State Champ Radio Women in Music
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Rushing from elementary school with handwritten raps in her pocket, 10-year-old Alyssa Michelle Stephens would hop in her father’s “old-school cars with [24-inch] rims” and head straight to the recording studio — first in his friends’ homes, but soon enough, in professional spaces. “When we started paying for sessions, he’d say, ‘You ain’t gon’ be in here all day,’ ” the artist now known as Latto recalls. “ ‘You better have that song ready, top to bottom, one take, in and out!’ ” Even then, the Atlanta-raised aspiring MC — today a chart-topping, Grammy-nominated rapper with more than 1 billion on-demand streams in the United States, according to Luminate — was preparing for her destiny, winning high school writing competitions as a fifth grader.
Nurtured by her accountant mother and “hustler” father — both of whom she recalls living off ramen noodles during her early years — the self-proclaimed “daddy’s girl” stayed ahead of the curve, accompanying him to video shoots where rising acts like Dem Franchize Boyz and Ciara used his cars. “I just remember being so mesmerized by the whole process,” she says. “I loved the fast-paced hustle and bustle.” At 16, Latto competed on (and won) the first season of Lifetime’s hip-hop reality show, The Rap Game, under the moniker Miss Mulatto. Already, she had the foresight to recognize a bad career move when she saw one and, citing a less-than-adequate payout, turned down the show’s grand prize — a record deal with Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def Recordings — and remained independent until she signed to RCA Records in 2020, following the success of her breakthrough single, “B–ch From Da Souf.”
Christian Cowan dress and shoes, Sterling King jewelry.
Ssam Kim
Today, studio costs are no object to Latto, 24, who locks herself in the booth, pumping out 10 songs at a time about quarrels with her man or whatever inspires her on a given day. That tireless approach — Latto says she has hundreds of unreleased tracks stockpiled — has paid dividends, most notably with her massive 2021 hit, “Big Energy.” The song established Latto as a mainstream force — even if its mere existence was by no means a foregone conclusion.
“I heard my A&R and management whispering, debating on whether or not to play this beat for me,” Latto recalls. “It was just so different from everything else that I’ve done. They were hesitant on how I would react.” In the end, she loved the beat, despite not recognizing its biggest draw: a snippet of “Genius of Love,” the 1981 Tom Tom Club song famously sampled on Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy.”
“It ended up working in my favor,” she says. “I feel like that’s what kept it so ‘Latto.’ ” Still, the track’s eventual success surprised her. “I could feel the potential of the song and how commercial it was,” she continues, “but I definitely didn’t think it would be Grammy-nominated.”
Latto photographed on January 18, 2023 at The Paramour Estate in Los Angeles. Brandon Blackwood coat, Jessica Rich shoes, Versace eyewear courtesy of Tab Vintage, Sara Shala necklace.
Ssam Kim
For Latto, those wins paled in comparison to another “Big Energy” achievement: Carey herself called Latto’s management and chatted with the rapper for over an hour, leading to her appearance on the track’s March 2022 remix. “She was just embracing me and telling me she loves everything I’m doing,” Latto gushes. “It was a super out-of-body experience.”
Since “Big Energy” and Carey’s assist, Latto has positioned herself as rap’s biggest sweetheart. This year’s Powerhouse exudes warmth as she melts into her seat at Los Angeles’ Paramour Estate for her Billboard interview, flashing a bright white smile that contrasts with her painted-on, fire-engine red pantsuit. “You have to [ask yourself], ‘What am I going to sound like? What am I going to rap about? What will my beats sound like? Where’s my lane in the industry?’ ” she explains of her meticulously planned path. “Once you figure that out, you figure out the business side. Otherwise, you’re going to be high and dry when your 15 minutes are up.”
After breaking with “B–ch From Da Souf,” Latto diligently ensured her career would last. First, she changed her moniker from Mulatto to Latto, following controversy around the word’s connections to colorism. “New crib, new whip, new name/I’m still that b–ch,” she roared on her first single with RCA, “The Biggest,” adding on Instagram that the new name signified “a new chapter” and “good fortune, spiritually and financially.”
Her predictions came true, as “B–ch From Da Souf” became her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at No. 95) and both it and its follow-up, the Gucci Mane-featuring “Muwop,” went platinum. Her second album with RCA, 777, debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200, and within two years, she’d hit No. 3 on the Hot 100 with “Big Energy.”
ACT N°1 gown.
