Pride
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Beyoncé‘s latest project, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, is already on track to be a smash hit at the box office — and if a recent statement by GLAAD is any indication, then the film is destined for rave critical reviews as well. In a statement released on Friday (Dec. 1), the non-profit LGBTQ+ advocacy […]
After pole dancing his way into hell and grinding on the devil, Lil Nas X is ready to climb his way back up to the pearly gates with an enchanting new clip.
In a tweet on Wednesday evening (Nov. 29), the “Industry Baby” singer shared a video of himself lip-syncing to an unreleased song. Dressed in a long denim skirt and a T-shirt saying “if God doesn’t exist, then who’s laughing at us?,” Lil Nas sang out a prayer in the new clip. “Father stretch my hands/ The lonely road seems to last the longest,” he crooned. “Help me with my plans/ Everything seems to go nowhere.”
Calling on “angels” to help him “keep my faith” at the end of the clip, the 24-year-old made his intentions crystal clear in the clip’s caption. “y’all mind if i enter my christian era,” he asked his followers.
Of course, releasing a gospel-adjacent song doesn’t change who Lil Nas is at his core — a top-tier troll. When some X users began criticizing the rapper for “mocking” Christianity, he made sure to put them in their place. “making christian music does not mean i can’t suck d–k no more,” he wrote. “the two are not mutually exclusive. i am allowed to get on my knees for multiple reasons.” When one user tried to clap back and tell the singer that’s “not how Christianity works,” Nas was swift in his response: “watch out everybody it’s the christianity correctional officer.”
While Lil Nas was more than happy to mess with trolls and joke about his shift in sound, he did get very real with his audience, asking them to take his music a little bit more seriously. “y’all see everything i do as a gimmick. when in reality im just an artist expressing myself in different ways,” he wrote. “whether im a cowboy, gay, satanic, or now christian y’all find a problem! y’all don’t police nobody else art like mine. y’all hate me because im fun cute and petite.”
Billboard has reached out to representatives for Lil Nas X for more information on the release of his new song.
The new song clip comes amid a quiet period for the “Old Town Road” singer. His last single “Star Walkin’,” a collaboration with the multiplayer online game League of Legends, was released in September 2022, peaking at No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 the following October.
Lil Nas is well aware that his fans miss hearing new music from him: In a tweet mimicking Spotify Wrapped posts from other artists, the rapper joked that he earned a grand total of 2 streams in 2023. “damn not releasing music really starting to take a toll on my career,” he quipped.
Check out the full teaser for Lil Nas X’s stirring new song below.
Even as the self-proclaimed Prince of Christmas, Matt Rogers is still baffled by how much a single holiday has consumed his year.
“I went to a pool party on the Fourth of July this year, and people kept asking me, ‘What are you working on?’” Rogers tells Billboard over a Zoom call from a London hotel. “And I had to say, ‘Actually, a Christmas album.’ So it turns out, when you do a Christmas album, you actually better love Christmas because it becomes your whole year.”
But the comedian’s hard work certainly paid off with the release of Have You Heard of Christmas?, Rogers’ debut album of satirical holiday tracks (released on Nov. 6 via Capitol Records) designed to both celebrate the monolithic holiday and skewer its cultural oversaturation. Spanning every genre of holiday song he could over the course of 12 songs, Rogers expertly puts Christmas under the microscope, playing out every last seasonal scenario with wit, charm and plenty of holiday cheer.
The album’s origins date back to 2017, when Rogers began a one-man show in New York City, making fun of the very concept of the celebrity Christmas album. As he honed his act over the next few years, Rogers eventually got the show greenlit as a special for Showtime, debuting in Dec. 2022 — a record deal with Capitol followed shortly thereafter.
It’s become clear that audiences everywhere are also buying into Rogers’ Christmas vision — one week after its release, Have You Heard of Christmas? made Rogers a Billboard-charting artist, as the LP debuted at No. 4 on the Comedy Albums chart. Meanwhile, the comedian still can’t get over that audiences are singing his songs along with him during his live shows. “I now get to be in that club of people that have had that experience, which is really cool,” he says with a smile.
