So, Tommy Richman is hip-hop now? The Virginia singer will be up for a couple rap Grammys this upcoming February, according to The Hollywood Reporter. His viral hit “Million Dollar Baby” was submitted for best rap song and best melodic rap performance, the publication reports.
Nominees have yet to be announced, but if the song is indeed nominated, it would be going up against other monster rap records such as Megan Thee Stallion‘s “Hiss,” Ye and Ty Dolla $ign‘s “Carnival,” Future and Metro Boomin‘s “Like That,” and Kendrick Lamar‘s “Not Like Us,” all of which have hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this year. Richman’s effort, though, famously peaked at No. 2 because it was released in the midst of Drake and Kendrick’s historic rap battle, and was blocked by Lamar’s knockout blow “Not Like Us.”
This news comes on the heels of Richman hopping on X and proclaiming that he’s “not a hip hop artist” and then walking that comment back after receiving backlash from fans and popular West Coast radio personality DJ Hed. Tommy then tried to clarify further, saying, “I meant to say I’m not SOLEY a hip hop artist,” as he got into a back and forth with Hed.
“Million Dollar Baby” was also submitted for record of the year, song of the year, and he may be a nominee for best new artist, according to THR. He was also featured on his ISO Supremacy label boss Brent Faiyaz‘s track “Best Time,” which was also submitted.
Richman released his debut album Coyote in September.
Billboard reached out to both the Grammys and Tommy’s team for comment, the latter of which declined to comment.
This week in dance music: Fred again.. spoke with Nardwuar, and Rüfüs du Sol spoke with us. Charli XCX continued her winning streak by releasing a remix with Kesha and seeing Bratreach the apex of the U.K. album charts after last week’s release of Brat and It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat. The managing director of the Amsterdam Dance Event ran down his top event picks for the conference happening this week in the Dutch capital, SoundCloud announced that electronic music fans are the platform’s most engaged, organizers of Breakaway Music Festival said the touring dance festival is expanding to six new markets next year, we ran down the 40 most played tracks at Pacha Ibiza this season and also debuted exclusive CRSSD fall 2024 sets from Idris Elba, Tinlicker, Confidence Man and Kerala Dust.
And in the realm of marquee album releases, Kelly Lee Owens dropped her fourth studio LP Dreamstate, The Blessed Madonna put her out her major label debut Godspeed and LP Giobbi delivered her shimmering second album, Dotr.
To all that, we add even more. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
Kaleena Zanders, Glorified
After releasing the EP’s other three songs over the last few months, Kaleena Zanders rounds out the project with the release of its title track, “Glorified.” A bright blend of disco and soul, the song — like much of Zanders’ work — features her power-lunged vocals as the sonic and spiritual centerpiece. The corresponding video also manages to be simultaneously sexy and adorable. The artist is on tour with DJ Susan through the end of the year, with upcoming shows in Austin, Brookly and Denver. Glorified is out via Helix Records.
Confidence Man, 3am (La La La)
The prevailing response to the Australian act’s third album has thus far been a general adoration for and excitement about the way its dozen tracks capture the bright sound and breezy spirit of the ’90s rave world. Indeed there’s a lot of candy raving warehouse vibes — a sonic and fashion aesthetic that’s been very on trend in the current dance scene and which Conidence Man does with moxie across the project. But things get particularly interesting on “Sicko,” which take a sharp turn from the Deee-Lite references and swerves into darker, druggier, more sexed-up influences of Depeche Mode and INXS, with the group’s Aidan Moore) eventually admitting “I”m such a sicko” as the song again shifts gears into ambient, after-hours territory. 3am (La La La) is out on Casablanca Records.
Mau P, “Merther”
The Dutch producer samples Ini Kamoze’s essential 1984 single “World a Reggae (Out in the Street They Call It Murder)”, and effectively whips it into a tech house song, chopping up Kamoze’s vocals into a stuttering beat and going fully on the nose by adding a few siren sounds. It works so well that Solomun and Michael Bibi have been rinsing it in their sets lately.
Mau P says that after testing the track out on the road for a long time, “it’s sick that I get to put this out with the legendary sample from Ini Kamoze’s ‘World A Music.’ I didn’t think this would be remotely possible a few years ago, but here we are. My fans have also been asking for this one nonstop, so I’m happy they don’t have to keep listening to ripped versions online and can finally get the full finished version.” The track marks Mau P’s first release on Defected Records.
Sebastian Ingrosso, “Flood”
Of Swedish House Mafia’s three members, Sebastian Ingrosso puts out the least solo work, so anything new from him will naturally pique curiosity. His just-out single “Flood” delivers, with the 4:32-long track — a luxuriously long song in the world of two-minute tracks made for TikTok — unfolding across three movements, building from slinky IDM to an theatrically leaning vocal isolation into a peaktime heater. “It’s been a very long time since I worked on something of my own that represents who I have become since then,” Ingrosso wrote on social media. “I am on a journey of traveling inwards, and this is one of the many stories I hope to tell.”
