Pride
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What better way to celebrate Halloween than dressing up in your most âUnholyâ outfit? On Thursday morning (Oct. 26) Sam Smith posted a video encouraging Australian fans to do their unholy worst for their Oct. 31 gig at Melbourneâs Rod Laver Arena. âIâm so excited for Melbourne show because itâs Halloween and weâre gonna have […]
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Bad Bunny is headed back on the road, and fans are eager to see the him hit the stage. Tickets for his upcoming Most Wanted Tour officially went on sale on Wednesday (Oct. 25) via Ticketmaster.
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The âTitĂ Me PreguntĂłâ singer will be hitting the road next year in support of his new album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana. The tour launches in Salt Lake City on Feb. 21, 2024 and will stop in dozens of cities including Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Houston and Miami, with more dates to be announced later.
Read on for details on how to get tickets without spending a fortune.
How to Get Cheap Tickets to See Bad Bunny
To help combat bots and scalpers, Ticketmaster allowed fans to register for early access to general admission tickets. Those who pre-registered last week received a code (through random selection) to buy tickets on Wednesday. Click below to access pre-sale tickets.
If you missed an opportunity to register, you still have time to sign up for early access. The next round starts Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT. General registration and registration for VIP packages will be open from then until Thursday, Oct. 26 at 2:59 a.m. ET/11:59 p.m. PT. Click here to register.
How much do Bad Bunny tickets cost? According to several fan posts on social media, general admission tickets range from approximately $200 to more than $1,000.
Tickets are also available on StubHub, Vivid Seats and Seat Geek (take $10 off eligible purchases of $250+ at Seat Geek with code BILLBOARD10. Valid on first purchases only).
Prices range from around $135 and up, but most of the tickets are priced in the $250-$450 range. Tickets for Bad Bunnyâs Las Vegas concerts are selling fast at Vivid Seats and theyâre priced as high $853 to more than $1,000 for certain shows.
Another top seller, Bad Bunnyâs Los Angeles show on March 15, 2024. StubHub tickets for the concert at Crypto Arena are priced at $431 to more than $3,800.
Bad Bunnyâs return to the stage follows a successful tour in 2022. The 81-date tour raked in a record-breaking $435 billion.
Another week means another chance to find some 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 Charli XCX & Sam Smithâs new team-up, to Kali Uchisâ hypnotic new single, check out just a few of our favorite release from this week below:
Charli XCX & Sam Smith, âIn the Cityâ
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As you prepare for a night out on the town this weekend, allow Charli XCX and Sam Smith to offer you a guide on your festivities. On âIn the City,â the pairâs new duet, Charli and Smith celebrate the contagious, communal energy of an evening spent on the dancefloor. Over a shimmering synth-pop beat and euphoirc melodies played on house-style pianos, the duo encourage you to go find what youâre looking for âIn the City.â
Kali Uchis, âTe Mataâ
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Sure, Kali Uchis might be the devil in her exâs story â but she doesnât really have a problem with that. âTe Mata,â the rising Latin superstarâs latest single, sees Uchis taking back the narrative from a toxic situationship, all while lounging over a lush, cha-cha melody. With her velvety voice, Uchis lets her ex know in perfect Spanish that her âdays are no longer gray,â and that âI finally realized that I deserve much more/ And that kills you.â
Dove Cameron, âLethal Womanâ
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Where Uchis is ready to move on from a toxic ex, Dove Cameron is looking to get just a little bit hurt. âLethal Woman,â the lead single off of the singerâs forthcoming debut album Alchemical Volume 1, is Cameronâs ode to the kind of lover that will make her feel everything from pain to euphoria. Over a glitching industrial beat, Dove describes her ideal mate in detail, while declaring that sheâs ânot a masochist,â but just wants someone whoâs âsharp like a knife under the table.â
Slayyyter, âMonsterâ (Lady Gaga cover)
When it came time for Slayyyter to pick a pop diva to emulate on her new Spotify Single, she chose 100% correctly. Covering Lady Gagaâs classic âMonster,â Slayyyter perfectly takes all of the elements of Gagaâs theatrical performance that made the original so good, while imbuing the song with her own brand of slinky, dark-pop sensibility. It helps that her voice has maybe never sounded quite as powerful as it does on this ridiculously good cover.
Kevin Abstract, âWhat Should I Do?â
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Leave it to hip-hop virtuoso Kevin Abstract to write an all-time great indie song. While âWhat Should I Do?â might not be exactly what fans of his expect to hear, the track practically bursts with the sense of longing and complex emotion that Abstract has proven himself to be a master at portraying. As the strums of an acoustic guitar accompany his intentionally pitch-shifted vocal, Abstract desperately tries to move past the intrusive thought of an ex heâs still hung up on, constantly begging them to please âdonât touch me, it turns me on,â while trying to find anything to get his mind elsewhere.