Below, Rogers chats with Billboard about the album’s origin as a joke, the “bald capitalism” of the holiday season, his favorite celebrity Christmas album and why he thinks pop music ought to be funnier.
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It’s been a long road for you to release Have You Heard of Christmas? — what does it mean for you to actually have this album out that you’ve been talking about for years?
It’s pretty surreal, because it’s not just that thing where you work for a month or even a year on your album; I’ve had a lot of this for about six years. I started this in 2017 as a joke when I was doing it as a one man show in the West Village. The whole bit was, “Come see my show to hear a holiday album that is definitely, for sure, for real, absolutely, 100% coming out, no doubt about it. This is not a joke.” And of course it was a joke! Now, years later, these songs that I wrote half a decade ago are finally out, and people are actually singing them back to me, which is wild.
Let’s go back to the inception of that joke — what was it about the idea of a fake Christmas album that tickled you?
I think it was an interview I watched with Mariah Carey, where I feel like this interviewer kind of said the quiet part out loud: “Wow, so you get to make lots of money every year!” And I was like, “You just boldly called out the capitalism of it all. That is so funny.” I started to really think about Christmas as this last vestige of the monoculture, where if you have a Christmas album, you know it’s going to sell every year. It’s kind of a hack; if you create really good Christmas content, you then become part of that culture. I just thought it was so funny to say, “Let me sneak into the cultural consciousness by creating a fake Christmas album,” because I always think bald capitalism is so funny.
I love Christmas, and we all love Christmas because we are kind of forced to love Christmas. But it’s also something to drag for that reason; it is this thing that forces itself down our throat every year. Like, every pop girlie can’t love Christmas, but the record labels sure do, because it makes them lots of money. So it’s just funny to me that, in every young pop star’s life, there comes a time when you have to do two things: Go to Vegas, and do a Christmas album. I’m just starting a little early, that’s all.
Among the expansive list of celebrity Christmas albums, do you have a favorite?
I’m quite partial to Kelly Clarkson’s Wrapped in Red. Don’t get me wrong, When Christmas Comes Around… is also really good, but that first album is just fantastic. “Underneath the Tree,” I think, is the candidate to be the “All I Want For Christmas Is You” of our generation. Now, as a recording artist, I’m keeping my eye on the streams of it all, and the “Underneath the Tree” streams are very similar to Mariah’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” in that they seem to increase every year. It’s becoming this thing where you have these handful of songs that just sound like Christmas in the background.
I actually made one of those songs on my album, called “I Don’t Need It to Be Christmas at All.” There’s not a single joke in it, I thought it would be funny to have this whole album of hard comedy songs, and then go, “Hey, by the way, here’s an actual earnest effort on my part.” Lo and behold, it’s the one that’s doing the best now. Even in my attempt to satirize this whole thing, I ended up having an impact with the one genuine song.
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Was it at all strange to go from making fun of the concept of recording a Christmas album to actually recording and releasing one of your own?
To be honest with you, everything I’ve ever gotten to do successfully is because I was making fun of doing that exact thing. Like, if I wanted to become a singer, I made fun of good singing, and all of a sudden people were like, “You’re a singer.” I just kind of faked my way into it. Now, I don’t want to say that this is a fake Christmas album, because it’s fully realized by great producers and great writers and an amazing label at Capitol Records. But I could not have dreamed that it would get here, because a certain point came where I was just used to making fun of myself and being like, “There’s no way.” When it became real, I was like, “Oh, I guess I have to find a different way to frame this.”
Another thing I’ve started thinking about now that I’ve gotten to this place is this idea of, “Who says that pop music can’t have funny lyrics?” I think that we have this idea of pop songs that are about love, or heartbreak, or partying. Who says that they can’t be about all sorts of different things?
I’m so glad that you brought that up, because I’ve noticed that pop music has been getting progressively funnier over the last couple years, especially with artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Reneé Rapp and Chappell Roan bringing a lot of humor to their songs.
