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It’s been nearly three years since Jane “Nightbirde” Marczewski, a fan-favorite contestant on season 16 of America’s Got Talent, died of cancer at age 31. However, her legacy lives on through her family, who have been releasing her powerful songs posthumously.
Her latest single, “Still Got Dreams,” arrived first thing Friday (Dec. 6) and features the Mzansi Youth Choir of South Africa, who got the Golden Buzzer on season 18 of AGT by paying tribute to Nightbirde with a cover of “It’s Okay” during their emotional 2023 audition.
The Geoff Duncan-produced track, which also serves as the title track from Nightbirde’s upcoming posthumous album, was written at a particularly devastating and difficult time of her life, as she dealt with a divorce and a cancer re-diagnosis with a very slight chance of survival. She was determined to fight in the compelling, hopeful lyrics, singing in the chorus: “I still’ve got some magic in me/ I can’t see it but I still believe/ The music stopped but I can still sing/ Pretty beat up but I still got dreams.”
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The Mzansi Youth Choir adds to the heartwarming, inspiring nature of the track by singing in isiZulu, “We ngoma ngiyakholwa Kuwe usisibonelo,” which translates to, “I believe music is a wonderful gift.”
“One of the ways Jane inspired the world was through her bravery in facing insurmountable odds,” the late star’s older brother, Mitch Marczewski Jr., shares with Billboard. “The message of ‘Still Got Dreams’ reinforces the fact that even though people may be beat up by their circumstances, they can still pursue their dreams. If there’s ever a time to remind people to pursue their dreams, it’s now.”
All proceeds from Nightbirde’s music, art, books, merchandise and licensing benefit the Nightbirde Foundation, which aims to uplift and support women battling breast cancer. “In addition to spreading hope, we distributed tens of thousands of dollars in grants to help women with breast cancer get the treatments they need to live fulfilling lives,” Mitch says. “The Nightbirde Foundation has been able to inspire women to dream.”
As for what he wants people to remember about his sister, Mitch says Nightbirde’s “faith in Jesus was the ultimate hope that enabled her to be the woman she was,” adding, “We are still amazed at her ability to hold joy and grief simultaneously, even when she was pretty beat up. We miss her dearly and wish she was here to continue to show the world her wit, wisdom, grit and faith.”
Listen to Nightbirde’s “Still Got Dreams,” featuring the Mzansi Youth Choir, below.
Fans have known ROSÉ of BLACKPINK for years. But now, they finally get to meet Rosie. The 27-year-old pop star’s debut solo album rosie arrived Friday (Dec. 6), bringing with it 12 new tracks written during a break from full-band obligations with JISOO, JENNIE and LISA. The dozen of songs include hit single “APT.” with […]
The holiday season is in full swing, and BTS’ V is getting into the festive spirit by teaming up with the late Bing Crosby to release a duet version of “White Christmas” on Friday (Dec. 6). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the new rendition of the […]
With the release of Spotify Wrapped on Wednesday (Dec. 4), music fans promptly took to social media to share their listening habits throughout the year, including their favorite songs, albums and artists. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Miley Cyrus joined the bandwagon on Thursday (Dec. 5), taking […]
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: A number of up-and-coming rappers featured on the late year’s biggest rap release get bumps for their own catalogs, an old emo song becomes a seasonal-sadness singalong and much more.
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L.A. Rappers’ Catalogs Rise Following Major Looks on Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’
Kendrick Lamar’s GNX has already collected impressive wins on the Billboard 200 and Hot 100, but the Compton MC’s surprise album is also helping boost the catalog of its featured L.A. rappers.
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“TV Off” blasted in at No. 2 on the Hot 100 (dated Dec. 7), making it the highest-ranking GNX collaboration. Baldwin Park emcee Lefty Gunplay is the guest on that track (“S–t get crazy, scary, spooky, hilarious!), and his own new project, Most Valuable Gangbanger (Nov. 22), ironically coincided with the GNX drop. Thanks to his own new release and the explosive immediate interest in “TV Off,” Lefty’s catalog has spiked 84% in official on-demand U.S. streams the week of GNX’s release (Nov. 22-28) versus the week prior (Nov. 15-21), according to Luminate. In the week following the release of Most Valuable Gangbanger and GNX, Lefty Gunplay’s catalog earned just over 468,000 streams.
The Dody6-assisted “Hey Now” (No. 5), is the other GNX Hot 100 top five hit to feature an L.A. rapper. His appearance on GNX follows a joint project with T.0wee called Make Vernon Great Again from earlier this year. In the week following GNX’s release, streaming activity for Dody’s catalog jumped over 110%, collecting over 336,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. AzChike, who guested on ScHoolboy Q’s Blue Lips back in March, lent his talents to “Peekaboo,” which debuted at No. 13 on the Hot 100. In the week following GNX’s release, AzChike’s catalog pulled in over 916,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, marking a 15% lift in streaming activity.
