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Vice President Kamala Harris appeared to be feeling confident after Tuesday night’s (Sept. 10) first, and possibly only, debate with Republican candidate Donald Trump. In video from the Democratic presidential candidate’s watch party, Harris was seen addressing the crowd following what many pundits called was her commanding performance in the often tense 90-minute showdown with the twice-impeached former President, telling them, “Hard work is good work and we will win, we will win!”
But more pointedly, Harris then walked off the stage to a very apropos Taylor Swift song, shortly after the pop superstar gave her enthusiastic endorsement to the Democratic ticket of Harris and her VP pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. As the audience cheered, Harris exited the party with Swift’s 2019 female empowerment anthem “The Man” blasting through the speakers.
In the same way that Swift is fond of conjuring diamond-precise mic drop moments that speak for themselves, Harris’ choice of the Lover track said it all without her having to say anything else. “I’d be a fearless leader/ I’d be an alpha type/ When everyone believes ya/ What’s that like?” Swift sings on the tune about society’s chauvinistic double standards.
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“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can/ Wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man/ And I’m so sick of them coming at me again/ ‘Cause if I was a man/ Then I’d be the man,” goes the chorus to the song blasted out of the speakers at the party celebrating Harris, who is vying to become the nation’s first female President.
The Swift nod came after the singer threw her hat in the ring to endorse the Swift/Walz ticket. “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Swift wrote on Tuesday night just minutes after the end of the debate that marked the first-ever meeting between convicted felon Trump and former prosecutor Harris. “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
Swift’s endorsement also got the thumbs-up from Walz. “I am incredibly grateful to Taylor Swift and I say that as a fellow cat owner,” Walz told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow after she read him Swift’s lengthy, heartfelt Instagram statement that was signed “childless cat lady” in the feline-loving singer’s not-so-subtle dig at Trump VP pick JD Vance’s belittling description of what he described as the Democratic party’s voting base in a 2021 interview.
“That was eloquent and that was clear and that’s the type of courage we need in America to stand up,” Walz continued. “We’ve seen it out of those Republicans who were at the DNC. We’ve seen it out of women who would like to have their personal lives kept personal but are forced to go out there because they nearly died because they can’t get abortion services in a pregnancy. And now you have somebody like Taylor Swift coming out making that very clear. This would be the opportunity, Swifties: KamalaHarris.com, get on over there, get things going.”
Shortly after the Swift endorsement, Harris’ official X account reposted the singer’s statement, writing, “Ready for it,” along with a heart hands emoji.
Donald Trump called into Fox & Friends before 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning (Sept. 11) to talk about Tuesday night’s (Sept. 10) debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, and while the hosts listened as he gave his spin on how he did in what may be the only time he faces off against his Democratic opponent, the most burning question was obvious.
What did Trump think of Taylor Swift‘s enthusiastic endorsement of Harris in the moments after the debate ended?
“Well, I actually like, uh… Mrs., uh [laughs] I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better if you want to know the truth. She’s a big trump fan,” Trump said, in seeming reference to Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Current co-owner and former soccer player who was swept into Swift’s orbit last year when the singer began dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
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“I was not a Taylor swift fan, it was just a question of time. She couldn’t, uh, you couldn’t possibly endorse Biden. You look at Biden you couldn’t possibly endorse him,” Trump continued during the interview in which he described Brittany as “the wife of the great quarterback.”
“But she’s [Swift] a very liberal person, she seems to always endorse a democrat and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace,” Trump continued of the star who is about to wrap up her sold-out Eras Tour, which is on track to be one of the highest-grossing tours in music history. “But no, I like Brittany, I think Brittany’s great. Brittany got a lot of news last week she’s a big MAGA fan, that’s the one I like much better than Taylor Swift.”
Up until last week, the women were frequently seen passionately cheering on their significant others from luxury boxes across the country on game day. However, it appeared they were at a distance from each other during last Thursday’s Chiefs season kick-off, a week after Brittany Mahomes drew criticism for appearing to like a Trump Instagram post outlining his party’s 2024 platform.
Convicted felon Trump quickly thanked Mahomes for her apparent support, writing on his Truth Social platform, “I want to thank beautiful Brittany Mahomes for so strongly defending me, and the fact that MAGA is the greatest and most powerful Political Movement in the History of our now Failing Country.”
Mahomes later responded to criticism of her like by saying in an Instagram Story, writing, “I mean honestly, To be a hater as an adult, you have to have some deep rooted issues you refuse to heal from childhood. There’s no reason your brain is fully developed and you hate to see others doing well.”
Despite what appeared to be a chill in the friendship, just days later, the two women were spotted hugging it out at the U.S. Open on Sunday, seemingly dousing rumors of a rift.
