The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear arguments next month over the constitutionality of the federal law that could ban TikTok in the United States if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it.
The justices will hear arguments Jan. 10 about whether the law impermissibly restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment.
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The law, enacted in April, set a Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold or else face a ban in the United States. The popular social media platform has more than 170 million users in the U.S.
It’s unclear how quickly a decision might come. But the high court still could act after the arguments to keep the law from taking effect pending a final ruling, if at least five of the nine justices think it’s unconstitutional.
Lawyers for the company and China-based ByteDance had urged the justices to step in before Jan. 19. The high court also will hear arguments from content creators who rely on the platform for income and some TikTok users.
The timing of the arguments means that the outgoing Biden administration’s Justice Department will make the case in defense of the law that passed Congress with bipartisan support and was signed by Democratic President Joe Biden in April.
The incoming Republican administration might not have the same view of the law.
President-elect Donald Trump, who once supported a ban but then pledged during the campaign to “save TikTok,” has said his administration would take a look at the situation. Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Monday.
The companies have said that a shutdown lasting just a month would cause TikTok to lose about one-third of its daily users in the U.S. and significant advertising revenue.
The case pits free speech rights against the government’s stated aims of protecting national security, while raising novel issues about social media platforms.
A panel of federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the law on Dec. 6, then denied an emergency plea to delay the law’s implementation.
Without court action, the law would take effect Jan. 19 and expose app stores that offer TikTok and internet hosting services that support it to potential fines.
It would be up to the Justice Department to enforce the law, investigating possible violations and seeking sanctions. But lawyers for TikTok and ByteDance have argued that Trump’s Justice Department might pause enforcement or otherwise seek to mitigate the law’s most severe consequences. Trump takes office a day after the law is supposed to go into effect.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2024-12-18 19:54:352024-12-18 19:54:35Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments Over U.S. Law That Could Ban TikTok Next Year
In November, legendary German techno fest Time Warp touched down for its annual bash in Brooklyn, N.Y. Held at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the two-day event featured a techno league of legends, with Ricardo Villalobos, Sven Väth, Indira Paganotto, DJ Tennis playing b2b with Jimi Jules all gracing the stage.
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Among these many stars was American-born, Germany-based producer Afriqua, who played a two-hour set that took its time warming up, before getting wonderfully spatial and far out, then blooming into a full on groovefest. Russian titan Nina Kraviz played 90 minutes of her characteristically sharp-edged techno, while Dutch star Kevin de Vries played two hours of pummeling and undeniable melodic techno.
Hear all three of these sets exclusively below.
Time Warp USA 2024 was part of the German festival’s 30-year anniversary celebrations, with the party first making the jump to the U.S. in 2014, in partnership with New York City-based promoter Teksupport. Teksupport founder Rob Toma first encountered Time Warp in Germany back in 2010, and was immediately convinced he needed to bring the party and its music to the States.
“In America, it’s usually, like, nine EDM stages and a dubstep stage, [but] this had all great artists,” Toma told Billboard in 2023 of the U.S. electronic events market back in 2010. Determined to shift things, he got in touch with the festival’s owner, Steffen Charles, to see about bringing Time Warp across the Atlantic.
As Toma recalls, Charles’ response was icy: “I’ll never do New York. America is not ready.”
Toma eventually convinced him otherwise, and in 2014 Time Warp made it’s U.S. debut in Brooklyn. The show was a logistical nightmare. Toma lost his license for the Brooklyn Armory days before the festival, and had to relocate to another venue, The Shed. The event lost $400,000. Toma considered it a success.
“It was just kind of a dream,” he said in 2023. “I looked at it as, ‘This is not a loss, this is an investment.’”
A decade later, the investment has clearly paid off.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2024-12-18 19:36:362024-12-18 19:36:36Hear Exclusive Time Warp USA 2024 Sets From Kevin de Vries, Nina Kraviz & Afriqua
For the lastthree years at Billboard, our editorial staff has counted down its picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of the year, with full essays for everyone from No. 10 (Drake last year) to No. 1 (Taylor Swift last year), as well as bonus write-ups for our picks for Rookie and Comeback of the year, and even 10 close-but-not-quite honorable mentions. This December, we’re doing the same for our Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 — one of the most incredible years for pop stardom that any of us can remember living through.
We’ll be counting down our top 10 over the course of this week, with our top two being revealed the following Monday (Dec. 23). As we unveil all 10 of our picks via our individual essays — as well as our 10 runner-up honorable mentions, and our rookie and comeback artists of the year, all of which we revealed earlier this month — you can catch up on all of it here, as we update this list throughout the rollout with each of our newly announced pop star picks. (And if you missed any of our Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century rankings that we rolled out over the last few months, be sure to catch up on those as well — and listen to additional deep dives into each of the artists selected, and our process and reasoning behind their rankings, on our Greatest Pop Stars podcast here.)
