State Champ Radio Review
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On Thursday night (April 11), the Barclays Center in New York City was electrified by the presence of Bad Bunny. The arena, filled to its 19,000-person capacity, buzzed with anticipation as the Puerto Rican superstar kicked off the first show of his three-night stint in the city.
“New York has been very important in my career, where dreams come true,” Benito told his fans in his native Spanish during the performance. “Being on the tour feels really amazing, going to each place and seeing it, all the cities, but New York, it’s something else. It feels more amazing than usual. Seeing all those PR and DR flags makes it even more special. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here, it means a lot to me.”
Bad Bunny — who wore Prada sunglasses, a velour suit, and a gold cross necklace — delivered a dynamic performance that was an amalgamation of music and spectacle. It included a grand orchestra, an equestrian entrance, a surprise appearance by Bryant Myers to perform “Seda,” a jigsaw-like stage that transformed into the Brooklyn Bridge, and, of course, a repertoire of his biggest hits. (Here’s the complete setlist of the tour, which slightly changed to add “Amorfoda” and “Tití Me Preguntó.”)
This was part of his Most Wanted Tour — in support of his Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana album — which kicked off on Feb. 21 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Live Nation-promoted tour is halfway through its schedule, with forthcoming performances in cities including Austin, Texas (Apr. 26-27), Atlanta, Ga. (May 14-15), and Miami, Fla. (May 24-26). See the full dates here.
According to Billboard Boxscore, the tour has already been a commercial success, grossing $84.2M and selling 282K tickets over its first 18 shows. It has consistently sold out venues, demonstrating Bad Bunny’s continued widespread appeal.
Here are five standout moments from the first night of Bad Bunny’s Most Wanted Tour at the Barclays Center:
The Grandeur of an Orchestra
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Don Omar’s Back to Reggaetón tour made a remarkable stop at New York’s Barclays Center on Saturday night (March 9), showcasing the undiminished prowess of the Puerto Rican legend. His performance, filled with energy and nostalgia, underlined his title as the King of Reggaetón, engaging the audience with a mix of his greatest hits and a captivating stage presence.
The Back to Reggaetón U.S. tour, produced by CMN, marks his much-awaited return to the stage, celebrating two decades of influential hits that have cemented his status as a global superstar. The tour, which launched in Reading, Pennsylvania, on March 7, will also include stops in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, and Houston.
The stage was set ablaze with reggeatón pioneer DJ Nelson behind the turntables, featuring classics that took the audience on a journey through the genre’s history. He kicked off with his own hit, reggaetón’s breakthrough “Vengo Acabando,” originally also sung with Alberto Stylee. He also spun “Noche de Travesuras” by Nicki Jam, “Lo Que Pasó Pasó” by Daddy Yankee, “Yo Voy” by Zion & Lennox, “Saoco” by Wisin, and “Tusa” by Karol G with Nicki Minaj, priming the crowd for the main event.
Don Omar’s entrance was a spectacle in itself, with a gigantic, rotating skull serving as his dramatic lift onto the stage. The audience erupted into a standing ovation as he appeared, his figure accentuated by a striking black snakeskin trench coat trimmed with red fur, and rocking his iconic cornrows. His performance was both a homage to reggaetón’s legacy and a celebration of his monumental career.
He ran through two-hours of bangers such as “Salió El Sol,” “Hasta Abajo” and “Dile.” “Pobre Diabla’ is a hit because of this city in the U.S., he shouted after performing it. “This song means New York to me,” he told the crowd.
Here are five best moments at Don Omar at Barclays Center.
A Post-Apocalyptic Spectacle
During Wednesday night’s (Nov. 8) CMA Awards, Chris Stapleton further established his dominance in the male vocalist of the year category, picking up his seventh win in the past nine years. On Friday’s Grammy nominations announcement (Nov. 10), his song “White Horse” picked up a nomination for best country solo performance and best country song. Meanwhile, his collaboration with Carly Pearce, “We Don’t Fight Anymore,” earned a nod for best country duo/group performance.
Quite the way to usher in his new album, Higher, which was released on the same day.