Yes, completely! The thing about all those girls —well, I don’t think we’ve seen this from Chappell yet, but certainly with Olivia and Reneé — is that they’re actresses. What they want to do is to embody their song, and they’re very good at that. I would be very surprised if Chappell couldn’t deliver on screen.
I come at this as a comedian and an actor myself. So what I think is so great about the record and one of the things I’m proudest of is that I can have a song like “Everything You Want,” which is like me doing this lovelorn, sad girl pop record, and then it goes right into “RUM PUM PUM,” which is my trappy, filthy club song. I really wanted the opportunity to play different characters, and I am in a unique position to bring my skills to this as a character performer. So yeah, I’m really happy that idea is coming back in pop music.
You got to work with a number of artists on this project, including Katie Gavin from MUNA, VINCINT, Bowen Yang and Leland, who both appears on and executive produced the album. What was it like to work with these very talented, and also very queer artists on a Christmas project?
I am just so proud that they all are queer artists, and I’m also really proud that they’re all queer artists who have had a major impact. You know, VINCINT’s songs were inescapable during Pride, and MUNA is just becoming more and more important to not just queer culture, but our generation. I genuinely do believe that Katie Gavin is one of the voices that we will still be listening to in 30 years — I believe she’s a Stevie Nicks-level singer.
Leland is such a great artist in his own right and such an amazing producer; the vibe that he creates creatively is so open and very collaborative. He’s also a real go-getter, because we wrote the song “Everything You Want” as a solo song for me, and he realized we were writing a MUNA song. He said, “We’re gonna call them right now,” and we just asked, and Katie said yes. Also, Leland is Troye Sivan’s [songwriting partner], and Troye was around the whole time I was recording. He would be listening to first cuts, and with “RUM PUM PUM,” he’s the one who called it “diabolical” and then asked if he could help vocal produce it. This was the week that “Rush” was coming out. He was about to have this nasty little pop boy moment, and here he was helping me with mine.
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You’ve mentioned all of the different flavors of holiday song we get on this album — why was that an important step in making this a successful satire on the pop Christmas album format?
I came up through my 20’s doing sketch comedy, and the similarity between writing a good comedy sketch and writing a good pop song is way more synergistic than people think. Let’s take “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson as an example. In verse one, we get the premise; “I’m not with you anymore.” The game is now about this idea of “I don’t care, I’m better off without you.” In the second verse, we explore the reality; “Here’s the things in the relationship that happened, which were actually pathetic.” The bridge is this big f–king kiss off is where she comes to the conclusion that, “We will never ever, ever get back together,” to quote another artist. And then there is this little taste at the end with her vocal that maybe she isn’t super over it. All of this essentially is three beats of a sketch: introducing a comedic idea, exploring that idea, and then seeing the idea out to its fullest potential.
I feel like the best way to really heighten a specific comedic idea in song is to just match it to a genre that can help you do that. So, if I’m writing a sketch about being in the club, meeting someone and wanting to bring them home on Christmas, obviously that should be a club song. If I’m feeling a genre first, I think about what funny idea would fit.
It also helps that you are a naturally gifted singer — was singing something you always knew you were very good at?
I think I’ve started to be comfortable calling myself a singer since I started doing the show five years ago. What I didn’t know was how good of a recording artist I was going to be, because I really think those are two different things. To me, what sets recording artists apart is having that special tone and that ability to landscape your vocals. Like, Selena Gomez is a fantastic recording artist. I don’t know that she could go up there and sing the house down like Audra McDonald, and I also don’t know if Audra would consider herself a great recording artist, right? They’re both very, very good at what they do.
When they gave me this record deal, I knew I could sing, but I didn’t know if I was a recording artist. Luckily, Leland was very encouraging about me using this like part of my voice that recalls the origins of when I started listening to music — this very JC Chasez, R&B-pop tone. What really helped, it turns out, was podcasting for all these years. That has weirdly prepared me to use a mic in this way in the studio.
Was there anything you learned in this process that further differentiated being a singer from a being a recording artist?