Ssam Kim
Since then, the rapper has received widespread support from women artists including Queen Latifah, Trina, City Girls, Cardi B, SZA, Remy Ma and Lizzo, who tapped Latto to support both North American legs of her Special arena tour. “I get a lot of love,” she says with an exuberant smile. “Real recognize real.”
And Latto intends to pay it forward, gushing over other newcomers like Flo Milli, Lola Brooke and GloRilla. “My No. 1 thing has been being a girl’s girl,” she explains. “I utilize my power in uplifting others on my way up. When you see Latto do a feature with an upcoming female rapper, I don’t charge them. The label got to cover the glam, but I don’t profit off that.”
Considering her youth, Latto has also displayed considerable foresight and grace thus far, which she attributes to the “get-it-out-the-mud” mentality she inherited from her teen parents. “[That’s why] I know what I want,” she adds.
Still, her cool under pressure has been tested. Last year, the rapper — like many her age, a fan of Nicki Minaj’s since childhood — became embroiled in a bitter Twitter battle with the rap legend, who had expressed frustration with the Recording Academy following its categorization of “Super Freaky Girl” as a pop song when considering it for the 2023 Grammys. “If [‘Super Freaky Girl’] has 2B moved out RAP then so does Big Energy!” Minaj wrote in a tweet that led to a blowout fight with Latto, who posted a recording of a phone call they’d had.
“It’s difficult navigating through situations like that because there’s a disconnect. I will look at myself as a fan of someone and they will view [me] in a whole different light,” Latto explains today. “It’s disappointing. You just got to take it to the chin and keep pushing.”
Brandon Blackwood coat, Jessica Rich shoes, Versace eyewear courtesy of Tab Vintage, Sara Shala necklace.
Ssam Kim
So when social media drama next reared its head — late last year, more than 100 of Latto’s unreleased songs were leaked without her knowledge, including tracks that would become massive hits for rappers Coi Leray and BIA — she responded with restraint, simply posting a trio of photos captioned “Trending.”
“I had to stop using my age as an excuse, because I [was] like, ‘I’m not nobody momma, I’m not nobody teacher. I’m not raising your kids.’ But unintentionally, you are,” she says now. “They look up to you. So I try to put my best foot forward.”
Now, she’s focused on a new “authentic” chapter in her career. “Because I started rapping so young, I’ve had a lot of other cooks in the kitchen,” she says. “So now I’m taking control back.” That means exploring new sounds, releasing her latest single, the pop-centric “Lottery,” while staying true to her hip-hop roots.
“The content I’m about to roll out is a whole fresh new leaf,” says Latto. “I genuinely love to see the new wave of female rap, and I’m honored to be a part of it.”
Christian Cowan dress, Sterling King jewelry.
Ssam Kim
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Lana Del Rey practices “automatic singing.” Using the improvisational songwriting technique, she lets her voice carry over accompaniments, not commandeering where her words or melodies take her, accepting all ideas she has in the moment and editing them later. Lately, her voice has led her home, back to memories of her childhood in Lake Placid, N.Y., and to ruminations on relationships with her family and the divergent paths they’ve taken.
That subject underpins her upcoming ninth album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (out March 24). Del Rey, 37, says she hesitantly began to unpack this subject matter with her previous album, Blue Banisters — but now, she’s ready to dig deeper. “At first I was so uncomfortable,” she says of the more personal material. “Then, by the grace of God, I just felt completely unburdened.”
Lia Clay Miller
As a singer-songwriter, this year’s Visionary honoree has embodied that word for over a decade. Her 2012 major-label debut, Born To Die, made her a star and defined music’s Tumblr era, as a young Del Rey toyed with both the romantic and the darker sides of the American dream. Her “world building,” as she calls it now, for her early work created a collage of beautiful and disparate images, pairing hip-hop aesthetics with references to the Kennedy family, Elvis Presley with John Wayne, and old Hollywood glamour with biker gang grit.
Since then, Del Rey has pushed musical boundaries — seamlessly peppering an album with features from Stevie Nicks to Playboi Carti (2017’s Lust for Life), reworking a Sublime cover into a contemporary Billboard Hot 100 hit (2019’s “Doin’ Time”), for instance — while achieving both critical acclaim and commercial success. She has earned six Grammy nominations and holds the record for most No. 1s on Billboard’s Alternative Albums chart. And somehow, each week, it seems a new song from her vast catalog gains traction on TikTok. (“West Coast” and “How To Disappear” are two recent breakouts.) Younger artists often cite her as an inspiration — including Billie Eilish, whom Del Rey now calls “my girl. It makes me feel comforted that music is going in such a good direction.”
