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Yes, it’s so true that Gracie Abrams has an alternate version of her recent single, “That’s So True,” in her files… but you’ll never hear it.
During a wide-ranging conversation with her co-writer and friend Audrey Hobert for Spotify’s “You’re Invited, I’m Sorry: An Evening with Gracie Abrams” on Tuesday night (Nov. 12), the duo opened up about writing the song after getting a little tipsy at New York City’s Electric Lady Studios, as seen in videos circulating social media from the event.
“We were drunk when we wrote the lyrics,” Hobert noted, before Abrams added, “Yeah, there’s a very vulgar version of ‘That’s So True’ that will never see the light of day.”
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Abrams then recalled a hilariously awkward moment when they were writing said “vulgar” version of the track on the rooftop at the NYC studio. “We didn’t know that there was a roof above the roof until I got a text from Lee [Foster], who runs the studio, at one point,” she explained. “We were a little drunk — in a great way, like, a light, fresh way — we actually doubled over in tears laughing so hard saying the most horrific s— to song. Then, I get a text and he’s like, ‘Mumford and Sons are doing an interview right above you.’ It was bad! I was like, ‘Oh God!’”
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Since its release in October, “That’s So True” has gained serious momentum, thanks in part to a boost from TikTok virality. The track currently sits at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Elsewhere in the interview, Abrams discussed her first-ever Grammy nominations for best new artist and best pop/duo group performance for her Taylor Swift collaboration, “Us,” saying she spoke with the superstar on the phone after the news. “We were like, ‘That’s just silly full circle,’” she shared, adding that she did not expect the nomination but she’s “very grateful.”
Rosé made history with her freshly released Bruno Mars collaboration, “APT.,” as she’s officially the first female K-pop artist to reach the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Who is Rosé and what’s her story? We’re diving into her career in the newest Billboard Explains episode.
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The 27-year-old star has been playing piano and guitar since childhood, and even performed in her church choir. In 2012, her father encouraged her to try out for YG Entertainment’s auditions for a new girl group. She came in first, and subsequently became a trainee at YG, before getting chosen to be a member of BLACKPINK four years later.
The group dropped their debut EP, Square Up, in 2016, and got their first Billboard chart hit when “Boombayah” topped the World Digital Song Sales chart, and “Whistle” followed at No. 2. Their first Hot 100 entry was “Dou-Du Dou-Du,” which peaked at No. 55. After a series of hits, their 2020 debut full-length project, The Album, topped the World Albums Chart and debuted at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200, becoming the highest-charting album by a female K-pop act at the time. Their 2022 album, Born Pink, became their first leader on the Billboard 200.
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Rosé embarked on her solo career with the 2021 single album, R, which featured the single Billboard Global 200-topping single, “On the Ground.” She’s set to release her debut studio album, Rosie, on December 6.
Watch Billboard Explains: Rosé’s Record-Breaking Ride on the Charts in the video above.
After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about Tate McRae’s rise to superstardom, Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boom, the role record labels play, origins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groups, BBMAs, NFTs, SXSW, the magic of boy bands, American Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and more.
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.
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This week: Grammy nominations spur gains for some of the bigger (and a couple of the less-expected) nominees, while the election sends listeners to various politically and/or patriotically minded songs and the latest SNL guest gets a big bump.
Grammy Nominations Provide Sizable Streaming Bumps to André 3000, The Beatles, ‘Cowboy Carter’ Tracks and More
When the nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards were announced on Friday (Nov. 8), several current smash hits, from Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” to Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” to Bruno Mars & Lady Gaga’s “Die With a Smile,” populated the general categories, along with still-enormous albums from Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish in the album of the year race. Those songs and albums were too big to see a noticeable streaming increase from the Grammy nominations — but some surprise nominees did receive upticks, as music fans headed to their streaming platform of choice to check out (or revisit) the unexpected contenders.
