C. Tangana secures his first top 10 and first entry on any Billboard albums chart as El Madrileño debuts at No. 8 on Latin Pop Albums (dated March 13).

“I come from rap and have always liked avant-garde music mixed with street music, people who complicate their lives a bit doing urban music,” C. Tangana tells Billboard. “I had a feeling that what I was doing was not enough. I always have a feeling that when things go well I’m not pushing my artistic side enough.” 

El Madrileño starts with 1,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending March 4, according to MRC Data. The bulk of the set’s opening sum derives from streaming activity: 1.6 million on-demand streams generated by the songs on the album.

“I composed ‘Un Veneno’ with Niño de Elche, and from there began a quest to claim my most artistic side,” Tangana, who goes by the nickname “Pucho,” adds. “I didn’t really know when I was going to release this album at first. I thought it was going to take around two more years.”

El Madrileño was released Feb. 26 via Sony Music Latin. Tangana’s third studio album was written by him and co-produced with Alizzz. “I wanted to represent my artistry, a unique perspective that I could offer, so I dived into Spanish music,” Tangana continues. “I allowed my childhood influences to enter the studio. That, mixed with my trips throughout Latin America, is how I came across the songs for El Madrileño.”

The 14-track set journeys across different genres and includes collaborations with Latin titans Eliades Ochoa, Jose Feliciano, Andres Calamaro, Gipsy Kings, Jorge Drexler and Brazilian Toquinho. It also includes the flamenco coloring of the late Pepe Blanco, Niño de Elche, La Húngara, Kiko Veneno, up-and-coming artists Ed Maverick and Omar Apollo and the regional Mexican flavors of Carin León and Adriel Favela.

“There was a very special moment in Cuba when we met Eliades Ochoa; we played and composed with him,” Tangana remembers. “That space became a turning point in which I thought that perhaps everything I was exploring, more rooted music, could include these types of artists in an album that vindicates popular music to become a more collaborative effort.”

Tangana scored his first entry on a Billboard Latin chart a year ago as “Nada,” with Tainy and Lauren Jauregui, bowed at No. 23 on the Latin Digital Song Sales tally (dated March 7, 2020). His first entry on an albums chart arrives with El  Madrileño, which yielded one entry on the Global 200 chart and on the Global Excl. U.S. chart: “Tú Me Dejaste De Querer,” the album’s second single featuring Niño de Elche and La Húngara, debuted and peaked at No. 83 on the former and at No. 38 on the latter.

“The biggest challenge was the general vision, the final track list, because there are many collaborations that remained halfway done, many demos left,” Tangana continues. “What I really wanted to represent with El Madrileño was a kind of cover letter. It’s not that I’m a new artist, but it could practically be called that with what the rest of my repertoire looks like.”

About El Madrileño’s recording process, Tangana adds: “It’s been interesting because it was a different experience with each artist. With Jorge, for example, we got together to write. With Eliades, we got together to compose everything from scratch. I provided things from Spain, but he wanted to play with his people and the musicians from Buena Vista Social Club. We sent Toquinho bare vocals and asked him also to collaborate on guitar. There is also a kind of cover that is the remix version of ‘Un Veneno,’ with Feliciano.”

As El Madrileño launches at No. 8 on Latin Pop Albums, Tangana becomes the first Spaniard to debut in the list’s top 10 with an original album since Rosalía’s El Mal Querer (No. 1, November 2018). “I come from rapping, no more,” Tangana adds. “It’s a compliment and a recognition to reach that point in one’s career. I’m crazy happy, really. I am going to celebrate by opening a bottle of wine, baking fish and toasting to this entry.”

Alicia Keys and Amanda Gorman discussed the pressure to be perfect from a young age during Time’s “Voices of the Future” Women’s Summit on Monday (March 8) for International Women’s Day.

Between these two, their work has been honored at Music’s Biggest Night and at the Big Game. At just 20 years old, Keys released her debut studio album Songs in A Minor, which earned the singer her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Fallin’” and five Grammy Awards, including best new artist and song of the year. Gorman, who just turned 23 on Sunday, has already been honored as the National Youth Poet Laureate and recited her original poems during the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and Super Bowl LV earlier this year.