And of course, we must once again remind everyone: unlike with our Year-End Charts, these Greatest Pop Stars rankings are not mathematically determined by stats like chart position, streams or sales numbers. Those all play a big part in our final calculations, of course — but so do things like music videos, live performances, overall virality and social media presence, and more intangible factors like cultural importance, industry influence and overall ubiquity. (And we measure this over the entire 2024 calendar, so if you were only heard from at the beginning or end of the year — or only had one big song or moment — that’s gonna matter in our evaluation of your 2024 pop stardom as well.)
Check out our honorable mentions, rookie and comeback of the year and updating top 10 below — we’re now up to No. 5 — and remember to check back on Dec. 23 for the announcement of our top two!
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
It’s true what they say: the best gifts come in small packages. While it’s exciting to open up holiday gifts underneath your Christmas tree, the fun doesn’t have to end there. Stocking stuffers are an easy way to bring even more delight to your loved ones by holding all of your tinier gifts in one convenient spot — rather than risk them getting lost underneath the tree branches or Christmas tree skirt.
While these mini gifts have traditionally been reserved for kids, there are a ton of great stocking stuffer ideas for adults too. Need some help getting inspired? We put together a list of the best music-inspired stocking stuffers, from celebrity beauty favorites to official (and unofficial) artist merch. Whether they love pop, country or rock and roll, these music stocking stuffers are sure to put a smile on their face. As a bonus, we’ve included some non-music stocking stuffers as well, in case your recipient prefers something a little more practical for everyday use.
Mariah Carey Official Christmas Satin Embroidered Stocking
First things first: you’ll need a proper stocking, and Mariah Carey’s new Christmas merch collection includes this festive satin stocking, embroidered with red candy canes and snowflakes. The singer’s signature MC logo adorns the fluffy (faux fur) top. This stocking measures 15.75 x 8.25 inches in size.
This mini JBL portable speaker will help making taking their tunes on the go practically a breeze. It’s not only Bluetooth compatible, but comes with a handy loop to attach to a bike, belt loop, backpack and more. Plus, it’s currently the lowest price it’s been in 30 days, according to Amazon. About the size of a deck of cards, it’ll easily slip into any festive stocking.
Friendship bracelets were all the rage this year thanks to Taylor Swift and her Eras Tour. Now, you can pick up a pack of Taylor-inspired bracelets as a stocking stuffer gift idea too. This set gets you 11 bracelets with words spelling out different Swift eras and songs.
Who needs a karaoke machine when they can have this tiny microphone that can plug into a smartphone and instantly become a portable karaoke mic for spontaneous singing or content creation. It’s great for vlogging too.
These well-reviewed earbuds are a great AirPods dupe, with an all-white design and sporty charging case. Get up to 30 hours of playtime on a single charge, with dual mics for crystal clear call quality. The Bluetooth 5.3 standard makes for fast and easy pairing. A bestseller for the holidays, Amazon says more than 10,000 shoppers have picked up these earbuds in the last month alone.
Most instruments aren’t exactly stocking stuffers but this mini kalimba is a palm-sized “piano” that you can actually play. The wooden body and stainless steel keys can be tapped by your fingers to create some mini melodies. It comes with a pendant to wrap securely around your hand while you play (you can also use this as a keychain or ornament).
Prevent earbuds from getting tangled with a handy and compact cord organizer that will keep wired headphones secure and safe. Plus, if your loved one is prone to losing their things, this can also be attached to a backpack, keys and more.
Music fans will love these vinyl record coasters, which depict album titles and songs inspired by some memorable classics. This set gets you 12 record player-style coasters. The coasters are made from plastic, with a grippy rubber base to prevent slipping. The coasters also come in a gift box.
Country music fans will love this cowboy boot match holder into their home for some cute decor. It is made from a clay-like material and will keep matches in one organized spot to make lighting their scented candles a total breeze. The bottom as comes with a spot to strike matches to make them light up.
Makeup lovers will appreciate this bestselling lip gloss from Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty. It comes in a variety of colors to customize to their liking and has a formula that will moisturize lips while leaving a kiss-worthy shine.
Walmart’s holiday candle features a punny quote and Santa on the label, with a festive fragrance of woodsmoke, leather and vanilla cookies. There’s even a gift card-style topper. The 6 oz. candle has a burn time of 40 hours. At just $4, it’s a cheap and cheerful stocking stuffer, and affordable enough to pick up for all your holiday dinners and parties too.