Polo & Pan, “Nenuphar”
Polo & Pan’s output has always conjured a mood of lounging poolside in a silk robe in St. Tropez with a cocktail in your hand and not a care in the world. And so it goes on the French duo’s latest, “Nenuphar.” The track was recorded in Mexico City, with accompaniment by the Mexico-based all-female multi-genre collective I.M YONI (Independent Musicians of Yoni, who add a silky vocals over the layers of percussion and strings. “Nenuphar” is out on Hamburger Records.
Honey Dijon, “Finding My Way”
Honey Dijon and Ben Westbeech come together for the new “Finding My Way,” which comes from the latest edition of !K7’s enduring DJ Kicks series. Melding gospel vocals about searching for peace with a slowly unrolling house production (and a flute solo) the track has all the warmth and cool that have made Honey a global star for ages.“I’m a huge fan of research,” she says of her DJ Kicks compilation, “So putting this compilation together was basically going into my dancefloor experience and finding gems I wanted to present to people that they may not have been familiar with or that they didn’t even know existed.”
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.pngYveto2024-10-18 19:29:182024-10-18 19:29:18Friday Dance Music Guide: The Week’s Best New Tracks From Kaleena Zanders, Confidence Man, Mau P & More
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Spooky season has kicked off and is treating entertainment lovers to spine-chilling good releases all October long. Thanks to platforms such as Hulu, Paramount+, Netflix, Apple TV+, Peacock, Max, Disney+ and Prime Video, the amount of TV shows and movies to watch is practically endless. With so many streaming options available, it can be overwhelming trying to keep track of what to watch every weekend. Rather than have to keep track or endlessly scroll to figure out the best new shows to stream, ShopBillboard has put together a guide of some of the most anticipated releases to put on your radar.
Each month, streaming platforms have a lineup of exciting and new releases to add to your watch list. From the 2024 Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonyto channel-exclusive content from MTV, ABC and even USA Network, find the latest picks for the best TV series and movies to watch this October below.
What to Watch on Hulu This Weekend
Hulu comes with a full library of original shows in addition to cable shows from FX and ABC that premiere the day after airing. If you don’t have a subscription, you can get a 30-day free trial when you sign up. When the free trial ends, you’ll be charged as little as $9.99 a month. For even more content options, you can bundle Hulu with with Disney+ and ESPN+ and Max for as low as $16.99 a month. And for live TV options, you can get Hulu + Live TV for $82.99 a month.
To celebrate Family Guy‘s 25th anniversary, Hulu dropped a Halloween special that continues following the wild adventures of the Griffin family. You’ll see what happens when Peter tries to beat the champion of Quahog’s annual pumpkin contest using any means necessary.
American Horror Stories (Season 4)
No episode is the same in the short anthology series American Horror Stories. You can expect a fresh batch of hair-raising tales that’ll have you reaching for the light switch. Cast members for the latest season include Michael Imperioli, Henry Winkler, Debbie Ryan, Victor Garber, Jeff Hiller, June Squibb, Dyllón Burnside and Angel Bismark.
Release date: Oct. 15
What to Watch on Prime Video This Weekend
Prime members have all of the Prime Video library at their fingertips, including Prime originals and exclusive content. If you’re not a member, Amazon is offering a 30-day free trial for new users. You’ll get access to the entire Prime Video library in addition to Prime exclusive perks. Once your free trial is over, you’ll be charged the regular membership fee of $14.99 a month or $139 a year.
Travis Kelce makes his TV host debut in Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? — a spinoff from the 2007 game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Each episode will have contestants vying for a cash prize of $100,000 — all they have to do is answer 11 questions correctly with the help of some special celebrity guests.
Brothers (2024)
Release date: Oct. 17
October isn’t just for thrills and chills: Prime Video has also dropped the action comedy Brothers starring Peter Dinklage and Josh Brolin as twin brothers. When one of the siblings attempts to break away from their family of felons, the other twin convinces him to assist in a final heist, where they face legal problems, family drama and the occasional gunfight.
The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh (Season 1)
Release date: Oct. 17
If you like Fresh Off the Boat, then The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh follows a similar idea as it sees the Pradeep family move continents from India to the U.S. — and the challenges of getting adjusted to a new life overseas.
The Devil’s Hour (Season 2)
Release date: Oct. 18
Consider this series a crime thriller with a supernatural twist — and it’s back to deliver more mind-bending mystery. Season two reunites Peter Capaldi and Jessica Raine as Gideon and social worker Lucy, who begins to understand more about her past life, but in the process becomes split between what she has in one life versus what she lacks in her present.
What to Watch on Max This Weekend
Max subscribers can look forward to dramatic new releases when logging in. If you don’t have a subscription, you can sign up for as low as $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year for the ad-supported plan or you can go ad-free for $15.99 a month ($149.99 a year).
Prime members can also add Max to their video library for just $9.99 a month through the premium channel options in Prime Video’s storefront.