“First thing looking back, I did feel like I automatically had to be perfect. I felt like somehow I had to be this image or this perfection that people expected of me,” Keys told Gorman about experiencing success fairly early in her life. “And I carried that through a lot of my life, so if there’s one thing that I would definitely share, it’s your humanity and your individuality and the fact that you are imperfect. In fact, I’ve actually decided to remove the word ‘perfect’ from my vocabulary ’cause I think it’s detrimental…. And so being perfectly imperfect is the magic, and now I know that.”

The R&B veteran noted that as a poet who is “gifted with words,” Gorman should be able to “honor” how she truly feels in her work. And the former National Youth Poet Laureate felt like “perfection” also didn’t have a place in her vocabulary because of its corrosive impact on her creativity.

“It’s definitely something in terms of the perfectionism that I’ve been feeling, especially when you’re so young and as you mentioned female. There’s this double standard that you hold yourself to of being a pristine, kind of untouchable image when in fact, we’re all human,” Gorman responded. “And I think I’m still learning that perfectionism doesn’t serve me and it doesn’t serve my craft. In fact, it destroys my creativity and destroys my own personal mission. So learning to lean away from the expectation of perfection, which, like you said, shouldn’t even be in our vocabulary, but just leaning into authenticity.”

For her second piece of advice, Keys said her fear of asking questions while coming up in the music industry hindered her ability to build key relationships, which she hopes Gorman doesn’t miss out on.

“I would’ve wanted to be more comfortable asking for guidance. I felt like I had to suddenly know everything and be good at it. And I didn’t feel comfortable asking people like, ‘Whoa, what was your experience?’ or like, ‘Man, I’m feeling this. How do I deal with that?’ And so therefore, I think I missed out on some relationships that really could’ve helped me feel not so lonely when I feel so in outer space all by myself.”

Watch Keys and Gorman’s entire conversation below.

Of the eight Grammy nominees for best new artist, three — CHIKA, Kaytranada and Phoebe Bridgers — openly identify as LGBTQ.  (A fourth nominee, Doja Cat, has made mixed comments on the subject.)

Having three openly LGBTQ nominees for best new artist in one year constitutes a record. Six years ago, two best new artist nominees — Brandy Clark and Sam Smith — were openly LGBTQ. Smith, who identifies as non-binary, won.

Eight years ago, the nominees included Frank Ocean and Alabama Shakes, fronted by Brittany Howard, who came out not long after.

The experiences of Ocean and Smith are especially instructive. Both made their public announcements just as their first albums were being released, as if to establish, right from the outset of their careers, who they are.

Ocean published an open letter via Tumblr on Independence Day 2012, on the eve of the release of his first studio album, channel ORANGE, in which he recounted unrequited feelings he had for another young man when he was 19. In his blog post, he said, “I don’t know what happens now, and that’s alright. I don’t have any secrets I need kept anymore… I feel like a free man.”

Smith came out in May 2014, the month their debut album In the Lonely Hour was released. Nine months later, when Smith won four Grammys, the singer said from the stage, “I want to thank the man who this record is about, who I fell in love with last year. Thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys!”

Lil Nas X made his declaration when his breakthrough smash “Old Town Road” was in the midst of what would be a record-setting run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — timing that would have been unthinkable in an earlier era. He came out on June 30, 2019, the last day of Pride Month. Six months later, he was nominated for six Grammys, including album and record of the year and best new artist.

Lil Nas X’s best new artist nod was one of several times that a single LGBTQ artist was nominated in the category. Others include Bebe Rexha (2018; she has said that her sexuality is “fluid,” but has not defined her sexuality publicly), Courtney Barnett (2016; she has identified as queer) and Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1984), which included the openly gay Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford.

LGBTQ artists have doubtless been nominated for best new artist — and in all categories — throughout Grammy history, but it is only in relatively recent times that artists have been comfortable coming out at the onset or the height of their careers.

Elton John, who was one of the first major stars to come out, began the process by saying he was bisexual in a 1976 Rolling Stone interview; but that was six years after he was nominated for best new artist. Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, who comprise the folk rock duo Indigo Girls, came out in 1994, five years after they were nominated in the category. Sophie B. Hawkins disclosed that she identified as omnisexual in an interview in 2012, 20 years after she was nominated.