Just eight years ago, Stapleton issued his debut solo album, 2015’s Traveller; a CMA Awards performance alongside Justin Timberlake that year introduced the world outside of Nashville to the show-stopping power of Stapleton’s voice and his swampy guitar grooves. With classic country sounds as its core tenet, that album was a mere sampling of the wider landscape of musical influences that Stapleton has explored in his subsequent four releases.
His previous album, Starting Over, had moments of looking outward, surveying the world around Stapleton on “Watch You Burn” and “Nashville, TN.” On the 14-song Higher, Stapleton largely explores variations on a succinct set of topics — love, lust and heartbreak — but his otherworldly voice, capable of both wall-shattering power and a velvety purr, gives a unique nuance to each.
Like Willie Nelson, Stapleton first found success as a writer of hits for other artists before seeing his own chart successes. Along the way, Stapleton has become a favored vocal partner for everyone from Adele and P!nk to Carly Pearce and Taylor Swift. His years fronting groups including bluesy-bluegrass outfit The SteelDrivers and rock group The Jompson Brothers have lent his headlining shows a freewheeling, jam-band feel.
Also like Nelson, Stapleton’s focus on the music, his excellence in constructing detailed stories and his uncanny ability to traverse musical landscapes have made him a timeless figure, and one that takes inspiration from a myriad of genres, as Stapleton weaves in country, soul, rock, and punk. On his new project, he also pulls in a couple of fellow singer-songwriters as co-writers, including Miranda Lambert and Carolyn Dawn Johnson.
Here, we take a track-by-track look at the songs on his new album Higher.
“What Am I Gonna Do”
There are a million reasons why a musical artist catches lightning and sends a song to the top of the charts: Maybe they’re a superstar with a bulletproof commercial offering, or they’re an unknown riding cultural headwinds to a strong reaction, or they’re somewhere in between, with the right TikTok challenge at the right time. Sometimes, though, they’re just that good — commandingly, undeniably good — with a song that showcases that talent.
That’s how it felt in January 2021, when the co-star of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series released her debut single.
With the still-dazzling “Drivers License,” Olivia Rodrigo arrived as a fully formed pop savant, capable of piercing turns of phrase, major-key choruses and bridges that stop you in your tracks and force you to sway along. Of course her debut album, 2021’s Sour, was just as impressively detailed and sumptuously catchy; of course songs like “good 4 u” and “Deja Vu” became just as ubiquitous on top 40 radio and streaming services; of course the best new artist Grammy was in the bag; of course the first headlining shows were giddy shout-alongs. With a preternatural talent like Rodrigo, the artistic and commercial successes felt predestined from the moment we first heard, “‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street.”
With Guts, Rodrigo’s feverishly anticipated sophomore album, the rocket ship keeps climbing higher and higher: if Sour represented a rock-solid, no-skips debut, its follow-up is a bigger and better sequel, more confident and gripping in almost every way. The personal stakes are higher as Rodrigo gestures at the life changes (and expectations) that her newfound stardom have produced, but she matches them by thrusting her songwriting into more adventurous, and rewarding, territory.
Rodrigo expands upon the heartbreak central to Sour on songs like “Logical” and “Love Is Embarrassing,” but also addresses fame leeches (“Vampire”), social awkwardness (“Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl”), body image standards (“Pretty Isn’t Pretty”) and pre-adulthood anxieties (“Teenage Dream”), among other topics. Just like he did on Sour, Dan Nigro, Rodrigo’s main studio collaborator, helps push the right buttons while getting out of the way of her towering songwriting, as the pair hopscotch through pop-punk, new wave, indie-folk and hushed balladry without sounding haphazardly constructed or dulling any one-liners.
Because that’s what stands out the most on the first few listens of Guts: the way Rodrigo can bring a lyric to life with a gut-punch metaphor or a pitch-perfect vocal delivery. That gift stood out on Sour, and has sharpened on its follow-up. “I am built like a mother, and a total machine/ I feel for your every little issue, I know just what you mean,” she sings on opener “All-American B–ch,” crystallizing the impossibility of Relatable Female Pop Stardom in one lilting rhyme. On “The Grudge.,” Rodrigo flattens a breakup into, “We both drew blood, but man, those cuts were never equal.” And on “Making the Bed,” Rodrigo distills the ephemeral nature of success: “Another perfect moment that doesn’t feel like mine/ Another thing I forced to be a sign.” Guts has plenty of potential singles to join the already-minted Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits “Vampire” and “Bad Idea Right?,” but those lyrics — the ones that feel painfully perfect, that you want to write down for your own inspiration — are even more plentiful.
