Britney Spears Has a Lot of Life Story to Fit in One Book: What We’re Expecting From Her Memoir

Britney Spears has lived a lot of life in her 40 years, from her tween start on The Mickey Mouse Club to her blockbuster music career to the conservatorship that controlled her professional and personal affairs for more than 13 years.

But there’s a happy ending to this story, because the pop star broke free from that conservatorship in the fall, and now she’s allegedly going to tell her side of the story as part of a reported $15 million book deal.

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking about what to expect from her upcoming memoir. What will be included in the book? And could there possibly be a companion album in the mix – potentially her first new project since 2016’s Glory? Listen to our podcast discussion below.

Also on the show, Olivia Rodrigo will be named Billboard‘s Woman of the Year at Wednesday’s Billboard Women in Music Awards, and we’re talking about the “drivers license” singer’s insane trajectory from pop rookie in January 2021 to Woman of the Year just over a year later. Plus, we’ve got chart news about the continuing success of the Encanto soundtrack at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and how it’s one of the longest-running No. 1s of the past five years and one of the longest-running No. 1 soundtracks of the last 30 years. But could Encanto’s reign at No. 1 be coming to an end, thanks to Kodak Black’s new album Back for Everything? And, GAYLE’s “abcdefu” reaches No. 1 on the Pop Airplay chart for the first time — and the top three on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. Could the track be on course for No. 1?

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and senior director of Billboard charts Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

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Here Are the Lyrics to The Weeknd’s ‘Sacrifice’

The Weeknd kicked off 2022 with his long awaited Dawn FM album, which included the groovy “Sacrifice” on the track list.

The song peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent 6 total weeks on the chart. Dawn FM, meanwhile, bowed at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart dated Jan. 22, 2022.

If you need a guide to follow along with the words to The Weeknd’s “Sacrifice,” find the lyrics below:

I was born in a city
Where the winter nights don’t ever sleep
So this life’s always with me
The ice inside my veins will never bleed

My, ooh
My, ooh

Uh, every time you try to fix me
I know you’ll never find that missing piece
When you cry and say you miss me
I’ll lie and tell you that I’ll never leave

But I sacrificed (sacrificed)
Your love for more of the night (of the night)
I try to put up a fight (up a fight)
Can’t tie me down (down)

I don’t wanna sacrifice
For your love, I try
I don’t wanna sacrifice
But I love my time

My, ooh
My, ooh

I hold you through the toughest parts
When you feel like it’s the end
‘Cause life is still worth living
Yeah, this life is still worth living
I can break you down and pick you up
And f— like we are friends
But don’t be catching feelings
Don’t be out here catching feelings ’cause

I sacrificed (sacrificed)
Your love for more of the night (of the night)
I try to put up a fight (up a fight)
Can’t tie me down (down, down)

I don’t wanna sacrifice
For your love, I try
I don’t wanna sacrifice
But I love my time

I don’t wanna sacrifice
For your love, I try
I don’t wanna sacrifice
But I love my time (my, ooh)

Oh, baby
I hope you know that I, I tried
Oh, baby (baby)
I hope you know I love my time, oh

I don’t wanna sacrifice
I don’t wanna (woo), I try (hey)
I don’t wanna sacrifice
But I love my, my time

My, ooh
My, ooh

Lyrics licensed & provided by LyricFind

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Written by: Abel Tesfaye, Axel Christofer Hedfors, Carl William Eric Nordstroem, Kevin McCord, Max Martin, Oscar Thomas Holter, Sebastian Carmine Ingrosso, Steve Angello

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Here Are All the Artists Who Have Canceled Russian Shows (Updating)

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine in the early morning hours of Feb. 24 that has left hundreds dead and many injured, and in response, music artists are protesting the violence by canceling their upcoming concerts in the country.

After months of military buildup along the Ukrainian border, Putin announced that he was deploying a “special military operation” into Ukraine that has since turned into an unprovoked attack on the country. Putin is demanding that Ukraine demilitarizes, and is aiming to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, a defensive alliance of 30 countries including the United States.