Trump, who insisted to the Fox & Friends crew that he decisively won the debate, calling it “my best debate, actually,” was widely criticized by media pundits for his often rambling, vague answers during the tense, 90-minute showdown in which he frequently talked over the moderators. While Harris repeatedly pushed back on what she described as Trump’s “same old tired playbook” of lies and obfuscations, many pundits zeroed in on the twice-impeached former President’s false claim that Haitian immigrants are “eating dogs.. eating the cats,” an internet rumor that that debate co-moderator David Muir swiftly fact-checked in real time.
The bizarre, debunked rumor had been amplified a day earlier by Trump’s VP pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who feline fan Swift took a playful swipe at in her Harris endorsement by signing off as a “childless cat lady.” The latter was a reference to one of Vance’s controversial 2021 claims that Democrats were promoting an “antifamily” agenda led by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
Before Tuesday night, Swift had not endorsed a candidate yet in the 2024 presidential election, despite backing the 2020 ticket of President Joe Biden and Harris after a career in which she largely avoided weighing in on politics until Trump entered the White House in 2016. In her statement, the singer said her endorsement was driven, in part, by a false AI-generated image purporting to show her endorsing Trump that the former one-term president shared on his social feeds last month.
“It really conjured up my fears around AI and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” she wrote. “The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth. I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
Gov. Tim Walz has responded to Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as she runs for the office of President of the United States – and as a “fellow cat owner,” he’s happy. Walz, the Minnesota governor who is Harris’ VP pick on the Democratic ticket for the President of the United States, […]
When Kendrick Lamar was revealed as the headliner for the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show over the weekend, the announcement spurred some burning questions. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking through those questions. What will he perform? Should his booking be seen as an “anti-Drake” move after their heated […]
On Nov. 1, A&M/UMe is set to release the Carpenters’ Christmas Once More, a new collection featuring 16 Carpenters holiday classics, personally curated by Richard Carpenter. This newly remixed and remastered set includes fan favorites such as “Merry Christmas Darling,” featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, “Sleigh Ride” and “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays.” The album title is a play on the title of the duo’s 1973 pop smash “Yesterday Once More,” which was later used as the title of a 1985 hits collection by the duo.
The Carpenters have been associated with Christmas since 1970, the year they burst to stardom with “Close to You” (Billboard’s No. 1 Song of the Summer for 1970) and “We’ve Only Just Begun.” That holiday season, they released “Merry Christmas Darling,” a nostalgic Richard Carpenter-Frank Pooler ballad that reached No. 1 on Billboard’s annual Christmas Singles lists in 1970, 1971 and 1973.
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The song remains a classic. “Merry Christmas Darling” ranked No. 41 on Billboard’s 2023 list of the 100 best Christmas songs of all time. Melinda Newman praised the song’s “dreamy reverie” and especially Karen’s lead vocal. “Her vocal on ‘Merry Christmas Darling’ as she longs for her loved one, who is away for Christmas and New Year’s Day, is pure, sublime perfection. She conveys the perfect mix of yearning, sadness and hope since she knows, even though it’s unspoken, they will be joyfully reunited after the holidays. Over 50 years since its release, it’s still the soundtrack for any college couples separated during the holiday break.”
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“Merry Christmas Darling” was re-released in 1974 with a torchy ballad version of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” on the B side. It was released again in 1977 with “Christmas Song” on the B side. Also in 1977, the Carpenters headlined their first holiday TV special for ABC, The Carpenters at Christmas. In 1978, finally, they released their first holiday album, Christmas Portrait. It coincided with the release of a second holiday special for ABC, The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait, which featured film legend Gene Kelly as a guest star.
Christmas Portrait has logged 66 weeks on the Billboard 200. Among the duo’s albums, only Close to You has logged more weeks on Billboard’s flagship albums chart (87).
Richard had a unique idea for creating a near-continuous work that would mix hymns, pop tunes, vocals and instrumentals. He did some of the orchestral arrangements himself, while others were assigned to Peter Knight and Billy May.
“With Karen’s marvelous leads,” Richard has written, “combined with an oversize studio orchestra and chorus, terrific arrangements, and timeless music, Christmas Portrait was, and is, an almost incomparable Christmas album.”
Enough material was recorded during the Christmas Portrait sessions to allow for the release of a second Carpenters holiday album, An Old-Fashioned Christmas, in 1984, the year after Karen’s untimely death at age 32. In 1990, Christmas Portrait – The Special Edition combined tracks from both Carpenters’ seasonal LPs with some additional material. Now comes Christmas Once More, which will be available in multiple formats, including CD, black vinyl, limited-edition gold vinyl, digital download, streaming and ATMOS.