Maddie Zahm, Now That Iâve Been Honest
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After making a name for herself writing gorgeous, diaristic songs and sharing them with her massive TikTok audience, singer-songwriter Maddie Zahm is ready to show you all that sheâs capable of. Throughout her debut album Now That Iâve Been Honest, Zahm flirts with every genre of pop music she can get her hands on, including angsty pop-punk (on the fâk-you anthem âBedroomâ), delirious funk-pop (on Sapphic Anthem âLady Killerâ), and straight up stadium-level pop (on the euphoric âEightball Girlâ). But fear not â her confessional songwriting is still the star of her debut, making Honest a cathartic, must-listen experience.
MICHELLE, âGlowâ/âAgnosticâ
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Supergroup MICHELLE is back, and theyâre better than ever. With their new double single release, the NYC-based collective tries their hands at some new sounds to raving success. On âGlow,â the sextet dive headfirst into blissful bedroom pop as they let a potential lover know that âweâre never gonna happen.â Meanwhile, on âAgnostic,â the group basks in a chilled-out indie rock sound as they take stock of a love theyâve left behind. If this pair of tracks are any indication of what direction MICHELLE is headed in, then we highly recommend you join them for the ride.
King Mala, âBugâ
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Misogynists, beware â King Mala is on an extermination spree, and sheâs got you in her sights. âBug,â the latest release of the pop singer-songwriterâs forthcoming EP Split Milk, follows Mala as she begs toxic, self-important men to please, for the love of God, stop talking. Deliciously punchy bass lines punctuate her incisive lyrics, as she declares that these âinsufferableâ and âunbearableâ men are little more to her than insects â and sheâs more than happy to start squishing them.
Check out all of our picks in Billboardâs Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
Itâs safe to say that RuPaul Charles is one of the busiest celebrities currently working in the business. Alongside hosting and executive producing his Emmy-winning reality series RuPaulâs Drag Race, the drag icon has spent 2023 overseeing the showâs growing number of international spinoffs, hosting his own game show and writing a book.
Now, RuPaul is revealing yet another project thatâs been on his growing checklist. On Friday (Oct. 20), the star unveiled Essential Christmas, his brand new holiday album compiling personal favorites off of his past three Christmas projects, while also giving fans a taste of something new on âBaby Doll,â a doo-wop jam thatâs perfectly tailored for the holiday season.
When speaking to Billboard about his new project, even RuPaul is surprised at his prolific career in releasing Christmas songs. âI never set out to put out any Christmas records, yet somehow itâs happened that way,â he says. âAnd I really do love it.â
Below, RuPaul chats with Billboard about the making of his latest album, his favorite Christmas memories, the evolution of his writing his revealing new memoir The House of Hidden Meanings, and the continuing legacy of Drag Race.
Essential Christmas is your fourth Christmas album and your second album to be put out this year, along with every other career that you are currently juggling. How are you finding time to put these projects together?
Well, all I really do is work at this point. [Laughs.] And I really enjoy working. So I work a lot â I usually donât enjoy sitting around, just hanging out.Â
Letâs start by talking about the new single off of this album, âBaby Doll.â I love this â50s doo-wop style that you were tapping into here. How did you and Freddie go about conceiving this track?
Well, Freddie and I both love 50s doo-wop. And when I think of Christmas music, I think of that era as really being the sound of Christmas, especially of dance-y, fun Christmas. So we started there, and then looked at some current songs â well, at least in the past 15 years â that have that same â50s beat. Thatâs when we landed on the BeyoncĂ©âs âSingle Ladies.â So the drum pattern is similar to âSingle Ladies,â but it has all of the elements of that 50s doo-wop style.
Much of the rest of the album serves as a greatest hits-style compilation of reworked past Christmas songs â how did you go about picking out which songs were going to make the cut and which ones werenât?
Well, in the streaming era, itâs really all about curating â and not just with music, but with everything in life. People have so many choices that my job, in part, becomes that of a cultural curator. So because of streaming, I figured I would to put all of the most significant songs that Iâve done in one place so it makes it easier for people. But also, I love a happy, fun, dance-y Christmas party. âBaby Doll,â when we first started working on it, was initially kind of dark and melancholy. And as beautiful as that was, after we made a demo of it, I said, âYou know what, letâs change this, letâs make it more happy.â So we ended up scrapping the first rendition of it, and the only thing we kept of the original song was the title.Â
Anyways, my point with all of this is I like Happy Christmas; I enjoy a melancholy Christmas song every now and then, I just didnât want to have that for this collection.