Lia Clay Miller
Since 2019, you’ve released four albums. Is it fair to say you have more creative energy than ever?
I think it might look like that! It’s funny because I keep telling people, “I haven’t worked in three years,” but really I just haven’t done shows in three years. As soon as I start getting ready for a show, that’s when it feels like work.
How has your process changed since Born To Die came out?
Eleven years ago I wanted it to be so good. Now, I just sing exactly what I’m thinking. I’m thinking a little less big and bombastic. Maybe at some point I can have fun creating a world again, but right now, I would say there’s no world building. This music is about thought processing. It’s very, very wordy. I’m definitely living from the neck up.
Lia Clay Miller
Can you remember what it felt like creatively when you were just starting out?
I think back to the beginning, being in New York. I would just go to a little deli by Grand Central and all you had to do to sit at the table for hours was buy a black coffee. I remember thinking, “I’m doing it. I’m living it.” It was all very thrilling. I was so psyched back then.
You recently featured on Taylor Swift’s “Snow on the Beach.” What was collaborating with her like?
Well, first of all, I had no idea I was the only feature [on that song]. Had I known, I would have sung the entire second verse like she wanted. My job as a feature on a big artist’s album is to make sure I help add to the production of the song, so I was more focused on the production. She was very adamant that she wanted me to be on the album, and I really liked that song. I thought it was nice to be able to bridge that world, since Jack [Antonoff] and I work together and so do Jack and Taylor.
Who do you consider to be a visionary?
Joan Baez. I sang with her recently. She gave me a challenge: She said, “Go down a little road and look for a left turn and find my house [in Northern California]. If you find it and can play ‘Diamonds and Rust’s’ high harmony, I’ll come to Berkeley with you and sing.” So my sister and I rented a car and searched for the house. I was very nervous. I don’t play guitar that well, but I learned the first three chords and sat across from her, [and when] we stopped playing, she was like, “Great, I’ll see you at Berkeley.”
And another visionary to me is Cat Power. I had heard that she would run offstage when she wasn’t feeling it or just turn her back to the [audience] and keep playing. That’s when I knew I could probably do this.
Lia Clay Miller
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Lana Del Rey practices “automatic singing.” Using the improvisational songwriting technique, she lets her voice carry over accompaniments, not commandeering where her words or melodies take her, accepting all ideas she has in the moment and editing them later. Lately, her voice has led her home, back to memories of her childhood in Lake Placid, N.Y., and to ruminations on relationships with her family and the divergent paths they’ve taken.
That subject underpins her upcoming ninth album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (out March 24). Del Rey, 37, says she hesitantly began to unpack this subject matter with her previous album, Blue Banisters — but now, she’s ready to dig deeper. “At first I was so uncomfortable,” she says of the more personal material. “Then, by the grace of God, I just felt completely unburdened.”
As a singer-songwriter, this year’s Visionary honoree has embodied that word for over a decade. Her 2012 major-label debut, Born To Die, made her a star and defined music’s Tumblr era, as a young Del Rey toyed with both the romantic and the darker sides of the American dream. Her “world building,” as she calls it now, for her early work created a collage of beautiful and disparate images, pairing hip-hop aesthetics with references to the Kennedy family, Elvis Presley with John Wayne, and old Hollywood glamour with biker gang grit.
Since then, Del Rey has pushed musical boundaries — seamlessly peppering an album with features from Stevie Nicks to Playboi Carti (2017’s Lust for Life), reworking a Sublime cover into a contemporary Billboard Hot 100 hit (2019’s “Doin’ Time”), for instance — while achieving both critical acclaim and commercial success.
Read her full Billboard Women in Music profile here.
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Hair by Sheridan Ward at Walter Schupfer Management. Makeup by Etienne Ortega at The Only Agency. On-Site Production by Kayla Landrum.
Ivy Queen arrives in full color-coordinated regalia — a form-fitting, floor-length dress in lemon hues that match her long, yellow-tipped acrylic nails and the curly, beach blonde locks that reach her waist. Standing still and ramrod straight, her eyes surveying the room from under impossibly long lashes, she has the bearing of, well, a queen.