There have been numerous indications in recent years of the Carpenters’ continuing audience appeal. A 1998 compilation, Love Songs, rode the Billboard 200 for 25 weeks. Carpenters songs have been featured in several hit movies, such as 2007’s The Simpsons Movie (which memorably featured “Close to You”). Both “Close to You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun” have been voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
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The Carpenters got an unexpected shout-out on a global stage in March 2023. While accepting an Academy Award for best original song for “Naatu Naatu” from RRR, M.M. Neeravaani said, “Thank you, Academy. I grew up listening to the Carpenters, and now here I am with the Oscars.” He then proceeded to sing his acceptance remarks to the tune of the duo’s Billboard Hot 100-topping smash “Top of the World,” a move that charmed the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and the global TV viewing audience.
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Here’s the track listing for the CD edition of Christmas Once More.
1. “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”
2. “Happy Holiday”
3. “The Christmas Waltz”
4. “Sleigh Ride”
5. “It’s Christmas Time / Sleep Well, Little Children”
6. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
7. “Christ Is Born”
8. “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
9. “Merry Christmas, Darling” (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Version)
10. “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”
11. “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays”
12. “Little Altar Boy”
13. “The First Snowfall / Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
14. “My Favorite Things”
15. “White Christmas”
16. “Ave Maria”
The results are in: Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring a big assist from Morgan Wallen, is the official Billboard song of the summer.
The country crossover smash, which ruled the Songs of the Summer chart for all 14 weeks of its 2024 run, held off a hard-charging second-place finisher in Shaboozey’s nine-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — the second straight year that country titles finished in the chart’s top two spots, following Wallen’s “Last Night” and Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” cover claiming Nos. 1 and 2 in 2023, respectively. Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar takes the No. 3 spot with “Not Like Us,” while Sabrina Carpenter lands twice within the top 10, with “Espresso” (No. 4) and “Please Please Please” No. 6.
How closely does this year’s chart align with our own anecdotal impressions of what the songs of the summer were? And which summer-defining songs and artists are notably missing from the final tally, if any? Billboard staffers answer these questions and more below.
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1. Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help” ranks as Billboard’s Song of the Summer. On a scale from 1-10, how would you rate it both as a summer song, and as a defining song of THIS particular summer?
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Katie Atkinson: I’m going to give it a 10 as a summer song. To prove its warm-weather bona fides, look no further than the music video, which ends with Post and Morgan singing from a truck bed during a parking-lot party as a massive American flag waves above them and fireworks take off in the night sky. It was basically tailor-made for a Fourth of July tailgate. Now for this summer in particular, I’m going to go with a 9. The top two songs from the past two summer charts have all been country, so a Nashville party-starter at No. 1 is proof-positive of the genre’s incredible popularity right now. I’m only shaving off one point because Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” was my particular song of this summer and it just has that extra dose of sunshine – or extra shot of you-know-what.
Eric Renner Brown: “I Had Some Help” sounds like a hot, humid summer afternoon – it’s a 9 as a summer song. As a reflection of 2024, the song feels both in and out of sync with the broader music landscape. On the one hand, country had a massive summer, driven in part by crossover successes and new breakouts; as the lead single from Post’s big foray into country music, “I Had Some Help” is of a piece with that. On the other hand, Wallen’s presence takes me back to last summer – when the country star was even more dominant – and both him and Post feel out of sync with other major pop storylines from this summer like Sabrina, Chappell and Charli. I’d give it a 7 as the defining song of this summer specifically.
Kyle Denis: I’d say it’s a solid 8 as both a summer song and a defining song of this particular summer. In my opinion, the entire top five of Billboard’s Song of the Summer ranking was pretty spot-on. All of those songs are representative of what I heard and danced to while outside all summer. I don’t think any one song reigns over the others except maybe “Not Like Us.” This summer felt more driven by moments (Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter phenomena, country music’s comeback on the singles chart, Brat Summer, Glorilla and Bossman Dlow’s respective 2024 runs etc.) than individual records.
Jason Lipshutz: A 7 and a 6. “I Had Some Help” certainly has a summertime tempo and sing-along chorus, inviting raised cups across backyard gatherings and beach hangs alike. And it was big this season, if not ubiquitous; that speaks more to the dissolution of the monoculture that makes it harder for a single song to act inescapable across every platform, but also to how its run at No. 1 on the Hot 100 was not the longest of this summer, coming in second to “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” Artists like Shaboozey, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Kendrick Lamar were just as present this summer as Morgan and Post, but the chart points worked out so that “I Had Some Help” finished above them all.
Andrew Unterberger: A 9 song of the summer, and a 7 defining song on this summer. Both numbers raised at least a point by a friend’s recent barbecue where the song was played no fewer than four times (and went off each time).
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2. The SotS ranking is neatly bookended by country – both by its top two songs (“I Had Some Help” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”) and its bottom two (Luke Combs’ “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” and Dasha’s “Austin”) – while other songs by Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallen and Kane Brown fall between them. Why do you think this was such a country-heavy summer? Did it feel that way to you anecdotally?
