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When Cai Xukun — the 26-year-old Chinese singer-songwriter better known as KUN — began working on his smash single “Afterglow,” he wanted to capture fleeting moments of change by connecting time and space with art and fashion. “I pondered for a long time about what kind of word could represent this imagery and mood,” he says. “Finally, the word ‘afterglow’ came to mind. We often see this scenery during various travel moments — including while driving; it represents our feelings in that instant. I chose this theme and combined it with some of the images in my mind: models on the runway, flashing lights, shifting time and space and changing people.”
“Afterglow” immediately connected with audiences. On its release day in early June, the song achieved a score of over 95 on the Tencent Music Uni Chart, which aggregates data from nine major platforms and over 100 radio stations. The song remained on the chart for 10 weeks and became the fastest song to receive gold certification on the Tencent chart; it also made the June edition of the Tencent Music Wave Chart, which is voted on by over 200 Chinese music industry professionals. That success has informed his selection as China’s representative for Billboard’s Global No. 1s, as chosen jointly by Tencent Music Chart and Billboard China.
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KUN created “Afterglow” with soul and rock sounds, and his integration of modern and classic production influences helped to give the song a timeless feel. And the song’s success marks the beginning of a new musical phase for KUN. “In my upcoming works, I will include some classic or modern elements,” he says. “I hope everyone can gradually sense a recognizable style in my music.”
In fact, several new singles KUN released in 2024 represent his fresh musical explorations. For instance, “Remedy” features clean piano sounds paired with a vintage vocal style, revealing his more minimalist side. It also reflects his listening habits: “I often enjoy classic songs, especially in quiet moments alone, listening to music and savoring that dialogue with myself,” he says.
While his previous works were warmer, KUN’s 2024 release “RIDE OR DIE” introduces a sound that’s new for him. “This song serves as a signal I’m conveying, heralding a transformation in my future musical style,” he says. “I believe it is essential to present something distinct to my audience, which has always been my aspiration. Consequently, the production process for ‘RIDE OR DIE’ extended over a considerable period and traversed numerous iterations, aiming to express the ‘stormy night’ concept that has long resided in my heart.”
KUN photographed for the Billboard China Global No. 1s Issue.
Tianyao Wang/Billboard China
Looking ahead, KUN plans to continue to expand his online live concept Art Lab, chronicling his growth and reflecting his changes from year to year — while strengthening his connections with audiences. “I can feel their enthusiasm, and they can feel my energy,” he says of his live performances. As time progresses, KUN is learning to “enjoy the process,” he adds. “Whether you genuinely enjoy the experience or merely fulfill a task can yield entirely different results. I believe that embracing this journey is paramount.”
Now, KUN is relishing a journey of “accumulation.” He’s preparing for a long journey ahead and accumulating new musical energy that he plans to direct toward producing more great songs. “This year, through the process of production and performance, I have engaged in numerous discussions and collaborations with various artists, which have profoundly influenced my personal perspectives and aesthetics,” he says. “Next year is likely to be a year where I unveil the fruits of my introspection.”
As Chinese artists increasingly gain international acclaim, KUN believes that the intersection of music across diverse cultures transcends language and geography, fostering cultural exchange. “I aspire for more individuals globally to experience music that is authentically ours as Chinese,” he says. “This has consistently been my ambition.”
Gracie Abrams had lots of new eyes on her during her Saturday Night Live musical-guest debut over the weekend, including Barbra Streisand‘s — and Babs liked what she saw.
Two days after the 25-year-old pop star performed on the live comedy series for the first time ever Saturday, the Broadway legend shared a photo of Abrams singing and playing guitar on the 30 Rock stage and wrote, “I just saw a wonderful new singer named GRACIE ABRAMS (@gracieabrams) on Saturday Night Live this weekend.”
Streisand also pointed out the former Eras Tour opener’s famous parentage. “And it turns out she’s the daughter of my friend JJ Abrams!” the Funny Girl actress wrote, shouting out the Star Wars: The Force Awakens director.
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Gracie performed two tracks on the Chris Rock-hosted episode of SNL, starting with runaway hit “That’s So True.” Released in October as part of her The Secret of Us deluxe album, the track became the California native’s first-ever Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit in November, so far peaking at No. 6.
The star followed it up with “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” a hit from the original The Secret of Us track list, which peaked at No. 19 on the Hot 100 in October. In a recent year-end conversation with Billboard, Gracie spoke about both of the tracks, noting, “When ‘I Love You, I’m Sorry’ ended up being the song that took off the most, I felt like it was — not that we needed it — permission to allow acoustic guitar to remain the driving force behind ‘That’s So True,’ which came from the feeling of living with a burning, fiery rage of jealousy.”
“Seeing the life that song is having right now is psychotic to me,” added the musician, who recently announced a run of North American tour dates in support of her deluxe album.