See below for our ongoing list of artists who have canceled scheduled concerts in Russia.

Green Day

Green Day had been scheduled to perform on May 29 at Moscow’s Spartak Stadium, which has a capacity of more than 45,000.

“With heavy hearts, in light of current events we feel it is necessary to cancel our upcoming show in Moscow at Spartak Stadium,” the band explained via an Instagram Story. “We are aware that this moment is not about stadium rock shows, it’s much bigger than that. But we also know that rock and roll is forever and we feel confident there will be a time and a place for us to return in the future. Refunds available at the point of purchase. Stay safe.”

Louis Tomlinson

Tomlinson was scheduled to perform in Kyiv’s Stereo Plaza in Ukraine on July 4 before traveling to Moscow, Russia, to perform at Circus City Hall on July 6 as part of his 2022 World Tour, in support of his 2020 debut album Walls. 

“Due to the recent events in Ukraine, I have to sadly announce that my tour shows in Moscow and Kyiv are cancelled until further notice,” he wrote in a short note to his fans on Twitter. “The safety of my fans is my priority and my thoughts go out to the people of Ukraine and all those suffering from this needless war.”

Yungblud

“I’m heartbroken to announce I will be cancelling my Russian shows scheduled for this summer,” the “Strawberry Lipstick” rocker shared via Twitter on Monday (Feb. 28). “Heartbroken because I know the vicious and brutal acts of the Russian regime in Ukraine over the past week do not reflect the attitudes and ideals of the beautiful people who I have met in Russia in the past!”

Yungblud then added a message to the Ukrainian people, writing, “My heart is with you – you’ve already shown such strength and determination, resisting this needless invasion. Everyone deserves to be the creator of their own destiny, rather than having it forced upon them by acts of war and aggression. Ukraine, I promise I’ll come back as soon as I can!”

AJR

“We are sad to announce that we will be cancelling our upcoming show in Russia,” the group tweeted on Friday (Feb. 25) about their concert in Moscow, originally scheduled for October 22. “Thank you to our Russian fans who oppose their country’s unprovoked and criminal behavior. Our hearts are with the people of Ukraine. At this point, the best thing you can do is share ACCURATE info.”

Health

“Though we do not wish to penalize our fans for governmental decisions that are beyond their control, given the current state of affairs we will no longer be performing our previously scheduled shows in St. Petersburg and Moscow,” the rock band wrote in a statement shared to Instagram. “Our thoughts go our to the people of Ukraine.”

 

 

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Songwriters Protest Spotify in LA: ‘I Just Want to Be Able to Pay My Bills’

A group of songwriters led by the organization The 100 Percenters gathered outside of Spotify’s old West Hollywood office Monday afternoon (Feb. 28) to protest the streaming service’s low royalty rates. Dubbed “#WeWroteThat,” the collection of creatives began  congregating around noon while holding signs with phrases like “My time costs money,” “Would you work for free?,” “Spotify is valued at $67 billion — pay artists” and “1 cent per stream.”

Event organizer Tiffany Red — a professional songwriter and founder of The 100 Percenters who has credits on songs performed by Jennifer Hudson, Jason Derulo and more — says the protest at 9200 Sunset Blvd. (a building Spotify previously occupied before moving to its current headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles’ Arts District in 2018) was motivated by a myriad of grievances she has with streaming services and Spotify in particular, including the company’s fight against increasing the royalty rates songwriters and publishers are paid per stream.

Monday’s protest is part of a larger ongoing battle over the royalties paid by services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and Pandora.  In Oct. 2021, the National Music Publishers’ Association asked the Copyright Royalty Board, which determines the streaming royalty rates for periods of five years, for a 32.4% increase in the headline rate to 20% of a digital service’s revenue for the full five-year term for Phonorecords IV (a period covering 2023-2027). By contrast, Spotify, Pandora and Amazon proposed lower rates for songwriters and publishers in Phono IV than in any year since 2018.