It’s a far cry from nearly 25 years ago, when Martha Ivelisse Pesante Rodríguez, then 25, walked into the San Juan, Puerto Rico, studios of The Noise, the all-male rap collective formed by the pioneering DJ Negro, who sized her up: a country bumpkin from the island’s west side, her tiny frame dwarfed by oversized jeans and a T-shirt, hair tied in “500 braids,” lips painted blue, nails like talons.
“What’s your name?” he asked. “Ivy Queen,” she replied, without hesitation. “I have a song called ‘Somos Raperos, Pero no Delincuentes’ [‘We Are Rappers, Not Delinquents’].” Overcome by shyness, she then flipped the mic around and rapped, facing the wall. But even with her back to him, DJ Negro was impressed. “Welcome to The Noise,” he said. “You know we don’t have girls here, right? You’re the first one.”
It was 1995, a time when the Puerto Rican airwaves were dominated by glamorous, big-voiced pop divas like Ednita Nazario and Yolandita Monge, and when reggaetón and rap were still underground movements dominated by men.
“When I started in this music industry, I didn’t look like I look right now,” says Ivy Queen, noting she was relentlessly criticized for her deep voice, her fashion choices and her staunch refusal to exploit her sexuality.
Read Ivy Queen’s full Billboard Women in Music profile here.
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave
Ivy Queen arrives in full color-coordinated regalia — a form-fitting, floor-length dress in lemon hues that match her long, yellow-tipped acrylic nails and the curly, beach blonde locks that reach her waist. Standing still and ramrod straight, her eyes surveying the room from under impossibly long lashes, she has the bearing of, well, a queen.
It’s a far cry from nearly 25 years ago, when Martha Ivelisse Pesante Rodríguez, then 25, walked into the San Juan, Puerto Rico, studios of The Noise, the all-male rap collective formed by the pioneering DJ Negro, who sized her up: a country bumpkin from the island’s west side, her tiny frame dwarfed by oversized jeans and a T-shirt, hair tied in “500 braids,” lips painted blue, nails like talons.
“What’s your name?” he asked. “Ivy Queen,” she replied, without hesitation. “I have a song called ‘Somos Raperos, Pero no Delincuentes’ [‘We Are Rappers, Not Delinquents’].” Overcome by shyness, she then flipped the mic around and rapped, facing the wall. But even with her back to him, DJ Negro was impressed. “Welcome to The Noise,” he said. “You know we don’t have girls here, right? You’re the first one.”
Ivy Queen photographed January 20, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
It was 1995, a time when the Puerto Rican airwaves were dominated by glamorous, big-voiced pop divas like Ednita Nazario and Yolandita Monge, and when reggaetón and rap were still underground movements dominated by men.
“When I started in this music industry, I didn’t look like I look right now,” says Ivy Queen, noting she was relentlessly criticized for her deep voice, her fashion choices and her staunch refusal to exploit her sexuality.
“Today it’s all about the look, but for me it was all about the music and about what I [could] bring,” she says. “How to be unique and not have a similarity to anyone else. I needed to learn how to fight with words.”
And sure, Ivy could rap, but writing was her secret weapon. “I used to go to a lot of freestyle competitions and study everything around me — the male behavior and how they went at each other with lyrics,” she remembers, “and that’s how I protected myself. I won my own spot. No one gave it to me. I’m notorious because I stomped on the guys.”
Ivy Queen photographed January 20, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
It took her nearly a decade, but in December 2003 she entered the Billboard charts for the first time with “Quiero Bailar,” then gained notoriety the following year as one of the 12 essential reggaetón artists, and the only woman, featured on Eddie Dee’s “Los Discípulos” (“The Disciples,” off his 12 Discípulos), where the likes of Vico C, Tego Calderón, Voltio and Daddy Yankee jockeyed for dominance.
Ivy Queen’s lines, written on the spot — “Quítate tu que llegó la caballota, la perra, la diva, la potra, la mami que tiene el tumbao” (“Get out of the way for the caballota, the b–ch, the diva, the mare, the mami with the swagger”) — and later her 2005 Latin Grammys performance of the song as the only woman among the men confirmed her entry into the top echelon of reggaetón.
“The first time I felt empowered in my life was when I learned and sang her verse from ‘Los Discípulos,’ ” says Elena Rose, who has co-written tracks for Rosalía, Bad Bunny and Becky G. “Ivy is the queen, and we have much to thank her for; for all the doors that were shut to her and she broke down for Latinas in urban music.”
