State Champ Radio rookie of the month
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Billboard is expanding its Rookie of the Month interview series by highlighting rising stars from more genres like dance and rock. But the new crop of artists emerging out of the African continent have continued making it clearer that their music can exist beyond the borders of “Afrobeats” and should not be broadly and lackadaisically labeled as such. “It has African intonations in it,” Tems said of her genre-bending music during her Women in Music interview last year.
Like Tems, many African artists have discovered one-of-a-kind ways to express themselves that cannot fit into one box while staying true to their roots. And Billboard is dedicating a spotlight to them through our new African Rookie of the Month series, which Odeal kicked off in January and Qing Madi is continuing in February.
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Qing Madi learned in high school that “the only reason a queen exists is because of the king.” But her majestic moniker – pronounced “King” and spelled with a “Q” to symbolize her femininity – honors her rapid ascent in the African music space, and foreshadows her lasting reign.
Upon graduation, the Benin City native (real name Chimamanda Pearl Chukwuma) moved to Lagos with her family and started writing songs for the country’s stars like Skales, Iyanya and Larry Gaaga. While she was grateful her pengame paid the bills, she also posted covers on TikTok and freestyles with guitarist and producer Wademix on Instagram. “He created this safe space where I could create my music even though I didn’t have a platform or anyone that was going to download it,” Madi, now 18, tells Billboard at Soho Warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, California.
One day, she went to the studio to record backup vocals for Blaqbonez, and his producer Ramoni played her the beat’s warped acoustic guitar loop and subtle trap hi-hats. Madi asked Ramoni if she could freestyle over it, and her poignant debut single “See Finish” was born in 2022. “I never put out anything original, because I wasn’t bold enough and didn’t think people would like it,” she told Billboard in an interview last year.
The viral TikTok success of “See Finish” eventually landed Madi a label deal with JTON Music and Columbia Records via BuVision. With only three singles to her name – “See Finish,” “Why” and the saucy standout “Ole” – Madi opened her “Ole” collaborator BNXN‘s six-date U.S. tour in October 2023, before dropping her eponymous debut EP the following month. The seven-track project melds her sweet R&B melodies and innocent, imaginative lyricism about embracing love and what the future holds while not letting her enemies get the best of her with irresistibly smooth Afropop production. “Vision” – a mesmerizing Afrobeats/R&B track Madi believes is “the most perfect thing I’ve ever written” – received an even dreamier remix treatment from her Columbia labelmate Chlöe for the deluxe edition of Qing Madi.
But for her debut studio album I Am the Blueprint, which dropped at the end of January, there’s only room for the Qing. She’s self-assured in the artist she’s always meant to become, and incredibly in tune with her emotions when it comes to love.
“You can tell that this is coming from a teenager, someone who’s lived a certain life and is trying to open her heart to the public,” she says. “My music is euphoric, it’s timeless. It’s going to live 100 years, even when I’m gone.”
Below, Billboard speaks with February’s African Rookie of the Month about the years-long journey of making I Am the Bluepint, the meaning behind her blue motif, how “The Rumble in the Jungle” inspired her single “Ali Bomaye,” and why “love songs are the easiest songs to write.”
My first question has to be about Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show performance since you’re a superfan of his. What did you think about it?
There were a lot of things were I was like, “Kendriiick.” I liked the Easter eggs, especially with the [Laughs] “A minor” necklace. I liked the coordination of Uncle Sam. There was a lot of stuff I pinpointed and was like, “Wow, this is so tough.” I like the fact he didn’t start with “Not Like Us,” because that was such an expected move. It was so sick.
When did you know music was your calling?
I genuinely believed songwriting was my calling because I loved it so much. I liked impressing other people because I would sing what I had written and everyone was like, “Oh, this is so sick!” I felt fulfilled. I never had stage fright, I was quite confident, but I didn’t think the world would put me in a position where I had to sing my own lyrics. But when I blew up on TikTok, and I got signed and started performing, I was like, “Ooh, this is definitely what I’m meant to do.”
I read in your OkayAfrica interview that you were “very jealous” of people who got to sing your lyrics, because “people appreciated it way more, because they had a familiar face in front of it.” How did you eventually transition from songwriter to the stars to a star in your own right?
It was really God — because originally, I hated the fact that I couldn’t really be a face to my music. I felt like I was selling a part of me, and I couldn’t argue with it because I was getting money off of it. But then I was always intimately hurt by the fact that I couldn’t really say, “Yo, these are my lyrics you’re singing!” I didn’t think it was possible, because at the time I was doing all of this, there wasn’t a lot of African female artists that were being appreciated. This space was very small for us. Once the new people started popping up, and I popped up, I was like, “Oh, OK, y’all letting us in? Thanks.” [Laughs.]
What kind of music did you grow up listening to, and how did that influence the music that you make?
I grew up listening to Kendrick Lamar, Brandy and a lot of other artists that I’m not even certain I know their names, because I lived next to a bar [that] used to play music all night. I would fall asleep to ‘90s R&B. And then I fell in love with rap music. Because of how much storytelling Kendrick has in his songs, I always want to think my songs should have a direction, a storyline, a target. I’m trying to hit a particular nerve or emotion. I’m like, “OK, if I’m writing a heartbreak song, there has to be a reason, a subject and a person.” I also listened to a lot of Wande Coal – he’s an African GOAT, melodic genius.
And what kind of music do you listen to now?
Kendrick Lamar. I was listening to GNX, DAMN., To Pimp A Butterfly. It’s a nostalgia thing, because I grew up on him. Listening to him puts me back in Benin [City], in that house.
You’ve also sung background vocals for other artists. How did you get on Wizkid’s 2023 “Diamonds” track?
My friend P. Prime called me and told me he needed assistance on a particular record. I pulled up to put my vocals on the song — but when I got there, I met Wizkid and Wande Coal. I was like [nervously chuckling], “Hi.” That is such a random thing to do on a Tuesday. Growing up, [I was] in school and trying to have discussions about these artists, and now I’m right in front of them [and] on their songs. It was an insane feeling.
They really did a good job of making me feel comfortable. [Wizkid] vocally led me on what he wanted, because he knows exactly what he wants on his record. He loved it, he was like, “Yeah, this is it. It’s perfect.”
How did you get Chloe on the “Vision” remix?
For my deluxe, I remember my team saying we have to get a feature on a record. And I’m like, “Oh, ‘American Love.’” And they were like, “No, no, no, no. We can’t hear nobody on it. We want to get a feature for ‘Vision.’” At the time, I was like, “I cannot hear anybody on ‘Vision.’ That is my baby, do not put nobody on that record.” I was so against it. Then they went ahead and reached out to Chloe’s team and sent her the record. She recorded her verse, and they sent it to me.
I loved it a lot, I can’t even lie. I was like, “Wow.” I never thought anyone would sound good on ‘Vision’ ‘cause it’s such an alternative track, and I’m like, “What are you going to add to it? It’s perfect.” But she really brought out a different perspective, and because she’s an R&B-based artist, it was such a perfect blend.
When you toured the U.S. for the first time with BNXN in 2023, how was seeing your fans live and the way they received your music?
It was great. I had never traveled to America before in my life, so [it’s] my first time in America and I’m going on tour. I got to meet fans, like, “How do people even know me?” I was shocked.
BNXN [is] the best big brother in the entire world. He would always hype me up on stage and say, “Everybody say, ‘Go Madi! Go Madi!’” It was less of a performance and more of a family reunion. It felt great being on stage and knowing that music is beyond my geographical area. The world is actually paying attention.
What’s your favorite place that you’ve performed at, and why?
Uganda. It was my concert, and as a new artist, that is an insane thing to do. Having a whole country that I’ve never been to – I don’t have any relatives from there, I don’t know anyone from there, it’s a place that is so alien to me – and receiving so much love, it’s definitely a significant place in my mind.
Take me back through the making of your debut album I Am the Blueprint.
There are songs from different versions of me as a person. There are songs I wrote when I was 14, when I was 16, when I was 18. I’m 18 now. It’s like a letter to myself. The first record is called “Bucket List.” It’s me prophesying a bunch of things I want to achieve, and saying, “I hope I become that artist.” And the last record is called “Right Here.” It’s me being more confident and being like, “I’m that artist.” It’s a confirmation.
I Am the Blueprint is a journey of me growing to discover that I am the blueprint. It doesn’t start with so much confidence. It starts with this 14-year-old girl confirming that, “This is who I am, this is who I believe I am” — and it ends with this is who I’ve become.
Explain the blue motif that’s not only been central to I Am the Blueprint but your overall aesthetics, from your hair to your style.
According to my mom, I’ve loved blue since I was literally conscious. It’s funny, because I was born left-handed, so she would beat my hand and tell me, “No, no, you’re doing things the wrong way. You’re supposed to use your right hand. Pink is for girls.”
I never changed. Every time, I’d be like, “I want it in blue.” Whenever I talk about blue or I implement blue in my hair or my album, it’s me putting in that little piece of me, that younger version of me, in everything I’m doing. If I have blue hair, I’m trying to say Chimamanda is still there. That blue is a remembrance of her.
Love plays a paramount role in this album, from feeling that intense chemistry for the first time with someone special on “Goosebumps” to questioning if your feelings are even valid or reciprocated on “It’s a Game.” Are you singing from personal experiences, or where does your source of inspiration come from?
Love songs are the easiest songs to write, because when I used to write for other artists, I prioritized putting myself in different people’s situations because they were very specific. They would say, “I want to buy a love song about this,” and tell you exactly what they wanted. I play with it sometimes. I have songs like “Ole” that talk about wanting another person’s partner. I’m like, “How crazy would it be to talk about love from this perspective?” So when it comes to love songs, it’s just me playing with my imagination and trying to talk about love in every way possible because it’s such a broad topic.
Considering this album reflects the emotional roller coaster that comes with being in a relationship, how did you figure out the sequencing of the tracks?
I purposefully arranged them to tell a story. We have “Bucket List,” “Ali Bomaye” and “Akanchawa,” and you can tell that slowly this person is growing from a very positive, energetic person to a very rage-filled person. From there, you slowly lurk into songs like “Pressure” and “Damn It All” that are so aggressive that you’re like, “Where does she come from?” In the beginning of the album, it was so welcoming and we’re just trying to lure you into this person who was so sweet and saw the world from this angle, and now she’s growing into realizing not everyone is as pure as she imagines.
It’s a journey of my emotions as a person and how I’ve seen life. The album sequencing is very intentional. I feel like we got the perfect arrangement to tell that story.
“Ali Bomaye” is derived from the chant yelled during Muhammed Ali and George Foreman’s 1974 match in Zaire (now called the Democratic Republic of Congo), also known as “The Rumble in the Jungle.” How did you find inspiration from that?
I learned that in school, and I was like, “That is so tough.” Having a word that is so significant to a violent sport put into love was something I thought would be so sick. Some people say, “You knock me off my feet,” like the wind. And I’m like, “You knock me off my feet,” because literally he knocked his opponent off. It’s wordplay for me — and then, obviously, referencing the legend Muhammed Ali is. It shows how deep in knowledge I am about being descriptive about my love toward you.