RuPaul
@sanchezzalba
Thatâs an interesting larger point you made â the streaming era has fundamentally changed the way we consume music, and you have been very conscious of keeping up with new developments in music. How has the sort of shifting focus of the industry at large changed your approach to your music career?
Well yes, there are a lot of changes that have been made, and Iâve adjusted to those changes. Thereâs a challenge involved there, and I love a challenge. Itâs like a puzzle where you think about what the consumer wants, and then you adjust to that without compromising what your artistic vision is. I love the fact that everything is so available to everyone.Â
The issue then becomes â and this is true with movies, fashion and every form of art â you need a cruise director whoâs going to say, âThis here is important, go here.â In my case, Iâve been on the planet for a little while, and I have witnessed the history of pop music, the history of movies, and all these things. So itâs my job to pass that on, to mentor and to curate for people who werenât here decades ago to say, âHey, that right there, thatâs really important.â
Thatâs part of why I actually appreciate how sampling has become such a staple in modern pop music, because it is allowing newer generations to understand older references that they might not have been there for.
Yes, exactly, as long as they understand the context, as long as they get the full story. When I was a kid, there were four television channels, and I would watch talk shows like Mike Douglas and Johnny Carson. In watching those shows, I was filled in about what happened before I was born. I got to understand who Ella Fitzgerald was, and Sarah Vaughan, and Joe Williams. Those talk shows ended up curating for me what I had missed by not being here.Â
The concept of the Christmas album itself has become its own staple that many artists put into their repertoire over the last few decades â what do you think it is about holiday music that resonates so much with audiences?
I think people want to conjure up nostalgia and memories of their childhood or memories of joy. Thereâs so much darkness in the world, and we get this little window of joy and happiness and color and lights and love and gift-giving and happiness. And I think everybody wants a piece of that â I know I do. I never set out to put out any Christmas records. But somehow itâs happened that way. And I really do love it.
Do you have any strong Christmas memories that come up with that nostalgia when hearing Christmas songs?
Well, I have Christmas memories from the past 30 years â in my childhood, we had none because we didnât have any money and it was pretty sad. But you know, when I met Georges [LeBar, RuPaulâs husband], things changed because he loved Christmas. The fact that we were together made us want to celebrate it. When you have love in your life, and you have something to celebrate, it becomes a joyous thing. So these past 30 years, I have loved Christmas. And we look forward to it, because we get to either have a great Christmas celebration at home, or we get to travel to some fabulous place. Now, Christmas is lovely for me, so I like to pass that joy along through my Christmas music.Â
I also wanted to chat just a little bit about your upcoming memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings. In your announcement, you made it very clear that this book will see you at your most vulnerable â as someone who has built up a popular persona to protect your private life, what was the experience like deconstructing that persona in writing this book?
It was not easy, because when living a life in public, you have to be very, very careful. But, to do the kind of memoir I wanted to do, I had to be completely open and free to express myself. Now of course, after itâs put on paper, I can pull back and temper some of the more harsh elements of what I said. But it was very cathartic, because I got to go back to the scene of the crime and also celebrate how fortunate Iâve been in my life, and not just in my career.Â
Part of how Iâm able to do all this work is by just steamrolling ahead, and not getting slowed down by past indiscretions. I keep going and juggle a lot of projects going at once; the process of writing this book allowed me to slow down and look through the grocery basket of of my life and excavate these old memories.
That has to be a very healing process, as well, to get to be able to go back through your life like that.
It is! Most of us try to push down some of those memories, but in those memories lies so much hope and strength and courage. When you can walk through the fire, when you can do an inventory like that, you can move yourself forward, you can alleviate some of the baggage. For example, as a kid, a lot of times we think our parents are fighting because of something we did as a child â but as an adult, you can look back and go, âOh, actually that had nothing to do with me.âÂ
It has been wild to see how everything with Drag Race has grown â 27 Emmy wins, multiple spin offs, a dozen or so international versions, hundreds of careers of drag queens launched. Do you often find yourself kind of thinking about your legacy and the legacy of this show?
I certainly was thinking about that while I was writing the book, because the book allowed me to reflect. But usually, I try to be in the moment and deal with what I have to do in order to get through today. Itâd be too distracting to always be thinking about that, and you really couldnât move forward.Â
As a huge fan of the show and a pop music nerd, Iâve always wanted to ask you about how you kind of go about selecting songs for lip syncs, because the show does a fantastic job of including a good mix of genres, eras, and vibes.
I mean, I worked in nightclubs on stage for over 30 years, so I just kind of know a good lip sync song when I hear one. Not all songs are lip sync songs. But the criteria for the TV show is to find songs that a queen can perform. And really, thatâs the only criteria.Â
With so much evolution over the last 15 years of the show, it often feels like Drag Race has exponential room to grow. Is there anything that you havenât necessarily been able to accomplish on the show that youâre hoping to achieve in the next couple of years?