The X series comes to a conclusion in the third and final installment. Mia Goth stars as Maxine, who is on the brink of achieving her dreams of becoming a star. The only thing standing in her way? A serial killer who seems to be stalking her every move.
What to Watch on Disney+ This Weekend
Disney+ is the go-to platform for all things Disney including Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic content. The platform doesn’t come with a free trial, but you can choose from a variety of budget-friendly plans starting at $9.99 a month depending on your needs. You can expand your content options by bundling Disney+ with ESPN+, Hulu and Max for as low as $16.99 a month.
Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (2024)
Release date: Oct. 19
The star-studded event will see a new mix of artists inducted into the legendary Hall of Fame with performances by Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang and more.
What to Watch on Paramount+ This Weekend
Paramount+ is the official streaming platform for Showtime, Nickelodeon, MTV, CBS, Comedy Central and even its own exclusive content. Paramount+ subscribers can watch and stream any content within the library for free including live content. New users who sign up can take advantage of a free seven day trial that’ll let you watch everything for free. Once the free trial is over, you’ll be charged $7.99 a month (or $59.99 a year). To get access to Showtime content, you’ll need to sign up for Paramount+ With Showtime, which is only $12.99 a month.
Young Sheldon fans can settle in for a new series that spotlights a different Cooper family member: Georgie. The series follows him and his wife, Mandy, as they juggle parenthood, marriage and judgmental in-laws.
What to Watch on Peacock This Weekend
Peacock is home to all NBC, Bravo and USA Network originals, but you can also find exclusive Peacock originals such as the third season of Bel-Air. Peacock subscribers have free and instant access to the new series and movies offered. While there isn’t a free trial, new users who sign up can take advantage of the affordable packages starting at $7.99 a month.
Reba McEntire makes her comedy return in a new sitcom that sees her as the bull-headed Bobbie, who inherits her recently deceased father’s Tennessee tavern. What she doesn’t expect is to also land a new business partner who just so happens to be her long lost half-sister she never knew about.
Saturday Night Live (Season 50)
Release date: Oct. 19
Saturday Night Live continues its milestone season with Michael Keaton taking host duties with the musical assistance of Billie Eilish.
What to Watch on Apple TV+ This Weekend
Apple TV+ isn’t stingy on providing new and exclusive TV shows and movies for subscribers. A subscription is required in order to watch the original content, but new users can take advantage of a seven-day free trial. Once the free trial is over, you’ll be charged the regular subscription price of $9.99 a month.
Your heartstrings are sure to be pulled in the second season of Jason Segel and Harrison Ford’s dramedy Shrinking. The series continues to follow a grieving therapist as he challenges the conventional ways of therapy by telling his patients exactly what he thinks while navigating challenges within his personal life.
What to Watch on Netflix This Weekend
Besides signing up the traditional way, new Netflix subscribers can take advantage of free trials and promos going on through Xfinity, T-Mobile and Verizon.
Woman of the Hour (2024)
Release date: Oct. 18
Anna Kendrick makes her directorial debut with Woman of the Hour, a drama taking inspiration from real-life events. Kendrick stars as an aspiring actress in the ’70s who crosses paths with a serial killer when they’re both cast on an episode of The Dating Game.
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Ricky Montgomery began rehearsing for his tour in late January. The singer/songwriter played shows across America before heading to Europe, Asia and Australia, returning to the U.S. in June. “It had been a long year, and I was also sick,” he says. That’s when he found out his label had dropped him.
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“There was a disconnect as far as creative direction,” he explains. “The label didn’t really know what to do with me, and instead of listening to my ideas, they just tried to apply standard pop templates. Ed Sheeran was the one they thought would work.”
That “disconnect” is the subject of Montgomery’s upcoming single, a downcast acoustic ballad out October 24 called “Superfan.” He sings with a deflated quaver: “Team just got the numbers in/Said try it more like Ed Sheeran/But he’s not me, and I’m not him.”
Being dropped hasn’t hurt Montgomery’s career, though. In fact, he’s now earning more streams — around 2 million streams a day across his catalog — than he was previously. “For better or worse, it’s a social media content game now,” says the 31-year-old singer, who has close to 2 million TikTok followers. “So if you’ve been investing your time into that, the odds are that you’re going to be totally fine if a label decides to drop you.”
Getting dropped is in vogue this year: Two of the biggest breakout artists of 2024, Chappell Roan and Shaboozey, were both cut by major labels before their recent explosive success. And more acts could soon join their ranks, because the major labels have been cutting costs by slashing staff — and dropping artists.
“Each time there have been major staff layoffs across the label systems, concurrently there were artists released from rosters,” says Leon Morabia, a partner at Mark Music & Media Law. “Some artists are really happy about it and relieved, and some artists are very upset. Their reaction ultimately depends on how much they depend on the record company to do what they do.”
Dropped acts lose access to an extended support team; plans for upcoming releases must be jettisoned or heavily reworked; tours can be scrapped. That said, Lulu Pantin, founder of loop legal, is adamant that “being dropped has no bearing on long-term success.” And this is probably more true than ever.