Ariana Grande’s beloved perfume is ideal for anyone who gives off chic vibes. It comes in a sweet and flirty scent, with notes of pear, vanilla, coconut, lavender and pralines. The 3.4 oz. bottle is also minimalist-approved and display-worthy.
BLINKs will be ecstatic to receive this Touchland power mist in collaboration with the K-pop group. The design uses BLACKPINK’s iconic black and pink shades and it has a blue sandalwood scent that’ll clean hands of germs without drying them out. Out of stock? See all of Touchland’s limited-edition collaborations and gift sets here.
This portable charger gets you 5000mAh of power, to easily charge up your phone, earbuds and more, say, at a concert or festival. The super compact design tucks easily into your purse or pockets, and we like that it comes in multiple colors. The lipstick-sized charger has enough juice to get your iPhone from 20% to 70% in half an hour, and it can charge your AirPods up to six times.
Rare Beauty’s liquid blush is the viral must-have that most beauty enthusiasts will be obsessed with. A little goes a long way and it comes in plenty of shades to personalize to your loved one. This is from Selena Gomez’s fan-loved beauty brand, so it makes for a great stocking stuffer for Selenators and beauty enthusiasts alike.
We love these guitar-shaped bottle openers, which make for easy and affordable stocking stuffers. Musicians will love the themed gift idea and it’s sure to be a staple on their bar carts and kitchen counters. This Amazon deal gets you a two-pack of bottle openers for under $10.
Ditch the matches and upgrade to an electric lighter that’s flameless and rechargable. Not only will it save money on buying lighters, but it has notable safety features like a lock on the bottom and switch you have to press in order to turn on. And it comes packaged in an easy-to-wrap gift box.
We’re rounding up some non-musical stocking stuffers too. If your friend values sleep over anything else, then a silk sleep mask is a must-have. Brooklinen’s Mulberry Silk Eyemask comes in a variety of patterns and shades including stripes and constellations as well as has an elastic band that’ll form to their unique head shape for added comfort. At $29, it’s cheaper than last year’s price.
If your family member always complains of being cold, an insulating beanie can help prevent heat from escaping without sacrificing style. Dickies version has a ribbed knit material that comes in basic shades like black, gray, brown and navy or you can make a statement in the red, orange, green and more bold shades.
Claw clips are an easy and affordable way to surprise the hair guru in your life. This six-pack comes in six different shades and open up to eight inches to hold thin to thick hair types.
For a thoughtful pick, this gorgeous birthstone ring will bring some glimmer to their hands while creating a keepsake they can treasure and pass down for generations. Plus, it’s less than $50!
Car lovers will squeal in excitement when they unwrap this handy car cleaning gel. It’s not only reusable, but replaces the need to buy car cleaning wipes as it’ll pick up dust, crumbs and more in those hard to reach spots.
Rather than splurge on packages of makeup remover wipes, these cotton pads are an eco-friendly essential that can be washed for longevity and require a simple swipe to get all that eye product off.
No matter where their travels take them, make sure they have a handy bag to keep all their beauty and skincare essentials in. For larger stockers, the Dopp Kit by Beis comes in eight shades and is made with a spill-proof material that can be wiped clean and reused for years to come.
Add some sparkle to their outfits with a pair of delicate nap earrings. The design comes in silver or gold and features a unique backing that’s flat, so you’re able to take a nap in them without the backing digging into your skin.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2024-12-18 19:19:222024-12-18 19:19:2225 Music-Themed Stocking Stuffers, From Mini Makeup to Matching Merch
Xavi adds a fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart as “Flores” rises 3-1 to lead the Dec. 21-dated list with the Greatest Gainer honors of the week. Notably, he’s landed all his No. 1 songs in 2024, dating to his first, “La Diabla,” in February.
“Flores” was released Oct. 11 on Interscope/ICLG as one 14 tracks on Next, Xavi’s debut studio album, which made a Nos. 9 and 6 entrance on the Top Latin Albums and Regional Mexican Albums charts, respectively.
“Flores” rises to the summit on Regional Mexican Airplay with a 29% gain in audience impressions to 7.2 million, earned during the Dec. 6-12 tracking week in the U.S., according to Luminate. It trades places with Grupo Frontera’s “Hecha Pa’ Mi,” after the latter’s 1-3 dip with 17% decline in impressions.
The new win makes Xavi the first soloist with the first four songs of his career to all hit No. 1 in a single year on the chart. It also places the Mexican American singer into a tie with Christian Nodal for the most No. 1s by a soloist in a single calendar year, since Regional Mexican Airplay launched in 1994, both with four champs in 2024 and 2021, respectively. Further, Xavi ties with six other acts for the third-most champs overall in a single year. Going back to when the 30-year-old chart launched, and Calibre 50 continues to lead the pack with the most rulers, with 26 career No. 1s.