Listen, as a gay guy who has had a podcast for years talking about pop culture, I’ve had certain opinions about who’s “a great singer” and who’s not. Now, I have so much more respect for anyone who creates a hit and has a distinct sound where, when you hear it, you’re like, “Oh, that is unquestionably Ariana Grande, or Rihanna, or Kesha, or Selena Gomez.”
Finding out what my sound is has ben one of the most fun parts of this. It’s something that I’m really interested in exploring going forward, because I do have a sound that I think if I were to pinpoint what sounds the most like me on this album, it probably is “Everything You Want.” I think that it’s where I’m the most myself. But being able to explore all these genres is exciting, where every single day I was recording was like going to Disney World.
Have you thought about what a follow-up to this album would look like?
I don’t want to give anything away. But what I’ll say is, if I can do another album, I will go in the exact opposite direction of this. I think I would present something that was … let’s call it “seasonally opposite.” Leland and I may have even already written down some stuff. So, who knows?
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we’re already feeling thankful for all these new tunes from your favorite queer artists. Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of Queer Jams of the Week, our roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.
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From Reneé Rapp’s new team-up with Coco Jones to Brittany Howard’s thrilling new track, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
Reneé Rapp feat. Coco Jones, “Tummy Hurts (Remix)”
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Among the new deluxe version of Reneé Rapp’s Snow Angel is a made-in-heaven collaboration. Revamping the beloved B-side “Tummy Hurts,” Rapp invites Grammy nominee Coco Jones to the mic, offering a brand new verse that only adds to the song’s virulent heartbreak. Rapp’s voice remains undeniably excellent, a fact that is further bolstered by the inclusion of Jones’ out-of-this-world performance, making for a duet that you simply have to hear to believe.
Brittany Howard, “Red Flags”
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Ever been in a relationship, seen the uglier sides of the person you’re with, and decided to just plow ahead? Brittany Howard certainly has — on her latest single “Red Flags,” the rocker recognizes all of her partner’s bad behaviors and decides to stay with them to her own detriment. A dogged beat underlines the singer’s ridiculously good vocal, as she tries to find a way forward that will minimize the damage to herself.
Boygenius & Ye Vagabonds, “The Parting Glass”
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When it came time for Phoebe Bridgers to release her annual holiday charity single, she decided to team up with her bandmates Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker as well as Irish folk duo Ye Vagabonds to pay tribute to an icon. Their new rendition of the traditional Scottish & Irish folk song “The Parting Glass” honors the Sinéad O’Connor (who offered her own rendition of the song in 2002) by donating all proceeds to an Irish after-school project chosen by her estate, the Aisling Project. The stunning harmonies and simple production of this gorgeous song provide yet another clear example of Boygenius’ brilliance.
Gossip, “Crazy Again”
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After 11 years away, queer pioneers and indie pop-rock trio Gossip are back, baby. “Crazy Again,” the band’s first new release in over a decade, sees the trio leaning back into their classic sound, while embracing the bliss of a lover who just gets you. Beth Ditto’s voice is in peak form, while guitarist Nathan Howdeshell and drummer Hannah Blilie maintain the perfectly-curated vibe throughout this delightful return track.
Wrabel, Based on a True Story
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For an album about breaking down one’s own life, Wrabel’s Based on a True Story really wants you to feel better about your own. Throughout his sophomore LP, the acclaimed singer-songwriter uses his diaristic songwriting to process everything from his own sobriety (“One Drink Away”), to stunning heartbreak (“Lost Cause”), all while urging anyone listening to take note of his stories and find their own truth within them. It’s a powerful work from a talented artist, and one that deserves your attention.
Billy Porter, Black Mona Lisa
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If you’re in need of a good old-fashioned mood boost, Billy Porter is here with a solution for you. Black Mona Lisa, Porter’s latest LP, is a burst of joy from start to finish — whether he’s offering a rallying cry for change on “Children” or boosting up his own confidence on the titular track, the veteran triple threat makes sure to keep to energy up, with bouncing dance beats and cascading synths permeating each song. Your weekend will be off to a good start the second you press play on this exuberant new album.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
BET announced on Thursday (Nov. 16) that Janelle Monáe will receive the Spirit of Soul award at the 2023 Soul Train Awards, which premieres Sunday, Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BET and BET Her. The show tweaked the name of its Lady of Soul award, which it has presented since 2015, “to honor the diversity and inclusivity of this year’s recipient.”
