2023, she wrote about it again on Instagram: “i am very fortunate and grateful to have my dream job,” she said, but added, “This job is very difficult for me to process and maintain a healthy life & mindset. I already have difficulty regulating my emotions because I have bipolar 2 disorder.”
Read Roan’s latest conversation with The Guardian here. Roan’s upcoming tour dates can be found on her official website.
Celebrities swarmed Milan Fashion Week on the last big day of runway shows on Saturday (Sept. 21), sending crowds of adoring fans from venue to venue. Designers previewed mostly womenswear for next spring and summer. Madonna sat in a front-row seat at Dolce & Gabbana, along with Naomi Campbell and Victoria De Angelis of Maneskin. […]
Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” takes flight to No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart dated Sept. 28. The track, released on Darkroom/Interscope/ICLG, gained by 8% in plays Sept. 13-19. (The Pop Airplay chart ranks songs by weekly plays on over 150 mainstream top 40 radio stations monitored by Mediabase, with data provided to […]
A smiling Big Ocean greet you for a nighttime Zoom call with shaking hands — the American Sign Language translation of applause and cheering — which encapsulates a palpable energy bursting from a K-pop trio unlike any other pop group.
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HyunJin, ChanYeon and JiSeok came together as Big Ocean to debut in April this year as the first Deaf/Hard of Hearing group in K-pop. The group’s warm embrace onto the scene by superstars, production and executives across Korea points towards a more inclusive global music scene.
Brought together by Korea’s only agency representing talent with disabilities Parastar Entertainment, Big Ocean sees three stars with different backgrounds and hearing abilities as a sign of hope and possibility.
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The group’s main vocalist Park HyunJin lost hearing in his left ear after a childhood accident, but a cochlear surgery led him to learning to play the piano, speak some English, and break out as a YouTube creator and TV personality educating viewers about hearing disabilities. Main rapper Lee ChanYeon, who underwent cochlear implant surgery for both ears, developed his musical interest after experiencing the positive side effects of music therapy. Meanwhile, youngest member and main dancer Kim JiSeok was born Hard of Hearing and attended a special school for those with disabilities before becoming a professional ski racer for Seoul skiing team.
Big Ocean admits that the members’ varying auditory perceptions can present challenges when it comes to learning choreography, singing in rhythm and performing live, but it’s inspired innovative ways for the group and their Parastar team to find new ways to rehearse successfully like utilizing vibrating smartwatches as metronomes or flashing lights for rhythmic counting.
While the definition of a K-pop act has expanded from Korean-born pop singers to artists representing a range of different countries, cultures, and languages, Big Ocean not only look the part of handsome, shining stars with international appeal but align with one of the core messages within in K-pop to instill inspiring messages to listeners both with their stories and music.
“The message from our song ‘Slow’ is that if you move forward and continue, slowly and steadily, you can do anything,” HyunJin says of the group’s latest single released last month that features Young K of chart-topping K-pop rock outfit DAY6, marking their latest venture to share more personal storytelling through their songs.
“Not only our seniors but also people from outside the company are giving us a lot of support, so we are really thankful,” adds JiSeok. “If we didn’t have that help, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
“Not only our seniors but also people from outside the company are giving us a lot of support, so we are really thankful,” adds JiSeok with a special shoutout to the group’s fans, known affection as PADOs. “If we didn’t have that help, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
With recognitions from members of Stray Kids, ITZY and even the President of Korea, read on for more from Big Ocean’s story and why they are a group to watch as Billboard‘s K-Pop Rookie of the Month for September 2024.
Congratulations on your debut this year and being named Billboard‘s Rookie of the Month! Overall, how has 2024 been for you?
JiSeok: I was really worried if we could do well. I was concerned, “Are we going to be okay?” But fortunately, so many people and so many senior idols gave us a lot of support and help. Not only our seniors but also people from outside the company are giving us a lot of support, so we are really thankful. If we didn’t have that help, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
HyunJin: And even today, we got an opportunity to meet with the President of Korea. We are also getting tons of invitations from outside of the country, so we’re getting so much love and support. So we are really, really grateful.
ChanYeon: And so many of our fans, PADOS, from so many countries, are sending us love and then recognizing us. So, we are really thankful and I feel like we have to pay back with even greater performances.
Thank you for taking time while you’re so busy. Congratulations on your latest single, “Slow,” featuring Young K of DAY6. It’s such a great collaboration; how did it come together, and how was your experience?
HyunJin: The message from our song” Slow,” is that if you move forward and continue, slowly and steadily, you can do anything. And in the process of making this song, we made a proposal to DAY6’s Young K that featuring his voice would sound great and work great with our song. He said “Yes” immediately, so that’s why we were able to release the song successfully and we’re so grateful for it. Thanks to him, we were able to feel even more support and we feel he really has our back.
JiSeok: We were really hoping that we could thank him in person, [but] because Young K was very busy preparing for the [new DAY6] album, we weren’t able to do so. But if we could meet in person later, that would be really great.
Are you guys fans of DAY6? Their latest album is topping the charts in South Korea.
HyunJin: We listened to one of the new songs released from their album, “Melt Down,” and really, really loved it. We wanted to pay back our debts for Young K featuring our song, so we took the highlight of the song and turned it into a challenge on social media with sign language.
JiSeok: The song is doing really great and is really popular — we really want to congratulate them!
I was curious about how you create your sign language challenges and incorporate signing into your performances. Are you the ones making the moves? Do you work with a team?
