sports
Page: 21
LA Galaxy has scored a major artist for its 2024 MLS Regular Season Home Opener. The soccer team announced on Monday (Feb. 20) that Alesso will be performing at the opening game against Inter Miami CF at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday (Feb. 25). “As a massive football enthusiast, I’m looking forward to being […]
Score! Harry Styles gave fans a proper look at his shorter ‘do when the pop star attended the Luton Town vs. Manchester United soccer game in Luton, England, on Sunday (Feb. 18). Photos of the “As It Was” singer — who was dapperly dressed in a blue V-neck sweater over a white button-up shirt and […]
02/16/2024
DJs for 16 NBA teams talk about the pressures and glories of selecting the soundtracks for each season.
02/16/2024
The National Basketball Association is home to a few hundred athletes who are the best in the world at what they do. But many of those players have talents beyond shooting hoops, too — and several of these pro ballers nurture a passion for music off the court. For some, the artform is simply a […]
In his two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, catcher Garrett Stubbs has played in just 87 of a possible 324 games — par for the course when you’re backing up J.T. Realmuto, commonly referred to by Phillies fans as the “BCIB” (Best Catcher in Baseball). But despite his limited time on the field, Stubbs has become one of the most beloved and recognizable Phils for his role as the team’s preeminent Clubhouse Guy — as well as their anointed post-game DJ.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
With the Phils’ locker room turning into Philadelphia’s hottest club over their five playoff series victories across 2022-23, Stubbs has also become one of the city’s most influential aux-cord wielders with his celebratory selections, collected in his publicly available “Phils Win” Spotify playlist (nearly 30,000 likes). The most famous of the bunch, Tiësto’s remix of Calum Scott’s cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own,” caught so much local heat after it became the Phils’ unlikely postseason anthem in 2022, which propelled the song back onto the Billboard charts, making the Digital Song Sales top 10 last October.
Below, Stubbs talks with Billboard about how he became The Guy for soundtracking the team’s champagne-soaked celebrations, as well as why his club loves a good dance remix, and whether they’ll ever be able to get away from “Dancing on My Own.”
Trending on Billboard
How did you become the sort of official team DJ/Spotify playlist curator here?
Somebody’s gotta do it, and I’d say because my role on the team as far as playing time goes is limited, I just became the guy who came into the locker room after the games to turn on the music. As guys started to like certain songs, I just started to accumulate the ones that everyone liked and put them into a playlist. And then slowly but surely, there ended up being 1, 2, 20, 50, 100 songs on the playlist.
Over the past couple years, who else on the team have been your supporting curators?
Schwarbs [Kyle Schwarber] is a big one. He’s certainly a guy that brings good vibes to the locker room. [Nick] Castellanos is another one. He’s got very eclectic taste in music — he’s a huge J. Cole fan and likes to play anything from rap all the way to ODESZA. And he is a big fan of those two — if you walk into the locker room and either one of those two is playing, he definitely got ahold of the sticks.
Do you need a sort of quorum of team approval to put a song on the playlist? Are there any times that you try to sneak one on that you like — or do you need to have, like, a couple co-signs before you put one on the official team playlist?
No, I put random songs on there all the time. [Laughs.] So I generally will just like a song and put it on there, and then it’ll play in the locker room at certain times of the day, or after the game, and when the song comes on, I’ll just around the locker room and see what vibe I’m getting from everybody. And if it’s good, it stays, and if it’s not good, it gets taken off quickly.
Do you remember any times you got a particularly bad response to a song you were excited about?
Not so much a bad response — I mean, sometimes guys get over songs. Like we have Waka Flocka [Flame] on there — Schwarbs is a big Waka Flocka fan, so he will put Waka Flocka on there. And at times, if we get too much Waka, it gets worn out quickly. But there are other songs on there that come and go as post-game music. But the top four songs are always [Shouse’s] “Love Tonight,” [Calum Scott’s cover of] “Dancing on My Own,” [Trey Lewis’] “D–ked Down in Dallas” and then [Alabama’s] “Dixieland Delight.”