If you grew up in Lagos, Lagos is such a busy place, everything is always on the go. The record “Ali Bomaye” is about living in this place where there’s so much stress — but when you meet that person, it just knocks you off your feet.
BNXN, Chloe and Kizz Daniel were all featured on the deluxe version of your self-titled EP last year. Why did you decide to not have any features on I Am the Blueprint?
With the album, I really wanted to be selfish. I wanted to show the world, “This is about me. This is not about any other artist.” There are so many artists that would have sounded so great with a lot of the records, but I’m more concerned about showing you who I am. It’s a statement, it’s a movement, it’s a whole confirmation. That’s the artistic part of it.
On the business side, you could put a bunch of artists and say it’s for promotion. But I’m a true artist — I really care more about making sure that my message is heard and I’m able to accomplish the artistry I’m going for.
“Bucket List” mentions some things on your bucket list that you want to accomplish, like winning a Grammy and buying your mom a mansion. What else is on your bucket list?
Definitely tour. I want to go on tour so bad. There are so many countries I’ve never been to, and the fact that I’m not going as a regular person is intriguing to me. I want to meet my fans all over the world. I would try different aspects of art – acting, maybe screenwriting.
What’s been the biggest “pinch me” moment of your career so far?
Naomi Campbell followed me on Instagram. I was like, “No freaking way!” And then I saw she commented, and I was like, “OK, stop.” It was a lot for me, because it’s Naomi Campbell.
Who would you love to collaborate with this year?
I would love to collaborate with Wande Coal, Fave, Chris Brown, Billie Eilish. Kendrick Lamar. I would love to collaborate with him for sure.
What’s next for Qing Madi in 2025?
More collaborations — so many surprises that me and my team are working on. I can’t wait for the whole world to be a part of it.
When Regina George asked Cady Heron if she thought Aaron Samuels’ hair “looks sexy pushed back” in the 2004 teen comedy classic Mean Girls, Lindsay Lohan’s reserved character graphically imagined handling the situation how they would “in the animal world” – by leaping across the cafeteria table and tackling, growling and clawing at Rachel McAdams’ queen bee role. But of course, that didn’t actually happen. “Your hair looks sexy pushed back,” Heron responded defeatedly.
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That level of crashing out is what 26-year-old Vietnamese-American singer SAILORR believes “music is for,” she tells Billboard from her producer Adam Krevlin’s Los Angeles crib. As a “retired crash out” herself, SAILORR (real name Kayla Le) has prioritized preserving her peace over staying pressed in real life. But on her 2024 breakout hit and post-breakup anthem, “POOKIE’S REQUIEM,” she rips apart her ex for moving on “to whatever b–ch you got in Bushwick,” while revealing she still feels torn up, even hyperventilating in the outro.
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Summer Walker reiterates that while she wishes her ex the best, she knows the worst is yet to come for his new girl on the remix of “POOKIE’S REQUIEM,” which peaked at No. 10 on Hot R&B Songs and No. 8 on Bubbling Under Hot 100, and acted as a lookout while SAILORR trashed her ex’s house in the official music video. “She was like, ‘OK, SAILORR, what do you have me doing?’ And I’m like, ‘Here’s the treatment.’ She was down with all of my shenanigans!” says SAILORR, adding that directing the music video with Walker in it is the biggest “pinch me” moment of her career so far.
SAILORR’s histrionics are a remnant from her musical theater days, when she dreamed of performing on Broadway while attending an art school in her hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. Prior to graduating high school, she started auditioning for various conservatories around the country, and on her way to a callback at The Theatre School at DePaul University, SAILORR decided acting wasn’t worth getting into debt for – but that music was worth pursuing.
While working a series of odd jobs from florist to lash tech, she released a handful of indie R&B singles and uploaded eclectic DJ mixes to SoundCloud under the alias Sailor Goon, inspired by the Japanese manga series Sailor Moon that she grew up watching. She built her own music community by befriending neighborhood “gear nerds” who taught her how to chop beats, and by virtually connecting with people from SoundCloud, including Adam Kain and AJ Roth of the psychedelic R&B band Cruza, who introduced her to their manager (and now SAILORR’s manager) Zach Migdal. Fast forward a few years later, SAILORR’s new biting, bass-heavy ballad “Cut Up” was SoundCloud’s track of the day last week.
Billboard spoke with February’s R&B Rookie of the Month about paying homage to her Vietnamese heritage with her moniker and blackened grillz, being a “retired crash out,” her ex’s response to “POOKIE’S REQUIEM” and being inspired by Nikki Giovanni on “W1LL U L13?”
What kind of music did you grow up listening to, and how does that influence the music you currently make?
My first introduction to any sort of music was getting my sister’s iPod Nano — I would take that s—t and see what she had downloaded from Limewire. It was mainly ‘90s R&B and hip-hop and 2000s R&B and hip-hop. When I was in middle school, that’s when I decided I wanted to explore music. I was always an avid listener. At that early stage, it was Destiny’s Child and Lauryn Hill, later I discovered Erykah Badu and André 3000. In middle school, I went through a huge alt phase. I was listening to a lot of indie music.
I read that you were a musical theatre kid, and just like me, you’re a child of immigrant parents. How do those aspects of your background affect the storytelling and aesthetics of your music?
It’s funny ‘cause deep down in my soul, I wanted to be on Broadway. I knew I wanted to be a performer. But of course, my family was like, “So what are you actually gonna do? What’s the vibes?” In general, that area of my life gave me the tools to learn how to survive out in the real world. After I graduated high school, I was like, “What am I gonna do with my life? Am I actually gonna audition for conservatories?” I was like, “No, I’m not going into debt for that. F—k that.” I started making music and hustling that way. In the same way you grow up in a family of immigrants, it teaches you ingenuity and your drive to go further. It motivated me, my parents not really being fully supportive of me doing music. It was just like, “I’m gonna do this s–t forreal and I’mma show you.”
If we’re really being frank, it’s kind of unprecedented. I don’t see anybody else like me making music like me. That territory of truly being myself and being able to present that to people and then have people connect with that, that s—t is still crazy as f—k to me. My life has completely changed because of that one song, and it goes to show that I had it in me. I just had to keep trusting it.
And what kind of music do you listen to now?
Mainly I listen to underground rap. Skaiwater is my s—t. The3 Sacred Souls. SahBabii. Prettifun. TisaKorean. There’s a girl named Nali, she’s hard as f—k.
How did you come up with the name SAILORR?
Growing up watching Sailor Moon — but also my finsta used to be @sailorg00n. I used to go by Sailor Goon when I was releasing music back then and little DJ mixes on SoundCloud. I had to drop it because I was like, “Sailor just rings so well. That’s me.” And to tie it back into my culture and heritage, there was a mass exodus of [Vietnamese] refugees that came [to America] after the war, and they were all sailors essentially. I came from a bunch of fishermen. My grandma, the first thing she did here when she came to America was peel shrimp on a boat.
Where did the inspiration come from to wear blackened grillz?
Way back when, a lot of Southeast Asian women would dye their teeth black using various things, it depends on where you come from. My grandma had black teeth. The very formative years of my life, when my parents were working, I was being watched by my grandma. She was my first look at what femininity is. It was an homage to her, but also, growing up in Florida, everybody has grillz. It’s a perfect intersection of where I come from and then where I come from.
Take me back through the making of “POOKIE’S REQUIEM.” I read you were inspired by the 2000s film Requiem of a Dream.
First of all, it’s a very f—king sad movie. That whole movie represents addiction, I feel like you can tie that into love, relationships. Specifically with that relationship, it was like, “Ah I know this isn’t going anywhere, but we’re here. I’m gonna keep coming back because I love that validation.” During that period of time when I made that song, we had just gone no contact, me and my ex. S—t was weird and off. I really had to take personal inventory and be like, “What is important to me right now?” And during that moment of time, it was me taking back myself. When you’re feeling yourself, you feel like you’re f—king 10 feet tall! A lot of what I said in that song is silly, like, “I’m gonna read you to filth, I’m gonna read her to filth and I’m gonna read me to filth. We’re all going down, b–ch!”
Has your ex reached out to you about the song?
Yeah definitely tried to spin back a couple times. It’s been weird, it’s been awkward. I don’t engage because I have to preserve my energy and my mental health. I can’t do it, it’s too much going on. I hope he’s doing well genuinely, it’s no beef over here. I just use it for source material, but in real life, I’m not a crash out forreal. I used to be, but now I’m just like, “It’s too much at stake here. I can’t f—k my s—t up over anybody.”
It must be nice to release those emotions through music like, “Let me not crash out in real life, but at least I can crash out through the song. In a different world, this is how I might’ve reacted.”
It’s like Mean Girls whenever they play out the scene and it’s super intrusive but then it doesn’t actually happen. But genuinely, that’s what music is for. I think it is funny that he has heard the song ‘cause know he knows what I know, I peeped game. A lot of the sh— is literal, but it’s also me popping my sh—.
What’s the best way to get through a breakup?
Cry, and then go do s—t that you actually really love to do. During that time, I was keeping myself busy going back and forth to LA from Florida. When I would be at home, I would go to the beach, go to the gym, smoke a blunt with my homegirls. And giving yourself time to really process everything.
Explain the significance behind the fan dance during your From the Block performance last November.
During Lunar Year, there’s a whole ceremony. The lions come out, the fan dancers. A lot of what I do in my music or my performance or my art in general is [a] nod to the things that I grew up with, things that are nostalgic to me. For From the Block, there was a Rush Hour 2 reference.
And what compelled you to hang upside down during your On The Radar performance?! How did you pull that off?
For that concept, I was like, “OK, play on the word ‘sailor.’ I’m going overboard. I’m trying to dock the boat.” It was just funny. I didn’t want to give a regular performance. We want to give it some story, some life. Hanging upside down was the “wow” factor.
That s–t was f—ked up, though. The type of harness you have to get into, all the pressure is in your chest and in your head. I wanted to try doing live vocals, and I probably could have, but because it was the second live performance of “POOKIE’S REQUIEM,” I felt like people were gonna come down on me and be like, “D–n, that’s how she sings?” I’m also upside down, b–ch!
How did you get Summer Walker on the “POOKIE’S REQUIEM” remix?
We met at a studio in LA. She’s so, so sweet. I literally love her music. I used to bump that s—t so, so, so, so heavy, still do. But for any artist to get some sort of props or cosign from my peers – your peers are people that you really, really, really look up to and respect – that s—t was wild.
This song literally opened up connections with people I’ll be able to call as part of my community. The biggest thing about music for me is being able to build with other people, collaborating is my biggest thing. I’m excited that it gets to be with people that I’ve loved and respected for the longest time.
At the end of the remix’s title, you wrote in brackets, “hehe look y’all I made it longer.” Were fans telling you the original song was too short?
Yes, of course. Everybody on TikTok, all the comments were like, “Why the f—k is this s—t only a minute long?” I hear y’all. I do read through them comments now! I hate to admit that…. At the beginning, it was hella hate so I really used to be reading through that shade, trying to restrain myself from responding to everybody. I’m a retired crash out now. [Laughs.] I’m excited to connect with the fans more. I’m so excited to perform live, I’m so excited to start a Discord and actually get to know them.
Do you have a name for your fanbase?
I call them the Fleet, like Sailor’s Fleet!