Here’s a recap of the acts with the most No. 1s in a single calendar year on Regional Mexican Airplay:
6, Grupo Frontera (2023)
5, Grupo Frontera (2024)
4, Xavi (2024)
4, Grupo Firme (2022)
4, Christian Nodal (2021)
4, Calibre 50 (2020)
4, Banda MS de Sergio Lizárraga (2017)
4, Los Tigres del Norte (1997)
Elsewhere, “Flores” takes Xavi to an equal No. 3 high as his past two entries on the overall Latin Airplay chart: “Corazón de Piedra” (June) and “#OOTD (August).
For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard will be counting down our editorial staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 all this week — you can see the artists we’ve already counted down, plus our Honorable Mentions, Comeback of the Year and our Rookie of the Year artists all right here. Now, at No. 5, we remember the year in Charli XCX — who released a career-defining masterpiece and ruled the summer (and autumn) in pop culture entirely on her own terms.
“I’m famous but not quite.”
The “I Might Say Something Stupid” lyric captured the quintessential dilemma of Charli XCX’s career in the decade leading up to her 2024. After 2013 and 2014 brought the British pop purveyor a trio of ubiquitous hits, via her appearances on Icona Pop’s “I Love It” and Iggy Azealia’s “Fancy” and her own solo smash “Boom Clap,” it seemed like true superstardom was in the offing for her, and that shooting for anything less would’ve been selling her potential short.
But after some more commercially minded, purposefully accessible releases met with underwhelming returns and edgier, more forward-thinking sets cemented her as both a critics’ darling and an icon for the true popheads – all without producing any crossover hits the size of her 2013-14 trio – the question lingered over Charli XCX’s whole career: Was trying for stardom and celebrity actually the thing that was selling her potential short? Would she be better off continually scrapping to be the coolest kid on top 40’s fringes, or simply reigning as the unquestioned queen of the pop underground?
In 2024, she answered that question with a third option, one that few – perhaps her least of all – would have previously believed available: She became one of the biggest stars in the world by just being herself, but like, way moreso. Brat saw Charli XCX condense everything fans had come to love about her in the prior decade, regardless of release – the colossal pop hooks, the hair-flipping (and occasionally bird-flipping) attitude, the self-referential winking, the melted-bubblegum production, the almost uncomfortably intimate moments of vulnerability or sensuality – and turned the volume on all of it up to 365, while also inviting the entirety of her social and professional circles to join in the party. The result was a year that proved that Charli never actually had to choose between her populist and her futurist impulses; she just needed to indulge all of it at once on the biggest scale possible, and the rest of the globe would be powerless to resist the brightness of her supernova.
Easier said than done, of course, and Charli needed to spend the early parts of 2024 lighting the fuse for that kind of ignition. She DJ’ed a much-hyped Boiler Room set in February that signaled that her new project was going to be a reconnection with her club roots – following the self-consciously radio-oriented jams of her 2022 LP Crash, which failed to establish her as a leading pop hitmaker but did get her into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 (and No. 1 on her home country’s Official Charts) for the first time. The filmed open set also introduced fans to the cast of characters who would play big supporting roles both in her increasingly extended universe – including longtime producer and co-writer A. G. Cook, newer collaborator (and recently confirmed fiancé) George Daniel of The 1975, film star and fellow It GIrl Julia Fox, and TikTok phenom turned pop aspirant (and Charli muse) Addison Rae – all of whom were raving (and sometimes taking turns spinning) in the not-quite-booth with her.
Then, a slow trickle of singles and videos, starting with the zooming synths and strutting vocals of “Von Dutch.” The song was a chest-puffer and a s–t-talker from its opening seconds: “It’s OK to just admit that you’re jealous of me… It’s so obvious, I’m your number one.” It was a clear statement of intent – though the actual intent maybe wasn’t totally clear yet, the statement part was what was important, as the purposefulness of it as an era kickoff was unignorable. Second single “360” doubled down with a timeless bubbling synth-pop riff and insidious vocal hooks that saw her further positioning herself as the super-strength Charli the Dancefloor Slayer: “I’m everywhere, I’m so Julia,” “Legacy is undebated/ You gon’ jump if A. G. made it.” (That’s Fox and Cook in the lyrics there, respectively; you’d know if you’d been following along.)