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In the album of the year category, André 3000’s fully instrumental flute showcase New Blue Sun and Jacob Collier’s sprawling and expansive Djesse, Vol. 4 each posted considerable gains following their nominations. New Blue Sun earned 164,000 official on-demand streams U.S. between Friday and Saturday (Nov. 8-9), according to Luminate — a 46% increase from the same two-day period the previous week — while Djesse, Vol. 4 rose to 139,000 streams, up 31% from the previous Friday and Saturday. “Now and Then,” the Beatles’ single that was revived with the use of AI in November 2023, also rose 42% in streams following its unexpected record of the year nomination, from 83,000 streams during Nov. 1-2 to 118,000 streams during Nov. 8-9.
Meanwhile, Beyoncé’s big nominations morning — 11 total, the most of any artist and the most any woman artist has ever received in a single year — resulted in major streaming gains as well. Cowboy Carter, Bey’s fourth straight solo album to score an album of the year nomination, rose to 3.2 million streams during Nov. 8-9, up 42% from the same period during the previous week. And some of the individual songs from Cowboy Carter that earned nominations in the genre categories soared even higher, with “Bodyguard” (nominated for best pop solo performance) and “16 Carriages” (up for best country solo performance) up 76% and 75% in streams, respectively — also helped by a recently released new video for the former and new found TikTok virality for the latter. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Anti-Trump & Pro-Obama Songs Soar Following Vice President Kamala Harris’ Election Loss
The whirlwind 2024 U.S. presidential election is finally over, and former President Trump is now America’s President-Elect. In the wake of his victory, American’s have turned to a diverse spread of songs to process their emotions regarding the next four years.
Vice President Kamala Harris selected Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar’s “Freedom” as her official campaign song at the beginning of her presidential bid (July 21), and she walked off to the rousing song for the final time after her concession speech at Howard University on Nov. 6. During Election Week (Nov. 1-7), “Freedom” earned over 965,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. That marks a 141% jump from the 399,000 streams it pulled the week prior (Oct. 24-31). Notably, Beyoncé also cleaned up at the 2025 Grammy nominations reveal – Cowboy Carter earned 11 nods – which took place just three days after Election Day on Nov. 8.
Donald Trump of course narrowly won the election, spurring some Americans to return YG and Nipsey Hussle fiery “FDT.” Originally released in 2016 ahead of Trump’s first presidential election victory, “FDT” — which stands for “F–k Donald Trump” — has previously reached No. 50 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The anthemic track returned to the top of the iTunes charts after President Biden defeated Trump in 2020. Now starring in its third consecutive presidential election, “FDT” ballooned 455% in streams from 126,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in the week preceding the election (Oct. 24-31) to over 703,000 during Election Week (Nov. 1-7).
An even older election-minded song – Jeezy and Nas’ Obama-praising “My President Is Black” — earned streaming gains following Trump’s victory. Whether people were playing the song in preemptive celebration or post-election dejection, streams for the 2008 track jumped 128% thanks to the past week’s events. Before Election Week (Oct. 24-31), the song earned over 126,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. During Election Week (Nov. 1-7), that figure rose to 288,000 streams.
Lee Greenwood’s perennial “God Bless the U.S.A.” also earned eye-popping streaming gains following the election. Going into Election Week (Oct. 24-31), the patriotic track pulled just over 391,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. By the end of Election Week (Nov. 1-7), streams for the song clocked in at over 1.7 million, marking a whopping 334% increase. Digital sales for the song also jumped 266% to 2,500 copies sold during Election Week (Nov. 1-7).
As the country prepares to undergo Trump’s second presidential term, expect more politically minded songs to make major streaming moves. — KYLE DENIS
Are You Looking Up? Mk.Gee Gets the ‘SNL’ Bump
It took many by surprised when Mk.Gee — an indie singer-guitarist with considerable critical acclaim and a growing cult following, but zero entries on either the Billboard 200 or Billboard Hot 100 — was announced as the musical guest on the post-election episode of Saturday Night Live. But the enigmatic performer rose to the occasion with electrifying performances of his Two Star & The Dream Police highlight “Alesis” and the newer single “Rockman” — and it appears that plenty of folks watching were sufficiently impressed to check out his discography from there.