What did you think of Halle’s cover of “POOKIE’S REQUIEM”?
It was so good, she’s great. I love her.
Who else would you love to collaborate with this year?
I could throw so many people out there. Dream? Doechii, f—king SZA of course. I definitely want to make a song with Skaiwater. Random as f—k, King Krule. The ball could f—king go into any court at this point, who’s trying to work?
The “It’s because I love you/ I’mma get the least of you” lyrics from the bridge of “W1LL U L13?” comes from the televised sit-down conversation between Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin in 1971. How did you find inspiration from that?
First of all, she’s an amazing person, RIP. I had picked a day to release it, and then she literally passed like two or three days before. I was like, “What the f—k?” In a way, it was a tribute to her because she’s one of the people that really influences me in all of this, as a person outside of the music.
“W1LL U L13?” is about knowing that this person can only give you so much, but you’re still here for it and going through the motions with this person. From that conversation, she was talking about “Why can’t you f—king fake it for me like you fake it with everybody else? Why do I always get the worst parts of you? Aren’t I the one that you love the most?” That whole song is [about how] it’s always often the people that are closest to you that you take for granted.
At the end of last year, you posted two truths and a lie on Instagram. “Before I dropped “POOKIE’S REQUIEM,” I had to get 3 different sets of gold fronts made because I broke 2 of them, and for majority of the videos I’ve been seen in, I wear my Invisalign trays painted black. Before music, I was a bartender, florist, and lash tech and reached out to Chief Keef’s team to be a professional blunt roller (they never got back to me). And I have a forklift certification.” The people still want to know: Which one was the lie? Was it the forklift one?
Yup. [Regarding the first truth], there’s stage makeup by Ben Nye, that’s a makeup brand, that makes tooth paint, and I used to paint [my Invisalign trays] black.
Could you take it off?
Well, I had to change my trays every week anyway, so I was like, “F—k it.” I’m sure I could sit there and scrub it off. I had to literally get three sets of grillz made because I was so irresponsible. The first two months after I dropped “POOKIE’S REQUIEM,” I just kept f—king losing them. I broke them at one point. I was like, “You know what? I’m just gonna paint my Invisalign trays black and go from there.”
So you really did reach out to Chief Keef’s team to be his professional blunt roller?
I did. They never got back to me.
Why him specifically?
[Sings.] These b–ches love Sosa! The offer is still on the table. I don’t care how busy I am, I’ll come kick it with Chief Keef anytime.
What more can we expect from SAILORR in 2025? Are we getting a debut project?
EP for sure. I’m thinking right now like eight songs — but I don’t know, we’ll see.
With his gritty vocal acoustic musical leanings, Alabama native Kashus Culpepper merges the throug lines braided throughout country, folk, blues, soul and gospel music on his slate of raw musical constructions such as “After Me?” and his latest, “Jenni.”
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For Culpepper, who signed with Big Loud Records (home to Morgan Wallen and Charles Wesley Godwin) in 2024, that intertwining is natural, given his musical roots embedded in a small-town church in Alexander City, Alabama, where his first musical influence was church leader Deacon McGee.
“He would start all the hymns out at my church, and he had this crazy voice — almost like Howlin’ Wolf, really raspy — and did these Stevie Wonder-like melodies,” Culpepper tells Billboard. “He’s passed on now, but he has been a huge part of my musical influences. I mean, he’s an artist to me, because of the way he sang and the feeling he gave all of the songs he would sing.”
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It wasn’t until after high school when Culpepper would solidify his own musical inclinations — though he’s the first to admit that making a living through music, his voice and his songs has been a shift for the 27-year-old.
“I’ve been coming up as a blue-collar guy. All my jobs have been very labor-intensive,” he recalls. “But to come to Nashville where everyone’s writing songs every day, recording and being creative, that was something I had to get used to.”
Culpepper was a state champion wrestler in high school and soon found work as an EMT and a firefighter, before joining the Navy and working as a carpenter (construction battalion). In 2020, at the height of a COVID-19 pandemic-caused pause, Culpepper picked up a guitar and began learning cover songs to entertain his fellow Navy troops while they were deployed in Rota, Spain.
“We couldn’t do much, couldn’t work and we couldn’t leave the base, so I started playing guitar,” Culpepper recalls.
By the time Culpepper returned stateside, he began working for a cement company, but his passion for music was already coming into focus. He played open mic nights around the Mississippi coast, before spending nearly a year as part of a local Southern rock band.
“They wanted somebody who could do Lynyrd Skynyrd but could also do older soulful stuff — B.B. King, Tracy Chapman,” Culpepper says. “I didn’t think I was going to go anywhere with music; I just thought it was a good time.”
As Culpepper continued refining his musical skills, the desire to experiment with different sounds led him to step out on his own with the Kashus Culpepper Band. “I wanted to add saxophone and jazz to those country records and those great storytelling songs,” he recalls.
2023 proved a pivotal year for Culpepper, on both creative and business fronts. He was performing at one of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville locations on the southern coast, when an audience request became the catalyst for Culpepper to begin writing his own material.
“Someone came up and asked me to play a Jimmy Buffett song, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll play it.’ But after I finished my set and was packing up my car, I thought, ‘I wish people would come up to me and ask if I can sing my own song.’ So, I realized I wanted to write songs. That same day, I left the coast and came back home for a few weeks and started writing.”
During that three-week timespan, Culpepper’s younger sister encouraged him to start posting on social media; he started posting a mix of original songs and cover songs, such as his version of Tyler Childers and the Food Stamps’ “Messed Up Kid.”
“That was the beginning blocks of everything that was going on. That got me in a lot of rooms and a lot of eyes on my music,” Culpepper says.
Culpepper relocated to Nashville, and in November 2023, released a snippet of the bluesy post-breakup track “After Me?” on TikTok; that snippet has earned over 3 million views. By mid-2024, he had inked a label deal with Big Loud Records and a publishing deal with Big Loud Publishing/Warner Chappell Music. He followed with songs lilke “Who Hurt You,” and his latest, “Jenni.”
“Big Loud picked me up when no one really knew who I was. [Big Loud CEO] Seth [England], [Big Loud partner/producer] Joey [Moi], all of those guys, they didn’t have to pick me up when I was so fresh on the scene. I loved all the artists they had, between Ernest and HARDY, Morgan and Steven Wilson Jr., and I saw they had artists like Charles Wesley Godwin. I was just excited to be around these artists that are so creative.”
Culpepper has continued to stack up career milestones over the past year, making his Grand Ole Opry debut in December. The CAA-aligned singer-songwriter will be opening shows on Leon Bridges’ The Leon Tour beginning in May, in addition to leading his own headlining shows this year.
Billboard caught up with Culpepper, our staff’s Country Rookie of the Month for February, to discuss his career journey, as well as the people and moments that have inspired him and his career goals.
“After Me?” was your first breakthrough. What inspired that song?
I couldn’t sleep one night and started writing in my journal, about these old memories I had from a girl that I talked to way back when. I think I saw something online that she was doing and I got this old blues melody in my head — I had listened to a lot of Muddy Waters the night before, just all this blues stuff. I showed my buddy Mark [co-writer Mark Chandler] the voice memo I had. I [realized] it was really out there, kind of a Temptations, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” — that type of vulnerable feeling.
You wrote “Jenni” after performing “Revival” with Zach Bryan at Buckeye Country Fest in Ohio. What is the story behind that song?
I saw this girl and got inspired, because with “Revival,” it’s so folk, and Americana — it’s almost like a rock song when you see Zach play it. I got inspired by that, and then seeing that girl — she had a huge beer in her hand. I don’t even know how I picked her out from the crowd. She seemed so carefree.
Do you have plans to release a full project?
I’m working on music. I think a lot of the features and a lot of the stuff that I’m doing with writing, I think a lot of people are going to be very surprised with what I have that’s going on.
You are opening shows for Leon Bridges coming up. How does that feel?
I’m so excited about that. My whole family is so excited about it. I’ve been listening to him for so long; I love all his music and he’s a great guy.
What artist would you love to collaborate with?
Right now, I would love to collaborate with Olivia Dean. She’s from the U.K. She’s so good—a mix between R&B, pop and jazz stuff.
What is one album you could listen to forever?
House of Balloons [Mixtape] by the Weeknd — the moodiness of it, the vulnerability of all the songs, the vibe of it, it’s top-tier with that record.
What podcasts are you into?
I’ve been listening to a lot of Two Girls, One Ghost. They talk about horror and hauntings. Between that and [This Past Weekend W/] Theo Von and Joe Rogan [Experience], I’m all over the place.
Musically, what is on your bucket list?
One day I want to do Red Rocks, and I’m excited about all the music coming out and collaborations with artists that I love.
Billboard is expanding its Rookie of the Month interview series by highlighting rising stars from more genres like dance and rock. But the new crop of artists emerging out of the African continent have continued making it clearer that their music can exist beyond the borders of “Afrobeats” and should not be broadly and lackadaisically labeled as such. “It has African intonations in it,” Tems said of her genre-bending music during her Women in Music interview last year.
Like Tems, many African artists have discovered one-of-a-kind ways to express themselves that cannot fit into one box while staying true to their roots. And Billboard is dedicating a spotlight to them through our new African Rookie of the Month series, which we’re kicking off with Odeal for January 2025.
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Odeal hasn’t stuck to one lane during his entire artistic journey. The 25-year-old artist was born in Germany and raised in Spain, the U.K. and Nigeria before settling down in the U.K. when he was 17, shortly before he embarked on his solo career. His familiarity with global genres eventually paved the way for his boundary-pushing music – even though he didn’t have the smoothest start.
Some of his older friends in the U.K. realized his propensity for music and encouraged a young Odeal (real name Hillary Dennis Udanoh) to make an original song at a studio in one of the youth clubs. He spent one evening after school there recording his first song and returned for a few days before the youth club shut down weeks later. When he moved to Awka, the capital of the Anambra State, Nigeria, at 14, Odeal’s father connected him to his cousin who always hung out at a studio. “I’d literally sit and watch everyone come in and record because I wasn’t making their type of music. I was more into R&B. And they were like, ‘R&B doesn’t work over here,’” he tells Billboard. “I was watching different artists to see how they record, the way they pronounce things, the beats, their choice of melodies. By the end of the summer, I learned what moves people and what doesn’t.”
While attending boarding school, he downloaded FruityLoops onto one of the laptops in the IT suite and snuck the laptop back to his dorm room so he could make beats while everyone was asleep. After a student snitched and the laptop was confiscated, Odeal’s “production journey kind of ended there,” he says. His cousin later advised him to spend time in Lagos so he could connect with producers and record music, where Odeal thought he’d have yet another shot at making it.
“I didn’t break in Lagos,” he recalls with a chuckle. “That was just like a dream.” At 17, he returned to London and witnessed the rise of Afroswing, an amalgamation of Afrobeats, dancehall and hip-hop created by the Afro-Caribbean diaspora in the U.K. Odeal immersed himself in the scene by joining a group called TMG, featuring other members Curtis J and Zilla, before they disbanded soon after.