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During a recent interview withBloomberg, Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer pointed out that when he joined the music industry in 1985, labels had a lock on manufacturing, distribution and radio. “We had a lot more power,” he said. Today, in contrast, “the artists have at the very least equal power to us.”
That’s because they can make music cheaply, and promote it internationally, without ever leaving the house. “Artists have to be as good, if not better, at marketing as any professional marketer now,” Montgomery says. “They are, by default, the most experienced person in the room in marketing meetings.”
At the same time, the buttons that labels can push — to get radio play, appearances on award shows and late-night television, and prominent press placements — no longer guarantee real fans. As a result, Montgomery says, “Labels only want to focus on Tiktok or Reels or YouTube Shorts right now. I had three times as many meetings about TikTok strategy as I did about music. There’s no reason you can’t do that stuff on your own.”
Still, getting dropped can be jarring, a corporate version of a breakup. And like a breakup, disentangling takes a while, as it requires additional negotiation between the artist’s team and the label. “It’s not just, someone waves a magic wand and then you’re dropped,” says an A&R who left a major label job earlier this year.
This legal wrangling can be crucial for the next phase of an artist’s career. In a typical record deal, the label enjoys exclusive rights to any songs delivered during the contract period — even if they haven’t come out yet. For artists who are being shown the door, then, “the key point is who gets ownership of the unreleased music,” Pantin says.
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Record companies are reluctant to give these rights up, since they helped fund the songs’ creation. To secure the return of unreleased music, artists may have to give the label a concession, either in the form of “an ‘override’ payment or a royalty on sales and streams,” Pantin adds.
If the label refuses to give up the rights to unreleased songs, artists have one other option. “I’ve called labels and asked them to waive the re-recording restriction,” says Tiffany Almy, founder of PKA Law. The re-recording restriction is in place to prevent an artist from putting out a competing version of a song the label already released, a tactic made famous by Taylor Swift with her Taylor’s Version album re-recordings. But the restriction serves no purpose if the label never put out the track in the first place. And if the artist succeeds in convincing the record company to nix that provision, they can then re-cut their music — on their own dime this time — for release.
Another point of negotiation when artists and labels are uncoupling: The act may be able to obtain some additional money, depending on the structure of their contract. “The deal could be worth $500,000, and $150,000 is given to the artist on signing and the rest is for recording,” the former A&R executive explains. “Then when you deliver the album, whatever’s left from the fund is supposed to go into the artist’s pocket.”
Attorneys try to prepare for these situations long before the label is even thinking about trimming rosters by including what’s known as “a pay-or-play provision” in the artist’s initial contract. (The initial deal negotiation period is when lawyers push for other protections as well: “I always try to build in caveats that the re-recording restriction doesn’t apply if the track doesn’t get released within a certain period of time,” Almy says.)
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The pay-or-play clause ensures that, “If you get dropped in the middle of the contract period, you will be entitled to at least a portion of the remainder of the fund,” explains Oren Agman, an entertainment attorney. “Labels are now capping that, so they’ll give you maybe 30% or 40% of the balance. [But] if you have no pay-or-play provision, then you’re not getting anything other than the advance.” Jodie Shihadeh, a music lawyer, calls this provision “one of the last key points” when negotiating a record deal.
While the lawyers for both sides go back and forth after an act is dropped, the artist may be stuck twiddling their thumbs. “I’ve seen labels delay responses for months, extending the process and keeping artists in limbo,” Pantin says.
That limbo period matters because an artist technically can’t sign a new deal before getting out of the old agreement. Some do so anyway, figuring a label that dropped them isn’t likely to spend money suing them for breach of contract. “It can be a game of chicken,” the former A&R notes.
For an artist’s collaborators, it may be more than that — they don’t have the potential cushion of a pay-or-play clause. Many labels give a producer half their fee for a track up front, and fork over the rest only when that track comes out, Almy says. A dropped artist may mean a shelved track; for a producer, a shelved track represents lost income. “I’ve called the A&R at the label that dropped the artist and asked them to consider paying the producer for the work that they already did,” Almy says. Mixers are often in the same predicament.
Artists have it easier, because they can just start recording and releasing as they see fit. “I’ve seen some artists where it really helped that they got dropped, even though they didn’t want to be,” Shihadeh says.
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Another recent post-drop success story is Gigi Perez, who parted ways with Interscope earlier this year. “I was stuck inside of a machine that didn’t work or make sense for me and I was unhappy,” she wrote in a lengthy message on Instagram on March 8. “I think a ton of artists were/are in this position as this new model of the music industry changes.”
She ended her post on an upbeat note: “Let’s go, bitches.” And in July, she released “Sailor Song,” a muscular folk track that works as well in an arena as it does around a campfire. It proved to be effective on TikTok as well: Users were soon soundtracking tens of thousands of videos with at least three different snippets of the single.
Streams of “Sailor Song” shot up. And on October 8th, Perez announced a new label home: Island Records.
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.pngYveto2024-10-18 19:05:142024-10-18 19:05:14What Happens When an Artist Gets Dropped From Their Record Label? It’s Complicated.