Well, it really doesnât rest in my hands. What makes the show fresh is that each season, we get these fabulous, courageous artists who come on and share their stories with us and the world. As producers, we do what we can to create the infrastructure, but the new blood and energy coming from our contestants is what makes the show what it is.
Before the weekend officially arrives, Charli XCX and Sam Smith want you to hype yourself up for a night on the town with their ecstatic new single. On Thursday (Oct. 19), the pair of pop stars released their first-ever collaboration âIn the City,â a glittering dance track dedicated to finding community during nights out at […]
The wait for City Girlsâ new album is almost over, and this new snippet is sure to carry us through the home stretch. On Wednesday (Oct. 18), the âAct Upâ rappers took to their official Instagram page to upload a video featuring a snippet of a new song. âFlashy Ft. @KimPetras FRIDAY 10/20 đžâšđ©· #RAW,â […]
Your favorite drag queenâs favorite drag queen is ready to give you all the affirmation you could hope for â all she asks is that you match her energy.
On Wednesday (Oct. 18), RuPaulâs Drag Race season 15 winner Sasha Colby revealed the release date for her brand new single âFeel the Power.â Featuring producer Glovibes and vocalist Luciana and due out everywhere on Friday (Oct. 20), the house single sees Colby entering her club banger era as she celebrates her own impressive influence.
For fans who want to celebrate the new single with Colby live and in person, the drag icon also announced her upcoming headlining show, Sasha Colby: Stripped Tour, in partnership with Live Nation. Kicking off in February 2024, the 22-date tour will see Americaâs Next Drag Superstar giving fans live music, drag, dancing and much more.
But what exactly can fans expect to see on this tour? Below, Billboard chats with Colby about plotting out her first-ever headlining run, her debut single and how drag has taken over the mainstream:
Congratulations on the single This is huge. Iâm so happy for you. How are you feeling with everything thatâs literally just about to happen?
You know, itâs been non-stop, and itâs been amazing. To be able to do a lovely victory lap, as far as Drag Race goes, feels amazing. Like, my bucket list has slowly been checked off. And it hasnât even been a whole year yet! So Iâm really excited.Â
Letâs start with the single â âFeel the Powerâ has these really great house vibes, and itâs so nice to hear you having this much fun. At what point did you know that you wanted to get into music?
Probably about 10 years into my drag career. I already knew, especially watching Drag Race happen for the past 15 seasons and not being on the show trying to figure out ways to to express my art and play bigger venues, more and more people want to come and see me be me instead of me performing other peopleâs material. Thatâs always been a big deal for me. Now, the opportunities are coming where I can actually do that. Iâm really excited that this is all allowing me to create and find my own sound and experiment with amazing producers. So yeah, I wanted a feel-good party anthem. I wanted something that would help the Drag Race fans ease into what I wanted for my next chapter of me.
What was it about the house genre that immediately felt appealing for your music?
Well, I donât know if anybody really knows this except for the people from Hawaii, but I used to be part of this group. I danced growing up â ballet, jazz, hip hop, all at a dance studio called Dance Company. After high school and transitioning, my good friend Ruby created this house music night every Sunday in Hawaii in the early 2000s. It was all of our friends having the space to go and dance to house songs; youâd have the B-boys there, people would be voguing, and I would get to be Queen Sasha.
So, Iâve always loved house music; I love a good chill house and I love a good disco house, but I knew I needed this first single to be a little more amp-y as a good way to show what I want. I even told Luciano and Glovibes when we were coming up with the song that I wanted to it to be âSatisfactionâ mixed with Cascada; just all the things that I grew up on.
When you were getting started on this song, what artists did you find yourself looking towards as inspiration, either musically or professionally?
I genuinely donât think there is a model for someone like myself. I think my model has been my drag persona, and how to extend that through music. For me, my power is when people are watching me live on stage; you can watch me on TV, but thereâs something special that I think has a lot to do with my indigenous culture and my hula performance and my storytelling that comes through. A great way to show me live is to have music, so it all kind of coincides.
When I thought of the type of music I want to do, it was very much like âBlame It on the Edit.â Thatâs kind of where my pocket is, you know? Iâm not a singer singer, but I have fun stories to tell and great musicality. I take pride in my performances, because a lot of people will hear a song that they would never hear before they saw me doing it. I like being able to open peopleâs perceptions.