Odeal embarked on his solo career in 2017 with the release of his debut EP New Time, but just a few months later, he became severely ill and spent the majority of November in the hospital. “If I get out of here, I need to make sure that I make an impact as much as I can and give back to my fans so that I can leave a legacy,” he remembers telling himself. Every November since then, Odeal has intentionally increased his musical output, from new singles to even OVMBR-branded EPs (2020’s Roses, 2021’s Hits No Mrs and 2022’s Maybe I’m Best Alone). In a similar vein to Drake’s OVO (October’s Very Own), Odeal’s OVMBR – which stands for “Our Variances Make Us Bold and Relentless” – doesn’t just represent the artist’s brand but has evolved into a movement that honors the individuality of his fanbase and even includes live events in Lagos, London, Berlin and Paris.
He heated things up last summer with Sunday at Zuri’s, a sultry, smooth four-song EP that represents a Sunday well spent at a woman named Zuri Awela’s beach house in Lagos. The scintillating highlight “Soh-Soh” became the project’s breakout hit, scoring A-list co-signs from SZA, Ciara and Victoria Monét, earning a song of the year nomination at the 2025 MOBO Awards and reaching No. 12 on U.S. Afrobeats Songs and No. 33 on Rhythmic Airplay. Last November, Odeal continued his OVMBR tradition by releasing the critically acclaimed EP Lustropolis, a heart-wrenching expedition about strained love affairs that features the Aaliyah-interpolating single “Temptress” and “You’re Stuck” collaboration with Summer Walker.
Billboard spoke with January’s African Rookie of the Month about making certain types of music for specific seasons, going viral with “Soh-Soh,” signing with LVRN and linking up with his labelmate Summer Walker on “You’re Stuck.”
How did your international upbringing impact the music you listen to and the music you make?
It made me understand different cultures and languages that people speak all over the world. It made me understand why other cultures like one style of music over another. So when making my music, I know exactly what to do and how to execute in a way that will resonate with certain people and the elements needed for it.
How many languages do you speak? And how many languages do you typically sing in?
To be fair, I’ve sang in French before, but I don’t speak French like that. I’ve sang in Spanish before, but I don’t speak Spanish as well as I used to. I used to speak it fluently, and then as I grew up, it fizzled away. I’m still trying to get [German and Spanish] back because I really want to connect with my fans in their own language. Stuff just hits different when you speak a certain language — the banter is different, the whole feeling is different.
Who were some of your favorite artists whom you grew up listening to?
Outside of Africa: Michael Jackson, Céline Dion, Brandy, 2Pac, Biggie. Inside of Africa, Wizkid, Davido, 2Face, Olamide, P-Square, Mi Casa. When I was growing up around the ages of 14-15, we used to listen to [urban music channels] Trace Urban and Soundcity when I was in Nigeria, and we listened to a lot of South African music like Uhuru.
And what kind of music do you listen to now?
I listen to anything that feeds my soul. At the moment, I’ve been listening to a lot of Afro-house, amapiano, R&B.
What kind of sounds and styles does your music encompass?
Afro-fusion, alté and R&B.
A few days after you released Lustropolis, you tweeted “the duality of man” and described Sunday at Zuri’s as “Afrofusion/Alte” and Lustropolis as “R&B/Soul.” Were you consciously thinking about genre when you were making both projects?
It’s definitely intentional. I normally make music seasonally. You need a theme song for your winter, and that’s what I feel like soul and R&B is for, when you’re inside and you’re in your feels. It’s more introspective. And for the summer, I’ll do Afro-fusion or Afrobeats or whatever experimental project for that season.
As someone who is as multidisciplinary as you in their approach to music, has it been difficult to find producers to help bring your unique sound to life? When I first interviewed Tems last year, she told me a major reason why she produces a lot of her own music is because she had a hard time being in studio sessions with other producers who just kept making Afrobeats. I’m curious if you had a similar experience.
Yeah 100%. The main reason why I started making music was because I wanted to hear something out there that was catered to me. Not being able to find something out there that fully embodied what I wanted, I had to start producing. But from making the music I have made, I’ve been able to meet a lot of incredible producers who are on the same page and want to experiment and explore and are ready for me to take the lead on where the sound should go.
Do you feel like it’s becoming more acceptable/more the norm for artists with Nigerian backgrounds to make music outside of Afrobeats?
Yes, 100%. Shoutout to everyone who’s been able to break out of that stigma that Nigerian artists should only make Afrobeats, or African artists should only make Afrobeats. We’re definitely capable of so much more and shouldn’t be boxed in.
Take me back through the making of both projects, starting with Sunday at Zuri’s.
I needed a summer tape. I was working on a project prior to when I went over to Nigeria. A week before I left Nigeria, I scrapped the summer project, everything I encountered while being in Lagos around April, May last year led to the creation of Sunday at Zuri’s.
On X, you wrote that Sunday at Zuri’s was influenced by Zuri Awela. Who is she, and how do you know her?
We’re calling her Zuri Awela, but she is someone that I spent time with in Lagos. I got to understand her background more of being South African and going to the beach houses in Lagos and having a good time. Having to leave Lagos and come back to the U.K., there was a certain feeling I had of having to detach from that situation. I made a story about that.
Was there one specific beach house you were spending time at, or were there multiple?
There were different beach houses. One’s called Ilashe Beach House, there’s another one called Koko Beach.
Out of the four songs on Sunday at Zuri’s, why do you think “Soh-Soh” resonated the most?
The chorus is provocative, it gets you moving, singing. It’s a catchy chorus, but then the second verse is very R&B-esque. There’s something about it, from the melodies and everything, that really resonated with people.
Prior to the success of “Soh-Soh,” when was the first time you remember a song going viral?
“Vicious Cycle (Policeman)” in 2019. I was in uni at the time. I’d wake up in the morning and record at the same time when people would be going to lectures. I started making the beat to “Vicious Cycle,” and then my boy came up and was like, “Yo, this is sounding crazy.” I laid the verse, it must’ve been before 12pm. I was done by 1, and then immediately, I posted a video of it on social media and it went off. Loads of people posting like, “Yo, when’s this dropping?” That was a moment.
Now take me back through the making of Lustropolis. How long did it take you to make it?
One or two of the songs were started earlier on in the year, and then the rest of them were made within a week or two.
You tweeted “Zuri’s absence paved the way to Lustropolis.” Can you expand on that? How are your two latest projects connected?
There are two different feelings: When you’re happy in summer, you’re a completely different person than who you are in the winter and not in the best place. Being with Zuri in Lagos, I felt like it was paradise. And then leaving that situation and coming back to the U.K., and it being winter and I’m about to head on tour and go to all these places, it was kind of dark. Maneuvering through that dark space and uncertainty and living on the edge was Lustropolis. I personified that mind frame. It led me to a place where I was acting off impulse, off something not going right in the previous situation and being in this place of self-destruct mode.
How did you and Summer Walker come together on “You’re Stuck”?
Her A&R and my A&R were in talks of having her on the record. They played it for her, and she loved it, she really wanted to be part of it. She brought her own perspective to it. I don’t really have many female features on my records, so it was really dope.
And then to link up with her in L.A. to do the video was another thing. She was really cool, down to earth. We went to the studio while I was out there, just working on a couple of things.
You’ve independently released your music through OVMBR, but you signed your first label deal with Warner Records UK in 2020. What was that adjustment like, from working on music on your own terms to working with a team?
It was more approvals. When you’re working independently, you can literally wake up in the morning, make a song and drop it tomorrow, which built most of the beginning of my career. But getting with a label, it was more like, “OK, you can’t just do that.” You’re working with a whole business now, and there’s an investment. You can’t be as spontaneous. That was the only difficulty. But apart from that, it was good because I understand now the importance of planning and preparation. If you want to operate on a global level and really scale, there’s certain things that you need to do.
How did you get acquainted with LVRN, and why was signing with them the right decision?
They reached out over a period of time. I really love their whole team structure. Just like OVMBR, it’s a bunch of friends who’ve become family and they really care about quality, have their own story. It was deeper than one company over another company. We share similar values, and they were really huge fans of the music, which is what I always want people to lead with outside of everything else.
I saw you were in the studio with Kaytranada recently.
That was crazy. In terms of production, he’s a huge inspiration. Getting in a session with him and really connecting over the music and sharing our taste, that was another thing.
Can we expect new music from you two anytime soon?
I’m not saying anything as of now, but hopefully. [Laughs.]
JayO posted some pictures of you two in Cape Town, and people in the comments were saying they need the joint project. Is that something you two have seriously discussed?
We actually do speak about it. We’re like, “OK, if we were to put out a project, that would be dope.” We don’t schedule sessions together. We’re really good friends. We’ll be chilling and music is made, or we’re on holiday and we end up making something together. We like to live life and then see how it pours into the music.
Who would you love to collaborate with this year?
I’d say Tems, Billie Eilish, Rema, Wiz.
What’s been the biggest “pinch me” moment of your career so far?
There were two moments, and they both happened the same day. I was at the British Fashion Awards, and Issa Rae was like, “There he is.” I was literally watching Insecure the day before. And she was like, “I absolutely love your music.” She really loves how I’ve been blending genres, which told me she was really listening. It wasn’t just one song. I told her I’m a huge fan of her. And then literally moments later, Wiz was like, “Yo, I love your music.” I was like, “Bro, this is actually insane.” Those were two moments that were like, “There’s no way this is happening right now.”
There’s a certain feeling Nimino has always been looking for in the music he listened to and then eventually made.
“You know when you listen to a song and there’s a moment that like, a chord strikes and you can’t explain why, but it just pulls a tear from your eye?” he asks rhetorically while speaking to Billboard over Zoom. “And no matter how many times you listen, you’ll get that moment in that song and be like, ‘Oh, f–k.’”
It’s a wave of emotion the London-based artist born Milo Evans loved experiencing, one he’s worked to create since he started producing music at age 13 and one he identified when he first heard “I Only Smoke When I Drink,” a brassy soul song by American outfit Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact, from the group’s 2019 album Running Out of Time.
“I would listen to that song and as soon as it would get past [the title line] I’d lose interest,” Nimino says. “It’s a great tune, but I would just listen to that one bit over and over, because it’s such a crazy little line.”
Enjoying the feeling it gave him and sensing he could do something with it, he grabbed the acapella of the Rebecca Jade vocal “but couldn’t find anything it would fit with, so I had it sitting on my computer for ages.” He was later working on another that song “that was quite dark and felt quite melancholic and definitely had this clubby vibe to it, but I don’t know what needed to be put in it.”
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Eventually, in December of 2023, he thought to pair the pieces “so it was like a call and response between the synth playing and the vocals chatting. Once those were together, it was just like, ‘This is obviously a very exciting song.’”
The internet agreed. Before its August 22, 2024 release on Ninja Tune’s Counter Records imprint (where Nimino signed in the spring of 2024), clips featuring the single generated more than 15 million views, two million likes and 313,000 saves across TikTok and Instagram. He previewed the song online only after a lengthy sample clearing process, as he knew audiences would want to know the release date immediately upon hearing it.
“I was kind of careful with it,” he says, “then as soon as we had the thumbs up, I teased it. It went crazy literally the first night.” While the song went wild online, Nimino celebrated its release in very IRL fashion. The night before the song came out, “a guy hit me up online and was like, ‘Yo man, we’re throwing a house party in London. I’d love for you to come DJ and play that new song. I was like, ‘Yeah, f– it. Why not?’”