LL Cool J sat down with Fat Joe for an episode of Fat Joe Talks on Friday (Oct. 18), and among the multitude of topics discussed was Weezy being snubbed for the Super Bowl’s headlining spot for K. Dot.
The “Loungin” rapper gave Wayne his flowers, but is cool with Kendrick having his moment right now, with the numbers he put on the board this year. LL believes Wayne will eventually get his shot as well.
“[Lil Wayne’s] one of our great artists, he’s an unbelievable writer. He’ll have his day — let Kendrick get that,” he said. “Here’s the thing: Your time will come [and] you’ll have your day … You’ll have your time. You can’t let break you. The only reason it makes me laugh is because I know how blessed he is, how successful he is. So he don’t need to worry about that moment. It’s just a moment, bro. It’s just one moment.”
LL Cool J brought up how he wasn’t voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for many years on the docket before breaking through in 2021. With all of the success he and other artists of his ilk have enjoyed, he referred to these kind of roadblocks as “champagne problems.”
“These are champagne problems. There’s guys who can’t get their demo listened to. I think we get a little bit kind of, unintentionally, spoiled,” he admitted. “Wayne is crème de la crème.”
Kendrick was announced by the NFL and Roc Nation as the headliner for Super Bowl LIX in September, and a devastated Wayne took a few days to gather himself before speaking out.
“That hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about. It hurt a whole lot,” he said in a video posted to Instagram. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown. … But I thought that was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt.”
Watch LL talk about Kendrick headlining the Super Bowl instead of Lil Wayne in the clip 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.pngYveto2024-10-18 19:05:112024-10-18 19:05:11LL Cool J Reacts to Lil Wayne’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Snub: ‘Let Kendrick Get That’
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From headphones to speakers, Kim Kardashian and Beats have officially extended their partnership with the release of the Beats Pill in limited-edition light gray and dark gray colorways.
The Kim Kardashian x Beats Pill became available on Friday (Oct. 18) via Apple.com/beatsxkim and Amazon.com/beatsxkim. The speakers will also be available in select Apple stores.
“I’m excited to be back with my Beats family and to bring two new colors to an iconic product,” said Kardashian. “Music is a big part of my everyday life, from morning gym sessions to creative brainstorms, and the Beats Pill makes it that much more beautiful.”
Beats Pill x Kim Kardashian – Wireless Bluetooth Speaker and Portable Charger via USB-C – Dark Gray
Compatible with Android and iOS, the new Beats Pill comes redesigned with new hardware and capabilities including up to 24 hours of battery life and USB-C charging.
Beats introduced the all-new Beats Pill in June. The IPS7’s dust- and water-resistant Bluetooth speaker is compatible with laptops, cell phones and other Pills speakers. (The Beats Pill features Amplify Mode, which can be accessed by synching two speakers together.)
Over the last two years, Kardashian and Beats have collaborated on special colorways of the Beats Fit Pro and Beats Studio Pro, now available in three signature earthtone colors.
In honor of this latest launch, Beats debuted a new campaign starring Kardashian and Saturday Night Live comedian Ben Marshall, titled “Kim’s Pill Assistant.” The clip showcases the reality star’s life through the lens of her “assistant,” Marshall, whose job is to curate the perfect soundtrack for each room that she walks in.
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Instagram announced a new feature on Thursday (Oct. 18) that makes it easier for users to save songs they discover while perusing the app.
The social app aims to make the music-saving process as frictionless as possible — and users don’t have to leave Instagram to do it. If they find a song they like, they can simply click on the track to reach its audio page and then tap the “add” button. Saved tracks show up in their “Liked Songs” playlist on Spotify. Currently, no other streaming services are integrated with Instagram.
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The Spotify-Instagram integration comes roughly a year after TikTok launched its “Add to Music App,” a very similar feature that allows users to save music they find on the platform. TikTok had more partners for its feature — not just Spotify initially, but also Amazon Music and Apple Music.
“TikTok is already the world’s most powerful platform for music discovery and promotion, which helps artists connect with our global community to drive engagement with their music,” Ole Obermann, TikTok’s global head of music business development, said in a statement last year. The new feature “takes this process a step further, creating a direct link between discovery on TikTok and consumption on a music streaming service, making it easier than ever for music fans to enjoy the full length song on the music streaming service of their choice, thereby generating even greater value for artists and rights holders.”
The “Add to Music App” has become even more of a priority for TikTok recently. In September, the company announced that it was shutting down its subscription streaming service, TikTok Music, to focus more on integrating with existing streamers. “Our Add to Music App feature has already enabled hundreds of millions of track saves to playlists on partner music streaming services,” Obermann said.
On Wednesday (Oct. 16), TikTok announced that another streaming service would join the “Add to Music App”: Melon, which is popular in South Korea.