Katie Atkinson: It’s not just a country-heavy summer; it’s been a country-heavy past two years! But there is something about those four summer 2024 songs you mentioned that makes them perfect for a BBQ or pool party playlist – and they’ve all been in rotation for me all summer. I would also argue that three of the four (excluding Luke Combs’ twangy Twisters track) transcend genre, because I’ve heard them played in places I’ve never heard country before. So I think the crossover appeal did a lot of the heavy lifting.
Eric Renner Brown: For one, it’s an election year! Nothing gets those patriotic juices flowing – and the country music blaring – like candidates posturing over who loves the stars and stripes more. On top of that, next-gen genre stars like Wallen and Brown have finally solidified their spot atop country music while major non-country artists like Beyoncé and Post have given the genre most cultural cachet among yeehaw-skeptical audiences (Stereogum’s Chris DeVille even astutely noted that Sabrina’s album was, in a sense, “an awesome Kacey Musgraves album.”) Still, the basic fact remains that country is simply massive in many parts of the country; all summers are “country-heavy” summers, to an extent.
Kyle Denis: I think we’re reached the final stage of country music’s mainstream comeback to the top of Hot 100 with the way pop-facing artists and listeners are not just accepting, but also intentionally seeking out country elements in their music. This summer we’ve had both straight country songs (Combs, Malone/Wallen) and country-infused pop tunes (Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please,” for example) reach the Hot 100’s highest heights.
Anecdotally, country has less of a presence than the respective single runs of Kendrick Lamar, GloRilla and Bossman Dlow, but the genre was certainly a sound that was expected to pop up at some point during a night out or an evening drive. I wouldn’t have been able to say that even three years ago.
Jason Lipshutz: We are seeing the full integration of country music into streaming platforms in real time: while genres like hip-hop and pop more naturally commanded Spotify and Apple Music during the 2010s as country listeners focused on radio blocks, that consumer habit has gradually shifted, and the country’s big summer hits are much bigger than they were a decade ago. The various personalities within the genre have certainly helped grease the wheels of this commercial explosion — Wallen, Bryan and Combs in particular are no-doubt superstars at this point, and all have prolific streaks — but the way that they are commanding daily streaming playlists is the key to understanding the past couple Songs of the Summer charts.
Andrew Unterberger: I don’t know if country is really towering over the mainstream the way our charts sometimes seem to imply, but I think it’s true that country always has a major radio presence — and more now than ever, given how many songs are crossing over to pop radio — and now it has finally fully caught up on streaming as well. With that kind of foothold in those two mediums, when a song really pops off, there’s really no limit to how big it can get, or how long it can stay that big for.
3. The only artist with two songs in the top 10 this year is Sabrina Carpenter: “Espresso” (No. 4) & “Please Please Please” (No. 6). Carpenter was unquestionably one of the defining pop presences of the season, but she vote-split a little with her multiple huge hits — do you think we’re getting to a point where we should be having an Artist of the Summer discussion as much as a Song of the Summer one? Would it have easily been Carpenter if we did?
Katie Atkinson: Please please please make it happen, Billboard charts team! It would be fascinating to see if we used our Artist 100 methodology just for the summer months whether it would have been Sabrina or maybe Morgan who would wear the summer 2024 crown, but I do think there’s value in seeing which musician rules the summer, not just what music.
Eric Renner Brown: The Song of the Summer conversation has expanded so much that sometimes I think it’s strayed too far from its genesis: The single omnipresent song that was inescapable at barbecues, beaches, and bars during the year’s warmest months. I wouldn’t say we shouldn’t have an Artist of the Summer discussion, but it feels like a different thing that doesn’t necessarily correlate to the Song of the Summer.
In fact, I don’t think having the Song of the Summer would necessarily be a prerequisite for being Artist of the Summer. No Charli XCX song achieved the cultural saturation that Sabrina’s big hits did this summer – and yet, Charli was the one getting promoted by one of the two major party candidates for president, and the one who had celebrities and influencers doing the “Apple” dance on TikTok. All that to say, no, I don’t think it would have easily been Sabrina – it would’ve been Charli, or even Chappell Roan, who felt far more present as an individual than Sabrina did.
Kyle Denis: I think I touched on it with one of my earlier answers, but artist of the year seems like a more accurate unit of measurement for this particular summer. I’m not sure Carpenter has it sewn up tho, Chappell Roan and Charli XCX certainly have some skin in the game – as do Lamar, Billie Eilish, GloRilla and Bossman Dlow.