But we make trades during the year, right? And we try to make guys feel comfortable as soon as they get over. And that’s how “Dixieland Delight” got on there. We got D-Rob [David Robertson] traded over from the Cubs, and he was an Alabama guy, so we quickly put on “Dixieland Delight.” And it ended up sticking in 2023! But it’s just a good way of getting guys connected — especially, like, Latin players who there’s a language barrier with. So we have Latin songs on there as well, for people to enjoy.
Brandon Marsh #16 and Bryson Stott #5 place a cup on the head of Garrett Stubbs #21 of the Philadelphia Phillies as Stubs gives a post game interview after a win in a game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on May 13, 2023 in Denver, Colorado.
Dustin Bradford/Getty Images
Do you add to it in the offseason?
No, I’ll listen to new music all the time. Unfortunately I feel like there hasn’t been a ton of great music coming out. I don’t know how you feel about that, but…
Well, you’re working for a very specific purpose — maybe people like the new Lana Del Rey album, but I’m sure that’s not gonna make it onto the post-game playlist.
No doubt. Yeah. I’ve been listening to — there’s a lot of good country music that comes out, but like you said, it’s not necessarily the vibe after a win to listen to friggin’ Chris Stapleton or like, a slow Morgan Wallen song or something. But we had big Dua Lipa love in 2022, starting with Kyle Gibson. And so the “Cold Heart” song got put on there. And that’s kind of the vibe we like to go with.
Do songs ever get nixed for being bad luck? Like if you hear a song before a big loss, or it’s the first song that gets played after a big loss, are you ever like, “All right, that song’s no longer part of the vibe, we gotta get it out of here?”
Well, so last year, we tried to get rid of “Dancing on My Own.” Which didn’t go very well at the beginning of the season. And so we ended up putting that back on. But we went through a number of different songs. I know that Juicy J was at one point getting played. I put on “Erryday” by Juicy J after wins. That quickly got axed. There was another J. Cole song that got played after wins — that was just a little too slow. And like, you’re looking around the league, there’s probably songs that get played that are in multiple locker rooms. So we try to keep it independent to ours. I’m sure at one point “All I Do Is Win” was just like the song that everyone played.
We try to stay away from the superstition part. Like, playing “Dancing on My Own” after wins isn’t a superstition for us — it’s just a good vibe. Everyone seems to be having a smile on their face. But also the connection that we got to have with the fans during that was pretty cool.
So I’m sure you’ve talked about it a million times by now, but when did you know that “Dancing on My Own” was connecting in that way?
Well, the funny thing is that all the music that got played in the locker room, not that it wasn’t supposed to get out of the locker room, but that was certainly not the intent at first. We basically were just playing certain songs, I started curating a playlist honestly just to make it easy to play the songs after the game — we could just click play on the playlist and then it would run through all the songs. At no point did I think the entire city was going to find my Spotify! And then realize that there was a “Phils Win” playlist. And then next thing I know, there was 1,000 people liking it, 5,000, 10,000, I think it’s up to like 20 or 25,000 now…
You’re almost up to 30 now.
OK, yeah. So that wasn’t the intent out the gate. But I think it’s a cool way for fans to kinda get a taste of what goes on in the locker room. I think fans enjoy seeing that side of our team. I think they also see that outside of the music, just how we interact with each other on the field. And we have a very unique, fun way of connecting with the people of Philly.
[embedded content]
That song specifically, though — when did you know that that was going to be the song that people most associated with you guys?
I don’t think we ever thought that people were going to associate themselves with it outside the locker room. I think we just kinda felt like it was a good vibe when we were listening to it inside the locker room. And then, very quickly, people found out that that was our song inside the locker room, and then they started connecting with it. That kind of just happened organically, which — I think that’s how the best things in life happen, right? You don’t really intend for them to be a certain way, but just over time, people just get drawn to a certain thing.