Streisand also released new music this year, dropping “Love Will Survive” in April for Peacock’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz. “Because of the rise in antisemitism around the world today, I wanted to sing ‘Love Will Survive’ in the context of this series as a way of remembering the six-million souls who were lost less than 80 years ago,” she said of the project in a statement at the time. “And also to say that even in the darkest of times, the power of love can triumph and endure.”
Gracie and the Yentl star also have something else in common: Both are up for awards at the 2025 Grammys. The former is in the running for best pop duo/group performance thanks to her “Us” duet with Taylor Swift, while Streisand earned nods for best song written for visual media thanks to “Love Will Survive” and best audio book, narration, and storytelling recording for memoir My Name Is Barbra.
Chappell Roan is a favorite to win big at the 2025 Grammys — and if she does, she plans to stir a little controversy.
On A Carpool Karaoke Christmas with Zane Lowe, which premiered first thing Monday (Dec. 16) on Apple TV+, the 26-year-old pop star revealed that she has some complicated feelings about the awards show, hinting that she will probably do a little disrupting if she wins any of her six nominations at the 2025 ceremony.
“It’s such a double-edged sword for me, because I’m like, ‘Yes, it is a talent show for the popular kids,’” she began of the Grammys. “That’s one side.
“But the other side is, ‘Oh my God, how amazing is it that a gay artist wrote a gay song that went No. 1, with a gay writer who did not grow up in the industry, did not have an in, has been busting her a– for like a decade?’” Roan continued. “That’s honorable to me. It’s an honor to be nominated with some of the other artists.”
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The Missouri native is in the running for all of the “big four” Grammy categories next year, including best new artist, album of the year for The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and song and record of the year for her Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Good Luck, Babe!” When asked whether she has remarks ready to go if she’s called onstage, Roan replied, “I don’t have a speech yet, but you know me. I’m going to say something controversial.
“Why not? Girl, what do I have to lose?” the “Pink Pony Club” artist added. “The fearlessness comes from in my heart knowing I’m always going to be OK.”
Grammy nominations went live in November, revealing that Roan is tied with Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift for six nods each in 2025. Beyoncé has the most nominations going into next year ceremony with 11, while Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone are tied for second-most with seven apiece.
In addition to the Big Four categories, Roan is also up for best pop solo performance for “Good Luck, Babe!” and best pop vocal album for Midwest Princess, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in August. The project — and Roan’s career, for that matter — has been steadily snowballing since its release in September 2023, with the star finishing out 2024 as Billboard‘s Top New Artist.
And while the VMA winner has been open about her excitement regarding her Grammy nominations, she’s also previously expressed mixed feelings. “I’m kind of hoping I don’t win [a Grammy],” she told The Face in September. “Because then everyone will get off my a–: ‘See guys, we did it and we didn’t win, bye!’ I won’t have to do this again!”
New year, new Madonna music! The Queen of Pop took to Instagram on Monday (Dec. 16) to reveal that she’s been in the studio with DJ, songwriter and producer Stuart Price. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Working on new music with Stuart Price. these past few […]
For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard will be counting down our editorial staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 all this week — having already revealed our Honorable Mentions, our Comeback of the Year and our Rookie of the Year artists all last week, and our No. 10 Greatest Pop Star earlier today. Now, at No. 9, we remember the year in Billie Eilish — who continued one of the great pop star runs of the past decade with a year that felt like her really coming into her own in particularly new and rewarding ways.
By January 2024, Billie Eilish had already accomplished more in roughly five years than most pop stars do in a lifetime. The numbers spoke for themselves; since her breakthrough in 2019, the singer accrued 7 Grammys, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a No. 1 single alongside four other top 10 hits on the Hot 100, two No. 1 debuts on the Billboard 200 and a sold-out arena tour. By practically every metric, Eilish had more than earned her place in the pantheon of modern pop greats.
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Where others might have rested on their laurels, Eilish spent her 2024 cementing her status as a leading artist of her generation while creating her own version of pop stardom. The scrappy, goth-core teenager who took over the world in 2019 was gone, replaced by a young woman finally starting to find her footing in a turbulent world.
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It helped that the start of her year saw spillover success from an otherwise-quiet 2023. Even in an off-cycle year, the singer-songwriter unleashed the languishing ballad “What Was I Made For?” from the Barbie soundtrack, capturing a world-worn sense of ennui that could have easily eluded a 21-year-old pop singer-songwriter. For her existentialist efforts, Eilish was rewarded, taking home two more Grammys, a Golden Globe and an Oscar in 2024, breaking new records with each respective award.
But Eilish had no intention to spend her 2024 victory-lapping. After spending the better part of two years battling writer’s block with her collaborator and big brother Finneas, Eilish found her sound — not quite the brooding alt-pop experimentation of When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, nor the melodic, torch-bearing introspection of Happier Than Ever, but a nebulous middle ground between the two — and announced the impending release Hit Me Hard and Soft in April. There would be no singles, no previews, no teases: As she told Rolling Stone, “every single time an artist I love puts out a single without the context of the album, I’m just already prone to hating on it.” Instead, she insisted, the fans would just have to wait and listen.