Another major pain point for songwriters is that they’re still being compensated according to the rate set in Phono II (2013-2017) while awaiting a final ruling on an appeal — filed by Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora and YouTube — of the CRB’s rate hike for Phono III (2018-2022), which would have led to higher payouts.

Other protestors point to Joe Rogan‘s more than $200 million deal to host his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, on Spotify exclusively as an impetus for the protest. “They tell us they can’t pay us more and then they go and give a podcaster that much money?” says Bianca “Blush” Atterberry, an artist and songwriter who has written for artists including Demi Lovato, Meghan Trainor and Chris Brown and is also a member of The 100 Percenters board. “If we didn’t exist, making the music, neither would Spotify.”

Rogan’s recent scandals — including the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and his repeated use of the N-word on the podcast — have recently sparked criticism among several prominent musicians. Some, like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby and India.Arie, have left the platform in protest. Red says that Arie’s criticism of Spotify’s low royalty payouts specifically was a major factor in spearheading The 100 Percenter’s protest.

“When India.Arie started to speak out about how the artists and songwriters are paid, I realized that now the fight against Spotify is coming into everybody’s living rooms, and it’s important for us to get out there and show our face,” says Red.

When asked why The 100 Percenters chose the site of Spotify’s former office, Red replied, “Because we wanted to start where they started. Our next in-person event will be going to where they are now in Downtown.” She points to how the company upgraded from the significantly smaller West Hollywood location to their new sprawling Arts District campus as a sign of the company’s wealth. “They were able to make that move easily and comfortably,” she says.

Rogan and Spotify aside, the #WeWroteThat protest comes down to the fight for better pay for working creatives overall. “I just want to be able to pay my bills. I just want to afford basic expenses. We songwriters struggle every day,” says Kaydence, a songwriter and board member of The 100 Percenters. “I’ve written for some of the biggest artists in the world, like Ariana [Grande] and Beyonce, and it’s still hard.”

“We give our all to make music and then we watch as other people make millions and billions off it,” adds Caso, another professional songwriter who was at the protest. “People see the credits of the song and they think dollar signs, but the reality is different.”

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‘Encanto’ Soundtrack Has Most Weeks at No. 1 in Nearly a Year on Billboard 200

The Encanto soundtrack scores a seventh nonconsecutive week atop the Billboard 200 chart (dated March 5) – making it the album with the most weeks at No. 1 in nearly a year. The last album with more weeks at No. 1 was Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, which ruled for 10 straight weeks between the Jan. 23 and March 27, 2021-dated charts.

In the last five years, only two albums have spent more weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 than Encanto: Dangerous and Taylor Swift’s Folklore (eight weeks)

Encanto earned 90,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 24 (down 8%), according to MRC Data.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multimetric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by MRC Data. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new March 5, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 1. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Encanto’s 90,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 77,000 (down 7%, equaling 114.67 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 11,000 (down 9%), and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 15%).

Encanto is one of only five soundtracks to spend at least seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the last 30 years. Before Encanto, there was Frozen (13 weeks, 2014), Titanic (16, 1998), The Lion King (10, 1994-95) and the Whitney Houston-led The Bodyguard (20, 1992-93). (Before that, the last soundtrack with at least seven weeks at No. 1 was Dirty Dancing in 1987-88, with 18.) The soundtrack – and overall album – with the most weeks at No. 1 is West Side Story, with 54 weeks atop the list in 1962-63.

Gunna’s former No. 1 DS4Ever holds at No. 2 with just over 41,000 equivalent album units earned (down 10%).

Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 3, collecting 41,000 equivalent album units (down 3%).

Dangerous: The Double Album has now accumulated 58 nonconsecutive weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 – tying Taylor Swift’s Fearless for the most weeks in the top 10 among country albums. Fearless clocked 58 weeks in the region in 2008-10.