In general, just the vibe, the feeling that you get when you hear the song, is upbeat — Tiësto did a great job remixing it because obviously the original is a little slower. So I think the remix gives a good vibe, and all of a sudden you kinda get your head bobbin’, and it gives you good feelings inside, with the association of the winning part of it, along with just the sound that you get from listening to the song, is always positive.
I did notice, skimming the top of the playlist — and I’ve heard it in the locker room too — there’s a lot of dance remixes of non-dance songs. That seems to kind of be a sweet spot for you guys.
Yeah, I personally love bringing a little bit of house vibe to an old song. Seeing some of these new artists grabbing really great classics, and then remixing them with a little more modern house sounds that you weren’t necessarily able to make when they were making those songs, I really enjoy it.
So with 30,000 people following this playlist, do you ever hear it outside the locker room?
Well, after we would win we would go over to Xfinity Live, and immediately the DJ would start playing every single song from the playlist. We would celebrate in the locker room, and then afterwards we would go to Xfinity and celebrate again, and they would bring out those same songs. It was always fun watching the reaction of the fans to certain songs. My favorite song on the playlist [laughs] to have fun with is “D–ked Down in Dallas.”
I mean “Dancing on My Own” is obviously an incredible song, and associated with the whole city. But “D–ked Down in Dallas” is just such a fun song for all of us to have fun to, and whenever we’d go to Xfinity and watch everyone else sing along with it, it was hilarious to us.
Have you thought about what the next in line song would be if “Dancing on My Own” wasn’t working anymore?
I mean, we’ve thought about it plenty, right? We tried to get rid of it this last year. And I don’t even wanna use the words “get rid of,” but we tried to move on from it and find something new and fresh. And we ended up reverting back to it. I think the fans have certain feelings about bringing it back in 2024, which I totally understand — when you don’t win the World Series, a lot of fans feel like it’s not a success. And us players feel the same way, too. But there has been a lot of success — not just with the song, but with the team for the past few years — so we do have a lot of really good memories, and I hope that eventually we just do find a new song that gives us a good vibe and a new good energy that people can connect with.
Wrestling star Chris Jericho’s hard-rock band, Fozzy, has released eight albums since 2000, including three consecutive sets from 2012 to 2017 that charted on the Billboard 200. (2014’s Do You Wanna Start a War fared best, peaking at No. 54.) Fozzy, which most recently released Boombox in 2022, regularly tours the United States, making radio station visits and doing other local promo along the way. Jericho spoke by phone from his Tampa, Fla., home.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
How important for you and Fozzy is the recognition that comes with chart hits?
Trending on Billboard
We never realized how important rock radio is to a band’s success until we started getting played on rock radio, and that started with “Judas,” back in 2018. We’ve had six Top 10 hits since on the mainstream rock charts. It really makes a difference for the band’s growth — people coming to the shows, the notoriety of the band. We’ve become a radio artist now. Every song we’ve released gets played across the country.
Do you go through all the radio promotion exercises, visiting stations across the country, or do you avoid it?
No, no, no, I don’t avoid anything. Any type of promotion that I can do, I’ll do it. If you put something out, you want to make sure people know it’s out there. You visit a radio station, they’re going to play your song more… It really is a long-term chess game with a lot of strategy involved.
When a Fozzy song hits the charts, how do you celebrate?
It’s always cool. But this is a business. We’re not playing rock star in Fozzy. If we hit No. 1, I’d celebrate, because that’s the highest you can get. “Judas” got to No. 5 and they’re playing it in football and hockey and wrestling stadiums around the world — but how can we do this for the next song? We’re always looking forward. It’s not like, “Wow, we’ve made it because we’re on the radio.” You make it when you get to the Shinedown or Van Halen level, when you’ve had 20 No. 1 songs.