The GNX title track entered the Hot 100 at No. 24 and features Hitta J3, YoungThreat & Peysoh. Notably, Hitta J3 and Kendrick joined forces back in 2014 alongside YG and Problem (now known as JasonMartin) for the “Do Yo Gudda” remix. Following GNX’s release (Nov. 22-28), Hitta J3’s catalog earned just under 30,000 official on-demand U.S. streams – a whopping 149% increase from the 11,700 streams it collected the week prior. – KYLE DENIS
Mom Jeans Squeezes in a Sentimental Pre-Holidays Viral Hit
Everyone gets a little emotional around Thanksgiving time, right? There’s a lot of family, a lot of old memories, a lot of homesickness for those who can’t get away from their usual lives, maybe a reunion or two for those who can… Maybe that partly explains the timing of Midwest emo band Mom Jeans seeing its acoustic ballad “Scott Pilgrim vs. My GPA,” from 2016’s Best Buds, unexpectedly become one of the hottest songs on TikTok, for a section with the brutal lyrics, “Don’t go back to our old place/ It’s probably locked up anyway/ I bet it still looks the same as when I ran away that day.”
The sound has of course been used by any number of users for emotional lip synch moments over the past few weeks – but it’s also been adapted as a go-to soundtrack for popular nostalgic and/or tear-jerking edits of football and wrestling stars. Consequently, the song debuts at No. 46 on this week’s TikTok Top 50, and has been exploding on streaming services, with the song racking up 2.3 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending Nov. 28, according to Luminate – a whopping 1,282% gain from the 165,000 streams it posted three weeks earlier. If TikTok users haven’t worked out their baggage by the holidays, look out – we could see “Scott Pilgrim” elbowing its way in there with all the Bing Crosby and Perry Como. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Twerking Trend Helps E.K.E. Earn Viral Hit
Ever the reliable needle-mover, a twerk-centric dance trend has helped an Akon-nodding track explode at streaming this month.
On Nov. 8, TikTok creator @mora2767 posted a dance sequence – featuring lots of twerking and trademark Cali moves – to the tune of E.K.E.’s “Ghetto,” which incorporated elements from the intro of Akon’s 2005 song of the same name. In the week following that video’s initial upload – it has since garnered over 2.4 million views – E.K.E.’s “Ghetto” earned 137,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. That figure leapt but an astounding 711% to over 1.11 million streams the following week since the trend took off on TikTok. The next week, streams increased a further 43% to over streams during Nov. 22-28. Over the past two weeks, streams for “Ghetto” have risen over 1,065%.
The official TikTok sound for “Ghetto” now boasts over 157,000 posts, including one from E.K.E. himself. Back in September, about a month after the song was released (Aug. 2), E.K.E. posted a TikTok attempting to jumpstart his own dance trend for “Ghetto.” While his trend wasn’t the one to take off, his head was always in the right place.
Already off to a No. 14 start on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, expect “Ghetto” to continue rising in the weeks to come. – KD
NLE Choppa’s Latest Horny Hit Finds Its Way to the Hot 100
It’s been a pretty crazy year for NLE Choppa, who has reworked his now-signature hit “Slut Me Out” into multiple sequel incarnations, scored a breakout hit alongside New York crew 41 with the blaring “Or What,” and released one of the wildest short films you’ll see outside of the festival circuit in 2024 with NLE Choppa: The Wash. Now, he’s back with a new single that might be on its way to being his most viral non-collab hit of 2024: the characteristically horny “Gang Baby.”
The new hit, which features the repeat chorus lyric “Let me f–k somethin’” and shows NLE Choppa surrounded by a circle of twerking behinds in the video, has been absolutely exploding on streaming lately, thanks to a dance challenge and other edits that have helped the song become a major TikTok hit, many of which used a slightly sped-up version of the song. After growing 267% in official on-demand U.S. streams over the past five weeks – to 5.7 million official streams for the week ending Nov. 28 – it has now also punctured the Hot 100, reaching No. 98. Clearly, we all observe cuffing season in our own ways. – AU
Oliver Anthony, who earned a two-week Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper with his song “Rich Men North of Richmond” in August 2023 and became a viral sensation, didn’t hold back in offering his thoughts on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album.
In a video he posted on YouTube on Wednesday (Dec. 4), Anthony spends much of it discussing his experiences with the music industry, including mentioning an unnamed management company that he had begun working with following the success of “Rich Men North of Richmond.”
