Month: August 2022

Madonna is not nearly done celebrating her Finally Enough Love compilation. The collection that celebrates her 50 No. 1s on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart recently made her the first woman with newly charting top 10 titles on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the 1980s, ‘90s, 2000s, ‘10s and now the ‘20s.

And now she’s posted a six-minute video in which she answers 50 of her fans’ most burning questions.

Check out some of the the funniest, weirdest, most outrageous answers she gave while strutting through her home and taking viewers on a golf cart ride on her horse farm while, of course, interviewing herself.

“Are you going on tour next year with your 50 greatest club hits?”

“Do you want me to go on tour?”

“Greatest guilty pleasure?”

“Sex.” [For the record, she said her zodiac sign, favorite obsession, life mantra, secret to her success and the thing that keeps her going are all also sex.]

“What is something you’ve learned or wisdom that you can share with the rest of us?”

“The biggest lesson I have learned in this life is none of this is real.”

“Can we ever expect another collaboration with Britney [Spears]?”

“I’m gagging to work with Britney again.”

“How did you pick the remixes for Finally Enough Love?”

“I chose my best dance records… and it added up to 50.”

“Why did you decide that now was the time to look back and do a legacy release like Finally Enough Love?”

“Because the world needs to dance! We’ve been through enough, haven’t we?”

“What’s a decision you made that looking back maybe wasn’t the best idea?”

“Getting married… both times.” [Madonna was married to actor Sean Penn from 1985-1989 and director guy Ritchie from 2000-2008.]

“What is your favorite remix song?”

“My favorite is a toss-up between ‘Ray of Light’ and ‘Die Another Day.’”

“Who was your biggest inspiration when starting your career?”

“Musically? [Blondie’s] Debbie Harry and David Bowie.”

“Have you personally approved all of the remixes you’ve released across your career?

“Have you met me?”

“If you can only wear one thing for the rest of your life what would that be?”

“My 24 karat gold vibrating necklace.”

“If you hadn’t gone into music what do you think you would be doing now?

“I’d be a schoolteacher.”

“Your biggest pet peeve?”

“Lazy people.”

“What’s your favorite thing to make?”

“Wait for it… love.”

“What makes you feel powerful?”

“Eight hours of sleep.”

“What’s your motto for life?”

“Don’t f–k with the queen.”

“Name one person you haven’t collaborated with yet but would love to in the future?”

“I would love to collaborate with Kendrick Lamar.”

“What is the most outrageous rumor you’ve ever heard about yourself?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no rumors about me!”

“What is your favorite music video you’ve ever made?”

“‘Take a Bow.’”

“What is your favorite snack?”

“I can’t remember his name… oh no! Big d–k.”

“What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?”

“Wash my hands.”

Watch the video below.

The Project

Kristiane’s new EP, State Lines, is out now via Fader Label.

The Origin

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Kristiane says that her earliest inspiration was watching her grandmother perform as a cabaret singer when she was young. “I loved how she didn’t care what anyone thought,” she tells Billboard, “she was amazing and just doing it because it gave her pure, internal joy.” When she first started writing her own music, Kristiane adopted her grandmother’s carefree ethos: “I liked that music didn’t have to be for anyone else. It could just be for yourself.”

As she got older and more comfortable with her songwriting, Kristiane began to see music as more of a life path than a personal hobby. “Since age fifteen, I’ve made all my big life decisions around music,” she says. That eventually included giving up a scholarship offer to a far-flung university to stay local, and over the next four years, she grinded at a recording studio while taking college classes in creative writing, which Kristiane says was a turning point in her music making. “I think a lot of musicians don’t focus enough on how expanding your vocabulary can really elevate your songs and create a clear narrative,” she explains.

After releasing her debut single, “Wish I Could Be Your Girl,” in 2021, Kristiane attracted interest from a number of labels and ultimately inked a deal with Fader later that year. Her debut album I Miss Myself Sometimes acted as an introduction to her narrative-driven songwriting and proved that in a crowd of many talents in indie pop–rock today, Kristiane’s style is singular. She writes herself as a hopeful but self-destructive protagonist whose sensitivity is both her greatest strength and her Achilles’ heel. With Kristiane’s latest EP State Lines, her earnest writing is still present, but with clearer conviction, as she grapples with self-esteem, long-term love and her unshakeable desire to leave home.