ChanYeon: When we do a simple sign language challenge, we discuss among ourselves and make it. But when we’re choreographing or releasing something like our official music videos where we are mixing Korean and American Sign Languages, we actually get reviewed by sign language experts to make sure everything is expressed in the most precise way.
Some readers might be surprised to learn that Deaf or Hard of Hearing people can sing, dance, rap and more. Can you tell us about your different backgrounds with just music?
JiSeok: I go to a special school for people with hearing disabilities. At the time when I was in school, RM from BTS sunbaenim actually made a large donation to help the school’s music education. It was thanks to that donation that I actually got a lot more interested in music; I learned about dancing for the first time, I had a lot of opportunities to learn different musical instruments. So, that’s how I was able to fall in love with music and able to dream of becoming an idol.
HyunJin: When I was nine years old, I had an accident and lost hearing ability in my left ear completely. I had a surgery that allowed me to hear sounds; however, afterward, it didn’t really sound natural to me anymore; it sounded very artificial. I felt very uncomfortable hearing any kind of or type of sound.
At the time, I was also learning piano and attending an academy. Listening to the actual piano was very pretty and the only pleasant sound to me. So, as I played piano, sound felt positive, not negative anymore. So that’s when I started to become more interested in music because the piano was the only sound that made me feel good. After I grew up and became an adult, I became a YouTube creator and made many videos about breaking the barriers regarding misunderstandings and prejudices regarding hearing disability. I started making TV appearances and that’s when I actually learned about my current agency, Parastar Entertainment, so I naturally challenged myself to be an idol.
ChanYeon: In my case, I wasn’t really interested in music at all. Only after I got the surgery for cochlear implants for both my ears did I go through a lot of music therapy, and music actually really helped me. That’s when I found my interest in music.
As a boy band, how do you interact with music to perform as a group? Can you share the different ways you overcome any challenges?
HyunJin: Because the level of hearing is different in each one of us, the way we perceive beats and rhythms is also different. So, our company came up with the idea of using smartwatches and vibrations from the smartwatches as metronomes. That’s how we were able to feel the beat and rhythm in sync — and it made it so much easier for us to feel the music.
We also developed a “beam monitor” that flashes lights in sync with the music. So, that was another way. We also continuously film ourselves dancing to the music and constantly monitor ourselves and review to see who feels the beats differently or if we’re not in sync. And we continuously practice. And that’s how we can move in sync.
You’ve performed on Korea’s weekly K-pop music programs like Show! Music Core, Inkigayo, The Show, Music Bank and more. These shows are famously very fast-paced. How was your experience, and could they meet any accommodations you needed?
JiSeok: Our first time going on music programs, they were aware of the fact that we had hearing difficulties, so they always made sure to use hand gestures, give visual signals for cues to enter the stage, or whenever they wanted to send us some type of message. They were really nice about it; very, very kind. They constantly asked us whether we had any problems hearing or listening to the music. So, thanks to them, we could put up a good performance.
HyunJin: If the set or environment is too loud or noisy, we might have trouble listening for the start of the song. So, during rehearsals and the actual shooting, they made sure to ask for the audience’s understanding and to be quieter than usual so that we could actually hear the music. They were very generous for that. Also, our dancers make sure the choreography opens with a starting dance move. The background dancers initiated the choreography so then we knew the performance had started.
ChanYeon: And even our staff members ensured that everyone at the TV stations and on-site knew we might have trouble communicating or listening. So, they ensured everyone was aware, and I think we had no trouble. We’re really grateful for everyone being so considerate.
I saw you met with Felix from Stray Kids backstage during the shows to learn the “Chk Chk Boom” challenge. Tell me about that experience.
JiSeok: After the broadcast, I met Felix for the first time. I thought he was a complete angel — I really thought he was an angel. As soon as I met him, he greeted me with American Sign Language. He prepared it himself and showed us that he learned “Nice to meet you” and “How are you?” It really impressed us. We did the dance challenge together — I was so nervous, soo nervous! — but I was happy and really appreciative of everything. I thought about how I should practice and work even harder to perform even better.
After the dance challenge, Felix gave us [Stray Kids’] album as a gift. I was so grateful; I can’t even express it in words. I really want to see him again and meet him in the future.
I saw a recent announcement from Parastar Entertainment that Big Ocean is auditioning new members. Could we see the group expand in the future?
HyunJin: We have three members, right? We think three of us is too small and that our group is not big enough. That’s why we’re we’re hiring new members. If you come to our website of the company you can apply for the audition 24-7 so please come! We’re definitely looking for more members to apply.
Any other messages you want to share with your international fans at this time?
HyunJin: So three days after this interview, it will be five months since we debuted as Big Ocean so I really want to say thank you to all the fans and people who made Big Ocean possible and gave us a lot of support. To our fandom, PADOS, who are continuously supporting us, promoting us, and even doing all these activities to attract more PADOS on social [media] communities — I really want to say thank you. We will do our part and work harder to show you even greater performance and activities.
JiSeok: Thank you so much for such this great opportunity. Also, in November, we’re trying to release another song, so we will really work hard with our company. If we do release our new song, please send us a lot of support. We will work hard.
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It looks like Lady Gaga has something to say ahead of her highly anticipated seventh studio album — and fans are all ears. The pop star caught the attention of her Little Monsters with a cryptic Instagram post shared Friday (Sept. 20), giving no explanation as she shared a grainy image of white streaky text […]
On this week’s (Sept. 6) episode of the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century podcast, we take a look at a pair of enduring all-time greats: the Queen of Latin Music Shakira and the rap GOAT Jay-Z. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news First, host Andrew Unterberger is […]