It was clear from that first listen that Eilish’s subversive strategy was paying off. While critics praised both of the singer’s previous LPs for their emotional frankness, Hit Me landed haymakers of honesty across each of its 10 tracks, as Eilish dissected body dysmorphia (“Skinny”), disconnection (“Chihiro”), unreciprocated affection (“The Greatest”) and the obsessive attention of fans (“The Diner”) — all topics she’d touched on before, but never with this level of in-depth self-awareness. Meanwhile, Finneas’ production took everything that worked on her last two projects, blended it all together and added in new shades to create an isolated sonic universe for Hit Me to occupy. There’s a reason both Billie and Finneas compared her album to Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die and Vince Staples’ Big Fish Theory — Hit Me Hard and Soft was, in fact, an “album-ass album.”
From the word go, it became readily apparent that the album hit hard, not soft, with fans. For the first time in her career, Eilish debuted every song from the album on the Hot 100, all of them within the chart’s top 40. She also sold a career-high 339,000 units in one week. Yes, Hit Me did become her first album not to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — but when you consider her competition was Taylor Swift’s monolithic The Tortured Poets Department, still selling 378,000 units in its fifth of 17 total weeks (and counting) atop the chart so far, it becomes clear how huge Hit Me Hard and Soft truly was.
One of the biggest stories to come out of the album’s release week, though, was the official first single announced after its release — the sexy, sapphic “Lunch.” Bearing a similar sonic bravado to her lone Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Bad Guy,” the song’s sweltering bassline kicks up under Eilish’s casually confident croon, as she opines about the pleasures of … well, pleasure. “I could eat that girl for lunch/ Yeah, she dances on my tongue/ Tastes like she might be the one,” she winks on the track. After a rocky coming out in late 2023, here was Eilish taking control of the narrative, setting the record straight (well, you get it) and saying exactly how she felt about the women around her. Plus, the fans were clearly eating “Lunch” up — the song bowed at No. 5 on the Hot 100, the highest debut on the chart in Eilish’s career.
It wouldn’t be the last time Eilish waxed poetic about the art of femme-focused seduction in 2024 either — months later, on a blockbuster remix of Charli XCX’s Brat deluxe track “Guess,” Eilish would double down as she complimented her love interest’s underwear, before slyly looking to her collaborator: “Charli likes boys, but she knows I’d hit it.” Both “Lunch” and “Guess” became key fixtures in what observers referred to as the sapphic pop renaissance of the summer, where women singing about their love for women took over the cultural conversation. As artists like Chappell Roan and Reneé Rapp dominated the festival circuit, Eilish’s odes to flirtation and feasting flitted around the Hot 100’s top 40.
Yet the great benefit of Eilish’s release strategy had yet to fully pay off. As “Lunch” and most of the rest of Hit Me’s songs moved down the charts in the weeks following their release, one song began to slowly glide up the charts. It wasn’t ambient, slap-bass featuring “Chihiro,” the song Eilish had filmed a music video for and signaled as her followup single — rather, the lovestruck, ‘80s-tinged “Birds of a Feather” emerged from the nest, gradually soaring up the Hot 100.
“Birds,” by almost every measure, is unlike other Billie Eilish songs. Over plinking synths and low-key acoustic guitar strums, a smitten Eilish sings about an uncomplicated, eternal kind of love — the kind of love that, in so many of her other songs, had notably eluded her. Gone are the sneaky, off-kilter production tricks from breakout When We All Fall Asleep, now replaced by a simple melody. Even Billie’s vocals evolve throughout the song; her signature airy head-voice shifts down into a stunning, full-throated belt by the song’s conclusion.
Perhaps that’s why fans became so enamored with the track. The song quickly found an audience on TikTok, soundtracking thousands of videos celebrating users’ friendships and relationships, as Eilish’s voice promised that she couldn’t “change the weather,” but that “if it’s forever, it’s even better.” Even though the track wasn’t necessarily intended to be a single, the fans had spoken: by July, the label had officially serviced the the track to radio as the album’s second official single. “Birds” quickly rose to No. 1 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart in August, where it’s ruled for a combined 18 weeks and counting. After giving a beachside performance of the song for the Olympic handover celebration in August, the song continued climbing up the Pop Airplay chart until it reached No. 1 in September, where it earned an eight-week stay at the summit. After the release of the track’s paranormal video at the end of September, “Birds” reached No. 2 on the Hot 100, become one of Eilish’s career-defining hits.
It’s fitting that Eilish earned her latest breakout track without meaning to – that seemed to be her standard mode of operations over the last year. The singer had insisted since her breakthrough that she had zero interest in being a role model for her fans — after all, she was still figuring out how to live her life, how could she be expected to show others how to live theirs? Even this year, she continued to point out that she will not be the new poster child for mental health issues or queer identity (both more than fair decisions on her part, considering both issues are intrinsic to her private life).