 

The Sound

“I wanted this EP to feel under-polished and gritty,” says Kristiane, “like something you’d make with your best friend in the basement.” Its DIY aesthetics give State Lines an intimacy that couples well with its lyrics. Produced by Cooper Holzman, the sound has an affinity for ’90s grunge and Liz Phair, a nostalgic call back to Kristiane’s childhood… well, kind of. “I think I’m just bitter that I’m not a true ’90s kid,” she laughs. Born in 1998, she says she has “an infatuation” with the era just before her birth: “I love that it’s the opposite of my actual childhood, the 2000s, when aesthetics were very perfected in comparison.”

The Breakthrough

For Kristiane, writing “April Showers,” the first song penned for State Lines, was a personal reckoning. “In the past, I have written really self deprecating songs, and I talk about blaming myself for all my pain,” she explains, but as she finished “April Showers,” Kristiane realized that “I don’t always do everything wrong. It’s not all my fault. It can go both ways.”

This newfound clarity set the tone for the rest of the record, especially its title track. “You’d follow me across state lines if it took that,” she taunts, but while she appears self-assured in its chorus, “State Lines” shows her persistent sense of personal accountability in its verses, admitting, “it’s my fault I’m here another fall waiting on you.” Each track sounds like Kristiane working through her conflicts in real time, weighing what she should hold herself responsible for and what might be just unfortunate circumstances.

The Future

Though she is already at work on her next project and is hoping to tour in the fall, for now, Kristiane is trying to focus on the thrill of releasing State Lines. “What’s strange about a career in music is whenever you hit a milestone, you’re always looking towards the next one,” she says. This mind set, Kristiane says, can make every major achievement feel less momentous, like sitting in a metaphorical “waiting room” for whatever bigger milestone is next. “I’m trying to enjoy the waiting rooms,” she says.

Kristiane on… The Piece of Advice Every New Indie Artist Needs to Hear

“Don’t get trapped in the comparison game. Everyone is going on their own journey and has their own pace. One person’s success is not your failure. Another piece of advice is that you should write every day if you can. It doesn’t have to be a fully formed thought or polished idea, but you should connect with yourself daily.”

Kristiane on… The Most Surprising Thing She’s Learned about the Music Industry So Far

“To put a positive spin on this, I would say that there are kind and good people in this industry, but you look for it to find it. You have to actively center your community and team around your own moral compass. Good people exist.”

Kristiane on… The Artist She Believes Deserves More Attention

“Ethel Cain. I know she’s already blowing up right now, but I believe she can be really big, like a f–king star. Lana Del Rey-level big.”

Kristiane on… The Takeaway She Hopes Listeners Have

“Two things: One, you’re not alone. Two, Growth is not linear. It’s not black and white. You can have fluctuating growth and still feel like you’re evolving as a person. There’s something beautiful in that struggle for progress.”

On Dec. 31, Brooks & Dunn, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town and Zac Brown Band will help count down to 2023 as they lead the return of New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash on CBS. The show will air beginning at 8 p.m. ET and will also be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

Last year’s inaugural event — which featured performances from Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert and more — peaked with 5.51 million viewers in the midnight hour. Like the previous year’s celebration, New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash will be held at various locations in downtown Nashville. Additional artist appearances will be revealed at a later date.

Nashville has painstakingly assembled a five-hour New Year’s celebration that features nearly 50 performances from locations throughout Music City, including the event’s main stage, located at Nashville’s Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. The broadcast will span multiple time zones, with the traditional countdown at midnight ET, concluding with the dramatic finale of Nashville’s Music Note Drop and fireworks at midnight CT.

The show is executive produced by Robert Deaton (longtime producer for the Country Music Association’s television properties) and Mary Hilliard Harrington (manager for artists including Dierks Bentley and Elle King) in partnership with the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp, and is directed by Sandra Restrepo.

Of last year’s inaugural show, Jack Sussman (executive vice president, specials, music, live events & alternative programming, CBS) told Billboard, “We are going for that big-time network audience in the middle of America, [that] loves country music and loves good music. We have some of the biggest artists in country music on our stage on that night. Quite honestly, there’s some of the biggest artists in music. … People want to watch these people. They want to hear them.”

For several months now, fans have kept faith that Louis Tomlinson would release a new album in the near future — and now, their day has come. The 30-year-old signer-songwriter announced on Wednesday (Aug. 31) that his second studio album, Faith In the Future, is set to arrive Nov. 11 and revealed both its cover art and its 14-song tracklist.