Luther Vandross, a 1981 best new artist nominee, never came out in his lifetime. After Vandross’ death in 2005, such close friends as Patti LaBelle have confirmed that he was gay.

Tracy Chapman, the 1988 winner for best new artist, has never publicly disclosed her sexual orientation, though writer Alice Walker has said that they were in a romantic relationship in the mid-1990s.

Boy George of Culture Club, the 1983 winners for best new artist, danced around the issue at the height of the group’s fame. He once famously dodged the question by saying he preferred a nice cup of tea. His stance reflected the prevailing view in the industry at that time: It’s OK to be gay, and maybe even to come across as gay, as long as you never explicitly confirm it. Allow just enough wiggle room for the audience to believe what it wants to believe.

Times have changed, as country star T.J. Osborne’s recent coming out, and this year’s strong showing by LGBTQ new artist nominees, clearly shows.

Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Sunday night was the closest we’ve come to appointment television in quite some time. Indeed, according to early ratings reports, more than 17 million viewers tuned in to the two-hour CBS sit-down — and among those millions of interested watchers were Hayley Kiyoko, Lauren Jauregui, Bette Midler, Jada Pinkett Smith and a host of other celebrities.

The Twitter conversation on Sunday night and beyond buzzed with appreciation for Winfrey’s interviewing skills (“Oprah. That’s it. That’s the tweet,” Kiyoko wrote), empathy for Markle’s discussion of mental health issues (“Questioning the authenticity of suicidal thoughts is both dangerous and damaging,” The Vamps’ James McVey tweeted), and jokes (“ya’ll be play’n way too much,” Pinkett Smith wrote in response to a follower suggesting she invite Queen Elizabeth to her Red Table Talk Facebook Live series).

Boy George, meanwhile, appeared to take the Palace’s side following the interview. “Sadly, Meghan wasn’t prepared to tell us who made these alleged comments about Archie’s skin colour?” he wrote about Meghan and Harry saying there was concern from an unnamed family member about how dark their first-born child’s skin color would be. “I believe she has a responsibility to tell us.” Jauregui took aim at British television personality Piers Morgan, telling him “just take it if you can dish it” when he complained that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s supporters were “trying to silence” his voice.

Below, see all the celebrity reaction to the bombshell interview, which should be available to stream here in the coming days.

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Silk Sonic, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s new act, was not on Sunday’s list of performers announced for the 2021 Grammy Awards — and now they seem to be petitioning to become a last-minute addition to the lineup.

“Dear Grammys,” Mars wrote in a note to the Recording Academy that he whipped up for Twitter Sunday evening (March 7), after .Paak implied their names should have been on the bill of performers. “If you can see it in your hearts to allow two out of work musicians to perform at your show, we would really appreciate it.”

“We just released a song and could really use the promotion right now. We have a lot riding on this record (and the Pelicans game next week, but that’s another story),” he quipped.

He promised that Silk Sonic would follow all safety protocols and even joked that they’d be willing to audition for the spot.

“We haven’t been able to perform for a while and we just want to sing. We’ll send in an audition tape and take as many covid tests as we need to. I promise we won’t be extra. We just really want a gig again. I hope you’ll consider this request and give us the opportunity to shine,” Mars asked nicely.

Of course, .Paak wasn’t quite so chill about it all. Earlier, he sent a whole lot of tweets Mars’ way about not seeing Silk Sonic — who just released their first single together, “Leave the Door Open” — named as performers for the March 14 show.

“YO @BrunoMars WHAT THE F—?!? Did you see this?!?! Call me back!!” he’d written, then suggested they start up a hashtag — #LetSilkSonicThrive — to get the word out that they’re ready and willing to play.

“Nah f— that!” .Paak said in another tweet. “I haven’t seen my family in months!! I need this to work, You promised me!! Everybody join in!!! I need all of Twitter to help make this trend!! Come on @RecordingAcad #LetSilkSonicThrive.”

See the letter and their Twitter exchange below. Check out the full list of performers who have been announced for the 2021 Grammy Awards here.