“In their own words, it was like, ‘We gotta figure out how to make you cool,’” Anthony said, noting that one of the ideas an unnamed music industry member pitched to him involved having the singer-songwriter praise Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album — an idea Anthony rejected.
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“One of the guys I worked with, he wanted me to make some stupid f–king post about Beyoncé’s country album, about how it was good, even though it was complete trash. It makes me just want to throw up,” Oliver said. He also disparaged Beyoncé’s reimagining of Dolly Parton’s classic “Jolene,” saying, “Even half trying to listen to the beginning of, like, her version of ‘Jolene,’ it’s just total cringe.”
Anthony added, “It represents how degenerative our society has become, that a song like a Beyoncé version of ‘Jolene’ can come out and anybody actually listen to it and think it’s not just complete trash. So I was supposed to make a post, basically trying to associate myself with Beyoncé in hopes of us doing some kind of song together, but you know, how many people do that? How many artists do you follow on social media that have never even looked at their social media, and you’re just reading words and posts and things that were written by somebody that you’ve never even met, that aren’t the artist, that don’t even necessarily work directly for the artist … It’s so much theatrics and illusion and characterizations that are built in this whole thing to like keep people hanging on for more.”
Billboard has reached out to Beyoncé’s rep for comment.
Elsewhere during his video, he noted that his approach of keeping his concert ticket prices affordable for fans has been monetarily successful, despite industry members who told him he would not be able to make a profit. “It’s ridiculous how greedy these people are. We did this whole tour for this year, we had a $25 ticket option at every show that I did that was mine, and everybody was like, ‘You can’t do that. You won’t make any money.’ I got so sick of listening to everybody who told me how stupid I was for trying to do it,” he said. “I mean, we made great money this year. I made enough money in one year of touring to never have to work again. So, you don’t have to charge $200 for a ticket. It’s just crazy how it is.”
In October, Anthony stated in a separate YouTube video that he was intent on walking away from aspects of the music business to focus on traveling ministry work, though he clarified that he would still be playing shows and making music. In that video, he stated how his involvement with the music business since the launch of “Rich Men North of Richmond” had “opened my eyes to how much control and how much visibility there is on the top down.”
He also said that upcoming music would come as part of his The Rural Revival Project, an organization that he noted would “be set up legally as a ministry,” while helping to revitalize farming and other rural communities. He noted as well his intent to set up his touring in a way that would allow him to visit towns “that haven’t had music in them in a long time. It stimulates their economy, showcases their culture, it uses local vendors and local musicians.” Added Anthony, “You’re not having to drive out to Pittsburgh to a concrete amphitheater to see a show. It’s done out on a farm or on a main street that desperately needs the economic impact.”
On Easter Sunday, Oliver Anthony released the project Hymnal of a Troubled Man’s Mind, which featured a mix of songs and recitations of Bible verses. The set reached No. 13 on Billboard‘s Heatseekers chart.
In April, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter debuted at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200, marking her eighth No. 1 on that chart. Cowboy Carter also launched at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums and Top Album Sales charts. Meanwhile, the album’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Cowboy Carter featured collaborations with Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, while spotlighting country music trailblazer Linda Martell and highlighting the talents of Shaboozey, Willie Jones, Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Brittney Spencer.
Beyoncé was also just named Billboard‘s Greatest Pop Star of the 21st Century, and is up for several Grammys at next year’s ceremony, including album of the year and best country album.
See Oliver Anthony’s full video below:
Ariana Grande and The Weeknd couldn’t love each other harder.
The “Blinding Lights” singer sang the praises of his longtime friend and collaborator in a recent post on Instagram Stories, sharing a poster for Wicked — in which the R.E.M. Beauty founder stars opposite Cynthia Erivo — and writing, “this was fantastic.”
“congrats @arianagrande so proud,” The Weeknd added.
Shortly afterward, Grande reposted the The Idol star’s words on her own Story. “thank you, my friend,” she wrote, adding a bubble emoji to emulate Glinda’s famous method of travel in Wicked.
The “Yes, And?” vocalist and The Weeknd have been working together for years, starting with “Love Me Harder” in 2014. Six years later, the Canadian musician jumped on Ari’s Positions track “Off the Table,” while she helped propel his “Save Your Tears” to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 by joining him on a remix.
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In 2023, while Grande was still filming Wicked, she again gave one of The Weeknd’s tracks a lift by adding her magic to “Die for You,” which then shot up to the top of the Hot 100. “Wrote and recorded a verse for my friend after a 14 hour day on set,” she wrote of the project at the time. “This certain exception had to be made….”
The Weeknd is just one of many fans who are loving Wicked. Following its Nov. 22 premiere in theaters worldwide, its soundtrack album opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 — the highest ever debut for a big-screen adaptation of a stage musical on the chart — and the film has brought in over $260 million in North America so far, making it the highest grossing movie ever at the domestic box office based on a Broadway musical.