Monáe came out as non-binary in April 2022 on Red Table Talk saying, “I’m nonbinary, so I just don’t see myself as a woman, solely … I feel like god is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she.’ And if I am from God, I am everything.”
“Janelle is one of the most talented forces in the entertainment industry, and an equally impactful change agent for Black LGBTQIA+ people to see themselves fully reflected across platforms,” Connie Orlando, evp specials, music programming & music strategy, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to honor Janelle’s talents on soul music’s biggest stage, Soul Train Awards. Janelle’s captivating sound is as multifaceted as Janelle’s many other talents within film, business, and social impact. BET is where Black Pride lives onscreen. We look forward to honoring this dynamic individual with the newly named ‘Spirit of Soul’ award as we continue to create inclusive spaces for diverse voices to be seen, heard, and celebrated.”
Previous recipients of the Lady of Soul award at the Soul Train Awards are Jill Scott (2015), Brandy (2016), SWV (2017), Faith Evans (2018), Yolanda Adams (2019), Moncia (2020), Ashanti (2021) and Xscape (2022).
BET Soul will dedicate a full hour to Monáe’s music videos on Friday Nov. 17 at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. ET. Fans are advised to check local listings.
Keke Palmer, who has described herself as sexually fluid, will host the 2023 Soul Train Awards. In February 2017, during an interview on The Wendy Williams Show, Palmer said, in part, “Love is defined by the individual, and what I feel today is not what I necessarily may feel five years from now. I don’t want to limit myself to one feeling or one idea of anything.”
Palmer is also set to perform on the show, along with BJ The Chicago Kid, Coco Jones, Dante Bowe, Fridayy, Muni Long and SWV. The show is taping in Los Angeles. Summer Walker, SZA and Usher are the leading nominees, with nine nods each.
Orlando will oversee the annual show and executive produce for BET with Jamal Noisette, executive producer, vp, specials & music programming. Jesse Collins, CEO of Jesse Collins Entertainment, will serve as executive producer along with Jesse Collins Entertainment’s Jeannae Rouzan–Clay and Dionne Harmon.
Monáe is nominated for two Grammy Awards this year – album of the year and best progressive R&B album for The Age of Pleasure. This is the artist’s second nod for album of the year. Monáe is a 10-time Grammy nominee, though the artist has yet to win. The awards will be presented on Feb. 4, 2024 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
As someone who has carefully built a steady career in the music industry over the last decade, Stephen Wrabel always makes sure he’s speaking with consideration. Even over Zoom, the 34-year-old approaches conversations the same way he does songwriting — with candor, humor and a lot of self-editing.
“Maybe this sounds cliché,” he tells Billboard, before trailing off for a moment and revisiting his last thought. “Actually, I think most things in music sound cliché when you explain them. So that’s just what it is.”
The cliché Wrabel is referring to is the title of his sophomore album, Based on a True Story (out Friday, Nov. 17 via Big Gay Records). Across 13 artfully penned songs, Wrabel tackles his own demons — including sobriety, anxiety and heartbreak — while simultaneously trying to provide space for those listening to insert their own daily struggles into his diaphanous lyrics.
It’s a delicate balance, Wrabel says — writing songs that allow for personal catharsis over painful memories, and also offer some uplifting thesis of hope for listeners. Specificity often opens the door for ubiquity: “When I hear a song and there are those details — like saying ‘It was cold outside,’ or ‘I was wearing a red sweatshirt’ — my brain changes those details to what my details would be,” he explains. “I never want a song to feel overly broad, because I feel like you lose the truth in it.”