“I’m so excited to finally tell you that my new album Faith In the Future is out 11th November,” he wrote in his announcement, shared to his social media accounts. “After living with this album for a while I can’t wait for you all to hear it.”

Tomlinson’s post features two photos, the first of which shows the album’s red hot artwork: a bust portrait of the former boy band star staring down the camera in a checkered zip-up shirt, his face and hair tinted crimson, with “Faith In the Future” displayed in red lettering on the right.

The second photo lists out each of the titles of the record’s 14 tracks: “The Greatest,” “Written All Over Your Face,” “Bigger Than Me,” “Lucky Again,” “Face the Music,” “Chicago,” “Common People,” “Out Of My System,” “Angels Fly,” “Saturdays, “Silver Tongues,” “She Is Beauty We Are World Class,” “All This Time” and “That’s the Way Love Goes.”

The “Back to You” singer closed out his post with a message of gratitude to his fans. “Thank you for allowing me to make the music I want to make,” he wrote.

Faith In the Future will mark Tomlinson’s second album released as a solo artist, and follows his 2020 debut Walls. That record peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200, and No. 4 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart.

See Louis Tomlinson’s announcement for his new album Faith In the Future, out Nov. 11, below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Louis Tomlinson (@louist91)

Sean “Diddy” Combs has announced this year’s iteration of the REVOLT Summit x AT&T, returning to Atlanta from Sept. 24 to 25. With this year’s theme being “The Future Is Now,” the immersive and in-person two-day event will explore the future of hip-hop, Black artistry and culture in an effort to empower the rising generation.

“The REVOLT Summit is coming back bigger and better than ever with the goal of inspiring the next generation of cultural leaders to understand that the time is now to achieve your dreams, change your life, and more importantly change the world,” said Combs, chairman of REVOLT, in a statement. “The future is happening in real-time, so we all have a responsibility to share the access, information and opportunities that will move the culture forward and the REVOLT Summit is where it all starts.”

Unlike in previous years, the 2022 Summit will feature interactive keynote speeches, panel conversations, live music performances and town hall discussions with an all-star lineup including Coi Leray, Gucci Mane, Big Freedia, Iddris Sandu, activist Tamika D. Mallory, Pretty Vee, Fly Guy DC and 19 Keys. Additional personalities on the event’s docket include DJ Drama, Tezlyn Figaro, Tariq Nasheed, Claima founder Bimma Williams, LaRussell and more.

Attendees will also get the opportunity to participate in crucial networking, gain information at the intersection of culture and education, and find mentorship thanks to parts of the Summit such as AT&T Office Hours, the Career Fair, Pitch Competition and annual Be Heard finale event to close out the weekend.

Early bird and Insider tickets are now available for purchase now, ranging in price from $99 to $249. To purchase tickets or learn more about this year’s REVOLT Summit, visit the event’s official website or download the REVOLT app.

In an era when ratings are drifting downward on most award shows, viewership of the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards was actually up compared to last year, whether measuring by traditional TV ratings or cross-platform consumption.

According to final Nielsen figures, the awards, a pre-show and two on-air replays averaged 3.9 million viewers across 12 Paramount Global cable channels as well as broadcast network The CW. That’s up from 3.7 million for the 2021 awards and associated programming, a gain of 3% year-to-year.

That’s not a huge increase, but it’s an increase, and as such it’s worth exploring. On Tuesday (Aug. 30), Billboard spoke with both of the show’s producers, Bruce Gillmer and Jesse Ignjatovic, to find out what they think were key reasons for the uptick.

Gillmer and Ignjatovic had some lucky breaks in the run-up to the Aug. 28 show, which was held at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. – Fergie’s surprise appearance came together at the 11th hour, Taylor Swift’s headline-grabbing announcement of her upcoming album on the show was a stroke of luck, Ignjatovic’s positive COVID test on the first day of production turned out to be a false positive. (Phew!)

But not everything went their way. They tried mightily to get a Harry Styles remote performance from his Madison Square Garden show to go along with their Bad Bunny remote from Yankee Stadium, but it didn’t happen.

This is the sixth year in a row that Gillmer and Ignjatovic have produced the VMAs together, but Ignjatovic has been a producer on the show for 16 consecutive years. This puts him in a tie with Dave Sirulnick as the producer who has worked on the most VMAs.