But Eilish did spend much of 2024 making good use of her platform to try and leave the world a better place than she found it. Where the music industry has been found to be extremely lacking on environmental issues, Eilish spoke up about how she and her team placed sustainability at the forefront of her career. The singer called out the industry standard of releasing multiple vinyl variants to drive sales as “so wasteful,” especially with the lack of using recycled materials when it comes to vinyl. When the 2024 presidential election rolled around, Eilish threw her weight behind Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, praising her advocacy not only for the environment, but for women’s issues, LGBTQ+ rights and more.
Even as December rolls around, Eilish is still reaping the rewards of her big year. A July performance of her song “Wildflower” sprouted up all over TikTok, sending the song back into the top 40 before falling off for the holiday season. The album — which remains in the Billboard 200’s top 10 six months after its release — also earned Eilish a massive 7 Grammy nominations for 2025, including album of the year.
Yet for all of her massive career wins in 2024, it’s her personal journey to self-discovery this year that might best reflect Eilish’s place in our current pop culture discourse. For the first time since she blasted into the public eye as the chaotic, feisty, goth girl next door, the singer-songwriter seems to have found the lane that she is most comfortable in — one where she’s not limited by the perceptions put upon her by anyone other than herself. In the choose-your-own-adventure book that is the modern music industry, Billie Eilish finally seems to have found a storyline of pop stardom that she can work best with; it just so happens that she wrote this one herself.
Check back tomorrow for our Nos. 8 and 7 Greatest Pop Stars, and stay tuned all week as we roll out our top 10 — leading to the announcement of our top two Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 on Monday, Dec. 23!
Chappell Roan gave a standout performance on Saturday Night Live when she served as musical guest in November, but according to the pop star, the live showcase was seconds away from a fashion disaster.
While speaking to Nardwuar for a life-spanning interview published Monday (Dec. 16), Roan opened up about the major wardrobe malfunction that occurred just moments before she went on stage at 30 Rock to sing “Pink Pony Club,” for which she wore a custom white-jeweled floor-length gown. The look — which she complemented with her signature drag glam and faux hips — looked flawless on screen, but that’s only because of some quick thinking from the SNL costumers, Roan says.
“It ripped all the way down the back right before I walked on stage,” the “Hot to Go” singer told Nardwuar, pointing to her neck and lower back to demonstrate how long the tear stretched. “I had to have SNL‘s in-house seamstress … I was sewn into the dress because it ripped all the way down.”
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Roan also performed her unreleased song “The Giver” on the John Mulaney-hosted episode. The country track is expected to appear on the VMA winner’s highly anticipated sophomore album, which will follow her Billboard 200 No. 2 breakout LP The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
While speaking to Nardwuar, Roan also touched on her recent Grammy nominations, growing up in Missouri, giving a guest lecture on queer identity to Harvard medical students and taking inspiration to work with drag queens on tour from Orville Peck. Plus, the “Good Luck, Babe!” hitmaker detailed meeting Billboard‘s latest cover star Tyler, the Creator, at this year’s Austin City Limits, where both artists performed in October.
“He’s awesome,” she said of the “Sticky” rapper. “He was hiding in the shadows as I got offstage. He was just kind of lurking over in the corner, and my tour manager was like, ‘Hey, Tyler wants to meet you.’ He gave me a lot of good advice about paparazzi — I don’t have paparazzi, but when I do — I took notes. And he thanked me for speaking up about some stuff that I spoke up on.”
Watch Roan’s interview with Nardwuar above.
For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard will be counting down our editorial staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 all this week — having already revealed our Honorable Mentions, our Comeback of the Year and our Rookie of the Year artists all last week. Now, at No. 10, we remember the year in Jelly Roll — a late-blooming country superstar whose compelling hits, winning personality and relatable story helped him become one of the most unavoidable artists of 2024.
When he wasn’t taking his now-famous daily cold plunge in an ice bath, Jelly Roll was everywhere in 2024.
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Even if you can’t hum “I Am Not Okay,” which reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the closest Jelly Roll got to a pure pop hit this year, you’re still likely aware of the gregarious rapper-turned-country artist through his sheer ubiquity. Jelly Roll, who turned 40 on Dec. 4, performed on no fewer than 10 collaborations from across the musical spectrum in 2024, alongside the wide-ranging likes of Eminem, Falling in Reverse, Jessie Murph, OneRepublic, Machine Gun Kelly, Halsey, Post Malone, Dustin Lynch and Brooks & Dunn. He also landed three No. 1 songs on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart for the second year in a row, and topped both the Hard Rock Songs and Mainstream Rock Airplay charts.
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Here’s what it was like to be Jelly Roll in 2024: During one weekend in early February, he paid tribute to Bon Jovi at the 33rd annual MusiCares Person of the Year gala, followed by performing at the illustrious pre-Grammy gala hosted by Clive Davis the next night. And then to cap off the weekend, he also sang at the Grammy Awards, where he was nominated for two trophies and met his longtime crush, Taylor Swift.
Or fast forward to September, where in one four-day span he played his first-ever (sold-out) show at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The next day he headlined the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park in the afternoon and was the musical guest on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Then two nights later, he not only performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, but he also got coveted couch time on the late night show, an indicator of his celebrity status.