In September 2005, “Quiero Bailar” peaked at No. 16 on the Tropical Airplay chart and debuted on Hot Latin Songs and Latin Airplay. Its chorus, describing how arousal and flirtation do not translate to consent, defined Ivy Queen’s ethos and personality, while also changing how women in reggaetón and beyond were perceived.
Ivy Queen photographed January 20, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
“In the history of reggaetón, we have to talk about a ‘before and after’ Ivy Queen,” says Puerto Rican attorney Edwin Prado, who has worked with virtually every major reggaetón artist, from Daddy Yankee to Anuel. “Before her, female artists sang poppy tunes focused on erotic dances and physical attributes. After Ivy, the musical conversation changed. Her songs spoke about the reality of the streets, and when she spoke about romance, it wasn’t about exploiting her looks.”
Back then, Ivy Queen didn’t have other women to collaborate with — and few men extended a helping hand. Still, she landed 11 solo entries on Billboard’s Latin Rhythm Albums chart, including eight top 10s and two No. 1s, over the next decade. On Latin Rhythm Airplay, she has 20 entries — the third-most among women, behind Natti Natasha (25) and Karol G (24), both next-gen stars who benefited from the doors she opened. And while she hasn’t cracked the top 10 since 2010, with her chart-topping smash “La Vida Es Así,” the queen, at 50, has endured. Most recently, she hosted Loud, a Spotify podcast on the history of reggaetón. On Feb. 23, she was honored at Univision’s Premios Lo Nuestro with the legacy award in urban music. And in addition to new music, this year’s Icon is working on a memoir, a makeup line and a film based on her life.
Ironically, many of the trademarks the press and even Ivy’s fellow artists once criticized her for — her multicolored braids, the long nails, the deep voice — are now de rigueur among younger urban female artists. But her messages of empowerment, she feels, often get lost.
“Many women think empowerment today is saying, ‘Give it to me here, give it to me there,’ ” she says ruefully. “That the more clothes you take off, the more controversial you are. Empowerment is more than that. You earn your own money; you earn your own spot. I try to maintain my essence, of what reggaetón was, and what reggaetón is. I don’t want to be a puppet.”
Ivy Queen photographed January 20, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
Staying true to those core values, adds her manager, Sonia Clavell — the rare female manager in reggaetón — has sometimes meant saying no to opportunities along the way.
“Ivy isn’t swayed by trends or money. Everything has to align with her values and her message,” says Clavell, who adds that she has seen a rise in interest in Ivy Queen since they began working together two years ago.
Notably, Bad Bunny, a fan and admirer, featured her on the remix of his hit “Yo Perreo Sola” (“I Dance Alone”), which he told Billboard that he wrote “as an homage to women and a nod of respect to women in general and to Ivy Queen specifically.”
“He has given me a space that not even the gentlemen I started my career with ever did,” says Ivy Queen, who made guest appearances multiple times on Bad Bunny’s World’s Hottest Tour last year. “To have this young kid, who sings what he wants, does what he wants, give me my place and my honors while I’m alive is huge for me.”
Ivy Queen photographed January 20, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
And while some of her reggaetón contemporaries have retired from music or announced plans to do so, Ivy Queen plans to continue getting her due.
“I’m a great writer, I’m a great rapper, I’m a great lyricist, I’m a great chef. I’m great at everything that I do,” she says, matter of factly. “Come on. We have to normalize loving ourselves and praising ourselves. I’ve never thought of retiring. I’m healthy, I’m rolling.”
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Doechii recently watched Avatar: The Way of Water, and it got her thinking about a key Na’vi tenet: “All energy is borrowed, and someday you have to give it back.” “That’s exactly how I feel,” she says. “From the women before me, I’m borrowing their energy so that one day I can give it back to the girl after me. That’s what I’m here to do.”
In just the past year, the 24-year-old rapper from Tampa, Fla. — who started releasing music in the 2010s before self-funding her debut EP in 2020 — has used that energy to impressive ends. In March, she became the first female rapper to sign with Top Dawg Entertainment, subsequently scoring a record deal with Capitol as well. Late-night TV and awards show performances followed, as did a string of standout singles, most notably “Persuasive,” which has 30 million official U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate. She also released her major-label debut EP, the five-track she / her / black b–ch, which peaked at No. 23 on the Heatseekers Albums chart and featured Rico Nasty and labelmate slash “big sister” SZA.