Details come in spades throughout Based on a True Story. On “One Drink Away,” Wrabel recalls dark memories of “getting blacked out in the sun” and “a place I won’t go and it’s on my way home,” before arriving at the heart-shattering claim that, despite his progress with sobriety, “I’m just one drink away from who I was.”
It’s a skill the artist has honed through writing for other artists. Along with managing his own solo career, Wrabel spent over a decade building a career as a sought-after songwriter, working alongside artists like Kesha, P!nk, Celeste, Adam Lambert and dozens more. In writing songs for others, Wrabel saw firsthand how his brand of exacting lyrics could impact others.
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Take “Lost Cause,” for instance. A B-side, Wrabel-written ballad off of P!nk’s latest album, the song details the various red flags arriving at a relationship’s dramatic ending, with the singer declaring that they’re “tired of thinking that tragic’s romantic, it’s bad hope.”
Wrabel originally wrote the song “years ago” while in a dark place, intentionally using “pointed” lyrics to cope with a breakup. While on the road with P!nk for her 2019 European tour, he mustered up the courage to play the song for her — and as she later told Billboard, it became one of the first two songs to form what would become Trustfall.
It wasn’t until he was prepping True Story that Wrabel decided to listen back to his original demo of the track. “The more I listened to it, the more it started taking on such deep meaning for me,” he says. “I think that I just started feeling the weight of it, and it ultimately took on this other meaning where I was telling myself, ‘Whatever anyone thinks of me, like, leave room for.’” He ultimately re-recorded his own version of the song, which appears as the penultimate track of his latest project.
While Wrabel speaks with confidence about his skill as a songwriter, he hesitates when it comes to the strategic side of being a solo artist. “I feel like the landscape [of the music industry] right now is like the Wild West — just this chaotic, oversaturated mess,” he says with an exasperated sigh. “For example, my song ‘Love is Not a Simple Thing to Lose,’ the closer for my first album, is probably my favorite song that I’ve ever written, and there are a lot of times where I find myself thinking, ‘Damn, I do kind of wish that that had its moment.’”
So when it came time to release a new solo project, Wrabel relied on the prevailing business minds around him. His management team proposed an idea to release the album in three parts — first with two standalone EPs called Chapter of Me and Chapter of You, with True Story tying the two together with a set of new tracks. Wrabel immediately understood the idea’s potential.
“The positives of that Wild West mentality is it allows me to really take advantage of the fact that I am independent, and I can do literally whatever I want,” he says. “Normally, a song like ‘Beautiful Day’ would be buried as track number nine on the album, where it wouldn’t get its day to shine. This felt like a natural, easy way to give these great songs a moment of their own.”
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Wrabel speaks from experience about songs getting their moment. His signature song “The Village,” an emotional ode to society’s cruel treatment of the LGBTQ community, went viral for a second time earlier this year, after dance troupe Unity delivered a stirring performance to the track on Britain’s Got Talent. The performance and song quickly picked up attention on TikTok, much to the singer’s delight.
“I think maybe four days after I saw their performance, I was on a plane flying to Liverpool to go meet them, because I had to,” Wrabel says. “One of the most beautiful moments of my career was getting to talk with them about their experiences growing up queer, with this internal dread and discomfort that so many of us have felt. To know that there were so many kids sitting with their family, turning on the TV and seeing themselves in this performance just gave me goosebumps. They were just so brave.”
The singer-songwriter is also quick to point out that, despite being released six years ago, “The Village” still sounds as poignant today as it did back in 2017. With right-wing legislatures around the U.S. taking aim at the rights of transgender people — the very community who served as the inspiration for the song — Wrabel can’t help but feel a bit demoralized that there is still something very much wrong in the village.
“This song is six years old, and I don’t know that we’re in a better place,” he says. After a beat, his face lights back up. “But it does give me hope that I get messages from people every day who are hearing it for the first time and relating to it. I’ll never not be talking about ‘The Village’ for as long as I will be making music, and that’s a good thing — it has sort of become a lighthouse in my career.”
That sense of responsibility and care for his fan base is what informs Wrabel’s identity as an artist; even when examining his own idiosyncrasies through music, he maintains a steadfast objective to put out work that provides solace in a world that can feel cruel. “I’m always trying to make something helpful,” he offers with a smile.