That remarkable songwriting ability is what ultimately separated Rodrigo when “Drivers License” launched, and what makes the sky her limit today. With Guts, Rodrigo has released the most complete pop album of the year, and nudged her trajectory even higher.
All 12 songs on the standard edition of the album are top-notch, but which are the early standouts? Here is a preliminary ranking of every song on Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts.
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This week, Brett Young offers a romantic new tune, newcomer Lauren Watkins delves into jealousy, Kylie Frey returns with her first new music in a few years, and Austin Burke gets a co-sign from music legend Willie Nelson on a new track. Take a listen to this week’s picks below:
Brett Young, “Dance With You”
Young has made a name for himself with his soulful songs such as “In Case You Didn’t Know” and “Catch.” As his current country radio single, the heartbreak anthem “You Didn’t,” rises up Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, Young returns with a slow jam that’s a surefire wedding-season favorite. On this track he wrote with Jimmy Robbins and Jordan Minton, Young reassures his lover of his steadfastness and support, regardless of where life takes them. Perhaps offering a nod to the 1992 John Michael Montgomery hit “Life’s a Dance,” he maintains that his lover will always be the only one on his dance card.
Kylie Frey, “Red Dirt Cinderella”
Louisiana native and third-generation rodeo-er Frey has notched over half a dozen chart-toppers on the Texas regional charts to date, and she returns with “Red Dirt Cinderella,” her first new music in nearly three years. The song depicts someone who refuses to trade her Luccheses for a life of ballgowns and glass slippers. Instead, in her own nonchalant way, she saddles up and heads out, content to take on life on her own terms. This track’s relaxed vibe finds Frey’s earthy voice rippling over accordion, fiddle and guitar.
Lauren Watkins, “Shirley Temple”
Newcomer Watkins recently inked a deal with Nicolle Galyon’s publishing company Songs & Daughters, followed by signing with Big Loud Records. She recently released two new tracks, “Camel Blues” and “Shirley Temple,” the latter of which is a study in contrasts and jealousy. “Shirley Temple” finds Watkins driven by a man who has fallen for an angelic, straight-laced girl, in contrast to her own straight-shooting, challenging ways. There’s an effortlessly smoky quality to Watkins’ voice, with a style of direct-yet-poetic songwriting reminiscent of Kacey Musgraves or Miranda Lambert. Watkins wrote the track with Galyon and Meg McRee.
Austin Burke, “Crazy, Crazy”
Burke’s latest offering incorporates a 62-year-old country music classic, with revamped snippets of the Willie Nelson-penned 1961 hit “Crazy,” made famous by Patsy Cline. Burke’s song begins with a processed version of two verses from Cline’s chorus (laced in reverb and pitched higher than the original), which gives way to Burke’s crafted verses, both brisk and brokenhearted, about a guy who spends his time day-drinking and overthinking. “To tell you the truth/I’m going crazy, crazy over you,” Burke sings, showcasing the enduring relevance of the decades-old song, but fusing it with a hooky, singalong chorus and revisits the Cline vocal throughout the song. Burke wrote “Crazy, Crazy” with Brandon Day, and earned music legend Nelson’s stamp of approval on the track.
RaeLynn with JUDAH, “Somebody Else”
RaeLynn teams with Judah Akers, frontman for the band Judah & The Lion, on this new track, which features a hooky electro-acoustic melody, a singalong-worthy chorus, and a message of empathy. “We’re all talking, but nobody’s listening,” they sing over a pulsating backbeat, as they plead for less self-centered action and more looking out for those around them. Together, there is a surprisingly natural textural blend to their voices, with RaeLynn’s slightly gritty Texas twang layered over JUDAH’s warm, rough-hewn voice. RaeLynn is set to independently release an upcoming album, Funny Girl, via her own Daisy Rae Productions, on Aug. 21.