Jason Lipshutz: Probably — although you could make a case that Kendrick Lamar would stand alongside her thanks to his avalanche of diss tracks, and Chappell Roan is right there too with “Good Luck, Babe!” all the various slow-burn smashes that she has accrued. Even Post Malone, who finished atop the chart with “I Had Some Help,” had another song, “Fortnight” with Taylor Swift, that finished in the top 20. This summer was full of artists who notched multiple smashes, instead of being satisfied with just one — although, with her two songs as dominant as they have been, Carpenter would probably earn my vote in the Artist of the Summer election.
Andrew Unterberger: It does seem to me that this summer was defined more by artists than by songs — and that while the Post Malone and Shaboozey songs were both enormous, I’m not sure the respective artists behind them really had an outsized seasonal presence otherwise — so yeah, I do think it would be interesting to have a separate discussion about that distinction. If there was an AotS debate to be had, Carpenter would certainly be in the mix, along with Charli XCX, Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter and probably Taylor Swift.
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4. What song (or artist) is absent from this year’s top 20 that you think was really necessary for understanding the summer in popular music?
Katie Atkinson: 100% Charli XCX. How can we end Brat Summer without a single Brat song on our summer chart? All these songs had an absolute chokehold on TikTok, but I think the one that should be on our chart to properly represent summer 2024 is “360,” which debuted on the Hot 100 in June and peaked at No. 41 in August – aka, a summer moment.
Eric Renner Brown: It’s Charli, baby! When you’ve got Jake Tapper unpacking the cultural significance of your album on CNN, you’re central to popular music.
Kyle Denis: Forgive me for invoking their names yet again, but GloRilla (“Yeah Glo,” “All Dere,” “Wanna Be,” “Bop,” “Finesse,” “TGIF”) and Bossman Dlow (“Get In With Me,” “Talk My Shit,” “Mr. Pot Scraper,” “Finesse,” “Shake Dat Ass,” “2 Slippery,” “Big One”).
Jason Lipshutz: “Apple” by Charli XCX. Although Brat Summer is not represented on the Songs of the Summer chart, Charli’s latest album was a lightning rod of interest and chatter, and “Apple” best crystallizes its viral reach, an immaculate pop gem that launched countless TikTok-ready movements. Runner-up goes to the “Girl, So Confusing” redo with Lorde, which is possibly the most fully realized pop remix of the 2020s.
Andrew Unterberger: Beyond Charli XCX — the obvious answer, since the season was basically renamed in her latest album’s likeness — it’s probably also worth mentioning the people’s champ Tinashe, whose early viral success with “Nasty” was seemingly willed to life by the collective consciousness of Pop Twitter. When it was clear the song was gonna hit the Hot 100, that was the first time I remember thinking that this was gonna end up being a pretty special summer for pop music. And it did!
5. We don’t have a Songs of the Autumn chart at Billboard (yet) – but if you could make a personal pick for a new and/or rising song to emerge as an early frontrunner for the late-calendar months, which would it be?
Katie Atkinson: After the unexpected folky resurgence that started the year (Benson Boone, Hozier, etc.), it feels like an artist like Mark Ambor could keep climbing up the chart as temperatures drop. His breakout hit “Belong Together” has so far peaked at No. 74 on the Hot 100, but with a recent push at radio and the release of his debut album Rockwood last month, his music could be soundtracking more than a few pumpkin spice latte runs this fall.
Eric Renner Brown: There’s no way Kendrick doesn’t put out another new song between now and his Super Bowl halftime show gig in a few months, right? For a Song of the Autumn, I’d put my money on what he or another Song of the Summer chart presence who I have a feeling might drop a fresh loosie –Chappell Roan – puts out. (This is also a referendum on the fact that some of the season’s A-list releases, including Halsey, Katy Perry, and Shawn Mendes, don’t exactly seem poised to launch a song into the upper range of the Hot 100.)
Kyle Denis: It would make my heart smile if any of the following songs got some love this fall: “Nissan Altima” (Doechii), “Sweep It Up” (Coco Jones), “Blick Sum” (Latto), “Lonely Is the Muse” (Halsey) and “Last of My Kind” (Shaboozey & Paul Cauthen).
Jason Lipshutz: None of us have heard The Weeknd’s “Dancing in the Flames,” his new single arriving this Friday — but lest we forget, Mr. Tesfaye comes alive in the fall time. I’m expecting to hear that sensual croon while sipping my pumpkin spice latte.
Andrew Unterberger: Can Pop Twitter do it again? If so, look to Addison Rae’s “Diet Pepsi,” a growing popheads favorite, to be one of the biggest songs of 2024 before year’s end.
On the second day of September, Charli XCX tweeted, “goodbye forever brat summer” — but it looks like she’s still got one last remix featuring Troye Sivan in the tank.