Celebrating was appropriate. Since August, “I Only Smoke When I Drink” has generated 17.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 87.2 million official on-demand global streams, according to Luminate. The song is in its 21st week on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and currently sits at No. 15, its highest position thus far.
But this success “hasn’t changed the strategy so much as it expedited things,” says Gon Carpel, the founder of Noted Management who co-manages Nimino alongside Eli Bieber. “The focus remains building a long-lasting artist career by focusing on the fundamentals and making strategic decisions for the long term.” (On the agent side, Nimino is represented by UTA’s Jamie Waldman.)
“But of course, Carpel adds, “the success of the song has allowed him to reach more people in more places much faster, and that discovery is expediting his growth across the board – opening up new opportunities in touring, publishing, sync, etc. The biggest strategy change has probably been in having to be even more considerate with where and when to spend his time and energy, as the whole globe has opened up to him.”
When we speak Nimino is in New Orleans for a show at Republic NOLA. While he’s been touring in the U.S. for the last few years (he says his shows do especially well in New York, Los Angeles and Denver), sets are now selling out much faster. “And I mean, even just selling out is a big jump from last year,” he says. He’s got shows in Nashville, Austin and Orlando this weekend (Jan. 24-26) and says while he can’t reveal much yet, there are big festival plays on the summer calendar.
Warm, funny and generally fairly calm seeming, Nimino doesn’t seem too preoccupied with his virality or with trying to top it. “I’ve had a few viral moments before,” he says. “Never to this level, but I’m relatively well versed in how it feels.” (How does it feel? “Very overwhelming. It’s hard to get off your phone.”)
With single and EP releases dating back to 2018, Nimino is more than a one-trick TikTok artist. His catalog has 56.5 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 179.5 million official on-demand global streams, according to Luminate. He calls 2023’s “No Sympathy” and 2022’s “Opening Credits” and “Save a Soul” pillars of his sets, which “for my listeners have always been very special moments.”
While “I Only Smoke When I Drink” is putting a lot more eyes and ears on him — earning him new followers, a turn making an Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1 and a remix package featuring edits of the song by Claptone, Felix Cartel and more — he’s in a position to demonstrate staying power. “Virality helps, but virality is not a strategy,” Carpel says. “It still comes down to really great music from an artist with a strong voice and brand who connects with an audience, coupled with the right team and strategy around them.”
Tomorrow (Jan. 24), Nimino will release “Shaking Things Up.” Made from a ’60s soul sample and bouncy piano, the song is bright, but also laced with Nimino’s signature emotiveness. “It was very much a case of having done a song in one style, then saying, ‘F–k it. Let’s shake things up.’ ‘I Only Smoke’ was quite dark, quite clubby. ‘Shaking Things Up’ is so bright, so fun and such an outdoor festival kind of vibe.”
But whether one is a longtime fan or just now hearing his name, Nimino assures he’s got something for you.
“My favorite song of mine is genuinely always the one that’s about to come out, or the one I made yesterday,” he says. “So even if you can’t be bothered to check out the songs I’ve released, just follow the ride.”
At just 17, Ty Myers has crafted a 16-song debut album (The Select, out Jan. 24 on RECORDS Nashville/Columbia Records) that blends country songcraft, blues-drenched guitar riffs and soulful, gritty vocals in a way that sounds far beyond his years.
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Myers was born and raised in Austin, a Texas city that boasts over 250 live music venues and has garnered the moniker “Live Music Capital of the World.” So, there’s little wonder that while many of his Gen Z musical contemporaries followed the bedroom TikTok-to-hit performer pathway, Myers’ roots extend back to the vaunted singer-songwriter haunts of Austin. His songwriter father regularly played in Austin’s local venues, while Myers’s grandmother played piano in church.
“My earliest memory is sitting at a bar top at four years old,” Myers tells Billboard. “I have pictures of me just passed out, sleeping on a bar top. I should not have been at that age, but I was always just locked in on music.”
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Myers recalls first singing alongside his father at a now-defunct local Austin venue, Nutty Brown Café & Amphitheatre. By eight, Myers was writing his own songs, and by 11, he was doing full-fledged performances with his father.
“We would do songwriter swaps at local places, just trying to get my foot in the door a bit. Places aren’t usually too quick to let an 11 or 12-year-old come play for people who are trying to have a good time and drink,” Myers recalls. “My dad kind of had relationships at a lot of places and he helped me out.”
Beyond the musical talents of Myers and his parents, he is the nephew of Lonestar member Dean Sams, and Myers notes to Billboard that he also has a familial connection to George Strait’s longtime piano player Ronnie Huckaby.
Along the way, Myers soaked in the sounds of Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, George Strait and Chris Stapleton, channeling their influences. By high school, Myers was balancing playing music with playing baseball and football. After he tore his ACL playing football, and realized the recovery process would hinder him from playing for the rest of the season, Myers redoubled his efforts on music, pouring the dogged work ethic he learned growing up on his family’s cattle ranch into songwriting, live performance and guitar playing. He began recording with producer Tommy Detamore, known for his work with artists including Ronnie Milsap, Jim Lauderdale, and The Texas Tornados.
“Growing up, country was always my main influence,” Myers recalls. “So those first sessions were very country-based, which is Tommy’s bread and butter — he’s an old-school steel player. He played with everybody under the sun and he really perfected those first sessions.”
Those sessions created what would become Myers’s breakthrough songs including “Tie that Binds,” “Drinkin’ Alone,” and earnest love song about enduring affection “Ends of the Earth” — and are included on his full-fledged album, alongside songs produced by Brandon Hood, such as the R&B-inflected love song “Firefly,” the horn-laden “Can’t Hold Me Down” and the Americana/country-informed “Drunk Love.”
“I feel like this album is a real culmination of all of my influences,” says Myers, who is managed by Starstruck Entertainment. “I blended everything that I love into one, hopefully unique, sound.”
The album’s title nods to the fictional bar LA Select, featured in author Ernest Hemmingway’s book The Sun Also Rises. “That’s kind of where [the book’s characters] all go,” Myers says. “They leave the world behind, relax and have fun, and lay all their stresses to the ground, which is kind of what I want people to do when they listen to the album.”
The CAA-aligned Myers just launched his 45-show headlining The Select Tour, which is largely sold out and added 19 new dates. Among the tour stops are shows at revered music venues including Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas, and New York City’s Bowery Ballroom.
Myers, Billboard’s January Country Rookie of the Month, told us about the making of his album. navigating his musical breakthrough, and some of his favorite past-times beyond music.
“Tie That Binds” was the song that first caught fans’ attention after it was featured on the TikTok Bonfire Specials. What was it like seeing that initial reaction from both fans and the industry?
It was surreal. We were on family vacation in Key West and that day we were going to drive from Marathon Key to Key West. It’s like a 45-minute drive. And in that time, three labels reached out in 25 minutes—it almost felt like somebody’s playing a prank on you and you don’t know what to expect, going from zero to a hundred like that. And in the days that followed, it felt like every day was a different call.
You are signed with RECORDS Nashville and Columbia. How did that joint deal come about?
It was coming down to either RECORDS or Columbia and we had a meeting in New York. The day before the meeting, we were told, “We want to do a joint meeting with RECORDS and Columbia,” and it turns out they wanted to do the deal together and it couldn’t have been any more perfect.
What advice has your uncle given you about navigating the music industry?
He told me that he was the only one out of the group there at an awards show one time, and he went up [onstage] to accept the award. He saw the video two years later and said he didn’t remember accepting the award, and that’s because he was always thinking about what’s next. So he told me to appreciate the moments.
You wrote “Ends of the Earth” by yourself. What was the writing process for that song like?
I wrote it in my room. I would say about 90% of the songs I write are in my room, but I with that, I knew I wanted to write kind of a soul song. That old-school intro, kind of “boom, boom, boom.” The “Ends of the Earth” idea came next, kind of a play on words that I do in the chorus. I just built it off of that and wrote that one probably within an hour.
How does your live show inform your approach to songwriting?
That’s the number one thing I think about when I’m writing songs, because when you’re performing live, that’s the roots of music. I love playing live.
You’ve opened shows for Randy Rogers Band, Wade Bowen and Cody Johnson. What have you learned from them in regard to live shows?
Randy and Wade love to have fun on stage, so I got that from them. And playing with Cody Johnson, I love studying his show, and how he really gets the audience involved. There’s not very many people who can move at an arena like Cody Johnson..This past year has been a whirlwind for you. What are the moments that stand out?
Opening for Willie [Nelson], getting to sing gospel [music] with him onstage. I could have melted into the stage; it was truly amazing. Looking over and seeing Willie Nelson, and then he says your name onstage, it’s like, “This isn’t real.”
When you are not making music, what do you do for fun in your off time?
Hunting and golf.
Who is your favorite pro golfer?
Tiger Woods, for sure. That’s obvious, though. My second-favorite golfer would be [Jordan] Spieth. He went to [The University of] Texas.
Do you have a favorite podcast?
I love Theo Von. I listen to Theo Von all the time.
On the first day of recording her debut album, Jasmine Cruickshank found herself in one of the most famous recording studios in the world, squeezed into a tiny room and singing with three other people — two of whom were Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus.
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Cruickshank, the British singer-songwriter who performs as Jasmine.4.t, had just arrived in Los Angeles from her home in Manchester, and had met her band mate Phoenix Rousiamanis at Sound City Studios, the birthplace of albums like Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush and Nirvana’s Nevermind. “Phoebe was giving us a tour of the studio, because that was where Punisher was recorded,” Cruickshank tells Billboard. “She took me, Phoenix and Lucy in the Echo Chamber, which is this concrete room where they create natural reverbs and just has this really beautiful sound. And they were like, ‘Oh, let’s sing a song!’”
The quartet began harmonizing on “Kitchen,” the wounded, finger-picked folk song which would become the first track on the first Jasmine.4.t album. Cruickshank exhales thinking about the sing-along. “It was just this beautiful moment,” she says.
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It was one that would have been unimaginable for Cruickshank just a few years ago. A trans woman who came out in 2021, Cruickshank spent months without a home after her marriage fell apart, alienated from loved ones who did not accept her — but also embracing her new identity, finding uplift in Manchester’s queer community, and experiencing the joy of her first trans romance.
The highs and lows of that whirlwind experience are captured in brilliant detail on You Are the Morning, her debut album released on Friday (Jan. 17). Although Jasmine.4.t’s songs span different iterations of indie rock — guitars whoosh on “Skin On Skin” and are gently strummed on “Best Friend’s House,” while piano and strings are effectively dotted across the album — her soft, subtly powerful voice remains the album’s foundation, an uncompromising instrument sharing a one-of-a-kind story.
Not only is Jasmine.4.t the first U.K. signee on Bridgers’ label, Saddest Factory Records, but You Are the Morning was produced by Bridgers, Dacus and Julien Baker, the three members of the arena-level indie supergroup Boygenius. Their individual presences are felt throughout the album — Bridgers duets on the mid-tempo rocker “Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation,” for instance, and all three members sing backing vocals on the hushed ballad “Highfield” — in a way that will delight Boygenius completists. Plus, Jasmine.4.t and her all-trans backing band will be opening for Dacus on her North American headlining tour, which kicks off in April.