Jelly Roll scored wins across the board as an entertainer in 2024. He may not have taken home any Grammys in February (he’ll get more chances in 2025 after being nominated for two Grammys in November), but the 2024 People’s Choice Awards named him male country artist of the year in February. In April, he snagged both best new artist (pop) and best new artist (country) at the iHeart Awards, and in April, he was the big winner at the CMT Music Awards, winning all three awards he was nominated for, including video of the year (“Need a Favor”)
The winning streak continued in May, two weeks after he had played Stagecoach for the first time (and paid tribute to Toby Keith by performing “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” with T-Pain), when he took home music event of the year for “Save Me” with Lainey Wilson at the ACM Awards. “This song saved me,” he said during his acceptance speech, which reflected his painful past. “I was in a dark place. I thought I would die and go to jail, and I’m standing here today an ACM Awards winner.”
He also won on the health front, losing 100 pounds in a journey he documented on social media (including the daily plunges), and undergoing major dental surgery. It felt like everything he did – no matter how large or small — made the news, from testifying before a Senate committee on the fentanyl crisis and revealing that he and wife Bunnie XO were trying to expand their family via IVF to announcing he regretted getting most of his plentiful tattoos or surprising kids running a lemonade stand with a $700 donation.
He also made musical strides on both the large and small screens, contributing “Dead End Road” to the Twisters: The Album and “Run It” as the only original song in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the third installment of the popular franchise. Meanwhile, new song “Get By” became the ESPN college football anthem for the 2024-25 anthem and “Dead End Road” and “Liar” served as the official theme songs for the WWE SummerSlam, with Jelly performing the atter at the event.
When it seemed like it couldn’t get better, Jelly Roll performed with his hero, Eminem in June at Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central. They sang “Sing for the Moment,” and a month later, Jelly Roll appeared on “Somebody Save Me” on Eminem’s The Death of Slim Shady album.In September, he joined Eminem (via projection) to help open the VMA Awards when the rapper performed a medley of “Houdini” and “Somebody Save Me.”
On Aug. 27 in Salt Lake City, Jelly Roll kicked off his first headlining arena tour. The Beautifully Broken show was part concert/part gospel revival and fully sold out. The tour perfectly set up the Oct. 11 release of his album of the same name, the follow up to 2023’s Whitsitt Chapel, which came out through a new partnership between BMG and Republic. Like its predecessor, the set examined issues close to his heart, including addiction and mental health, that resonated with his growing millions of fans. His hard work paid off: Jelly Roll landed his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums, with sales of 161,000 units sold moved in its debut week,, according to Luminate.
Two nights before Thanksgiving, Jelly Roll wrapped his tour, which grossed $79.3 million and sold 685,000 tickets over 56 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore. Without even pausing to indulge in some turkey, two days later, Jelly Roll crashed Lainey Wilson’s halftime performance at the Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving, for a powerful take on their Country Airplay-topping duet, “Save Me.”
Just as he was seemingly everywhere, Jelly Roll and his music were seemingly for everyone — especially anyone who has ever felt alone or desperate and yearning for redemption. Even The Rock declared that Jelly Roll’s music had helped him through rough times. Though his upbeat demeanor shone through every viral interaction, Jelly Roll’s music was still infused with a questioning darkness that lingers from his teens and 20s spent incarcerated and his 30s struggling to break through musically. But far from being depressing, it’s music that looks at frailties and imperfections not as weaknesses, but part of what makes us gloriously human and unites us.
Though it hardly feels possible, next year seems like it could get even bigger for the country superstar, as he ascends to festival headliner and stadium tour status. Already on the books: he will headline Stagecoach in April and then head out on The Big Ass Stadium Tour with Post Malone. In other words, look for Jelly to keep on rolling in 2025.
Check back for our No. 9 artist, to be revealed later today, and stay tuned all week as we roll out our top 10 — leading to the announcement of our top two Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 on Monday, Dec. 23!
This year was largely defined by pop stars who rewrote the rules, genre outlaws who succeeded in new territory and a rap beef that gave us a unifying anthem. But throughout the year, a handful of artists were enjoying their own major milestones — ones that not only defined their year, but their career.
From award recognition to chart firsts to major synchs and more, artists including Victoria Monét, Gracie Abrams, Natasha Bedingfield, A. G. Cook, Carín León, and Tems reflect on their defining moments of the year.
Gracie Abrams
Gracie Abrams
Abby Waisler
Last year, every single time I watched The Eras Tour — which was every time I opened — never once did it feel like there was going to be an end. When we were asked to come back, knowing that it would be to close it out, I immediately felt so nostalgic for the experience. Over the past few challenging, strange, scary years, Taylor has been a source of light for people who desperately needed it, and for developing artists, the tour has been an unimaginably significant springboard. For my career, it’s been undeniable. It’s hard to make sense of streaming numbers on your phone — I’m not someone who’s ever really been super tapped into that data — so to track the difference in audience reception quite literally in front of my eyes on The Eras Tour has been mind-blowing. I thought I was hallucinating when I first heard [Swifties] singing my lyrics back.