After keeping fans suspended in anticipation for weeks, the British alt-pop star finally shared a snippet of a “Talk Talk” remix with her Sweat Tour mate. In a video posted to X Monday (Sept. 9), the two stars dance around in a backstage area while lip-syncing along to the reimagined song, with Charli passing the camera off to Sivan when it comes time for his verse.
“OK, here’s the plan, I wanna fly you out to Amsterdam,” he sing-raps before detailing how he wants to get down and dirty with his love interest.
Based on the snippet, it seems as though Sivan’s verse picks up right where the original “Talk Talk” leaves off, with the “Rush” singer coming in right after Charli’s outro, where the song usually ends. Dua Lipa is also expected to appear on the track, although her voice isn’t audible in the new snippet; a few days after Charli reportedly shared a voice note from the “Levitating” artist on her private Brat Instagram account, Sivan’s “Rush” producers Zhone and Styalz Fuego said that they worked on the remix and tagged Dua on their Stories.
“Remember how I told you we were so back?” Fuego wrote, reposting Charli and Sivan’s snippet.
The original version of “Talk Talk” appears on Brat, which the singer dropped in June to critical acclaim. The project later peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, Charli’s highest peak on the chart to date.
The musician has spent the summer boosting the album with a series of remixes, with the “Talk Talk” revamp following Brat collaborations with Addison Rae, Robyn, Yung Lean, Lorde and Billie Eilish. Teaming up with Sivan was only natural given their plans to embark on a joint tour this year, something the duo spoke about in a recent interview with i-D.
“Our shows at the moment are very different from each other and both speak to different elements of pop,” Sivan told the publication. “I think that the collision of it is going to be cool.”
Listen to a snippet of the “Talk Talk” remix below.
With the first quarter of the 21st century coming to a close, Billboard is spending the next few months counting down our staff picks for the 25 greatest pop stars of the last 25 years. We’ve already named our Honorable Mentions and our No. 25, No. 24, No. 23, No. 22, No. 21 and No. 20 stars, and now we remember the century in BTS — the septet that took K-pop to new global heights, and set the standard for high-level hitmaking and fan devotion over the past decade of pop music.
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When you think of what it takes for a group to become pop stars, imagine having seven individual talents who can each do it all well: sing, rap, dance, and amass a love and fandom that even some of the biggest pop stars could only dream of. That’s what you have with BTS, who crashed through every door of what it takes to be a successful pop act and expanded that with a scope never quite seen before. The group has broken through ceilings for boy bands, K-pop and South Korean artists in general, all while creating a meaningful community that is continually inspired by BTS’ message of positivity, love and connection.
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The global senesations have amassed Beatles-sized success and have become the new blueprint for everything pop: When it comes to maintaining fan hysteria and consistent hitmaking, they are it. In the U.S. alone, the K-pop septet has notched six Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits and six Billboard 200 No. 1 albums. And as solo artists over the past few years, they’ve all individually created their own lane, and grabbed historic accolades of their own along the way.
BTS
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BTS
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It all started in 2013, when BTS (short for the Korean phrase Bangtan Sonyeondan, which translates to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”) was created by Big Hit Entertainment. The group, comprised of RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook, released the debut EP 2 Cool 4 Skool in June 2013.
In Korea, BTS was not instantly welcomed. In the band’s biography Beyond the Story, the members speak on the highly competitive genre, and being shunned by peers in the industry, and even by some fans of K-pop. But through the style of vlogging, BTS was able to great a more unique relationship with their fans. Want to hang out and cook along with BTS? You could. That was something that was far from the extremely polished K-pop norms.
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Though BTS was not the first K-pop group to find huge success at home and abroad — and won’t be the last — throughout the group’s journey to global superstardom, there were numerous things that made it special.
The massive fan group ARMY (Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth) has been with the septet every step of the way. In the 2021 hit “Butter,” the group’s leader RM confidently says, “got ARMY right behind us when we say so.” BTS has over 75 million followers on Instagram and over 48 million followers on X (formerly Twitter). It has grown the group past what people normally see in boy band fandoms: ARMY boosts a diverse community of all ages, races, religions and beyond.
BTS
Cindy Ord/WireImage
One of the top qualities that makes BTS stand out as pop stars is the members’ ability to bend and blend genres. This is largely due to the group being comprised of different members cast in different roles — K-pop groups will often split different members into a rap line, vocal line, and dance line — giving everybody the ability to shine. They all have their own styles and voices, yet they all blend well together. This individual uniqueness has even led fans to celebrate their “bias” as they connect with their favorite member of the OT7 (One True 7).