How did Glovibes and Luciana get involved on âFeel the Power?â
My management team works pretty closely with both Glovibes and Luciana, and we actually met during DragCon! We really just hit it off from the jump, Luciana said, âI would love to do music with you.â They could both feel the energy and really wanted to create something with me. They allowed me to give my input on the song and explain my whole purpose for the song, because âFeel the Powerâ is my daily motto. Every time I hit the stage, every time I do something that is in the publicâs view and for public use, I always want somebody to leave feeling empowered. Thatâs what the song is about â yes, Iâve got the power, but it is also attainable for everyone else. Itâs not just that I got lucky. Itâs all about that manifestation, that ascension, all the witchiness that I love.
You also have this headlining show, Sasha Colby: Stripped, that youâre going to be heading out on next year â what can fans expect to see from this show?
This was this is the first time that I got to create a world from scratch. Usually Iâm entering another personâs world or another personâs show, so this is really exciting for me to allow people to see the inner workings of my brain and what I find exciting. So, I wanted to do this tour in a way that was devoid of a lot of the high tech, you know? Because really, I feel like Iâm most effective when itâs just stripped down â it could be just a bare stage and me creating the world through my drag.
I love watching Sasha Velour do her Nightgowns show and getting to perform in that show, and one of my favorite things is how she stays on stage and watches the other performers. Thatâs such a special thing. So I wanted, in some way, to bring that essence. What weâre coming up with is actually that my quick change room will never leave the stage â itâs actually on part of the set. It will be opaque, then youâll get a little silhouette and then itâs fully transparent, and youâll get to see me and my best friend who is my makeup artist, my other friend who does my hair and my best friend from high school whoâs styling me, all in one beautiful dance.
I really like that Nightgowns comparison, because Sasha Velour has really made an effort out of making that stage show such a bold piece of collaborative art.
Exactly, and itâs also just the respect of the person putting this on. Like this is my show. Iâm gonna sit right over here and watch what yâall are doing on stage, because that cues the audience to be invested. Also I just really want to see the rest of the show [laughs].
The story for the most part is going to revolve around the past, present and future. So weâll have things I loved when I was growing up, whether thatâs pageants, old school Hollywood, or even my hula performance. And then to make more than a one-woman show, weâre going to do a past, present and future for different each city â so weâre going to have a legend from that city or that area, and then some up-and-coming drag performer guests. I just want to show people that if you like mother, then youâre gonna love what mother likes. You really donât know the story of drag until you know the history, right? Once you know what what has happened, then you feel more invested.
Itâs also worth pointing out that youâre doing this headlining tour in partnership with Live Nation, marking one of the first times they have signed on to promote a drag artistâs solo tour. What does that mean to you, as an artist, having the backing of a tour promoter as massive as Live Nation?
We both have a lot of faith in each other and weâre really excited because weâre kind of making this cool path. A lot of the touring drag shows that do really well are usually focused a little more on comedy, like Trixie [Mattel] or Bianca [del Rio]. They can hold a show on their own, but I think my strong suit is a little different from that. So weâre definitely trying new things.
To be honest, it all feels feels like the culmination of my 20 years of hard work. Iâm excited to be able to feel appreciated as a performer, as a trans woman of color and as someone whoâs been doing this for so long. To have my voice count and have them invest in me means a lot. This kind of a partnership allows people to be like, âOh, look at what sheâs doingâ in a way that they wouldnât necessarily before.
It also speaks to the fact that weâve definitely entered a new era of recognition for drag artists in mainstream culture, even when lawmakers around the world are actively trying to legislate against the artform.
Oh, absolutely â I always say that drag has always been a mirror to pop culture, but since Drag Race and RuPaul and the platforming weâve seen, now we are the tastemakers. We are pop culture instead of just mirroring it, which is so cool. Weâre mingling with the same people that are making our clothes and are making clothes for pop stars. Who could have thought in 2023 that this would ever happen?
Tickets for Sasha Colby: Stripped Tour go on-sale Friday, Oct. 20 at 9 a.m. ET on Sasha Colbyâs website. Check out the official dates for the tour below:
Feb. 29 â Bella Concert Hall, Calgary, Alberta
March 1 â Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC
March 7 â Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, Calif.
March 8 â The Van Buren, Phoenix, Ariz.
March 9 â Palace Theater, Los Angeles, Calif.
March 14 â House of Blues, Houston, Texas
March 16 â House of Blues, Dallas, Texas
March 17 â Emoâs, Austin, Texas
March 20 â The Wilbur, Boston, Mass.*
March 21 â The Fillmore, Philadelphia, Pa.
March 22 â Marathon Music Works, Nashville, Tenn.
March 23 â Buckhead Theater, Atlanta, Ga.
March 27 â Howard Theater, Washington, D.C.
March 28 â Town Hall, New York, N.Y.