Yet You Are the Morning stands on its own as a breathtaking debut, which is why Jasmine.4.t is Billboard’s inaugural Rock/Alternative Rookie of the Month. Below, Cruickshank discusses her personal journey, her friendship with Dacus, creating art alongside the trans community, and more. [Editor’s note: this interview was been condensed for clarity.]
How did the label deal with Saddest Factory come together?
I knew Phoebe through Lucy, and I knew Lucy pre-transition. I used to play in this two-piece garage rock band, and we opened for Sunflower Bean, and the promoter didn’t pay us. We and Sunflower Bean were [arguing] with the promoter as a consequence, and the boss of the promotion company was like, “You’ll never play in this town again!” But then the local promoter was like, “Don’t worry about him. I’ll make sure you get some really nice shows off the back of this horrible experience.”
One of the shows that he got me was a solo show opening for Lucy Dacus, on her first album tour. And then we just got on so well — we had pizza next door before the show. Lucy was like, “I’d love to have you along for my next tour in Europe,” which was for the Historian album, which I f–king love. We really bonded on that tour, and then we kept in touch, and sent each other downloads, quite a lot.
I got really sick during lockdown, and I had a lot of time alone with my thoughts — insulated from the societal pressures and expectations of masculinity. And I was like, “You know what? I think I’m gonna transition.” And Lucy was actually one of the first people that I came out to, and Lucy was a lot more accepting than a lot of the other people in my life.
I ended up having to escape my marriage and Bristol, my hometown. I came to stay with some friends up in Manchester, and was sleeping on sofas and floors, and in people’s spare rooms for a while. That was when I wrote the songs that are on the album, and I was sending them back and forth with Lucy as well. And she was like, “Oh, I’d love to produce your music.”
I submitted a little demo playlist to Saddest Factory. A few months later, Lucy was like, “We just listened to your demos in the car, and Phoebe is now on the phone with her manager, talking about signing you.” And then I opened for Boygenius when they came to to the UK, which was wild, and then I think it was the next day that I signed.
How did all three members of Boygenius become so involved with creating the album?
I formed a band of trans women here in Manchester, and the label flew us out to L.A. to record at Sound City Studios. Lucy has already said that she wanted to produce, and when Phoebe signed me, she was like, “Actually, I want to produce the record.” Then Phoebe called me before we flew out and said, “Actually, I think Julien’s gonna be in town, so we’re thinking — we’re all gonna produce, together.”
I can’t even imagine what it was like to hear that.
I was like, “This is the best thing that’s ever gonna happen to me.” It was so cool working with them all in the studio. They all brought so much to the recording process, and seeing them work together, it’s so cool how ego-less they all are when interacting — it so easy to create with them, just a very chill environment.
They’ve obviously built this way of working together and creating their records, this routine, and part of that routine is Julien’s ’tone quest,’ where Julien would spend a good hour or two selecting guitars, selecting amplifiers, selecting pedals, different microphones. It’s something that I’d never put too much thought into myself before, but then just seeing Julien talk about guitar tones, it just gave me so much joy and warmth. Having Julien solos on a few of the songs — in particular, I f–king love the solos on “Skin on Skin” — they just really make the tracks.
Your songwriting contains so many details about the singular journey you’ve taken as a person. How healing of a process to put this album together, and finish songs that were written at a very different point in your life?
It’s insane thinking about where I was when I was writing these songs — I was really struggling, honestly. I thought I was already dead — I had this persistent delusion that I had died, and that I was living as some kind of ghost or zombie. “Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation” is about that experience.
And thinking about now, where I’ve found my people, I’m in my own home, I own this house, I have a whole new family. I’ve gone to L.A. and recorded an album with Lucy and Phoebe and Julien, and I have a band, and it’s all trans women. I never could have anticipated this, and it has been very healing. And I hope that it can bring some kind of hope for a brighter future for other trans women as well who’ve been through similar situations.
I think what I’ve been through is sadly a very common experience for a lot of trans women. So many trans people experience homelessness. I’ve experienced a lot of street violence, and that’s very common as well. Not to mention suicide, sadly. Right now in the U.K. and in the U.S., it’s a horrible time to come out as a trans woman — it’s not safe. And it’s kind of terrifying doing what I’m doing right now and being so visible. I get a lot of s–t on the streets and online, as all trans women do. But I think it’s worth it because I get so much love, and so many [positive] messages. Just today, someone was like, “I just listened to ‘Elephant’ for the first time, I transitioned like 10 years ago, and I don’t think that anyone has captured these feelings of loving someone as a trans person for the first time as accurately.”
I think we’re going through so much as a community. Every November, we have a day called Trans Day of Remembrance, where we list all of the trans people who have died by violence over the past year — and this year was more than any other year before. It’s such a tiny community, and we all feel so close to death, we all feel so close to these experiences, whether we’re lucky enough to have a stable life or not. It’s difficult for people who don’t experience that to grasp, and I think that we often feel so distanced from society at large as a consequence. We often meet friction when our needs aren’t met or we’re not understood, and even well-meaning people can play into systemic imbalances that we see when we’re so underrepresented in the music industry, or society at large. It means a lot for people to feel seen and understood, and I feel very lucky to be able to provide that through my music — and to be able to talk about these things on a more mainstream, visible platform.
You mentioned your band of all trans women, and you also worked with the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles on the final song, “Woman.” Considering this moment in history, what has it been like to be surrounded by other members of the trans community while performing?
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said “this moment in history,” because it did feel like we were making history. There were so many moments where we looked around in this iconic studio, that has meant so much to music history, are were all very aware of what those moments [meant]. On the last day in the Studio A live room, which is the biggest live room at Sound City — to be in there, recording in a room completely full of trans people, it just felt like such a magical moment.
I think we were all aware of the cultural and societal context that is the backdrop for this album, and how important it is to be spotlighting trans artists and raising each other up, and how terrifying it is to be visible. It was incredibly emotional. I remember there was a moment where Phoenix was conducting the chorus, and I looked around, and Lucy had tears in her eyes, just watching it all happen.
We definitely all felt that we were creating this piece of history, and I hope that it can be remembered that we filled that space with trans people. But even if it’s not, to us personally, it just meant so much.
Less than 12 months ago, Hudson Westbrook was attending school and making a living breaking cattle in his native Texas, with plans to join his family working in the oil and gas industry. Instead, he’s released a self-titled debut EP, has a slate of hit streaming songs to his credit — including “5 to 9” and “House Again” — and has swiftly added his name to a growing crop of new artists forging their music on traditional country sounds and timeless songwriting.
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“It’s been crazy,” Westbrook tells Billboard of his whirlwind year. “It’s gone way better than I expected, and I’d be happy if we had even half of the success we’ve had so far.”
Growing up in Stephenville, Westbrook’s life revolved around sports and farm life. He was part of a state championship-winning high school football team. He also worked with cattle and was involved with Future Farmers of America, serving as a chapter president for 75 schools.
He began playing guitar in 2020 and wrote his first song after enrolling at Texas Tech last year. In April Westbrook released his breakthrough song “Take It Slow,” which has earned over 10 million Spotify streams. Soon after he released his first video, Hudson says various music executives began reaching out, so he sought advice from a fellow Texan and musician, Grant Gilbert, who pointed him toward the Warner Music Nashville-distributed River House Artists.
“He was like, ‘These are the best people I can guide you towards,’ and then I talked to a booking agent and they said the same thing — ‘I trust them. I’ve seen it firsthand.’” Westbrook says.
Now with River House, and managed by River House’s director of creative/A&R Zebb Luster, Westbrook has followed with a steady slate of resonant songs over the past several months, including “Dopamine,” the romantic “5 to 9” (11.5 million Spotify streams since its August release) and the sobering “House Again” (over 14 million Spotify streams since its October release). In the process, he’s seen his Spotify followers swell to more than 2.6 million monthly listeners.
“When I started writing, I really was pushing myself to get outside of my comfort zone and find who I am as an artist,” Westbrook says. “When we released ‘5 to 9,’ I was like, ‘This is real; I think this can work.’ I feel like that’s a major reason why this is working right now, is because I’m writing about stuff that I’m experiencing firsthand.”
Westbrook’s “House Again” reached No. 14 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. In November came his seven-song, self-titled project, which reached No. 46 on Top Country Albums, while Westbrook rose to No. 25 on Emerging Artists. According to Luminate, Westbrook’s catalog has earned 79.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams.
Those streams have translated to burgeoning concert audiences, and Westbrook says he’s doing his best to connect with as many of his fans as possible.
“We did a free show at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth and a thousand people showed up,” he recalls. “The merch line was four hours long, and I sat there and signed all those. Then, we went to open for Midland [in September] and the merch line was still going by the middle of their set.”
Westbrook seems poised to continue his ascendant trajectory in 2025. January will see the launch of his own headlining tour, while he will also play several country festivals in the summer. He also has his sights set on releasing a full album.
Westbrook, Billboard’s Country Rookie of the Month for December, opened up about his career journey, songwriting, and his favorite music.
What is the story behind “House Again”?
We came up with the hook and I was like, “What if this was about my parents’ divorce?” and we wrote about just little things that I experienced as a child, watching as my parents got divorced. I used to live in the country with tons of land around our house, then I had to move to a golf course [community] with like point zero of an acre around it. It was a big change. I feel like it was expressing my frustration as a kid, watching that happen and not being able to control any of it or figure out why it’s not working.
You worked with several top songwriters on your EP, including Marv Green. What was it like writing songs for this project?
It was great. I was very nervous. You’re a new artist, your whole life just changed. These people have been doing this for years and have written number ones and you’re like, “Screw me. I’m going into this room and anything I say is going to sound dumb.” I feel like the day we wrote “House Again” was the first day that really opened up, like “This was my idea. This was my experience.” I realized I have to make sure I speak up about my experiences, and that I’m writing about something that I experienced because I relate to that best and I can write towards that best.
Who would you like to write or record with?
I think Randy Montana is my dream [co-writer], and Dean Dillon. I love all the older dudes that have created country into what it is today. And then I think for collabs, Megan Moroney would be really cool, and Parker McCollum or Ella Langley.
What is a song you wish you had written?
“Like a Cowboy” by Parker McCollum, written by Chris Stapleton and Al Anderson.
What is your desert island album?
Benson Boone’s Fireworks & Rollerblades.
What is your take on the current state of country music?
I think everything new is going to go back to old. I think people are leaning toward sounds like Merle Haggard and Tracy Lawrence. I think we’re seeing that firsthand with Zach Top. People are leaning towards those older sounds.
What television show are you watching right now?
I started watching Landman on Paramount Plus. It’s a movie about what I would be doing if I wasn’t doing music. I watch it and I’m like, “Dude, there’s still something there.” I still would love to do that one day. I’ve never watched Yellowstone, but Landman right now is my stuff.
What is a holiday memory that stands out to you?
I think a Christmas memory that stood out to me is [from] three Christmases ago, when my grandpa was about to pass away. He sat all of us down and told us that he was going to pass away, but he prayed and said that everything was going to be okay. He was like, “Don’t worry about me. Y’all keep doing Christmas at my house. Y’all are always welcome to do Christmas here.” It was really sad, but it was really cool to watch him be like, ‘Y’all are still welcome here.”