Being trained in the K-pop methodology prepared all seven to be strong in all areas of performance. To get to know them as great singers, take note of V’s chilling vocals on “Spring Day,” Jimin’s sweet sensuality on “Serendipity,” Jin’s flawless belting on “Let Go,” or Jung Kook’s effortless falsetto on “Euphoria”. The group’s earliest music was also heavily influenced by hip-hop — and members Suga, RM, and J-Hope’s inspiration from the American hip-hop scene and the underground culture in Korea heavily shaped BTS’ sound. By 2018, Nicki Minaj was even joining the group for an iconic verse on the Love Yourself: Answer single “IDOL”.
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Of course, you can’t be a great pop star without top-notch visuals. From music videos to merchandise, everything BTS is produced to the highest quality. Take for example their song “ON”: The music video alone is a spectacle of massive dance numbers and sprawling sets. The group took that same performance to The Tonight Show in Grand Central Station and inside a stadium for the 2020 MAMA Awards. Everything BTS does is BIG. (And yes, all the BTS members are good looking: Jin is famously nicknamed by their fans as Worldwide Handsome.)
The group’s dance ability is also next-level. Choreography isn’t new to boy bands, as pop groups from the Jackson 5 to *NSYNC made it a key performance element. But look no further than BTS’ performance of “Black Swan” at the 2020 Melon Music Awards and you know what we are seeing is different here: Often members show off not just hip-hop dance skills, but aerial, ballet, and interpretive dancing. A quick dive into fan edits online and you will surely find several videos comparing the members to Michael Jackson and other greats.
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It was these performances, and a new lean into a more pop-friendly sound, that really introduced them to a mainstream American audience in the late ‘10s. They brought “Fake Love” to the Billboard Music Awards in 2018, one of their first major US awards show performances, with huge (and clearly audible) ARMY support in the crowd. “Boy With Luv” featuring Halsey, released the next year off Map of the Soul: Persona, was another catchy banger and became one of their biggest hits at the time, reaching the Hot 100’s top 10. They performed that track at the BBMAs in 2019, also receiving a rapturous reception.
Though there was no denying BTS’ massive success as the septet sold out stadiums across the world by 2019, there really was no preparation for what happened with “Dynamite” in 2020. The group’s first single released in all English can only be described as pop perfection. From the sticky-sweet lyrics to the colorfully choreographed music video, the song catapulted the already massively popular group to new levels of crossover American success. The song became BTS’ first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — and the first song ever by an all-South Korean musical act to reach that spot, with only Psy’s “Gangnam Style” (No. 2) getting close previously.
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BTS followed that up with even more chart-toppers, several while linking up with English-language pop acts– lending an assist to Jason Derulo for “Savage Love” and getting recruited by Coldplay for “My Universe,” which became another No. 1 for both groups. BTS even had a No. 1 co-written by Ed Sheeran – with a personal favorite, “Permission to Dance.” Which isn’t to say the septet actually needed help from any other hitmakers, though – as “Butter,” the delectable 10-week No. 1 that stands as the group’s longest-reigning Hot 100-topper to date, clearly demonstrated in summer 2021.
Songs like “Dynamite,” “Butter” and “My Universe” have been able to secure BTS five Grammy nominations. They were also invited to the stage at both the 2021 and 2022 Grammys, with highly anticipated performances that brought the awards some of their buzziest and best-received moments.
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The seven members have continued that success as solo artists while BTS has paused most group activity as its members participate in their mandatory South Korean military service. (Jin was the first member to enlist, doing so in Dec. 2022, and this June, also became the first to be discharged.) In 2022 J-Hope became the first South Korean artist to headline the main stage at a major U.S. music festival when he headlined Lollapalooza. In 2023 Suga took his solo show worldwide as he completed the Agust D Tour in support of his debut studio album D-Day. Jimin made history with the release of his first solo album, FACE, as the single “Like Crazy” became the first song by a Korean solo artist to top the Billboard Hot 100. Jung Kook performed at the World Cup and notched his own Hot 100 No. 1, with “Seven” featuring Latto. V, Jin and RM have also all released successful solo music.
Meanwhile, even as they’ve become global pop crossover stars, the BTS members have continued to stay true to their hip-hop roots – as seen as recently as RM’s new feature on Megan Thee Stallion’s “Never Play” this September. He’s also worked with Erykah Badu, Wale and Anderson .Paak, while in 2023, J-Hope teamed up with a rap icon in J. Cole for the single “On the Street.”
Jung Kook and Jimin
Courtesy of BIGHIT MUSIC
No K-pop group — or group in general — has been able to accomplish what Bangtan has this century. From creating a global community to expanding K-pop well outside of its genre and delivering seven successful pop star solo acts, BTS truly paved the way.
Read more about the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century here — and be sure to check back on Thursday when our No. 18 artist is revealed!
It is a rare alignment of the stars that allows a self-proclaimed, multi-hypehnate “model, actress, whatever” to live both of their biggest dreams at the same time and then have one of them turn into her main gig. But that’s where English singer/actress/model Suki Waterhouse finds herself these days as she prepares to release her second studio album, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin.