For the days of Nov. 10-11 — the two days following the SNL gig — Mk.Gee’s catalog had amassed a combined 906,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, a 71% gain from the 529,000 he’d totaled for the same period the prior week. Leading the way there of course were the two songs he played in his performance: “Alessis” (up 75% to 135,000) and “Rockman” (up 87% to 209,000). Those numbers aren’t yet at the level of threatening Mk.Gee’s first appearance on Billboard‘s all-genre charts, but it continues to show what a lot of industry insiders have been saying about the singer-guitarist for some time now: The more exposure he gets, the more and more people he turns into believers. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER
On today’s (Nov. 4) episode of the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century podcast, we reach No. 4 on our list with a rapper (and singer) who became a pop star without ever specifically going pop — by changing the face and sound of hip-hop and dragging it further towards the mainstream’s center than it […]
Celine Dion just wants to listen to her new single! The legendary vocalist uploaded a hilarious video to her Instagram on Tuesday (Nov. 12), in which she asks Siri on her iPhone to play her cover of Édith Piaf’s “Hymne à L’Amour,” released as a single last month. During her first attempt, Siri responds, “I […]
While plenty of Lil Nas X fans are hyping themselves up over his upcoming new single, dance artist Sega Bodega has a few questions for the rapper about one of his promotional photos. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In a series of posts to his X […]
Rema and Selena Gomez‘s remix video for the Afrobeats star’s 2022 single, “Calm Down” has crossed the one billion views mark on YouTube. The visual for the song that originally appeared on Nigerian singer Rema’s Feb. 2022 debut studio album, Rave & Roses, got a second life in August of that year when Gomez hopped into the visual for the sultry jam.
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In the video, both singers hang out in a living room with green walls and colorful tapestries, with Gomez dancing seductively behind a beaded curtain and shaking her hips alongside Rema as he sings, “I see this fine girl, for my party, she wear yellow/ Every other girl they dey do too much, but this girl mellow/ Naim, I dey find situation, I go use take tell am ‘Hello’/ Finally, I find way to talk to the girl, but she no wan’ follow.”
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Midway through, Gomez sidles up to Rema and adds, “Yeah, I know I look shy but for you i get down, woah/ And my hips make you cry when I’m moving around you/ Do it once, do it twice/ I push back you hold me tight.” The two then join forces on the chorus: “Baby, show me you can calm down, calm down/ Dance with me and take the lead now, lead now/ Got you so high that you can’t come down, come down” as the action turns to an all-white garage where the pair pose on a vintage roadster.
In addition to crossing the billion mark on YT, the song set all kinds or records during its chart run, including the longest run at the top of Billboard’s U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart and first song in history to spend a year on that chart (currently at 138 weeks) and the record for the first African song to log a whole year (57 weeks total) on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also has the record for the most weeks ever spent on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, logging an unprecedented 64 weeks as of Jan. 20 of this year; “Calm Down” bested the previous record-holder, Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” which had 63 week at the top in 2022-2023.
Watch the “Calm Down” remix video below.
Something LISA this way comes — but fans aren’t exactly sure what it is yet. That will all change soon, however, according to a mysterious untitled countdown that has appeared on the BLACKPINK star’s solo website. By Billboard‘s math, the clock will finish ticking down on Nov. 19 — the possible release date of new […]
Jin of BTS on The Tonight Show? He’ll be there. As announced by host Jimmy Fallon in a video posted to to the show’s social media accounts Tuesday (Nov. 12), the 31-year-old K-pop star is set to make his solo debut on the late-night talk program. In the clip, the Saturday Night Live alum opens […]
While Lil Nas X‘s new music feed has gone somewhat dark over the last few months, the singer is back with a promise — there will be “Light Again.” In a post to his social media accounts on Tuesday (Nov. 12), Lil Nas announced that he would at last be officially releasing his next single […]