What does being from Texas mean to you?
I’m always going to stay loyal to Texas. I live in Lubbock. If you live in Nashville — and not hating on anyone that lives [in Nashville] — but it can become a very cycle-based lifestyle. Write at 10, write at 2, play shows on the weekend — I love music, but I find beauty in separating yourself from what you love, so that you love it more once you do it again.
Hailey Knox has lived many lives.
There’s the doe-eyed, guitar-toting singer-songwriter who, along with her sister Samantha in their duo The Knox Sisters, performed covers at intimate clubs and coffee shops in her native New York in 2012. There’s the solo act, who drew inspiration from Justin Bieber‘s YouTube take off and Ed Sheeran‘s one-man band performances, as Knox paved her own path with an acoustic guitar, loop pedal and soulful voice that makes up the essential core of her music even to this day.
Then there’s Hailey Knox the teenage internet sensation, who built a massive fanbase on the live-streaming app YouNow, where she performed more covers and original songs from her bedroom, that led to her first record label deal with S-Curve Records in 2015. The following year, she released her debut EP A Little Awkward, a short collection of poignant yet playful adolescent pop songs that felt like they were ripped right out of her diary. She made Awkward with renowned producers Michael Mangini (Joss Stone, David Byrne) and Peter Zizzo (Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez) – who discovered Knox years ago through her YouTube covers – as well as songwriter Imani Coppola.
Her viral acclaim continued paving the way for her first breakthrough: getting a co-sign from Meghan Trainor, opening for Charlie Puth’s We Don’t Talk Anymore Tour in 2016 and AJR’s What Everyone’s Thinking Tour in 2017, and scoring a nomination in the new social star award category at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards. She kept the momentum going with the release of her 2018 mixtape Hardwired, on which Knox showcased her confessional and cunning lyricism about romantic uncertainty and adjusting to life on the road as well as her boundary-pushing indie-soul sound through fully fleshed out tracks and late-night voice memos.
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But Knox truly can’t fit her genre inside any one box. She later dabbled with rap on braggadocious singles like “Butterfly Doors” and “Gucci Prada Balenciaga,” the latter of which interpolates Mike Jones’ 2004 debut single “Still Tippin’,” featuring Paul Wall and Slim Thug. The genre’s self-assured cadence stuck with her most as she continued experimenting with her sound, exploring various musical styles while learning production and new melodic flows through “trial and error,” she tells Billboard over Zoom from her Los Angeles home.
And now, there’s Hailey Knox the multidisciplinary star. SZA sang her praises earlier this year when she teased “Stranger,” a brooding ballad about wasting time with someone you wish you never knew, and “11th Hour,” an intoxicating earworm about a selfish ex wanting to salvage a relationship even though it’s too late. Those singles were eventually included on her 2024 EP For the Best, which she released in July via 10K Projects.
Across its eight tracks, Knox bares all about the intimate lifecycle of her own seven-year relationship through spellbinding vocals that tug at the heartstrings and polished, R&B-leaning production. “We were writing about stuff we go through, which was kind of therapeutic in a weird way,” she says. “Even though we did end up back together through the breaks and everything, I think it was for the best because there’s a lot of love there.” For the Best has garnered 33.5 million official on-demand U.S. song streams through Nov. 21, according to Luminate.
Billboard spoke with December’s R&B/Hip-Hop Rookie of the Month about why producing “opened more doors” for Knox’s genre experimentation, how Russ’ open verse challenge led to her first major collaboration and how she and her boyfriend opened up about their past relationship troubles while co-writing songs on her latest EP For the Best.
When did your fascination with the guitar begin?
My dad taught me [when] I was 7 years old. He would come home and jam, it was definitely a hobby for him. My first song I learned was “Blackbird” by The Beatles, it was very finger style. I grew up in a really musical household. I was in a duo with my sister for a few years. It’s something naturally I’ve always been drawn to.
Which guitar players did you look up to?
I grew up listening to Dave Matthews Band because my dad would listen to him a lot. And Ed Sheeran because he does a lot of percussive guitar stuff that I probably subconsciously picked up on.
When did your interest in making loops begin, and how did you start learning to create them?
The first loop I got was a one track, so I would do a lot of experimenting with that. I was 16 or 17. And the one that I’ve been using in my videos is this handheld Boss RC-500 my mom got me as a gift for Christmas. It sparked this whole different thing because online, people love to see the process and it’s a really good way to get my ideas out without thinking about it.
How often do the loops you create become the groundwork for songs you end up releasing?
It’s 50/50. For the most part, I do it for fun and just jam for hours. And sometimes it’s not even to make a song. But there’s been some instances like “Available For Me” [where] I did the loop not thinking anything of it, posting the video, and people really loved this guitar riff. So I was like, “Man, I gotta make this a song,” because it went crazy viral. It’s an interesting way to see what people resonate with.
When did you start producing?
During COVID, I really dove in. When I worked on my first EP, I had been around producers absorbing as much information as I could.
What kind of music did you grow up listening to, and how has that informed the music that you currently make?
So much different stuff, between what my parents listened to – Stevie Wonder, Dave Matthews Band – but then I also loved Miley Cyrus and Aly and AJ. My first concert was Hilary Duff. I loved those pop girlies and people that really went for it.
And who are you listening to now?
A little jazz, a little Yussef Dayes. Mk.gee. People that are all about the music.
Your music has evolved a lot over the years. A few years ago you were making acoustic ballads and indie pop songs. But now, you’ve dug deeper into R&B. How did you make that sonic transition?
Because I am a music lover, naturally I’m doing a lot of different things and seeing what excites me the most. Nobody has one phase of what they listen to, the same way I make music. I like to explore different pockets. I started out in a singer-songwriter space with guitar. When I started producing is when it opened more doors for me. I produced “Gucci Prada Balenciaga.” I got into a really big rap phase of loving Baby Keem. I love the way hip-hop makes you feel [and] hypes you up. When I produced “Charismatic,” that was a space for me to make a record where I can feel really confident in myself. I have a lot of different sides to me. One day, I feel like the more Hardwired Hailey, but other days, I’m like, “No, I f–k with Doja Cat so much. That could be sick to try something like this.” I don’t like to box myself in.
How did you eventually find your flow?
It was a lot of experimenting with my voice, playing with my tone and seeing what feels the most authentic and natural. I think “Butterfly Doors” hit a little too far one way, and “11th Hours” is where I felt most confident. I was like, “Oh, I like this space right here. It’s a little touch of R&B, but I’m still singing from a place that feels genuine to me.” [Sometimes] the perfectionism kicks in and I’m like, “I don’t want it to feel too perfect.” I want there to be that freeness.
When was the first time you remember going viral?
There were a lot of little moments in my career, but maybe the first was when I collaborated with my friend Juno and we did this video cover of “It’s Strange” [by Louis the Child, featuring K. Flay]. And then the Russ thing was a big moment because I had gone independent from my label. TikTok was hitting at that point, and I was like, “Let me explore this and see what I can do.” Open verses were really big, and I did an open verse to his song [“Remember”] and then he put me on the actual record. To see the power of the internet in that way, I was like, “Wow.” I flew out to his house, and we worked on the song. He was really sweet.
You were an internet sensation on YouNow in 2016. Almost a decade later, you’re experiencing viral success yet again but on TikTok. What are the similarities and differences between your experiences with both platforms, especially as it pertains to promoting and performing your own music?
When I was on YouNow, it was all about livestreaming. There was a bit of collaboration, too, because people go live together, the same way people do now. YouNow is more in real time, telling people, “Hey, I put a song out! Go listen.” Or you’d play the song on live. With TikTok, I’m always trying to find unique ways to promote the song because nowadays, our attention span is zero. [Laughs] I like to lead with the music, regardless of what platform, and show people something I made, whether it’s a breakdown of the beat or something I produced within the record. The passion of what I do comes through.
Last December, you posted a freestyle on Instagram about the “story of my life” that spoke on the challenges of being an artist in today’s music industry, from the faux affectionate moochers to the “algorithm A&Rs.” You sang, “I questioned my career, almost pivoted.” Did you have a Plan B if music didn’t work out?
I do not. Naturally, there’s self-doubt with any artistic thing you do. It’s a full-time job – there’s so much that goes into it day to day, like branding and sessions and being “on” at all times but also finding the vulnerability in opening up and trusting people to collaborate with. I don’t have a Plan B. This is what I’m doing.
The beat for that freestyle was from Drake’s “Stories About My Brother.” Why was that the right choice?
I loved that beat. Conductor [Williams] actually sent me some beats too, I love his stuff. It feels old-school but still modern. He’s really talented.
SZA commented “Ate” underneath the clip, and it’s not the first time she’s publicly supported you and your music. How did you react when you saw her comment, and what does her co-sign mean to you?
It’s kind of wild. I have a hard time really allowing things to sink in like that. I’m like, “SZA? Are you kidding me?” I love her so much.
What was the inspiration behind For the Best?
I was reflecting on my relationship, which I’ve been in for seven years, and I write with my boyfriend a lot. We were writing about stuff we go through, which was kind of therapeutic in a weird way. The majority of the project is [about] relationships and realizing even though we did end up back together through the breaks and everything, I think it was for the best because there’s a lot of love there.
Was it hard to revisit those rough moments with your man?
We’re in a good place, so to revisit these times and relive this stuff that I don’t want to relive, it puts this weird energy in the room like, “Wait, we’re back here?” We’re writing about these emotional times and difficult things we’ve gone through, and still being in a good place, but you’re living in that place, too. That was the hardest part.
[But] we communicate really well, and we find a way to write these unique almost rap bars through melody. We balance each other out in that way, and it’s cool ‘cause we both write and I find ways to put melody to some of his lyrics.
Did it feel cathartic for the both of you?
With “Innocence,” it’s talking a little bit about him being my first love and diving into that hook of “something’s gotta change” and feeling like there’s something that could be better in the relationship, but I don’t know how to let him know that. Those moments of “Do I communicate this, or is it going to ruin our relationship?” So, I guess.
I love the beat breakdown you did for “Don’t Matter” on TikTok. What was the most intricate song to produce on For The Best?
“Don’t Matter” actually was the hardest because it was a whole other song before, like all new verses, it was more guitar-based. And then I ended up reproducing the entire thing last minute because I felt like I’d outgrown this acoustic part of me, not completely, but in that sense of this song. I was like, “I need to reinvent this song somehow because I want to feel excited about it.”
On the contrary, what was the easiest and quickest song to produce?
The reinvention of “Stranger” came kind of quickly. The first record was more in this R&B, slow chill mood. And I was like, “Let me explore because I think it could be nice to bring the tempo up.”
Which song are you most excited to perform?
“11th Hour.” That one’s going to be just a vibe live.
I loved the promo song you made for your tour last month to the beat of 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop.” How did you come up with that idea, from the song itself to the video of you riding around in a blue toy car?
It’s funny, I guess it’s similar to “Candy Shop,” but I literally just made the beat and then people were like, “This sounds like ‘Candy Shop.’” And I was like, “Oh sh–, I guess it kind of does.” I was like, “Let’s find a fun way to promote this tour.” And that was the first thing we thought about. I had that blue car sitting here forever, it was for “Butterfly Doors.” I tried to do a video years ago with it and it was really bad, so we did not put it out. But I used it in the tour video.