The coming out process is different for everyone — and for singer-songwriter Jason Mraz, part of that process meant reconciling with his past partners. In a new interview with GLAAD, Mraz spoke about how his journey to accepting his own bisexuality was made even more complicated by his divorce from Christina Carano, which he announced […]
Billie Eilish‘s sexuality, self-expression and femininity have been scrutinized under a microscope since the pop star was a teenager. Now 21, she’s ready to talk about it. In a new cover story for Variety published Monday (Nov. 13), the “Bad Guy” singer revealed that she’s both attracted to and intimidated by other women, with the […]
While LGBTQ+ representation among artists in the music industry currently enjoys an all-time high, there was a time when it was not socially acceptable for artists to talk about their sexuality — and Barry Manilow is ready to talk about that time.
In a new interview on Max’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?, Manilow sat down with the veteran journalist to discuss his storied career — which includes his decision to come out publicly in 2017. While the singer maintained that his coming out “wasn’t a big deal” at age 72, it could have been catastrophic when he was approaching the height of his popularity.
“Well, in the ’70s, you didn’t [come out]. It wasn’t the same as it is today,” Manilow explained in the interview. “Now, being gay is no being deal, but back in the ’70s, it would’ve killed a career. And Clive [Davis] kind of told me that in his own way: ‘Don’t do that, not yet.’”
Manilow added that along with the fact that “the public was not ready for anybody to come out,” he was also not in a place where he was ready to talk about his sexuality. “Frankly, it was just too personal. I just didn’t want to talk about my personal life anyway, I never did that; I was happy talking about music,” he said. “But talking about my personal life was just kind of creepy to me, so I just never did.”
The “Mandy” singer met his now-husband Garry Kief in the late-’70s, when Kief became Manilow’s manager. “Garry actually kind of saved my life, because as my career exploded … going back to an empty hotel room, you could get into a lot of trouble if you’re alone night after night,” Manilow said. “But I met Garry right when everything was exploding, and I didn’t have to go back to those empty hotel rooms; I had somebody to cry with and to celebrate with.”
As for his decision to ultimately come out? “I think it was a non-event for me,” he said. “Really, Garry and I have been together for so long, it just never dawned on me that we were going to come out. But, when we got married, it was a big deal, so we did.”
Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in a dressing room in New York City, the members of Boygenius — Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus — cannot seem to stop smiling at one another. It could be because they just finished a rehearsal for their performance on Saturday Night Live this weekend (Nov. 11). Or it could be that they just earned a bunch of 2024 Grammy nominations.
On Friday (Nov. 10), the trio found out that they were nominated for a whopping six awards at the 2024 Grammy Awards, including nods for both album and record of the year for the record and “Not Strong Enough,” respectively. Bridgers, earning a seventh nomination for her work with SZA on the song “Ghost in the Machine,” ties Victoria Monét and engineer Serban Ghenea as the second-most nominated artist at the annual ceremony, with SZA leading at nine nominations.
“It feels like I’m in a simultaneous come-up and come-down from a high,” Dacus tells Billboard, looking to her bandmates with a smile and a confounded expression. The group posted a photo of themselves on Instagram, where all three hug one another after finding out about their album of the year nomination. In their dressing room, Bridgers, Baker and Dacus regularly reach around to grab each other’s hands, still processing the news.
Below, Billboard chats with Boygenius about their six nominations, their preparations for SNL, what it means to be nominated alongside rock greats like the Rolling Stones and the Foo Fighters, and why LGBTQ+ representation at the Grammys matters — but not nearly as much as LGBTQ+ rights.
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Before we even get into the Grammys of it all, how have SNL rehearsals with Timothée Chalamet been going so far?
Lucy Dacus: Pretty good, we have another one tonight.
Phoebe Bridgers: It’s scary, it’s like The Imp of the Perverse.
Julien Baker: Yeah, it’s all really live.