Gillmer received his first Primetime Emmy nomination this year as an executive producer of One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, which is a finalist for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded). He’ll find out if he wins or not on Saturday Sept. 3.

This joint interview with the show’s producers, held over Zoom, was lightly edited for space and clarity.

Billboard: Congratulations on the ratings uptick. What do you think are the biggest reasons for the improved showing?

Gillmer: We were super-focused on putting a line-up together that served the widest demographic. We put a tremendous amount of effort and time into creating a show that would speak to all of the demos – the younger cell, the mid-cell, the upper cell and beyond. … [Our aim was] booking relevant talent, but also paying attention to all demos so we don’t turn off the core audience while we’re trying to speak to the upper end of our demo.

Ignjatovic: We had a very diverse line-up in terms of demographics [and also nationalities]. We had artists from South America, from Europe, from South Korea. Also, we staged the show in New Jersey where there is just an incredible fan base and energy for all of this music.

Many will be surprised to hear you cite the New Jersey setting as a major plus factor for the show.

Gillmer: Everyone expects a big, important, A-level-talent show to be produced from New York or L.A. or sometimes Nashville, but they don’t expect Newark, N.J. The truth is, when you’re watching on your phone or your TV or your computer, how much does the audience really care where the show is being broadcast [from]. On the other hand, when you go to a city like Newark, you have the benefit of much less jaded fans. This is the second time we’ve been there. The energy that those fans put into the show is 50% of everything because that fires up the talent. That energy comes through the screen. It’s the fuel for everything.

Near the top of the show, LL Cool J said that this would be the most ‘diverse and global’ VMAs ever. That wasn’t an empty boast.

Gillmer: This is the first time an Italian rock band [Måneskin] has won a VMA. You had Anitta, Bad Bunny and [J] Balvin all repping Latin America. It was the first time BLACKPINK had ever performed on an [American] awards show. Their numbers were just outstanding. Their performance has got to be over 11 million views, which is insane. [Editor’s note: By Aug. 30, their VMAs performance of “Pink Venom” had topped 15 million views at YouTube.]

You mentioned the challenge of trying to expand the audience without turning off your core audience. I imagine that can be a tricky balancing act.

Gillmer: It’s a very tricky task. We’re fortunate in our relationships and the combined experience of this team. Gut plays into it a lot, but it’s really a matter of when you’re dealing with the core [audience for the show], you know exactly what you got. You’ve got BLACKPINK, Jack Harlow and other acts that play right to the core of the MTV demo. But then you have LL and the Chili Peppers, who are a critical part of the legacy of MTV. Their core focus may not be 18 to 24 year-olds, but the younger audience still knows that these are superstars who are part of the MTV brand who continue to influence talent that they love.

Where does Nicki Minaj fit into this?

Gillmer: Nicki, who was a massive part of the show, checks every box. She’s got appeal to the younger demo, to the mid-demo, to anybody who is susceptible to being infected by energy.

The show entails a lot of planning and strategizing.

Gillmer: We wouldn’t be honest if we didn’t tell you that we had a lot of good fortune, a lot of blessings, a lot of luck as well in terms of timing and things falling into place. One of the things that worked in our favor was the whole Taylor [Swift] situation. We have a long history together, a highly successful history, and there’s mutual love and respect. She was nominated for video of the year and a variety of other awards. She wanted to come. She hadn’t been out in public for months and months and months. Her fans are so intense that just her appearing gives our show a lift. Not only did she appear, she won and she won big. She also chose our stage to announce her new record, which gave us this massive lift coming out of the show. That wasn’t planned. We were blessed to have that.

Ignjatovic: Also the fact that Nicki dropped new music – a No. 1 song going in to the show. [“Super Freaky Girl” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1 just days before the show.] BLACKPINK had new music [“Pink Venom,” which enters the new Hot 100 at No. 22] and debuted it for the first time ever in the U.S. Also, the fact that we were able to work with Bad Bunny and bring his concert into the show [was key]. He’s a huge, huge artist. Those were unforeseen blessings that helped us as well.

Jesse, you’ve mentioned the pacing of the show as an important factor. Could you be more specific about that?

Ignjatovic: The way we laid out the show to keep the viewer engaged was key. We sought to make sure that every act [stretch of show between commercials] was balanced. We’re creating a show for the TikTok generation but at the same time trying not to turn off the broader audience.