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What was most exciting about my own headlining tour was that I had made [2024 second album] The Secret of Us with my live show in mind. I’ve had the most fun performing “us.” in particular because on the days I’m not singing it with Taylor, it becomes this duet between all of us onstage and everybody in the crowd. And it was nominated for a Grammy! The whole reason Taylor and I wrote it in the first place was we’d just come off a dinner where she’d very sweetly said we needed to celebrate my first Grammy nomination [for best new artist in 2023]. The full circle of it all is hard for me to wrap my head around.
The Secret of Us has had the most traction out of any of the projects I’ve put out before, and there are milestones that are fun to acknowledge. When “I Love You, I’m Sorry” ended up being the song that took off the most, I felt like it was — not that we needed it — permission to allow acoustic guitar to remain the driving force behind “That’s So True,” which came from the feeling of living with a burning, fiery rage of jealousy. Seeing the life that song is having right now is psychotic to me. The audience’s engagement has only felt stronger as these rooms have continued to, by some miracle, expand. But what I clock as my metric for success is how it feels to create a thing and then sing it with a group of people who resonate with it. I just can’t believe any of it is real.
Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Bedingfield
Cameron Jordan
Last year, my publisher reached out and I recognized the name [in his pitch]. I was like, “Ah, [filmmaker] Will Gluck! I remember him.” My song “Pocketful of Sunshine” was a big part of his [2010] movie, Easy A. He seems to use my songs in things and they resonate. So when I wrote back [about using “Unwritten” in his new film], I said, “A hundred percent yes.”
I went to the premiere [of Anyone but You], and the actors were like, “They just kept making us sing your song!” I think he made them sing it in every scene. I remember my publisher being like, “They’re really using it a lot.” And they even came back after they edited the movie and said, “We actually want to give you a bit more money because we ended up using the song even more.” We were really blown away by how it was used and how funny it was. There’s a moment where Sydney [Sweeney] is looking up at [Glen Powell’s] butt, singing, “Reaching for something in the distance.” I mean, that’s the kind of humor that I love.
People watched the movie and they left singing the song, and then they filmed themselves singing it and put that up on TikTok. And I got a call from Will saying, “Because the song is trending on TikTok, it’s making more people go see the movie.” So it was this really amazing thing that kind of served each other.
It feels like “Unwritten” has been one of the songs of the year. I feel really touched by this, and I couldn’t have anticipated it. Last year, I was thinking, “We need to do something for the [20th] anniversary! Let’s celebrate. Let’s put music out.” And then this happened without me. It was outside of my control, and it’s just been wilder than I could have imagined.
I think it’s everyone’s song, but nobody knew that until Anyone but You. What’s so poetic about this is that “Unwritten” itself is a song that’s changing and growing, and the story about it is evolving. When I was writing it, we imagined the arenas and the stadiums and the crowd singing it. And when we were producing it, I remember being like, “How do we pick sounds that aren’t going to be dated?” “Unwritten” is like my baby, and I hope it keeps shape-shifting.
A. G. Cook
A.G. Cook
Henry Redcliffe
Charli and I were talking about doing remixes almost from the beginning. I was really pushing this notion that I have about music in general in the post-streaming era. I like that music doesn’t have to completely end at the album release; the masters that get uploaded to streaming aren’t necessarily the final version.
What’s been so nice about brat is that even the way it was rolled out, the Boiler Room set happening early on and so forth, it’s holistically been about there being different versions. We’d sometimes even talk about remixes while working on the tracks themselves. There was always this notion that at some point, there would be a high-effort extension of the album. Thematically, brat is so interesting in how it is pure Charli, not using features. But obviously there’s all that energy building up for actual collaborations to happen. We knew while making it that if we wanted to collaborate, that would go on the remix album, but we’d also give collaborators agency to make songs even more in their image.
The original tracks were operating in real time, so it was no surprise that the remix album just continued that experience [by reflecting on] those months [after brat’s release]. The confessional nature of brat also provoked a lot of the remix collaborators to match that. Especially the [“Girl, so confusing” remix with Lorde], because it was conceived right as the album came out. That set the tone for the remixes to be actual conversations.
For [the “Mean girls” remix with Julian Casablancas], we wanted to make sure he could really make it his own, that it wasn’t just “Julian’s going to jump on for a verse.” That would have felt wrong for everyone. Charli and I wanted to demonstrate, like, “We’re not precious. We’re fine to dismantle it.” There are some remixes that didn’t happen simply because we sent it to people and they didn’t know where to start or were uncomfortable making a completely different genre. But the “Mean girls” remix is a good example of making sure it didn’t just feel like a feature, but an amalgamation that would then challenge Charli and I to also put ourselves on it.