Just as important a part of the pre-album rollout was Charli’s second takes on “Von Dutch” and “360.” The single redos each welcomed big-name guests – the previously mentioned Rae on “Von Dutch,” dismissing the haters who still end up adding to her view counts, and the cult-pop queen Robyn and cloud-rap paragon Yung Lean on “360,” both following Charli’s “I’m your favorite reference” lead with sung-spoken lyrics bigging up their own legacies (“Started so young, I didn’t even have email/ Now my lyrics on your booby”). Everything about the remixes, from their guests to their content to their matter-of-fact titling (e.g. “360 Featuring Robyn & Yung Lean”), clearly projected: Pay attention to what I’m doing here, because I’m going to be returning to it later.
First, though, it was time for the curtain to go up on Brat. Even before the album’s June release, Brat had already become a minor pop culture phenomenon, just by virtue of its title and artwork, unveiled in April. The simplicity of the album title, its value-ambiguity as a self-applied label, and (most importantly) its adaptability as both a noun and adjective all made it the year’s most naturally conversational LP title. Similarly, the set’s monochromatic, near-fluorescently-bright-green cover – blank, except for the centered, all-lowercase and slightly out-of-focus album title – proved divisive among fans, but quickly internet-iconic, and a magnetic jumping-off point for assorted memery. All the while, a frequently repainted wall in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood – ultimately known as the “Brat Wall” – would provide an informal weather forecast for Charli’s next moves on the pre-album campaign, electrifying social media on a semi-weekly basis with its new art developments.
If there were any remaining doubts that the music could live up to the memes with Brat, the album put them to bed on first listen. Much of the LP followed in the hyperkinetic, living-that-life mold of “Von Dutch” and “360,” with the latter opening the set and even getting bookended with twin closer “365,” an even-more-explicit anthem of party-girl decadence. But fans were less prepared for the emotional depths the set would plumb, with Charli exploring her own professional insecurities (“Sympathy Is a Knife,” “Rewind”), her major life decisions (“I Think About It All the Time”) and even her fraught relationship with close collaborator SOPHIE in the years before her death (“So I”), all with disorienting honesty and directness. These songs went for the heart and the gut, but without sacrificing the ass – aside from “So I,” the lone mid-album ballad breather, even the record’s most brutal cuts were still delivered in service of the dancefloor, making Brat endlessly re-bumpable.
Brat became consumed by pop culture so quickly following its release that it can be easy – though maybe not that easy, given how many year-end critics’ lists it ultimately topped, including the Billboard staff’s own – to lose track of what a tremendous artistic accomplishment it really was. It’s easy to make an album for the club, but it’s exceptionally difficult to make an album that feels like it itself is the club: the venue, the DJ, the dancefloor and the entire guest list. And while Brat obviously lets any number of Charli’s fabulous famous friends past the velvet rope for its 41 minutes of id-stroking self-celebration, it remembers that any true club night also includes the girl hiding in the back because she’s convinced herself she’s worn the totally wrong outfit, and the friends busy gossiping and scrolling Instagram while waiting in line for the bathroom, and the couple preoccupied with dreading the ride home, because they realize they can’t avoid that conversation they’ve been avoiding any longer. It all made for an impossibly rich and immersive LP experience, one that stayed challenging and unpredictable and still thoroughly, peerlessly exciting and satisfying throughout.
And as it turns out, it was just the beginning. Brat was an immediate success, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 – Charli’s first top-five showing on the chart – and vaulting “360” onto the Hot 100 for the first time, at a modest No. 73. Given those early returns, the rave reviews the album received and the continued internet embrace of all things Brat – with the phrase “Brat Summer” already picking up steam in the media as an official epoch designation – Charli very easily could have declared victory with her album cycle, switched her focus to touring and just let Pop Twitter take it from there. Instead, she did something that no one – not even Charli herself weeks earlier – could have seen coming.
In truth, it wasn’t like “Girl, So Confusing Feat. Lorde” came out of nowhere. The original “Girl,” a Brat highlight, was already widely speculated to be about the New Zealand singer-songwriter – with its racing-inner-monologue lyrics about an industry maybe-peer, maybe-rival – and even included a line addressing the possibility of a someday-collaboration (“The internet would go crazy”). But that didn’t make it any less jaw-dropping when, two weeks after Brat, the “Girl” remix dropped with a brand new verse from Lorde responding to Charli’s recounting of their frenemyship, inspired by a voice note the latter had left the former just hours before Brat was formally released (though it was already out in Lorde’s home country by that point).
Rather than muddying or overstuffing the original’s narrative, Lorde’s empathizing with Charli’s anxieties (and even addressing her own insecurities and body-image issues in the process) felt like it rounded out the song, like that was the way it was always meant to be heard. What could have amounted to a quick gossip-bait headline instead became a profound and mold-breaking statement about rising above the music industry’s inherent competitiveness and gender double-standards, in the name of simply celebrating greatness in a fellow traveler. Everything about the “Girl” redo was stunning, but no part more than the fact that it existed in the first place: a microscopically improbable connection of radical honesty and compassion between two pivotal longtime music-world fixtures, which felt like it broke the fourth wall of pop music (along with countless unspoken rules of pop star collaboration), and in doing so healed an entire generation of fans.