[embedded content]
How much does your recognition as a wrestler help streaming and sales?
We’ve had to work twice as hard to gain people’s respect over the years, just because I’m in the band. But that’s changed, now, where I think Fozzy stands on its own. People aren’t playing our songs on the radio because I’m a wrestler, they’re playing our songs on the radio because people like them and we’re good. Once we got past that initial hump years ago, people look forward to hearing the new Fozzy tunes — they know it’s going to be perfect for radio, it’s going to be catchy, it’s going to be melodic, it’s going to be heavy.
What are you working on now?
Our Boombox record took about three years to make. We were calling it Chinese Fozzocracy because of the pandemic. You didn’t want to put out a record without being able to support it. We put the record out and three songs went Top 10, three more songs went over great live and the other three songs went to the Fozzy Dead Song Graveyard. And that was a shame, because all those songs were great. Now the idea is to do one song at a time. That way, every song gets a chance to live or die on its own.
Former Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds star Bronson Arroyo’s punnily titled 2005 debut, Covering the Bases, included a cover of The Standells’ “Dirty Water” with Red Sox teammates and cracked the Billboard 200. Since his 2017 retirement, Arroyo has added songwriting to his arsenal, putting out 2023’s all-originals collection Some Might Say.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
How do you compare playing baseball and performing with your band onstage?
It’s kind of a strange thing. When you play at the highest level and you’re winning the World Series, or you win 15 games in a Major League season, you feel like you’re at the top of the mountain, doing your best work. I didn’t pick up a guitar until I was 27 years old. You never feel like you’re getting to the top. It’s this constant whittling of the wood, being in the basement, practicing over and over again. It doesn’t feel like something you were born to do. It feels like it’s something you’re constantly working to do to get better.
Trending on Billboard
In baseball, the metrics that show successes are as objective as they can be, but in music, even when you have chart data, it’s totally different, right?
Right. Absolutely. Nobody can deny if you win 15 games in a season or punch out 200. That’s a solid year. No one can take that from you. Music is an art and it’s totally subjective to the listener… If I was one of those kids who was 5 or 6 years old at the piano and I was born with this gift, as I was my athleticism, you might think about it differently. But it’s this constant grind, and I enjoy that.
How does your preparation differ between pitching and performing music?
Leading up to a show, it’s very similar. You get all those jitters. You watch guys in a baseball locker room going into a routine and you watch guys in the band run through their routines. That’s a very similar feeling to standing on the mound and listening to the National Anthem. Once you start pitching, all that stuff eases. It’s just a lot more intimate with the music. What the [baseball] crowd thinks of you in those moments isn’t quite that obvious and personal as when you’re looking people in the eye and thinking, “Are you singing this song along with me?”
[embedded content]
How much promotion do you do for your albums and shows?
Just a little bit. I’m not trying to make money off it. It’s always nice if extra money comes around, but that’s not the main thing. … I did a bunch of radio interviews and newspaper articles with writers from baseball and tried to infiltrate that world a little bit and do stuff that wouldn’t chew up too much of my time. I wasn’t trying to get on a plane and stop at every radio station in the country — which I would if I was 22 and in a van trying to push my music.
You’re on a golf trip now — are you doing music shows, or is this purely vacation?
No, not playing [live music] at all. I have a guitar with me, and these 10 songs we wrote, I’m trying to play them. There’s nowhere I go without having one — you know, those guys who go for a run four or miles every day, and if they don’t do it, it’s a problem. I’m just writing now. I’m going to try to put out 20 to 30 songs. I don’t even know what to do with them, to be honest with you. I’m just going to write a bunch of folk songs. Eventually, I’ll get them out.