“Since the launch of Add to Music App, we have seen the TikTok community fully embrace the opportunity to save the songs they discover to the music streaming service of their choice,” Michael Kümmerle, global head of music partnership development, said in a statement. “Our new partnership with Melon means that millions more music fans in Korea will be able to save, share and listen again to music they fell in love with on TikTok.”
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Luana Pagani moderates a conversation about how four artists (Chiquis, Camila Fernández, Lupita Infante and Majo Aguilar) are taking their illustrious family names and trailblazing with their own sounds, and how they’re marrying the past and the future at Billboard’s Latin Music Week 2024.
Luana Pagani moderada una conversación sobre cuatro artistas con apellidos insignes están forjando sus propias historias y éxito, uniendo pasado con futuro.
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On today’s (Oct. 18) episode of the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century podcast, we reach No. 9 of our list with a teen TV star who showed up to pop music in the mid-2010s already a near-fully formed star — and just continued to get bigger and better, until she came to define streaming-era pop stardom. (Read our No. 9 Greatest Pop Star essay about Ariana Grande here.)
Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staff writers Kyle Denis and Hannah Dailey to talk about how, despite not making her proper debut until 2013 — later than any other artist in our top 10 — Ariana still shines as one of the brightest stars of the entire century so far. We lay the groundwork with discussion of her scene-stealing (show-stealing?) turn as Cat Valentine in Nickelodeon’s Victorious, and how that made her a Gen Z icon even before her pop debut — but also how that 2013 bow flew in the face of a lot of the assumptions fans had made about her based on her performance.
We then get into Grande’s two pop imperial phases — one as a bulletproof top 40 radio hitmaker of the mid-2010s, and one as a defining pop&B albums artist at the turn of the decade — and how they were interrupted by unthinkable tragedy and punctuated by real-life celebrity drama that made her one of the most headline-capturing artists of her era. We then make the cases for her two 2020s albums, dive into the complicated and often contentious relationship she has with her fanbase, and defend “Donutgate” as Ariana once again simply being ahead of her time.
Listen to our latest below, catch up on our past episodes here, and be sure to subscribe to Billboard‘s Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century series wherever you get your podcasts! (New episodes will be revealed on Wednesday and Friday for the next couple weeks, following the publishing of our Tuesday and Thursday Greatest Pop Star rankings for that week, before moving to a once-a-week schedule for the rest of the list.)
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.pngYveto2024-10-18 18:39:202024-10-18 18:39:20Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century Podcast: Ariana Grande (No. 9)
The last time Audrey Nuna released an album – 2021’s A Liquid Breakfast – the world was still largely in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, Olivia Rodrigo had just launched her Sour LP and Taylor Swift was the very beginning of her Taylor’s Versions campaign. Three years later, Nuna returns with a darker, grittier companion to A Liquid Breakfast titled Trench.
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Featuring a collaboration with Teezo Touchdown and an interpolation of Brandy and Monica’s timeless “The Boy Is Mine,” Trench showcases the marvelous sonic evolution Nuna has undergone since first signing to Arista half a decade ago. Foreboding synths anchor apocalyptic anthems like “Dance Dance Dance,” while forlorn acoustic guitar serves as the backbone for quieter, more jaded moments like the evocative “Joke’s on Me.” In the years between her debut and sophomore albums, Nuna moved to Los Angeles and experienced an unmistakable darkness rooted in the city’s synthetic nature around the same time her frontal lobe started to fully develop.
Trench is born out of the tumult of those years, and throughout the record’s double-disc journey, Nuna comes out on the other side with a greater understanding of how to streamline her idiosyncrasies into a concise project. She raps and sings across the record’s moody, glitchy trap and R&B-informed soundscape, while still leaving room to incorporate notes of rock, folk and dance-pop. All of those styles were on full display at her electric album release show at Brooklyn’s Sultan Room on Oct. 15, which was packed wall to wall with adoring fans who perfectly matched Nuna’s thrilling stage show.
“I would say the tagline for this project is ‘soft skin, hard feelings,’” Nuna tells Billboard. “I think that really encapsulates the duality my whole shit is based on… this idea of blending things that don’t normally go together. I love beautiful chords and R&B, but I also love harsh sounds and really raw synths. The whole sound is a blend of our tastes – me and [my producer] Anwar [Sawyer,] and that whole first project really helped me carve out the sound naturally.”
A Jersey kid and Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music dropout turned rising cross-genre star, Audrey Nuna is ready to enter the next phase of her career with Trench. In a heartfelt conversation with Billboard, Nuna details the making of Trench, how she understands herself as a Korean-American navigating hip-hop and R&B and how the ‘90s informed much of her approach to her art.
You signed to Arista in 2019. How do you feel that your relationship with them has evolved over time — especially going into this new project?
I think it’s like any relationship where we’ve been building a lot of trust. They signed me when I was pretty young, and it’s been five years. When they signed me, they were all super excited — and we have an unusual, unique artist-label relationship where we’re building it all together from the ground up. I’m grateful for the freedom to do what I want to do. I’m pretty blessed in the fact that I’ve never felt like I had to do things. I’ve always been able to maintain a sense of independence, which is a f—king blessing.