What’s been the biggest “pinch me” moment of your career so far?
The moments with SZA and Justin Bieber [following me on Instagram] are really big because they’re people that I admire, and it gives me a little bit of the confidence I need some days where I’m like, “Oh sh–, people f—k with me.”
Manifest your next biggest career accomplishment.
I want to collaborate more with artists next year and put more stuff out without dissecting the sh—out of it [Laughs] and not overthinking my steps all the time. We’re in a world where you’ve got to stay on top of things, but I also don’t want to force anything, so finding that balance for myself.
Are there any artists you’d love to collaborate with in the future?
I love Yussef Dayes, he’s an incredible drummer. SZA, throwing it out there. Justin Bieber.
What’s next for Hailey Knox?
I am planning on releasing some songs top of next year that I’m finishing up now and am really excited about.
In just two months, MEOVV has leaped onto the K-pop scene by showcasing a promising range and bold artistry set to claw out a legacy all their own.
The five-member girl group is the first-ever launched by THEBLACKLABEL, the agency founded by legendary producer Teddy with over 25 years in crafting K-pop classics by the likes of BIGBANG, 2NE1, PSY and BLACKPINK, that now houses top talent like Rosé, Taeyang, Jeon Somi and more. The excitement around MEOVV’s debut translated into a record deal with Columbia Records, millions of views on the group’s intriguing, fashion-forward teaser visuals, and bold debut single “MEOW” roaring onto Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart at No. 10 in September.
Despite the ultra-polished visuals and Teddy’s guiding hand, MEOVV balances raw confidence and relatability as seen in their two new singles: the energetic anthem “BODY” and emotionally charged “TOXIC.” The songs establish the five-piece’s immense range of potential, effortlessly transitioning from a fierce, pump-up track to a throbbing, electro-pop midtempo with universal emotional resonance.
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MEOVV members Sooin, Gawon, Anna, Narin and Ella’s impressive multilingual abilities — able to communicate in English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish — are matched by an undeniable warmth and relatability. Speaking with Billboard from Seoul during an evening Zoom call, the members spoke mostly in English but flowed seamlessly between languages, exuding a genuine camaraderie that belied their relatively short time as a group. Even with just months under their belts as a team, the group spoke about the pride they had in their music (especially as “TOXIC” was co-written by Gawon and Narin) and hoping to be a place of comfort for fans (emphasizing how they want to be relatable and authentic).
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As MEOVV continue to prowl forward on their journey together, get to know the K-Pop Rookie of the Month for November 2024 as they share details about how they formed, advice from BLACKPINK, their inner cats and more.
MEOVV just debuted in September with two new singles in November. How have these past couple of weeks and months been for you?
GAWON: Wow. Super hectic, but very exciting.
ELLA: Where we came out with our debut only about a month ago, we got to see a lot about how we kind of are on stage in front of people so it was really a good learning period of time to see what we could do better, what we could maybe work on or keep doing. It was like a good time to learn and grow. And now we’re ready for our next release.
Can you tell us how MEOVV formed and what it was like when the five of you came together?
NARIN: We all come from different backgrounds and have lived very different lives. So when we first met at THEBLACKLABEL, we were like complete strangers. But I think we also had that strong connection to each other since we all love music — we have a strong, shared passion for music, shared vision, common interests and everything. I think it was very natural for us to connect to each other and really become a team.
GAWON: Yeah, I think that just brought us together. And then one day we just found ourselves recording “MEOW,” filming videos, preparing, and rehearsing. SOOIN unnie and I knew each other from a few years back and then we reunited at THEBLACKLABEL and it was like, “Oh my God, what the heck, you’re here!”
NARIN: And I think when we first started recording our first debut song, “MEOW,” we all have so different voices and it’s very unique, but when recording, it was all just like becoming one song.
GAWON: And I think we started to feel like, “Oh, this makes so much sense.” Like, when we were also in the studio, we just sonically made sense. At that time, we didn’t really like, know each other on a deeper, deeper level so I think through those kind of processes and preparing for our debut, we got to know each other and we bonded over that. I think it just felt right. Yeah, it felt right.
You are the first group from THEBLACKLABEL, millions of people have viewed just your trailer teasers, the “MEOW” music video earned over 30 million views. Did you feel pressure to live up to any expectations?
ELLA: I think there definitely was times of pressure, but I think it was mostly, like, excitement — we were excited to finally put out music now. But when there were moments of pressure, I think we channeled it well into working hard.
GAWON: Yeah and when there were moments of pressure, it was mostly just excitement. Like, “Yeah! We’re gonna debut! Yeah!” I think we were able to turn that into motivation and just fuel for the fire that we had while preparing to be out in the world.
MEOVV is the newest girl group produced by Teddy, a legendary producer. Were you Teddy fans or fans of any of the artists he worked with in the past?
SOOIN: We were all definitely fans.
GAWON: I came from the States, but I was still surrounded by his music growing up. It’s just everywhere.
NARIN: And his music is just so iconic.
GAWON: With the legacy that he created in music, we’re just so excited to be able to continue that as MEOVV. I love everyone and everyone he worked with — even 1TYM!
K-pop fans may have knew ELLA’s background and being close with the BLACKPINK members. How did you get to know them?
ELLA: It just came naturally because when I first came to THEBLACKLABEL, I met them when I was really young, just one time in the studio when they were working. Then while we were preparing for our debut, we got a lot of tips and advice from them so they’re really supportive. It’s kind of crazy thinking like, “Oh, I met them kind of doing what we’re doing now.”
GAWON: It really puts things into perspective. They’re so sweet and give such such great advice.
ELLA: They’ve been doing this for so long — it’s like, what better person to get advice from than them? They know it best.
In September, “MEOW” debuted at No. 10 on the World Digital Song Sales chart. Did you see the news?
NARIN: I definitely remember the moment when GAWON unnie found it out and then she told us — I think we were in the elevator, yeah —
GAWON: I was just scrolling and I was like, “Huh? What?”
ELLA: We didn’t believe her at first!
NARIN: We said, “What do you mean Billboard? What do you mean?” And then we all started cheering.
ALL: Yay, Billboard! [Cheering and laughing]
Let’s discuss the new singles “TOXIC” and “BODY.” What do these songs mean to MEOVV?
GAWON: Well these two new releases are very different from “MEOW.” The two songs are very contrasting to each other. But at the same time, they’re able to simultaneously compliment each other in a way where it just balances everything out.
NARIN: “TOXIC” is very emotional and very honest; it’s more vulnerable. We’re also more emotionally attached to this one because we wrote the lyrics. It’s been a minute since we wrote, but GAWON and I were in the studio and they just put on a random song, which was just the beat and maybe melodies for the chorus on “TOXIC.”
GAWON: Yeah, melodies for the chorus and a theme of “toxic.” This song is about being toxic and then, um, he [Teddy] left us in the studio. He was like, “Oh, I have to go do something. You guys do whatever you want with it. Have fun.” [Laughs]
NARIN: I love how the emotions that we had while writing lyrics are now for everyone to share with us.
GAWON: It shines in the music video too, it’s just a lot of shared emotions. It’s kind of like a full circle moment. We love “TOXIC.”
Would it be safe to say “TOXIC” is everyone’s favorite single over “BODY”?
NARIN: Oh, that’s very tricky because “BODY” feels like one of our members now — it’s like our friend. It’s always there in the practice room…
ELLA: It’s always there…
GAWON: …in the car. It’s this kind of energy that we just hold with us everywhere we go. Especially moments before stage, we’re like, “Let’s go, let’s go!”
How was shooting the music videos?
GAWON: Oh my god, it’s so special…both videos for each of the songs hold a very special place in our heart because It was very natural; it was very pure. Like us in our purest forms [for “TOXIC”].
ELLA: It wasn’t even like a music video shoot. It was just like, “Oh, it was like a hangout moment” and they were just capturing the moment. And then with “BODY” it’s just like, we just had so much fun; we just had so much fun having a party. We were bonding after that.
ANNA: There was a scene [in “TOXIC”] where we were just like running around the street, just playing like little girls, Everyone was watching us. Actually. It wasn’t like a set, It was just [outside] on the street and when the light green, It was like, “Let’s just go!” and then we started running, jumping, lying down. It was really nice.
ELLA: It wasn’t a [traditional music video] set, we were outside and when recording started, it was like, “Let’s just go!” and we started running, jumping, lying down.
What messages do you want to share with “TOXIC” and “BODY”?
NARIN: They’re both about our raw emotions and our authenticity.
GAWON: They’re very honest so I feel like people could look forward to that and we hope that a lot of people can resonate with both songs in these different aspects of being confident but also at the same time being able to be more vulnerable about your true emotions and your experiences.
ELLA: I hope that when people watch the music video, they’re entertained by watching us and our sort of vulnerability and emotion, but they are also like they also can kind of find that with themselves.
GAWON: Yeah, I hope they see themselves in us.
As a fun question about your concept, I’d love to know what kind of cat your members identify with one another.
ELLA: Starting with GAWON unnie, she’s such a big cat — like a leopard.
SOOIN: Or a cheetah! She has long legs too, she’s big and tall.
ELLA: And she likes cheetah print so it’s your vibe.
NARIN: And Anna Jang?
ELLA: She’s like a kitten!
NARIN: You’re like a little, white English Shorthair; that’s what you are!
ELLA: But it has to be a baby,
SOOIN: A small, shy baby, kitten.
ANNA: I agree with that. [Laughs]
NARIN: I feel like SOOIN needs blue eyes, because she loves blue, she’s obsessed with blue…
SOOIN: I love blue. [Shows blue accessories, notebook and blue phone case]
ELLA: So, a Siamese cat with blue eyes.
SOOIN: I like it.
ELLA: And for NARIN, I think you’re not a regular cat but from The Aristocats animation, what’s the one with the pink bow’s name? Marie from The Aristocats, yeah.
GAWON: She is so Marie.
NARIN: Thanks, I like that.
GAWON: You know what you are, ELLA? You are Puss in Boots — like a tabby cat.
NARIN: With the smirk.
ELLA: Yeah, I like the orange ones — that’s my personality too. I like it.
Thank you for the very satisfying answers across the board. To wrap up, looking at MEOVV overall, what are your goals and dreams as a group?
ELLA: I just hope that people will get inspired listening to our music and maybe discover more about themselves and their emotions.
GAWON: Being able to connect with more people through our music, I just want people to feel something when they see us. Whatever emotion that may be, just to share experiences and feelings together. In terms of goals, I think we just want to establish MEOVV further and just create our identity and while also keeping our own individuality.
What else should we look forward to, or do you want to share with fans now?
SOOIN: We have so many songs that we’re working on and we picked the best out of the best for this release. So, it’s just only a bit of what they’re about to show to the world. We hope that people are looking forward to us in the future!
ANNA: This time, our songs are really good so I want to show a better performance while preparing for it. In the future, I hope I can show it to the fans around the world soon.
GAWON: One last thing I would like to say is that we’ll just thank you for your continued support — all the fans and everyone who is tuning into our music.