“Everything aligned,” says Doechii. And yet, despite her stellar 2022, this year’s Rising Star is planning an even bigger 2023 — which will include the first male feature on one of her songs, a Coachella performance and the release of her first full-length. “I’m in year three of my five-year plan,” she continues. “I’m constantly rising and I definitely haven’t arrived yet — at all. But I’m coming.”
What kind of pressure have you felt as the first female rapper signed to Top Dawg Entertainment?
A good pressure, because I know with me being the first, the next female rapper on TDE is going to look to me, look at the things I did and didn’t accomplish, and hopefully be better than me. That’s the point. I’m a leader of a new era of TDE, which feels really good. A lot of my fans reach out all the time about the impact that I’m making for them just being an alternative Black girl. Doing it on TDE like this is cool.
You mentioned borrowing energy and passing it on. Who did that for you?
They don’t even know they did it for me. It was artists like Trina, Nicki Minaj, Lauryn Hill, SZA — just powerful women being powerful women. Even watching Beyoncé be Beyoncé, she shows me that I have permission to be a boss. I can be a woman, and I can be a boss. Then Rihanna, she’ll be like, “I can be a savage.” Sometimes I’m sassy, sometimes I’m not. Watching all of them gives me permission to be more of myself.
Doechii photographed on May 17, 2022 at Seret Studios in Brooklyn.
Hao Zeng
Is there a favorite recent memory you shared with your labelmate SZA?
She’s like a big sister to me. When we were on tour [in 2021] she gave me a lot of advice on what to expect from the industry and how to carry myself. She has just always been supportive of who I am.
You mentioned your five-year plan — what will year five look like?
By year five I want to be at my peak. I want to be in my Sasha Fierce era, the top of my game with still a long way to go — but I want to reach my prime and never leave it.
You show so many sides of yourself in your music. What haven’t we seen yet?
Y’all are going to get it this year. It’s my pop era. Usually I’m alone [in the studio], but these days I’ve been inviting people in. Usually I like people to send me beats and I’ll just listen through, but recently I’ve been working with producers like J White in person, which is cool. So my vibe is kind of changing; it’s a lot of energy. It feels like a party.
Doechii photographed on May 17, 2022 at Seret Studios in Brooklyn.
Hao Zeng
Is this the year you’ll release a full project?
I will. I said that last year, though, and I didn’t. Like, for real for real, I have to this year. It’s not even funny, I have to. It’s time for me to debut this year. My fans will kill me if I don’t.
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
When asked if she remembers her first forays into producing, Rosalía giggles. “Oh, my God. I always felt that I wasn’t good enough, so I would treat it more like a game,” she says, before quickly adding, “Still, I wanted to learn how to make a beat because when the time came that I needed to do it, I would be able to do it.”
What started as a “game” inevitably became a way for the 30-year-old Spanish star to gain creative control — something she doesn’t take for granted considering the lack of women in the field. “There’s [still] skepticism about a woman being able to be an artist, singer, producer and songwriter at the same time. To me, these disciplines are not mutually exclusive.”
Like her previous albums (Los Ángeles and El Mal Querer), Rosalía’s Grammy-winning Motomami, released in 2022, thrives on the intersection of those skills. The sonically groundbreaking set — which finds her boldly fusing jazz and reggaetón (“Saoko”), as well as sampling Soulja Boy in an otherwise traditional bolero (“Delirio de Grandeza”) — is an honest expression of the creative freedom she felt as she drew inspiration from the sounds and artists that have shaped her. During the sessions, she would sit in the studio for 15 hours or more, searching for the right sounds, arrangements and structures for each song. “My homework as a producer is to follow my intuition,” she says firmly. “It’s to make decisions and take risks.”
Following in the footsteps of the artist-producers she read about when she was younger, like Björk and Missy Elliott, Billboard’s first-ever Women in Music Producer of the Year hopes to motivate a new generation of innovators.
What led you to first take on this role in the studio?
My first desire was to be onstage and share something. Then I realized that I wanted to decide what I was going to sing. I also wanted to decide what I was going to say and how it would sound. I didn’t just want to be an interpreter. I wanted to write, and then I wanted to produce. The desire to create became bigger than the desire to just interpret.
Is Motomami the freest you’ve ever felt as a producer?
One hundred percent yes. I was always thinking: “How can I be freer?” Fear, or whatever the opposite of freedom is, is the biggest enemy for a creative. There was an urge to find the reason why I’m doing this. “What is the world all about? What is life about?” All those things matter, and it’s why I make music.