Needless to say, the internet did go crazy. “Girl” enraptured social media, who made quick meme work out of Lorde’s instantly catchphrase-spawning “Let’s work it out on the remix” declaration, and sent the song onto the Hot 100 for the first time the following week. Even Kyle MacLachlan, 65-year-old acting alum of Twin Peaks and Sex and the City, posted a video of himself in a Brat-green shirt singing (and acting) along to Lorde’s verse. And as Brat Summer kicked into high gear in July – with the album’s “Apple” taking off as a dance challenge on TikTok, about to push the song onto the Hot 100 to join “360” and “Girl” – another unlikely event was about to push Charli’s year in an entirely new direction.
On July 21, the world was stunned by the announcement that President Joe Biden, under pressure from the democratic party following a disconcerting debate performance, had officially decided not to pursue re-election that November. With Biden out of the race, the likely democratic frontrunner for the position was now vice president Kamala Harris, and Charli – a concerned onlooker if not herself a U.S. citizen – offered her support for the presumed candidate the best way she knew how: with the three-word tweet “kamala IS brat.” The message may not have been delivered with grand intentions, but the combination of excitement over Harris’ freshening up what had been a moribund campaign season and of continued Brat Summer delirium turned it into one of the week’s primary news talking points, as FOX News and CNBC anchors attempted to wrap their heads around the full implications of “Brat” as a descriptor.
Two months after Brat’s release, the album was still only gaining momentum – and it would get another injection at the top of August. Charli had begun hinting at a new remix, which fans quickly determined was to feature alt-pop superstar Billie Eilish, still hot off her own glowingly received Hit Me Hard and Soft album. Despite being easily the biggest artist Charli had yet recruited for a Brat second-spin, Eilish was tabbed not for one of the album’s streaming hits, but for “Guess,” a flirty bonus cut from the Brat and It’s the Same But There’s Three More Songs So It’s Not deluxe edition. The choice ended up making sense, as Eilish – who had recently begun to embrace a more forward and explicit queerness in her own music – was posited as the leering responder to Charli’s underwear-based teasing, taking the song to a new level of sapphic, conspiratorial fun. Helped by a music video which featured the pair scaling a mountain of discarded panties, “Guess Featuring Billie Eilish” became the biggest chart hit of Charli’s 2024, hitting No. 13 on the Hot 100.
As Brat Summer was coming to an end – at least by official calendar designation – Charli maintained her grip on the culture, scoring another Hot 100 hit alongside longtime collaborator Troye Sivan on a redo of “Talk Talk.” The timing of the song’s release was undoubtedly also in part to trumpet the beginning of the pair’s co-headlining Sweat Tour, which brought the Brat experience to arenas throughout the country. While pre-Brat, the tour was speculated to have been a low seller in many markets, by the time of the autumn trek, the dates were all sold out – with Charli quote-tweeting one of the early viral tweets about its initial underperformance in a post about the tour’s final show. That September, Charli was even deemed pop culture presence enough to be given her own fake SNL “Talk Talk Show,” with a perfectly accented and coiffed Bowen Yang playing Charli (and Sarah Sherman playing her DJ sidekick Sivan).
And there was still one major moment to go in the Brat cycle. October saw the much-anticipated release of the Brat and It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat companion album – which collected the five Brat redos Charli had already released, and added new versions of the album’s 11 previously unremixed tracks, each with at least one recognizable collaborator. Once again, rather than coasting on the buzz from the pre-existing remixes – or simply collecting as many big-name guests as she could – Charli scripted every remix to not only expand the meaning and resonance of her own set, but also add new shading to our pre-existing perceptions of the guests involved. “B2b” invited fellow should-be-bigger pop vet Tinashe (in the midst of her own 2024 comeback moment) to flex about the work it takes to still be so fabulous, “I Might Say Something Stupid” gave a post-Taylor Swift Matty Healy free reign to ruminate on cancellation (and/or erectile dysfunction?) for four minutes, and “Sympathy Is a Knife” lent Ariana Grande a platform to voice her frustrations about the ownership fans and the media try to claim over her. The entire set was so thick with drama and character development that it felt less like a remix album and more like a Bratverse theatrical production.