March 29 â Theatre Beanfield, Montreal, Quebec
March 30 â Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, Ontario
April 4 â Saint Andrews Hall, Detroit, Mich.
April 6 â Thalia Hall, Chicago, Ill.*
April 7 â The Fillmore, Minneapolis, Minn.
April 12 â Revolution Hall, Portland, Ore.
April 13 â Neptune Theatre, Seattle, Wash.
April 19 â Hawaii Theatre, Honolulu, Hawaii
*Independent shows outside the Live Nation tour

As she gears up to release a joint single with Sam Smith, Charli XCX is opening up about the dark underbelly of hate that she has witnessed online aimed at her after announcing an upcoming joint single, âIn the City,â with her longtime friend and collaborator. In a confessional TikTok, the âSpeed Driveâ singer praised […]
When Maddie Zahm meets fans of hers in real life, a question immediately pops into her mind. âIâm always wondering, âOkay, so whatâs your trauma?’â she tells Billboard over a Zoom call, sporting a cozy autumnal sweater. âUsually they will straight up tell me, because I have absolutely touched on like four different traumatic topics with my music.â
The singerâs face lights up as she begins laughing at her songwriting habits. To others, that level of candor and directness from a stranger on the street might sound scary; for 24-year-old Zahm, itâs a reciprocation of what she started with her music career. Thanks to radically forthright songs like âFat Funny Friendâ and âYou Might Not Like Herâ going viral on TikTok, the singer-songwriter grew accustomed to sharing her most internal thoughts with the people following her.
On her latest project, Zahm is going all-in on diaristic songwriting. Now That Iâve Been Honest, the singer-songwriterâs debut album (out Friday, Oct. 20 via AWAL), provides listeners with some of Zahmâs most intimate lyrics yet, looking back at her own experiences with trauma, coming out, and learning how to live her life as a fully functioning adult.
As she describes it, Zahm says she knew that sheâd already let fans in on her thought process, so it only made sense that her full-length project would double down on the premise. âThereâs this level of familiarity between [my fans and I] because I was really brutally honest with the EP [You Might Not Like Her]. So it didnât make sense for me to all of a sudden not be honest,â she says. âWhy would I stray from what Iâve been doing right thus far?â
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Getting to this point in her career was never a given for Zahm. The singer-songwriter took an early interest in music when she became a worship leader in her church at age 13. When leading services, she remembers feeling a sense of âcalling,â but later found herself asking questions about what exactly was calling to her. âIs that the Holy Spirit, or is that just a good synth?â she recalls with a wry smile. âI have since figured it out.â
As her interest and belief in her church waned, her fascination with music only grew. At 19, Zahm decided to audition for season 16 of the just-rebooted American Idol. âIt was mostly because I wanted to skip class, and I stand by that,â she quips. Wielding an acoustic guitar and a cherubic smile, the singer wowed Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan with her soulful rendition of Dua Lipaâs âNew Rules,â immediately earning three âyesâ votes and advancing to Hollywood Week.
âI donât know how the fâk I made it,â she says, looking back on her brief Idol stint. During Hollywood Week, she found herself forgetting the lyrics to the songs she was tasked with performing, âwhich is hilarious now that Iâm such a lyric driven musician.â Eventually, Zahm was eliminated before the Top 24 of the show were announced.
Going back home in Boise, Idaho, Zahm decided to take a different approach to her career. Throughout the early days of the pandemic, she wrote, recorded and self-released a series of songs, which she later compiled into an LP called People Pleaser. Bearing very little resemblance to the delicate, earnest lyricism of her contemporary music, People Pleaser saw the songwriter trying her hand at simpler, country-inspired songs with one goal in mind: Get a publishing deal and become a songwriter.
âMy intro to writing songs was listening to a bunch of breakup songs â I love a joke and I love leaning all the way into a bit, and with breakup songs, I realized that itâs literally just about being witty to a tune,â Zahm explains. âIt felt like most like country songs were basically just âfâk youâ songs with a good storytelling aspect, so I decided to make that my genre.â
Her gambit worked â within a few months, Zahm was signed to a publisher and immediately began turning in her country tracks to see who would end up recording them. Thatâs when, as she puts it, she got some life-changing advice. âMy rep on the publishing side basically told me, âThis isnât you,’â she recalls. âI said, âOuch.â But she was right â I had so much more to write. So then I started writing pop music and way oversharing.â
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One of the earliest songs Zahm wrote in her new phase of pop authorship was âFat Funny Friend,â a devastating ballad about societal mistreatment of plus-size people and the toll that mistreatment can take on a personâs mind. Zahmâs voice aches with resonant pain as she sings heartbreaking words like, âThey canât relate/ To how Iâve drawn out in Sharpie where Iâd take the scissors/ If thatâs what it took for me to look in the mirror.â
But Zahm nearly didnât release her career-defining song. When she originally started writing the track in 2021, she was in the middle of a weight-loss journey â which is what stirred up her feelings on the subject in the first place â and experienced conflicting emotions about the optics of releasing a song about being fat while actively losing weight.