Upon ending his 15-year career pitching for the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants, Zito followed in the musical footsteps of his parents, who both worked with Nat “King” Cole — his father as a conductor-arranger and his mother as a tour singer. Zito, whose country-folkish No Secrets EP hit No. 18 on Billboard‘s Heatseekers Albums charts in 2017, is now a producer-songwriter. The Cy Young Award winner and World Series champion spoke by phone from his Nashville studio.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
It’s legendarily difficult to make it on Music Row. How challenging has it been for you?
Trending on Billboard
The journey’s always a zigzag. My dream in music was always to be a writer-producer, even in my early baseball days, when I was able to hang out with some amazing producers in L.A. After I came to Nashville in 2015, [I] was a little more into the songwriting, which I view now as so necessary. Writing with a lot of great writers and published writers helped me so much in my role now as a producer.
When your album No Secrets charted in 2017, how did you celebrate?
It was a whirlwind, something we were doing to show more relevance here in the Nashville community, and maybe to some baseball fans who were going to continue to follow me on the music journey. It was honestly a surprise. My manager printed out a framed copy with a picture of the album. I have that in my studio now.
[embedded content]
During your baseball career, were you concentrating on writing songs?
No, I wrote chunks of songs. I wrote some complete songs. Like anyone who’s writing alone, you have a lot of ideas you don’t know how to finish. No one knows this: I actually had four songs I paid a friend of mine in L.A., who’s a great producer, to cut. It was when I was not pitching well at all for the Giants. [The producer] brought in some great [music] players, and it was all over the map — a bossa-nova song, a pop song, a country song. It was just me exploring. I wanted to release it — I even had the album artwork ready to go — but we realized it wasn’t such a good look getting paid $18 million [a year] to pitch and you’re sitting here trying to release music while you’re not doing your actual job.
What’s the best story your parents told you about working with Nat King Cole?
My father told me a story that blew my mind, which is the guy that wrote “Nature Boy.”
Eden Ahbez!
Eden Ahbez, dude! Come on! I’m sure some of the details were fuzzy. My father was Nat’s road conductor, so he was on the road a lot. They were at a venue somewhere and the tour manager, whoever it was, says, “There’s this guy, he wants to talk to you guys, he has a song to play.” They’re kind of curious, so they go out and there was a piano on stage. It was Eden Ahbez. At the time, I guess he was homeless, he had this song, and he said, “I’d love for you to cut it, Nat.” He gets on the piano and plays “Nature Boy” for them. It’s pretty mind-blowing to think that is how “Nature Boy” was born into this world, as far as the industry goes.
Who have you been producing in Nashville?
I have anywhere from two to three sessions a week. I’ll build the track through the day, we’ll get some vocals at the end of the day and I’ll have a nice demo, and then somebody wants to release something, they’ll come back, we’ll do a production deal, we’ll cut final vocals if we have to, add production. There’s an artist-development piece to it with the three artists I’m working with. Lexi Mackenzie, she’s like a country-pop girl, she’s incredible. It’s kind of a blank canvas.
How much do you miss baseball?
Ah, not at all, man. And I don’t mean any disrespect to it. But when I really sit down and watch a game or try to remember how it felt to be on the field — I have my World Series rings in the studio — I do start to miss it. My buddy sent me some TikTok of a pitcher for the A’s throwing 98 miles per hour in a bullpen, which is insane. I thought, “God, that must be so fun, to pump 98 with no adrenaline, just in a bullpen.” I have a complicated relationship with it. I tell myself I don’t miss it, but maybe I do. Maybe I’m trying to fill the gap by being so focused on music.
An elder statesman of NBA stars with rapping side hustles, Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal landed his first hit, “What’s Up Doc? (Can We Rock),” on MTV in 1993, and it peaked at No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. He has four other Hot 100 songs to his name and four Billboard 200 […]
The 73rd NBA All-Star Game is just around the corner, and beyond the big game, festivities stretch all weekend with some of the biggest stars attending and performing. Indianapolis, Ind., will host NBA All-Star event for the first time since 1985, with The Pacers’ home arena, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, marking the location for the NBA Rising Stars […]