What’s Rosalía the producer like in the studio?
I try to not have a specific idea of how a song must sound. Instead, I go in with concepts, or ilusiones, of how I would like it to sound. But never a rigid idea. That’s not organic, nor is it productive. Producing also requires humility because you’re constantly testing out ideas. I remember Pharrell [Williams] once told me that we’re just testing ideas from the universe because no one really owns an idea. I love that concept.
You’ve been very vocal about the lack of representation of women producers. Why is that important to you?
If you don’t see yourself represented in a role like this, how can you picture yourself working in that position? I became a songwriter and producer because I cared way too much. I did research when I was younger of women who were producing, and it was hard to find them, but they taught me that this was possible. Björk, Delia Derbyshire, Kate Bush — they’ve done this, and we don’t talk about it enough. I know I’m not the only one because there’s a new generation of women producing like Caroline Polachek, PinkPantheress — there are literally so many. It would be great if more people knew about them outside of the industry.
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
It’s 9:15 a.m. in Seoul, and most of the nine members of TWICE have just woken up. They’re barefaced, dressed casually and cozily in warm knits and sweatshirts; Chaeyoung still wears her parka hood, her blonde hair peeking out of the bottom. Nayeon, seated next to her, cleans her glasses with her shirt sleeve. Tzuyu, however, is alert and attentive. When I ask (through a translator) who’s the early riser of the group, everyone points to her.
This morning, the women of TWICE look more like students who’ve arrived at an early-morning class than the wildly popular K-pop girl group they are. But for their globe-spanning cohort of fans (known as ONCE), this is a familiar sight. The group’s long-running YouTube reality and vlog show, TWICE TV, along with other online vlog content, have gone behind the scenes with the act since its 2015 debut. Over the past seven-plus years, fans have followed along as Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu (who range in age from 23 to 27) have recorded music; toured across South Korea and Asia; attended award ceremonies; debuted their first-ever English-language single, “The Feels”; and, last year, played and sold out U.S. arenas, a still-rare feat for K-pop artists.
“That was our first time having a concert of that scale, so it was really shocking for us to see so many fans in the U.S.,” says Jihyo, recalling TWICE’s two nights in May 2022 at Los Angeles’ Banc of California Stadium.
Nayeon
Sunhye Shin
Jeongyeon
Sunhye Shin
“At that time in Korea, we couldn’t perform in the same way as in the U.S.,” adds Chaeyoung, referring to South Korea’s stringent COVID-19 restrictions. “So it was really refreshing to see the fans face to face in the U.S.”
Only a few of TWICE’s members speak English, but their fans’ raging devotion has long dispelled any questions about the group’s ability to successfully cross over. TWICE crafted a strong foundational identity early on with technicolor, rush-inducing pop exemplified by hits like 2018’s “What Is Love?” and 2019’s “Fancy.” More recently, it has expanded its sonic palette. Last year, “The Feels,” a groovy, disco-inflected song about a budding crush, became the group’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at No. 83). Its subsequent album, Formula of Love: O+T =
It’s 9:15 a.m. in Seoul, and most of the nine members of TWICE have just woken up. They’re barefaced, dressed casually and cozily in warm knits and sweatshirts; Chaeyoung still wears her parka hood, her blonde hair peeking out of the bottom. Nayeon, seated next to her, cleans her glasses with her shirt sleeve. Tzuyu, however, is alert and attentive. When I ask (through a translator) who’s the early riser of the group, everyone points to her.
This morning, the women of TWICE look more like students who’ve arrived at an early-morning class than the wildly popular K-pop girl group they are. But for their globe-spanning cohort of fans (known as ONCE), this is a familiar sight. The group’s long-running YouTube reality and vlog show, TWICE TV, along with other online vlog content, have gone behind the scenes with the act since its 2015 debut. Over the past seven-plus years, fans have followed along as Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu (who range in age from 23 to 27) have recorded music; toured across South Korea and Asia; attended award ceremonies; debuted their first-ever English-language single, “The Feels”; and, last year, played and sold out U.S. arenas, a still-rare feat for K-pop artists.
“That was our first time having a concert of that scale, so it was really shocking for us to see so many fans in the U.S.,” says Jihyo, recalling TWICE’s two nights in May 2022 at Los Angeles’ Banc of California Stadium.
Read TWICE’s full Billboard Women in Music interview here.