The Weeknd’s The Highlights bumps 5-4 with 33,000 units (down 1%), and Olivia Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Sour climbs 10-5 with 32,000 units (up 5%).

Yeat lands his first top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as 2 Alive bows at No. 6 with nearly 32,000 equivalent album units earned. SEA units comprise almost the entirety of that sum, equaling 44.81 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 20 songs. Album sales and TEA units comprise a negligible number of units.

Drake’s chart-topping Certified Lover Boy falls 4-7 with just under 32,000 equivalent album units earned (down 7%), Doja Cat’s Planet Her dips 6-8 with 28,000 units (down 8%), Eminem’s Curtain Call: The Hits slips 8-9 with 26,000 units (down 17%), and Adele’s former leader 30 falls 7-10 with 25,000 units (down 20%).

MRC Data, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes an exhaustive and thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. MRC Data reviews and authenticates data, removing any suspicious or unverifiable activity using established criteria before final chart calculations are made and published. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to the final calculation.

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Here Are the Lyrics to Dr. Dre’s ‘The Next Episode’ Featuring Snoop Dogg & Nate Dogg

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg launched the star-studded Super Bowl 2022 Halftime Show with a West Coast-themed performance of their 2000 hit “The Next Episode.”

The track peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart dated July 29, 2000, and it has spent 21 total weeks on the chart.

If you need a guide to follow along with Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode,” find the lyrics below:

La-da-da-da-dah
It’s the motherf—ing D-O-double-G (Snoop Dogg)
La-da-da-da-dah
You know I’m mobbing with the D-R-E
Yeah, yeah, yeah
You know who’s back up in this motherf—er
What? What? What? What?
So blaze the weed up then (blaze it up, blaze it up)
Blaze that sh– up, n—a, yeah, ‘sup, Snoop?

Top Dogg, bite ’em all, n—a, burn the sh– up
D-P-G-C, my n—a, turn that sh– up
C-P-T, L-B-C, yeah, we hooking back up
And when they bang this in the club, baby, you got to get up
Thug n—as, drug dealers, yeah, they giving it up
Lowlife, yo’ life, boy, we living it up
Taking chances while we dancing in the party for sure
Slipped my ho a forty-four when she got in the back door
Bi—es looking at me strange, but you know I don’t care
Step up in this motherf—er just a-swinging my hair
Bi—, quit talking, Crip walk if you down with the set
Take a bullet with some di– and take this dope on this jet
Out of town, put it down for the father of rap
And if yo’ a– get cracked, bi—, shut yo’ trap
Come back, get back, that’s the part of success
If you believe in the X, you’ll be relieving your stress

La-da-da-da-dah
It’s the motherf—ing D-R-E
Dr. Dre, motherf—er (what? What? What? What?)
La-da-da-da-dah

You know I’m mobbing with the D-O-double-G
Straight off the f—ing streets of C-P-T
King of the beats, you ride to ’em in your Fleet (Fleetwood)
Or Coupe DeVille rolling on dubs
How you feel? Whoopty whoop, n—a what?
Dre and Snoop chronic’d out in the ‘llac
With D.O.C. in the back, sipping on ‘gnac (yeah)
Clip in the strap, dipping through hoods (what hood?)
Compton, Long Beach, Inglewood
South Central out to the West Side, it’s California Love
This California bud got a n—a gang of pub
I’m on one, I might bail up in the Century Club
With my jeans on, and my team strong
Get my drink on and my smoke on
Then go home with something to poke on (‘sup bi—?)
Loc, it’s on for the two-triple-oh
Coming real, it’s the next episode

Hold up, hey
For my n—as who be thinking we soft, we don’t play
We gon’ rock it ’til the wheels fall off
Hold up, hey
For my n—as who be acting too bold, take a seat
Hope you ready for the next episode
Hey-ey-ey-ey
Smoke weed every day

Lyrics licensed & provided by LyricFind

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Written by: David Axelrod, Calvin Broadus, Barry Ridgeway Bailey, Melvin Bradford, Andre Romell Young

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