The original songs are as clubby as DJs want to make them, or not. There’s so much ammo in brat, so many intriguing moments that could be looped, taken apart. I’ve already heard people do so many of their own remixes. There are funny ones where Charli is interviewed and is like, “Yeah, I love dance music, but I don’t really like drum’n’bass.” Then there’ll be like 10 drum’n’bass remixes, almost as like a “f–k you.” I think that’s the most fun part.
Carín León
Carin León
Carlos Ruiz
Being at the Grand Ole Opry was culturally very significant. As a Latino, as a Mexican, as a fan of country music, to go to the capital of country and play inside the temple of country music meant a lot to me. I think we made our mark.
I’ve always been close to country music, listening to Johnny Cash, George Strait and the newer generation of artists who are so good and are breaking parameters and doing things differently, just as we are with Mexican music. I love what artists like Luke Combs and Post Malone are doing, but if I had to choose a single country act, it would be the great Chris Stapleton. He’s given us a lot of love.
In fact, the last time we performed in the South, we sang “Tennessee Whiskey,” and I said, “Respectfully, for me, the best country singer, technically and artistically speaking, is Chris Stapleton.” Then we realized his wife was there, and she got up and came to the stage to see us. It made me realize music really has no borders. We have a country project set for next year, mostly in English, with a lot of collaborations.
We’ve been making other inroads with country music this year, and one day my manager, Jorge Juárez, and I were on a flight and he said, “We’ve just been confirmed for the Grand Ole Opry.” As if this was normal. My first words were “You’re kidding me!” Because I know how hard it is to play there. Many American artists never get to do it. It felt like confirming the biggest stadium ever.
It was the culmination of all those dreams I had as a kid of playing in a mythical and legendary space. Playing there allowed me to be me and to be that person that since childhood has loved country music, especially because our Mexican music is so influenced by country. I think it’s the only place where I’ve cried onstage. It’s something money can’t buy — and a memory I’ll take with me till the day I die.
Victoria Monét
Victoria Monét
Dalvin Adams
I really liked the process of getting into the Grammys. I was doing a lot of prep physically, like watching my food intake, lots of workouts. A really special moment happened where I took [my daughter] Hazel with me to a fitting with Versace. It was my daughter’s first time on a red carpet, and she [was going to] be matching with me. Versace allowed us to pick a specific brown and bring that theme of [my album] Jaguar to life.
[Winning the best new artist Grammy] was one of the biggest goals that I had for the year. You know how much it takes to get recognition in this industry or bring a vision to life and what kind of marketing it took to get there, what kind of focus and dedication and sacrifice. [But I have this] yin-yang mentality like, although this means the world to me and I appreciate it, I can’t make it my be-all and end-all to determine whether or not I’m good — because the other [nominees] were also amazing and they didn’t get it, and they’re going on with their lives and doing amazing, incredible things.
I have [my Grammys] on a banister upstairs; it’s kind of become an awards banister. There are a few plaques there and a framed tweet about the Grammys that I tweeted in 2015, almost like a manifestation. It puts a pep in your step to know that you did the right thing, but also you have so much more work to do, so just keep going and remain grounded and know that all of these things are a blessing.
You want to continue to do what you love even if the accolades don’t ever come again. There were many years where I thought I was great and I didn’t have those awards on my banister. It was just knowing, because of my work ethic, greatness comes that way. And when the recognition and attention come, you want to make sure that doesn’t become your driving force. Those are extras, but it does feel really nice.
Tems
Tems
Adrienne Raquel
Once I have a vision, I’m always trying to do everything to put my vision in place. But that can also sometimes turn into perfectionism, which I learned to let go of while [making my debut album, Born in the Wild]. You [have to] be as authentic as possible and allow yourself to flow in the music — letting go of anything that you think you’re supposed to do, be or show.
I’m not thinking too much about genres or rules: “Oh, you have to make Afrobeats.” My “why” is different. My “why” is to release my thoughts. It’s an honor to be able to make music that you want to make and for people to be able to connect to it — and for someone to recognize that is also really great.
[At Coachella], Wizkid was around and we asked him if he’d come out [to perform “Essence”], and he was really down. Justin [Bieber] happened to also be around. He hit me up that morning and said he’s down to come out if I needed him. And I was like, “Yes!” It was amazing. Everybody was going crazy. The crowd was screaming, the floor was shaking. It was a vibe, like a huge party.
[In November], we had just arrived at midnight in Melbourne, Australia, so I wasn’t thinking too much about the Grammys. I was extremely tired, so I went to bed hoping to get a little bit of rest before my show the next day. Around 5 a.m., my phone started vibrating on my bed. It’s calls and people shouting, “Oh, my God. Congrats!” I’m like, “Bro, what’s going on?” They’re like, “Bro, three Grammy nominations!” It was worth being woken up for, especially for the people that have worked on this album — not just me, but my friend and my producer [GuiltyBeatz], [and] Spax, [who] also engineered it.
There are so many people that worked sleepless nights and really did their best to help me out, and it’s beautiful to see them have the recognition. All it takes is a Grammy-nominated project that you were a part of for your life to change. That’s what I really care about the most.