âI was very aware that there wasnât a song that blatantly talked about an experience of being fat,â she explains. âI know that when I was at my heaviest weight, if I heard a song like âFat Funny Friend,â looked it up, and saw this person singing it that had a smaller body, that really would have rubbed me the wrong way. So that was part of the reason I told everyone it was never going to be released.â
Things changed, though, when a man offered to help Zahm with some car trouble â when she arrived back home, she couldnât stop thinking about the exchange. âI knew that before weight loss, it wouldnât have been the same conversation. He would have acted totally different, and I was really upset about it.â
She published a clip of the song on her TikTok account in December of 2021, where she had amassed a small-but-mighty following over the last year of writing and releasing her own music. At first, there wasnât anything too special about the response to the song. But within a few weeks, Zahm received a call from her publisher, telling her to look at the number of times her sound had been used on the app.
âThere were thousands of people telling their story, and I started getting anxious,â she says. âI posted a video explaining why I still resonate with the song, even when Iâm losing weight. And I woke up to about 30 million views. I remember not sleeping that night and calling my publisher back, saying, âWhat is happening?’â
In a matter of weeks, Zahm had amassed hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of streams on the song, all after she was certain she would have to abandon her solo career in favor of working as a songwriter. Instead, she saw that blistering honesty was her strength as an artist â which meant that she could tell her fans anything.
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âI donât think I would be out of the closet if it wasnât for âFat Funny Friend,’â Zahm offers matter-of-factly. âThat song encouraged a sense of vulnerability in me, and I saw what healing that gave to people. I would have been fâking selfish to have kept something like âYou Might Not Like Herâ to myself. So, I came out for that song.â
Written as a letter to her younger, religious self, âYou Might Not Like Herâ tracks Zahmâs journey of deconstruction with her faith alongside her coming out journey as a queer woman. Throughout the song, the singer warns herself that âsomeday, youâll kiss a girl and youâll panic,â and that âyouâll hate that youâll label yourself just to take it back/ Convinced youâre not bi âcause youâre way too into guys,â before concluding that âfor a while you might not like her, but I do.â The song, much like âFat Funny Friend,â immediately found its audience on TikTok, with fans sharing their own coming out and deconstruction experiences along to the tune â exactly as Zahm had hoped.
With a brand rooted in writing intimate songs about her innermost thoughts, the singer-songwriter has found herself beginning to question what she reveals to her fans through her songs, and what she keeps for herself. âIâm writing the songs to heal, Iâm not writing them to be relatable. So Iâm still learning that line of what Iâm comfortable writing about,â she says. âThis album has actually kind of posed a conversation with myself, where Iâm starting to figure out how much Iâm willing to let people in.â
The other conversation Zahm found herself having throughout the making of Now That Iâve Been Honest was about her sound. Up until now, much of Zahmâs music has been rooted in soulful pop, reminiscent of the worship songs that she grew up listening to. But now, as an openly queer ex-Christian, Zahm wanted to find out what she sounded like outside of her church. âIt was a lot of trial and error,â she says, rubbing the back of her head. âIt was a lot of sending mixes to producers, them saying âThis is fâking bad,â and me saying, âSo true, bestie, gonna try again.’â
That experimentation is evident on the album. Fans of Zahmâs established sound will have plenty to revel in with tracks like âWhere Do All the Good Kids Go?â and the heartbreaking ballad âDani.â But for those seeking something new, the singer-songwriter explores plenty of new sonic realms. On âBedroom,â Zahm plugs in her guitars and turns up the angst, raging against an ex whose memory tainted her home. âEightball Girl,â meanwhile, brings in bombastic pop sounds to follow Zahmâs all-encompassing crush on the titular character.