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After a memorable turn as keyboardist Karen Sirko in the 2023 Amazon Prime musical drama series Daisy Jones & the Six, Waterhouse, 32, tells Billboard the show “definitely” helped her to get more focused on her musical dreams. “I guess that show was really special, because it kind of put me in that world for a long time,” she says of the courage the show about a fictional Fleetwood Mac-style battling band gave her to pursue her music with renewed energy.
“When I started doing that show, I still was, like… ‘you could never do that,’” she says of the pervasive thoughts convincing her that she couldn’t pull off her character, or a tour, or release a follow-up to her debut 2022 Sub Pop full-length LP, I Can’t Let Go. “I was very much in this like, ‘Oh no, you’re, you’re not good enough to do that. Or, like, you just that just won’t happen for you’… that was just where I was mentally.” But after spending hours and hours a day in L.A.’s legendary Sound City Studios working on songs for the series and learning new chords she realized that all that pretend rocking could be turned into the songs for her about-to-be-released sophomore album, which drops on Friday (Sept. 13).
“It as very special to be able to do something that combines [my two loves and] really moves you in your own life as well, it’s very unique,” says the veteran of such films as Detective Pikachu, A Rainy Day in New York and Billionaire Boys Club and one of the hand-picked opening acts on Taylor Swift’s August 17 Eras Tour gig at London’s Wembley Stadium.
The London native got her start as a teenage model before breaking into movies in 2012 and then pivoting to music in 2016 with her debut single, “Brutally.” She says the process for recording Sparklemuffin was a world away from that of her debut because when she first started in music she didn’t have a label or anyone behind her after nearly a decade of self-releasing songs.
“And then Sub Pop said yes, but I had to kind of really bang down the door,” she says. “It took like, six months of writing emails, and they said, ‘No, we don’t want to listen to any songs from models or actresses, whatevers.’ So it was a completely different experience this time. I’ve been able to collaborate with different people and have different artists that I could call up, and a few more people wanted to get in the room with me than they did before. So it was, like, very, very different in that way.”
The other thing that was very different was that Waterhouse was pregnant with her first child with fiancé actor Robert Pattinson; she gave birth in March of this year. That was news she was trying to keep secret until she got sick during a car ride to the studio, at which point the cat was out of the bag. “I was really like, glad to have a project that I was so into whilst also being pregnant, because it was like, you know, you’re just powering through,” she says. “And it was great to have a distraction. And I kind of had this thing in my head where I’m like, ‘I’m just going to power through. Who cares? I’m going to vomit sometimes.. and then you feel fine afterwards.”
For more about the album and the inspiration behind the guys-going-way-too-hard at the club single “Blackout” and the great tips Alison Wonderland gave her for touring with a baby check out the video above.
If there are two ladies who’ve ruled pop music this summer, it’s Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, both of whom have experienced mind-bogglingly fast rises to fame.
And in her first Rolling Stone cover story, the 26-year-old “Hot to Go!” artist revealed that the pair have bonded over the pressures that come with the territory of so-called overnight success. “We’re both going through something so f–king hard,” Roan told the publication of the 25-year-old Girl Meets World alum. “She just feels like everything is flying, and she’s just barely hanging on.”
The Missouri native also said that Carpenter suggested meeting up to discuss how overwhelming their year has been so far. “It was just good to know someone else feels that way,” she added.
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The interview comes as both ladies have been climbing the charts for months, with the “Espresso” singer recently scoring her first-ever No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 thanks to Short n’ Sweet. She also nabbed her first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year, with “Please Please Please” reaching the top spot in June.
Meanwhile, Roan isn’t far behind Carpenter, with the “Pink Pony Club” musician’s debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess reaching a new peak at No. 2 on the albums chart in August. She’s also had seven songs enter the Hot 100 since April, including the No. 6-peaking “Good Luck, Babe!”
With the rapid rise to fame, however, comes way more people watching your every move, which, for Roan, has manifested into countless inappropriate interactions with fans that led her to set some boundaries in multiple social media posts in August. And for the first time, Roan went into detail about some of the exchanges that led to her calling out such “predatory behavior” in her posts, telling Rolling Stone that an admirer once grabbed her and forcibly kissed her at a bar. She also had to hire her own security because she has a stalker who once followed her from Missouri to a New York hotel room, and at one point, a man berated her at an airport for not signing autographs.
The good news is, a lot of other female stars — from Billie Eilish to Phoebe Bridgers, Lorde and more — have reached out to her offering support. “I just wanted to humbly welcome you to the s—tiest exclusive club in the world, the club where strangers think you belong to them and they find and harass your family members,” reads a letter from Mitski that Roan shared with the publication.
See Roan on the cover of Rolling Stone below.