This story appears in the Dec. 14, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Sorry, Arianators. Despite rumors to the contrary, Ariana Grande does not have a tour in the works for 2025, something her label confirmed on X Sunday (Dec. 15). Replying to a fan account speculating that the pop star was gearing up to announce a run of concert dates, Republic Records cut to the chase by […]
Prior to 2024, Sabrina Carpenter had spent most of her career trying to score a crossover pop hit. Following her years as a Disney Channel star and recording artist on the Disney-owned Hollywood Records in the 2010s, she transitioned from younger-skewing tunes to pop that targeted adult listeners; her 2022 album, Emails I Can’t Send, didn’t produce any hits upon its release, but the album’s “Nonsense” belatedly turned into a viral smash, and “Feather,” from its deluxe edition, became Carpenter’s first top 40 entry on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 21.
Those singles hinted at a breakthrough moment for Carpenter — and in 2024, the floodgates opened. She earned her first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with her sixth album, Short n’ Sweet; headlined her first arena shows; and earned her first Grammy nominations, including in album, record and song of the year and best new artist. Yet the songs that became her sought-after smashes weren’t just her first Hot 100 top 10s — they remained in the upper tier for long enough to make chart history.
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From the Hot 100 charts dated Sept. 7 through Oct. 26, Carpenter boasted three songs — “Espresso,” “Please Please Please” and “Taste” — in the top 10, making her the first artist this decade to score a run of as many as eight weeks with at least three simultaneous top 10s on the chart. Although a few artists, including 50 Cent and Drake, have juggled three songs in the top 10 for more than eight weeks, only Carpenter, The Beatles and Justin Bieber have done so as solo-billed acts. And Carpenter now owns the longest such streak among women, surpassing Cardi B, who had three concurrent top 10s for four weeks in 2018.
Alex Tear, vp of music programming at SiriusXM and Pandora, says that, between a significant longtime fan base and the momentum leading up to 2024, Carpenter was always primed for a major year. “The audience appetite is amazing,” he says. “She really came into focus with the masses, but she had her Disney audience. When she was on Hollywood Records 10 years ago, she was grinding, she had a loyal following, she had a great presence and she was strong onstage.”
While songs like “Nonsense” and “Feather” didn’t become inescapable, both turned into slow-growing hits that introduced Carpenter’s melodic instincts and tongue-in-cheek wordplay to radio listeners and swelling audiences. Before “Espresso” made its live debut at Coachella, for instance, fans flocked to see how Carpenter was going to end “Nonsense” during her set, since she had been flooding TikTok feeds with her customized, often R-rated outros in concert.
“Her musicality and personality blow me away every time that we work together,” Amy Allen, who co-wrote every song on Short n’ Sweet (and is now nominated for the songwriter of the year, non-classical Grammy), told Billboard in August. Island Records vp of A&R Jackie Winkler told Billboard earlier this year, “At the core, the music Sabrina makes is perfectly reflective of who she is as a person, and all the quirks and character are what give her such a strong musical identity.”
That identity was on full display with “Espresso,” which zoomed into the top 10 upon its April release and peaked at No. 3, and continued with “Please Please Please,” which became Carpenter’s first Hot 100 chart-topper in June. When Short n’ Sweet arrived in August, opener “Taste” was positioned as an immediate standout (with a music video co-starring Jenna Ortega) and has climbed to No. 2.
Tear notes that the timing of those releases helped let each one breathe as a focus track and gave listeners time to latch onto their hooks before Carpenter presented another mainstream offering. And as the songs lingered in the top 10 for weeks, their respective sounds — with “Espresso” as her summer-ready synth-pop confection, “Please Please Please” her glittery alt-country riff and “Taste” her guitar-heavy ’80s pop anthem — were different enough to help her avoid oversaturation on streaming playlists and in radio blocks.
“Espresso” and “Please Please Please” have both topped the Pop Airplay chart, while “Taste” is still climbing, peaking at No. 3 so far. “Pop channels can kill a song by playing it over and over again,” Tear says. “I really like the fact that we have multiple choices that are very popular with our audience, that we can alternate with, therefore diminishing burn [and] giving a better variety of Sabrina.”
The trio of singles settled into the top 10 of the Hot 100 just as Carpenter kicked off her Short n’ Sweet tour in September, performing all three hits to arena audiences and reposting fan videos from the shows. And multiple hits were highlighted when the Grammy nominations were announced Nov. 8: “Espresso” scored a record of the year nod while “Please Please Please” will compete for song of the year.
The 2025 Grammys ceremony will showcase Carpenter’s immense 2024, but don’t expect her run of hits to dry up as the calendar flips. As the Short n’ Sweet tour is set to continue in Europe in March, “Bed Chem,” a sensual rhythmic pop track from the album, may also reach a new Hot 100 peak, as the song has climbed to No. 30 on the chart.
“I don’t know how many albums come out where you can go, ‘OK, this is five or six [hits] deep,’ ” Tear says. “It’s not going anywhere.”
This story appears in the Dec. 14, 2024, issue of Billboard.