It was all incredibly powerful stuff, not the least of all because Charli never let novelty overshadow emotional impact on the set. While the biggest names on Completely Different understandably made for the biggest headlines, the most rewarding cuts were the most unexpected – like Caroline Polacheck moaning about the “f–king foxes” and sharing a moment of late-night panic with Charli on the new “Everything Is Romantic,” or mutual collaborator A. G. Cook helping Charli turn the mournful original “So I” into an uptempo tribute to “all the good times” with SOPHIE, with the vivid details of their many shared experiences popping like fireworks of bittersweet nostalgia. Unlike 99% of pop and dance remix albums throughout history – which are more often than not both delivered and received as near-afterthoughts – Completely Different stood up in every way to the original, not only complementing Brat but enriching it, making it feel deeper and more vital by extension.
Charli ended the year by essentially sweeping list season, and scoring seven Grammy nominations for 2025 – including album of the year for Brat and record of the year for “360” – while also pulling double-duty as both host and performer on SNL in November. All of it confirmed that after a decade of tenuous flirtation with the American mainstream, she was now officially at the very center of both the music industry and of general pop culture in this country. She did not reach the commercial heights of other artists on this list in 2024: Brat never bettered its No. 3 debut on the Billboard 200, and no song from any of its incarnations ever touched the Hot 100’s top 10 — none from the original album ever even reached the top 40. But in terms of sheer cultural ubiquity, impact and reach, Charli could rival absolutely anyone; even former President Obama was bumpin’ that this summer.
And perhaps more importantly, Charli taught the entire pop world an extremely valuable lesson this year: It is indeed possible to achieve all of your loftiest ambitions as an artist without compromising a single thing about what really makes your artistry so singular. It takes a f–king whole lot of work and intention and focus and ingenuity – and maybe it also takes a solid decade of tinkering with your own sound and image and collaborators first until you finally get everything to align. But if you have the patience, and if you have the vision – and most critically, if you have the drive to not let any possible opportunities to be great pass you by — then you really can get the pop world to come meet you where you are. And then, like the Brat Wall, you will always be famous.
Check back tomorrow for our Nos. 4 and 3 Greatest Pop Stars — and then come back for the announcement of our top two Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 on Monday, Dec. 23!
Earlier this week, Billboard revealed its year-end Boxscore charts, ranking the top tours, venues, and promoters of 2024. We’re breaking it down further, looking at the biggest live acts, genre by genre. Today, we continue with comedy.
The comedians on 2024’s list of biggest earners have been at this for a while. With one exception, they’ve been playing clubs, theaters and arenas for at least two decades. That experience has served them well, adding up to record grosses and eye-popping show counts.
The top 10 comedy acts of 2024 grossed a combined $396.7 million, up 52% from last year and setting a new high for the genre. The No. 10 comedian is in the same spot as he was last year, but with nearly double the gross. His $26 million take in 2024 would’ve landed him at No. 4 in 2023.
Further, every ranking comedian in the top 10 outearned last year’s counterpart, topped by an $80 million gross at No. 1. That act – keep reading to find out who – sets a new record for the biggest one-year gross by a comedy performer in Boxscore history.
One major advantage for comedy acts on the road is mobility. Typically just one performer with relatively small production and low stress on vocal cords, they can perform for four, five, or six nights in a row, compared to most bands’ two-to-three night stretches. And with lower ticket prices and brief shows, sometimes they manage multiple performances in a single night. Collectively, the top 10 acts performed 944 shows during the year-end tracking period, which is 83% more than the next closest genre (Latin) and more than double any other genre’s upper tier.
Keep reading to check out the 10 highest-grossing tours by comedy performers, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. All reported shows worldwide between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024, are eligible.
Latto, Ludacris and DJ Khaled share advice with new and upcoming rappers on how to succeed with longevity, their thoughts on the new season of Rhythm + Flow and more!
Michael Saponara: With shows like this, you know, obviously Latto, you won the rap game. What’s the importance for shows like this to exist in, like the digital space now, where it’s a lot different to break artists compared to, say, even 10-20, years ago?
Latto: I think it gives people, like, an inside look on, like, what really goes into becoming an artist like, I think social media gives this perception, that false perception that you kind of just blow up overnight. And some people are lucky enough to do that, but I think a lot of times I can, I think all three of us can attest that, you know, this is blood, sweat and tears. It’s a lot of being put on the spot and having to, you know, sit down and come up with a plan.
Was there, like, certain things that each of you guys took that you can incorporate into your own artistry that maybe you learned from an artist?