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Nayeon
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Jeongyeon
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Momo
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Sana
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Jihyo
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Mina
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Dahyun
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Chaeyoung
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Tzuyu
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Standing, from left: Tzuyu, Sana, Chaeyoung, Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo. Seated, from left: Momo, Dahyun and Mina. On-Site Production by Stacy Nam.
The September day that Becky G learned she had scored her first No. 1 as a solo artist on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart, with “Bailé Con Mi Ex,” she woke up her fiancé, the soccer star Sebastian Lletget, with tears in her eyes. “He was like, ‘Is everything OK? Why are you crying?’ ” she remembers. “A lot of people like to say I’m only successful because of my collaborations. To be able to prove myself as an artist and carry my own weight was important for me. To show the world that whichever way, collaborations or alone, I’m good.”
That solo feat is just one of many points of pride for the 25-year-old Mexican American artist and businesswoman, born Rebbeca Marie Gomez, these days. In 2022, she earned her first No. 1 on the Latin Pop Albums chart with the 14-track Esquemas, and another album — her first regional Mexican set — is due to arrive later this year. Come April, she’ll have “a huge opportunity to reintroduce myself to the world” when she plays Coachella under her own name for the first time.
Jean Paul Gaultier top, AKIRA jacket, Versace shorts, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, Moschino earrings, Grace Lee and Yvonne Léon rings.
Martha Galvan
All the while, Becky G has used her platform to help elevate the women around her. “This industry has really tried to condition women to see each other as competition. We’ve had to survive these very male-dominated spaces because of that ‘there’s only one seat at the table’ mentality. So we’re looking at each other like, ‘Who’s going to get it?’ [But] at my table, everyone is welcome,” she says firmly. “When I open the door, I’m going to leave it open and make sure everyone gets in.”
That impulse, she says, comes from her experience growing up in a tight-knit community in Inglewood, Calif., where her grandmother would cook for her grandchildren and, “If Doña Lolita from down the street came over, she would have enough [food] for her kids too,” says Becky G. “My entire being has been inspired by the houses I grew up in, the people that raised me. It really does take a village when it comes to our culture. Where one person eats, everyone can eat. I’ve really lived by ‘sharing is caring.’ ”
Monot dress, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, Eéera earrings, Vera Belleza ring.
Martha Galvan
And this year’s Impact honoree applies that kind of thinking not only within the music industry but beyond it, including as a co-chair of Michelle Obama’s voter registration nonprofit, When We All Vote. “I want to be a bridge-maker. I want to be a peacemaker,” Becky G says. “I want to be a real model, not a role model, because I know perfection is not real.”
How have you used your position to create change around you?
It’s not about what you identify as but who you are and how you treat other people and the change you want to make after you become the change. Someone told me the other day, “This contract looks like industry standard,” and I really challenged them. I said, “To be honest, that’s offensive because industry standard wasn’t made with people like me in mind.” It wasn’t made for young, brown women who are Latinas; who identify as a boss; who have ideas; who speak two languages. It’s about time that the industry starts to reflect that. And not just in how we’re represented but how we’re treated, how we’re paid, how we’re invited into those spaces. Changing those things is hard and I can’t do that alone, so I’m grateful I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with so many women.
Marine Serre top and pants, Al Zain necklaces, Rainbow K, Yvonne Leon and Grace Lee rings.
Martha Galvan
Which artist made you believe you could have an impact outside of music?
Selena. She was more than just a pretty face. She was a kind person, a good person, and that heart she had for people translated not just into her artistry but how she loved her fans. Being Tex-Mex, speaking Spanglish, someone who took over genres that were very male-dominated, she inspired other people.
How have you chosen which issues matter to you most?
It’s hard to think about being one person and saving the world, but when you think about being one person and making just a small impact in your community, it feels a lot more achievable. There are a lot of trailblazers coming into these spaces, and it’s important to create alliances.
Jean Paul Gaultier top, AKIRA jacket, Versace shorts, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, Moschino earrings, Grace Lee and Yvonne Léon rings.
Martha Galvan
What does receiving the Impact award mean to you?
There’s nothing more rewarding than knowing that you’re helping others and not expecting anything in return other than seeing people live in their truths, being inspired to be the change, live better lives because of whatever awareness I can bring. That, ultimately, is my version of success.
Miu Miu top, Area NY skirt, Wolford stockings, Marc Jacobs shoes, Grace Lee earrings.
Martha Galvan
This story originally appeared in the February 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