Grande’s performance in the film is also being widely lauded, and the star will soon receive the the Rising Star Award at the Palm Springs International Film Awards. “In Wicked, Ariana Grande’s portrayal of Glinda elevates her to new heights with a powerful acting performance that beautifully combines her outstanding musical talent, brilliant characterization and impeccable comedic timing,” chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi said in a recent statement. “Ariana is an iconic global performer, who has seamlessly transitioned to film in her first major starring role, proving herself to be a multifaceted and undeniable talent.”
Billboard‘s Joe Lynch felt similarly. “Grande is a revelation,” he wrote in his review. “This performance signals the arrival of a formidable cinematic talent with a lot more to show us.”
Our 100 favorite songs from a year where pop was really back in full effect.
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Rihanna recently said that she wants to collaborate with Billie Eilish — and according to the 22-year-old pop star, she’s waiting by the phone for the Fenty mogul’s call.
In a new cover story interview with Complex published Thursday (Dec. 5), Eilish gushed about the moment RiRi shouted her out in October — “If I could only do a song with Billie Eilish, she’s so good,” the superstar said at the time — which the two-time Oscar winner said she “literally thought … was AI.”
“I’ve never met Rihanna,” Eilish continued to the publication. “She’s literally my idol. She’s the greatest of all time. She’s my complete dream collab.”
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“I don’t even answer that question when people are like, ‘Who would you like to collab with?’” she added. “But I always think Rihanna. I’m not going to say that, though! Why would I say that?! It’s not real. I would think, like, ‘She probably doesn’t even like me.’ I’ve never heard from her, and I’ve never had any interaction with her, so why would I have ever even thought about it?”
When the “Umbrella” singer first sang Eilish’s praises, the latter simply wrote in disbelief on Instagram Stories, “what in the absolute f–k.”
A few weeks later, the “Birds of a Feather” artist says she finds the whole thing funny. “I was like, ‘Well, b—h, I’ve been sitting here this whole time!’” Eilish told Complex, laughing. “What the f–k is she even talking about? Like, as if I’ve been saying, ‘No.’ Rihanna! Riri!? I’ll literally do anything you want. That’s insane.”
The interview comes about six months after Eilish released her third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The star — who is currently on tour in support of the LP — also recently sat down with CBS News Sunday Morning and spoke about how she came into her own as a songwriter while working on the project with her older brother and producer, Finneas.
“My passion has never been songwriting,” she said in a video snippet from the interview airing Dec. 8. “My passion is music, and performing, and singing. And songwriting is something that I do so that I can then sing it and perform it … I did way more writing on this album than anything ever.”
Watch the clip from the upcoming episode of CBS Sunday Morning below.
Superstar singer-songwriter and two-time Oscar winner Billie Eilish opens up about her evolving view of songwriting. While her brother Finneas has always had a deep passion for it, Ellish saw songwriting as a means to perform and express herself. pic.twitter.com/CsnVg1NtAa— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) December 5, 2024
Charli XCX gives her all on stage, but it comes with a cost.
In a new video interview with Variety posted Wednesday (Dec. 4), the 32-year-old pop star opened up about suffering nerve damage from how intensely she performs, noting, “I find touring really hard emotionally.”
“I find the stage — especially these days — to be a very angry place for me,” she continued. “I’ve done a lot of physical damage to my body from performing, and I’m often in a lot of pain when I perform. Physically, I have nerve damage in my neck from things I’ve done on the stage.”
Charli is currently gearing up for a run of 2025 dates in support of her critically acclaimed album Brat. This year, she hit the road with Troye Sivan for their joint Sweat trek, an arrangement the “Von Dutch” artist called “a lot easier and less of an emotional battle for me.”
“For me to give a performance I feel is good enough, I have to really physically throw myself around and that makes me very upset when I do it,” she added. “It’s kind of this hellhole, but being with Troye softens that a lot.”
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The video comes alongside a feature interview with Variety, in which the musician opened up about the surprising success of Brat, her insecurities and more. At one point, she shared that her “Sympathy Is a Knife” remix collaborator Ariana Grande gave her advice on multiple fronts, including kick-starting her acting career and hosting SNL. (The “Yes, And?” singer helmed the show in September, followed by Charli in November.)
Charli also recalled bonding with the Wicked star over the “Sympathy Is a Knife” lyrics. “She had a lot to say,” the “365” artist said of Grande, who “gravitated” toward the track, according to Charli. “We went back and forth on the lyrics, talking about all the knives that we both felt in this industry.”
Watch Charli open up about her nerve damage above.