Ludacris: Hell yeah, I said, as soon as I started doing this, I was like, “It’s so good for me being in the game.” I’m really speaking for so long to get that hunger and energy of when you are trying to prove to the world that you are that f–ker. And I was loving every minute of it, just from that perspective of putting myself in a room full of people that just had so much to prove.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2024-12-18 18:59:372024-12-18 18:59:37‘Rhythm + Flow’ Season 2: Latto, Ludacris & DJ Khaled Give Advice on How to Succeed | Billboard News
Elton John is stepping into this Christmas season with a whole new look. On Wednesday (Dec. 18), the indefatigable 78-year-old pop superstar unwrapped a brand new video for his holiday classic, “Step Into Christmas” in which actress/model Cara Delevingne takes on the lead role as 1970s Elton.
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In the Dan French-directed clip, the 1973 song is given new life when Delevingne slips on a pair of John’s signature flashy shades and colorful, quilted bell-bottom suit with high-heeled boots to lip synch along to the jaunty ditty that has long been an upbeat antidote to the melancholy, wistful sounds of other Christmas standards.
Ostensibly a behind-the-scenes look at the troubled production of the original video, the new clip finds two producers fretting over the scene not looking “Christmassy” enough, complaining that the balloons and red feather boa draped on John’s piano don’t hit the right festive tone.
But once Delevingne slips into place and starts mouthing along to the the triple-platinum hit originally released on Nov. 23, 1973 — which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Christmas singles chart in the U.S. at the time — their tune begins to change. As side-by-side video of the new clip and the original play on monitors, a fan busts in with a sign expressing adoration for the singer only to be told, “she’s not Elton,” adding another layer of confusion to the shoot as an engineer tells “Elton” to smile.
All along, the crew tries to Christmas-up the scene by adding festive elements, but when reindeer and mules aren’t available they settle for a turkey instead.
In a statement, lifelong John fan Delevingne said, “Elton has always been an idol of mine, to say his music has had a deeply profound effect on me is an understatement. To be asked by him to PLAY him in this recreation was a dream that I didn’t know I had until it happened. Honestly, I wish I could pretend to be Elton every day. I hope that Elton may one day return the favor and agree to play me in my not-yet-developed, written, pitched, or funded biopic. Fingers crossed.”
The admiration is mutual, with John adding, “I saw Cara at Glastonbury last summer, and we talked about how much we’d love to work together if the right idea came up. She’s hilarious to spend time with; we both have quite a self-deprecating sense of humor. When someone suggested the idea of her playing me in a riff on the 1973 ‘Step Into Christmas’ video, I just thought it was the perfect opportunity. Thank God Cara thought the same because it came out great.”
It’s not the first time John has tapped someone else to play him in one of his videos. Back in 2001, he cast Justin Timberlake to play a 1970s version of him in the video for the song “This Train Don’t Stop Here Anymore.” You can also see John now in the new Disney+ doc Elton John: Never Too Late, which features the eponymous song he recorded with friend Brandi Carlile for the film exploring his 50-year music career.
Watch the new (and old) “Step Into Christmas” videos below.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2024-12-18 18:32:112024-12-18 18:32:11Elton John Taps Cara Delevingne To Play Him in Re-Imagining of 1973 ‘Step Into Christmas’ Video Shoot
For one extra special Tiny Desk concert, NPR’s office was transported from Washington, D.C., to Yo Gabba Gabbaland on the latest episode of the concert series posted Wednesday (Dec. 18).
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Led by young host Kammy Kam, Yo Gabba Gabbaland!‘s favorite colorful characters Brobee, Foofa, Muno, Toodee and Plex sang and danced for an audience of small kids gathered at the iconic office space for a five-song set, starting with “Yo Gabba GabbaLand!” The gang then incorporated the crowd of children in a game of wiggly dancing titled “Hold Still” and tackled complex emotions with “I’m So Mad (Just Breathe)” before a special guest — Thundercat, dressed in a striped feline suit — joined them for “The Orange Cat’s Special Time Outdoors.”
“It’s me, Thundercat,” the bassist said smoothly before diving into his groovy tune. “And this is a song about the real me.”
Thundercat then stuck around for the cast’s closing number, “Party in My Tummy.” While the group sang about all the delicious foods lunchtime has to offer, Kammy Kam held up banana, grape and carrot props while kids in the crowd danced with apple plushies before everyone waved goodbye.
The latest Tiny Desk episode comes about four months after the premiere of Yo Gabba Gabbaland! on Apple TV+, which featured Thundercat alongside a host of other special guests. Anderson .Paak, Portugal. The Man and Betty Who all performed on the show, as did The Linda Lindas, Miyavi, Cory Wong & Antwaun Stanley, Kurt Vile, The Drums and The Interrupters.
Yo Gabba Gabbaland! also dropped a soundtrack in August to go along with the new season. The cast’s visit to Tiny Desk follows other recent mini concerts from Billie Eilish, Doecchi, Dua Lipa and more.
Watch Yo Gabba Gabbaland! take over Tiny Desk below.