Bridgers: You’re like, “I could do something that people will see across the nation.” Well, actually, that’s guaranteed. But I could do something bad, like trying to drive your car into the median.
Well, congratulations on the Grammys nominations! How are each of you doing after finding out?
Baker: I was like, “If it happens, we’ll get one, maybe.” But no, we got six.
Dacus: Well, it’s seven if you count the sound engineering one [best engineered album, non-classical].
Bridgers: I mean, it’s not our names, but the people who helped make our collective Boygenius project. But yes, we are over-caffeinated, f—ed-up, and I’m gonna take a nap after this.
Baker: You know when you get so excited that you just have to go to sleep? It’s like when a fuse bursts and then there’s just no power. It’s a power surge, for sure.
You’re nominated for record and album of the year alongside artists like Taylor Swift, SZA and Olivia Rodrigo, while also being nominated in the rock categories with icons like The Rolling Stones and the Foo Fighters. What does being in that kind of company mean for the three of you?
Bridgers: Pretty dope. I think we’re gonna have to fight Dave Grohl in the parking lot.
Baker: Yo, we should do that. We should challenge him to beef.
Dacus: Hey, I’ve seen in-person how hard he hits the drums; I’m not gonna fight Dave Grohl. His arms are something else. Like, he’s got the muscle and he’s scrappy.
For Lucy and Julien, these are your first-ever nominations at the Grammys—
Baker: And last! [Laughs] No, this is a thing that is completely not able to be conceptualized. Like, this is a fake dream, almost. You’re like, “One day, I’m gonna hit the big time.” And then we play The Wiltern, and it’s like, “Okay, cool, that seems pretty good and achievable.” And then we got nominated for a Grammy, and I’m like, “That’s actually what people fake aspire to.”
Dacus: Yeah, I feel like I need a whole new bucket list.
Bridgers: It is pretty sick, to have a dream when you’re f—ing 15 that you achieve, and then you go, “What weird sh– can I do next?”
I also want to congratulate you three on leading the pack of LGBTQ+ nominees this year, alongside artists like Victoria Monét, Miley Cyrus and Brandy Clark. What does that mean for you, as a group, to see that level of representation in the nominations?
Baker: It’s cool, because when you’re saying “this class of people,” or “this demographic of folks” … it’s like, if there’s enough people that fit that category within the organization, it stops becoming a novelty.
Bridgers: Yeah, or even just as much of a commodity.
Baker: Exactly, it allows all of those people to be individuated more.
Dacus: It would be so sick if the way all queer people were treated got more normal too. Like, we have a friend that, during Pride Month, said, “It’s cool to see the rainbow on this Shell gas station sign. Why am I still getting looked at funny as a trans woman walking around?” Like, it’s cool that there’s more queer people getting nominated for Grammys, but it would also be super cool if more queer people had their full rights and were treated like people.
These nominations come after a huge year for Boygenius, between putting out the record and the massive tour you just wrapped up. Where do you feel these nominations rank among the other cool things you’ve gotten to do this year?
Dacus: Honestly? I don’t know yet because it just happened. [Laughs]
Bridgers: We haven’t fully processed, and Julien keeps pointing out that sh– keeps happening to us, where you are then confronted with each other or other people being like, “How sick is that?!” Like, I haven’t even had a single private thought about how sick this is yet.
Baker: Right, “Tell us how special this is!” And I’m sitting here like, “Dude, I don’t know!”
Bridgers: But it’s been really cool. We all got to FaceTime special people in our lives.
Baker: Yeah, we FaceTimed Catherine [Marks], our producer, and texted with people who worked on the record. I will say, that felt really nice, because it’s not just a momentary thing. All of the shows we’ve done always feel so sick in the moment, and I’m very much the one who’s like, “I’m just ready to play the gig.” But it’s cool to have so many people who are attached to the physical work, to the master we created, getting acknowledged.
Dacus: For sure, and I’d even say that, even when it’s something like a photo shoot that’s the three of us, we get sick of our own faces. But to have this event that overtly recognizes everyone behind the scenes — like with the engineering award the album was nominated for — that feels even more special.