Bad Bunny was obviously a very big ‘get.’ How did that come to pass?

Gillmer: We had been working on that for months and months. We knew we needed him to have a presence in the show. We knew he had a show at Yankee Stadium the night before our show and a second show the night of our show. So, the question was how are we going to get him in? This planning went on for months and months. The week leading into the show, we hit a huge technical snafu and the performance was in jeopardy all the way up to a couple of days before when things really went our way. That’s the stars aligning in our favor.

Were there any other examples of things breaking your way?

Gillmer: The other sort of favorable wind that we got was about Fergie. She’s at home in California and hadn’t been on our stage or any stage in a long time. Coordinating that whole performance, we had to have a tremendous amount of support from her label, Atlantic Records, from her manager and even with all of that it was a long-shot. That came through at the 11th hour cause all the stars aligned. Almost every big moment in that show could have gone either way.

Ignjatovic: Fergie confirmed two days before; rehearsed at the very last minute. She’s obviously just a pro.

Gillmer: That [pairing of Harlow’s “First Class” and Fergie’ “Glamorous”] our show open. So right from the very beginning we were representing the full spectrum – Jack, the core demo, and Fergie, representing MTV royalty who still obviously can be relevant anytime she chooses. But she plays to a completely different demo. We made a statement right out of the box that this show is for everybody.

Anitta and Damiano David of Måneskin both gave their backsides ample exposure.

Ignjatovic: Historically, the VMAs are where artists, all the way back to Madonna on the very first VMAs, try to push it. There’s something in the water with the VMAs. The thing is, you can’t manipulate it or try to create these kinds of moments. The artists themselves want to come on and make a statement; do something bold and own the night.

You must have tried to get a remote performance from Harry Styles from Madison Square Garden.

Gillmer: That was another several-month saga. Some artists are more open to putting their own personal show out there [than others]. Every artist has a different perspective. Harry was very happy when he won album of the year and a couple of other awards. We were able to get out to him the day of his show and get him to accept. It was nice at least to have his face and his presence in the show. We would have loved to have a live performance from the Garden. It’s just not something he could focus on with 15 shows [at the venue]. We tried. We really wanted it. But you can’t get everything. If we got everything, we’d have had a 14-hour show.

This was your first post-pandemic show. How big of a factor was that?

Ignjatovic: I just think that fans want to come and see music and fans want to participate in this kind of an experience. Everyone’s hungry for that connection; to connect with the other people there and to connect with music. And that goes beyond our broadcast. We’re fortunate we’re in a moment where people can come together safely. We didn’t have any real scares, thank goodness.

Gillmer: We had a scare at the beginning of production – luckily a false scare. On the first day of production, Jesse tested positive. We can’t [afford to] lose any of us. If one of us goes down, we’re in a lot of trouble because we’re a true team. It turned out to be a false positive. … However, for the fans and people in the audience not having to wear masks, and being able to sort of let loose and really fully enjoy themselves was really an amazing sight and really added to the energy of it all.

 

 

LF System’s eight-week reign in the U.K. is under threat.

The Scottish production duo has been unmoved from the top spot for a full two months with “Afraid to Feel” (via Warner Records), an unbroken streak no other single can match in 2022.

Though it remains at the top of the midweek leaderboard, the dance smash is locked in a three-way battle with DJ Eliza Rose’s “B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All)” (Rosebud). and Elton John and Britney Spears’ “Hold Me Closer” (EMI), respectively.

Just 1,200 chart units separate the top three at the midweek stage, the Official Charts Company reports.

As it stands at the halfway point, Elton and Britney’s collab is the “top trending” song in the U.K. and most-downloaded track of the week, while LF System’s hit is the king of streams.

If it holds at its current position (No. 3) “Hold Me Closer” would be Spears’ highest-charting single since “Scream & Shout” shot to No. 1 in 2012, and it would be the Rocket Man’s fourth consecutive the top 10 appearance, a run that has included No. 1s “Cold Heart” with Dua Lipa; “Merry Christmas” with Ed Sheeran; and “Sausage Rolls For Everyone” with LadBaby and Sheeran.

Also set for a top flight debut is “I’m Good (Blue)” (via Parlophone), David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s viral number that samples Eiffel 65’s pre-EDM tune “Blue (Da Ba Dee).” It’s new at No. 8 on the Official Chart Update.

All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Singles Chart is published Friday.