Why is the album called Trench? How did you land on that title?
I really love words. I just love that word, [“trench.”] First and foremost, I love that it’s double consonants in the back and front. I love that it sounds kind of harsh, but there’s also a bit of balance to it. There’s also this analogy of war and defense mechanisms and the hard, brutal reality of that. I think it’s really interesting that when you zero in on something so harsh, you will always see this warm flesh underneath. It’s that concept: we’re all human, but we go through all these hard things that kind of push us against our nature, which is warm. It was just really ironic to me, and that duality was something I wanted to present throughout the album.
Why did you choose to present Trench as a double-disc album?
I just felt it would be a great way to showcase the two sides of this character in this world. At the end of the day, while I was organizing the tracklist, I realized that they’re very much one and the same, but almost inverses of each other. I think that this idea of showcasing those. They’re inverse, but they’re also parallel.
Talk to me about “Mine,” in which you interpolate Brandy and Monica’s “The Boy Is Mine.” How did that one come together?
I had the idea for that song because I love the romance of ‘90s R&B. The producer I worked with, Myles William, had the idea to reference such an iconic song, and I loved the idea because it was still so current sonically with the Jersey club in there. I think combining those two things was very fascinating to me. Even flipping the original meaning of the song where two characters are fighting over one guy into me making the guy cry instead – it’s more of that harshness that Trench is about.
Being that you’re a Jersey kid, did you hear Jersey club a lot growing up?
Actually, yeah! It’s so funny because in high school, and even before then, Jersey club was always circulating. Not as much on the radio or anything like that, but more on people’s phones on YouTube or if you were in the car with your friends. It was so specific in what it was that to now see it be such a big part of the mainstream is really mindblowing.
You teamed up with Teezo Touchdown on “Starving.” How did that come together?
I had that song starting with the demo. We were thinking about a feature that was. In the beginning, we were thinking of Steve Lacy or Fousheé. I think my A&R suggested Teezo because he’s been working with him, and it just made sense. “Starving” is also a very pop record, and kind of out of my comfort zone — which is interesting, because for most people a track like that is very left-field. I think having an artist [who] understands what it’s like to stay in a pocket of the most pop song on your record actually feeling like the B-side is really cool.
It was just really cool to see him do his thing on there because he just brought a fresh energy that you wouldn’t normally expect someone to rap or sing with. He almost reminds me of André 3000, because of the way he makes anything sound good by how he wears his energy. Same with his fashion — the way he wears the clothes is what makes it work.
What was on the mood board while you were creating Trench?
The movie Akira. When I made “Nothing Feels the Same,” Akira was definitely in my head as this villain coming into herself – in the movie’s case, himself. It just felt like a soundtrack for a darker transformation for me. On the other side of that, I was also weirdly inspired by more bubblegum-esque aesthetics, and combing those two things. You can hear it on a song like “Sucking Up.” I’m really inspired by the ‘90s, like KRS-One, but also PinkPantheress and jazz influences like Chick Corea or Hudson Mohawke on the dance side and even Korean 90’s alternative artists. There’s a lot of different stuff.
What was the entry point to hip-hop?
I grew up pretty musically sheltered. My parents are immigrants, so they put me on to some Korean older folk music. Knowing popular music came very late. I specifically remember listening to [Ye’s] Yeezus sophomore year of high school for the first time. At that point in my household, cursing was bad. To hear something so vulgar and raw and different from anything I’ve ever heard before, that was a bit of an entry point for me. [I found a] space and form of expression where you can truly say what’s in your heart and not necessarily care about the world. I think that was very enticing to me.
Meeting Anwar and listening to everything he put me onto and obsessing over Sade together [was also formative.] Sometimes, I feel like when you don’t know what your lineage is because of immigration and you don’t see a lot of people doing what you’re trying to do, you have more freedom because it’s a blank canvas.
How do you navigate conversations where your race is emphasized in relation to the kind of music you make? How do you understand yourself as a Korean-American operating in traditionally Black spaces like hip-hop and R&B?
Being boxed into “Korean-American” is definitely a thing. In my case, I learned to acknowledge that I am who I am, and being an American is part of my identity, but it’s not necessarily the only thing that you want to be attached to your identity. At the end of the day, we’re human. Yes, I grew up eating kimchi jjigae, my parents spoke Korean to me, I was exposed to all of these other Korean things – that’s gonna bleed into everything I do, whether I want it to or not.
At the beginning of my career, seeing the hyper-emphasis on [my race] was very interesting because growing up I never felt Korean-American, I never felt Korean enough. And now it’s like you have to be “very” Korean. It’s very extreme. At this point, I’m all about paying respect to where the genre comes from and understanding that I am a visitor and a guest. It’s about respecting the craft and studying it and not viewing it as anything other than what it is – something that is worthy of all of the respect in the world. Also keeping the conversation going and asking questions, I’m not gonna understand every last reference.
I honestly feel it’s been an evolution. All these cultures are merging, and I think that’s a beautiful thing. Ultimately, I pray that that would give us more empathy and understanding as a human race. My biggest thing is encouraging people to educate me constantly and keeping the conversation open. On both sides, you can get boxed into a narrative, but at the same time, it’s all very gray. Generally, just do what inspires you in a conscientious way. Just do shit.
You’re trying to break through in the wake of the Stateside K-pop boom. Has that phenomenon impacted the ways the market sees you and your music at all?
The sentiment towards Asian culture in general has changed in the past three years. Growing up, it wasn’t “cool” to be Asian. But it’s like this hot commodity now, Korean culture especially is at the forefront right now. Sometimes, you do get boxed into this “everything Korean is K-pop” [mentality.] I’ve been listed in random articles as one of “10 K-Pop acts to know.” Even labels that approached me earlier in my career were like, “Well, we have all these K-Pop acts, so you would be very welcome here.” At the same time, my music is worlds away from K-Pop.
It’s gray and it’s nuanced, but at the end of the day, I’m really proud to be Korean and proud that Koreans are being recognized for their excellence in music and visuals and fashion. When I see people who genuinely love the culture push and try to understand it outside of just the aesthetic, that brings me a lot of joy.
What was your time in Fort Lee like?
Fort Lee is like the K-Town of Jersey. It was kind of like a retreat. After I went to school for a year and then I dropped out and moved to Fort Lee. I stayed by all these Korean families, almost in the suburbs — but it was right outside the city, so there was a little bit more going on. That place is so warm and nostalgic in my heart because it’s the place where I really found my sound. It’s the most romantic place in my heart because all I did all day was make music. That was before I had a career; it was when I was doing it, not knowing if I was going to be able to do it.
There’s something so special about that; I realized you really never get it back once that period is over. You can spend your whole life emulating that, but it will never be as pure. I always look up to my 19-year-old self and the fearlessness that came out of true naïveté.
How do you view Trench in relation to A Liquid Breakfast? Is there a symbiotic relationship between the two records?
I think they’re very symbiotic, and I love that word. They follow the same character, [she’s] just gone through a bit more shit. The first project is Fort Lee; it’s romantic, it’s curious, it’s pink and blue and springtime. In between [A Liquid Breakfast and Trench,] I moved to LA and as sunny as that city is, there’s a level of syntheticness and darkness that I experienced. [By Trench,] this character went underground for two years and didn’t see sunlight for a long time.
And who knows, maybe this is a “part two” and there’s one more part that ends this story. I definitely think [Trench] is the darker counterpart, sonically, lyrically and conceptually. It’s a bit more complex and experimental. At its core, it follows the same character as the last album. Since the last project, so much has changed and so much has stayed the same.
I see a lot of the ‘90s in your approach to music videos. How did you develop your visual language, and did that intersect with and or influence your stage show at all?
I’m very ‘90s-inspired for sure. One of the first videos I remember being very inspired by was the Jamiroquai video, “Virtual Insanity.” And then obviously Missy Elliott, and anything directed by Hype Williams. I don’t know what was going on. I just think it was a golden age of music videos. People put so much value into music videos, but they were also so new to the point where people were just trying anything. I think that balance of having the resources and also having an innocence, in a way, towards the craft was so special.
And Thank God for the internet. I saw the shit that I had never seen before just browsing YouTube; seeing Spike Jonze’s work and the Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic.” Finding all of those different things and combining them kind of exploded my DNA. Also, my dad used to own a clothing factory in the Garment District. I was mostly around fashion, and I think that was very formative for me.
Are you planning to tour behind Trench?
Yes, next year. I’m still figuring out certain things, but I think that it’s essential for me to do this album live. I came up during the COVID era, and I haven’t had an opportunity to just perform for people as a headliner. I’m just very spiritually ready to present an album in that space.
What song from the album are you most excited to perform live for the first time?
I’d say, “Baby OG.” I just love it; it never gets old. I sampled my 19-year-old self on that song. There’s a demo from 2019 called “Need You,” and that never got put out. But we just sampled it one day and it ended up becoming “Baby OG.” The meanings of the songs were so parallel. I didn’t realize that until after I finished the song. It’s kind of a meeting of past and future self.
Do you plan to return to Clive at any point or are you full steam ahead with your career?
I can’t afford it. [Laughs.] I can’t afford that s–t! I think if I were to go back to school, I would not go to school for music. I’d want to study history or fashion design.
In a past interview, you named Chihiro from Spirited Away as the fictional character you relate to the most. Is that still true, and have you heard the Billie Eilish song inspired by that character?
I think that will always be true. I love Miyazaki’s protagonists because most of the time, they’re kids who are just so courageous and wise. I think that was super empowering to see as a kid. That was one of my earliest memories of digital cinema and animation. I have heard “Chihiro” from the new Billie album. She’s so sick. It’s so awesome to see her sonic progression.
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.pngYveto2024-10-18 18:39:192024-10-18 18:39:19Audrey Nuna Details How the ‘Darkness’ of L.A. Inspired Her New ‘Trench’ LP