But there is likely no song on Now That Iâve Been Honest that feels more transformative for Zahm than âLady Killer.â On the slick, disco-rock banger, the singer-songwriter steps into a Prince-adjacent funk aesthetic, trying on some swagger as she hits on a âstraightâ girl, letting her know know that âyou think that youâre not sexual, âcause with him ⊠youâre not.â
The moment the song comes up in conversation, Zahm bursts into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. âYou know whatâs so funny about that song? Listening to it, you would genuinely have thought that I had this high body count and that I had been out there being a lady killer,â she says, âAt the time I wrote that, I had made out with maybe two girls in my life. I live for the fact that it is so unhinged.â
As funny as Zahm finds the song, she also recognizes how important it is for her, along with the myriad other sapphic themes explored throughout her debut. Where You Might Not Like Her served as a vehicle for the songwriterâs coming out story, Now That Iâve Been Honest lets her bask in what it means to live as a queer woman in the modern day. As she says, her new album is an earned progression in her career and in her own life. âWhen I came out, especially to my hometown and the people that knew me as a worship leader, I didnât want to be like âFâk you, Iâm gay now,’â she says. âI wanted there to be conversation about it so that I then felt the freedom to release something like this.â
But as with so many of her other works, Zahm also makes sure to point out that this album is not just for herself. âI want someone to hear âLady Killer,â and I want someone to hear âBedroom,â and I want them to sound like something you would hear on the radio when girls sing about guys,â she says. âThose are the songs that I would have really loved to hear when I was coming out and wasnât comfortable with my sexuality. Like, there is such a power in a simple breakup song about a girl.â
She pauses for a moment to consider what sheâs just said, before nodding her head in affirmation: âI hope that it can provide them solace the way that writing it helped me.â
With fall fully in effect, thereâs no better time to cozy up with a new playlist of 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 Troye Sivanâs long-awaited new album to Boygeniusâ second act of 2023, check out just a few of our favorite new releases from this week below:
Troye Sivan, Something to Give Each Other
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Troye Sivan is arguably best known for his ability to convey love and heartbreak into soft, intricate indie-pop track. That is, until now â on Something to Give Each Other, the Australian starâs latest LP, Sivan proves that he can bring the party just as well as any pop star currently working. Diving headfirst into dance-focused songs, Sivan tries out long distance love (âWhatâs The Time Where You Are?â), late night hookups (âHoneyâ), and experimentation with straight guys (on the fabulous album standout âOne of Your Girlsâ). Once you make it through Something to Give Each Other, youâll find that âsomethingâ is nothing short of unbridled queer euphoria wrapped in delectable dance-pop.
Boygenius, The Rest
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After watching their debut album The Record received cultural and critical acclaim in early 2023, Boygenius â the trio comprised of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus â figured they might as well thank their fans with a little more. The Rest, a 4-track EP of brand new songs, sees the trio embracing the complex themes theyâve been grappling with since their self-titled 2018 EP, be it untapped potential (âBlack Holeâ) or reevaluating your own worth (âVoyagerâ). Each of the three stars gets their own chance to show how much theyâve grown together in the last few months, and to reclaim their image in the way they see fit; if The Rest is a victory lap for one of the yearâs most exciting groups, then itâs a well-deserved one that weâre more than happy to watch.
Brittany Howard, âWhat Nowâ
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Simply put, Brittany Howard is done fâking around. On âWhat Now,â the lead single off her upcoming solo album of the same name, the former Alabama Shakes frontperson scorches the earth and gives her former flame a stinging kiss-off through blistering lyrics and a relentless melody. A syncopated groove beat and fuzzed-out guitar line perfectly compliment Howardâs raw voice as she bluntly lets her ex know that sheâs âfâking up my energy,â and that sheâs had enough. âIf you want someone to hate then blame it on me,â she sneers on the scathing chorus.
Fred Again.. & Jozzy, âTenâ
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What happens when you take one of the most in-demand Dj-producers on the scene and partner him with a criminally underrated songwriting superstar? You get âTen,â the excellent new track from Fred Again.. and Jozzy. Throughout this laid-back, instantly catchy banger, both Fred and Jozzy flex their respective skills, with lyrics hitting at the feeling of out of place and a meandering beat and production that facilitate the journey back home.
Chelsea Cutler, Stellaria
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Chelsea Cutler may have made a name for herself as a confessional singer-songwriter â but sheâs never gone quite as far inward as she does on Stellaria. Throughout this contemplative new album, Cutler wrestles with her demons in full view of the world, whether sheâs struggling with self-worth (âLoved by Youâ), her own communication skills (âMen on the Moonâ), or the weight of the modern worldâs constant disappointments (âHunting Seasonâ). Stellaria opens up a new world of inner reckoning for Cutler, making it one of her best works yet.
Billy Porter feat. Lady Blackbird, âChildren (What Time It Is)â
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If youâre in need of a pick me up heading into the weekend, allow Billy Porter to give you the boost youâre looking for. With a reimagined version of his song âChildren (What Time It Is),â Porter effortlessly blends his worlds of entertainment and activism into a disco-pop banger meant to activate the fire inside you. With a new feature from Lady Blackbird punctuating Porterâs incredible voice, âChildrenâ resonates with a renewed fervor, ready to get you running to the nearest dance floor in no time.
Check out all of our picks on Billboardâs Queer Jams of the Week playlist below: