Just 12 days after releasing the highly anticipated “Alaska” in collaboration with Grupo Firme, Camilo revealed the release date of his forthcoming album De Adentro Pa’ Afuera. The official announcement was made on Good Morning America on Tuesday (Aug. 30).
Set for a Sept. 6 release under Sony Music Latin and Hecho a Mano, the album marks his third studio album following his debut Por Primera Vez (2020) and Mis Manos (2021), each of which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart.
The Colombian singer-songwriter said in a press statement that the album — whose title loosely translates to “inside out” — is “without a doubt, the title of this chapter of my life.” “After the pandemic, I discovered on my first tour that the songs that were born from the inside belong to those who are out there,” he explained. “That encounter changed my life and inspired many ideas that are now part of this album. After being completely hermetic to welcoming our first baby, Indigo, now we pack a suitcase with [new] songs to go around the world and reunite with La Tribu again.”
In addition to his previously released singles “Indigo” with Evaluna, “Pesadilla,” “Pegao,” “NASA” with Alejandro Sanz, “Naturaleza” with Nicki Nicole, and “Alaska” with Grupo Firme, Camilo unveiled the full tracklist, which includes “Aeropuerto,” “Ambulancia” with Camila Cabello, “Bebiendo Sola” with Myke Towers, “5:24,” and the title track. Fans can already pre-save the album on Camilo’s website.
The artist is confirmed for the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Week, set to take place Sept. 26-30 at the Faena Forum in Miami. He joins the star-studded lineup that includes Romeo Santos, Nicky Jam, Chayanne, Maluma, Ivy Queen, Grupo Firme, Bizarrap, and many more. Registration is now open at BillboardLatinMusicWeek.com.
Yungblud‘s new single “Tissues” samples The Cure‘s “Close to Me,” and on Tuesday (Aug. 30), the rock star explained in an interview how he got permission to use the song.
“I remember when we were making it I was like, ‘I just want to dance!’” he recalled to Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1. “The session wasn’t going well … I was thinking about packing it in and going home, but then we opened a crate of Bud Light, started putting songs on that we loved and [The Cure’s “Close to Me”] came on, and I was just like, ‘Yo we should sample this.’”
Initially, every producer balked at the possibility, but Yungblud was insistent. “That’s what I said to them, I was like, ‘If I can somehow convince Robert Smith to allow me to do this, I don’t care. Like, I’ve won.’ It was beautiful. I just wanted to make on this record music that me and my mates want to listen to. That was the formula. And obviously we grew up with this song.”
Yungblud dished to Lowe that he had met Robert Smith backstage at the 2019 NME Awards after his mom, who was his date for the evening, started chatting with the rock icon. So ultimately, he decided to reach out personally for The Cure frontman’s approval to use the band’s 1985 classic.
“I emailed and was like, ‘Hello Robert Smith of the Cure … ‘Close to Me’ — probably the most iconic British beat of all time. May I use it in the song?’ And I was like, I don’t know what I’m gonna do if he says no. But he got back in a couple days. He types in all caps, Robert. He was like, ‘HELLO DOM, YOU CAN USE IT ALL GOOD HERE, LOVE ROBERT.’ Called my boys up and was like, ‘I’ve sampled ‘Close to Me,’ they’ve let me use it.’ It was like a mosh pit. My boys in the North were like, ‘YOOOOOO.’”
BLACKPINK’s return earlier this month with their first official single in nearly two years represented a momentous occasion for the K-pop quartet’s global fan base and resulted in one of the biggest No. 1 debuts in the Billboard Global 200 chart’s history.
“Pink Venom” scored the second-biggest worldwide weekly streaming total since the chart launched in September 2020, with 212.1 million streams and sold 36,000 downloads worldwide in the Aug. 19-25 tracking week, according to Luminate. The song – which leads sophomore album Born Pink, due out Sept. 16 – also debuts at No. 22 on this week’s Hot 100 chart, marking BLACKPINK’s highest-charting non-collaboration to date (“Ice Cream,” their 2020 team-up with Selena Gomez, peaked at No. 13).
As the group’s fans, the Blinks, played “Pink Venom” on repeat after the track’s Aug. 19 release, Interscope Records and YG Entertainment, the group’s label homes through a global partnership, toasted an international, multi-pronged launch that was months in the making. “They’re the biggest girl group in the world, and one of the biggest groups in the world,” Hannah Gold, vp of marketing at Interscope, tells Billboard, “and we wanted to show the scope of their reach.”
That reach spanned five continents thanks to the Light Up the Pink campaign, which launched hours before the release of “Pink Venom” across different time zones. Monuments ranging from the Tokyo Tower in Japan to the Hammersmith Bridge in London to Radio City Music Hall in New York to the Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel in Los Angeles were bathed in pink light on the night of Aug. 18. Meanwhile, pink lighting, projections and digital billboards also popped up in countries like Brazil, Australia and BLACKPINK’s native South Korea.
The idea for Light Up the Pink was first kicked around back in January, Gold says, as Interscope and YG prepared for BLACKPINK’s return following the 2020 release of debut full-length The Album and a relatively quiet 2021. “It’s been a while since they put out something as a group,” says Daniel Hong, president of YG USA, “so we wanted to do something special for fans, and also for the artist. We felt like this kind of campaign just visualizes what we’re thinking about [for] the group, which is a global scale.”
Plans for the launch started to come together three months ago, as the YG and Interscope marketing teams worked together to gain the proper security clearances needed to project pink light on different monuments. “It wasn’t easy,” says Hong. “Every country has their regulations and rules.” Blinks who didn’t live close to the select monuments could still participate in the fan frenzy thanks to a partnership with the app Landmark that allowed users to unlock exclusive digital content, such as a special illustration created by the four group members, at 500 hotspots around the world – think Pokémon Go, but for BLACKPINK diehards.
Creating a fan experience with a heavy in-person component was important for both Interscope and YG – after all, BLACKPINK’s The Album was released at the height of the pandemic, and the quartet never got to tour behind the project. “Their first album, everyone was locked up at home,” says Gold, “and it’s fun this time being able to come back in such a big way and take it to the world.”
After the live debut of “Pink Venom” at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night (Aug. 28), BLACKPINK is gearing up for next month’s release of Born Pink, followed by a world tour that kicks off in Seoul on Oct. 15. Light Up the Pink was just the start of what promises to be an extended, fan-centric promo run for Born Pink.
“There’s so much to come. … They’re going to be around for a while with this next album cycle,” says Gold. “It really has only just begun.”
Lil Nas X turned heads on Sunday (Aug. 28) when he walked the red carpet of the 2022 MTV VMAs in a stunning, feathered outfit. But one person — the iconic model Iman — wasn’t nearly as surprised.
In a post on her Instagram Monday (Aug. 29), Iman shared a photo of Lil Nas X’s red-carpet look alongside a photo of herself wearing a nearly identical outfit to the 2021 Met Gala. Both looks were created by the same designer, Harris Reed, featuring a massive, halo-style headpiece and a caged hoop skirt, each dripping in feathers. The main difference? Iman’s was gold and white, while Lil Nas X’s look was all black.
Iman in her caption congratulated Reed on both looks, and took a moment to survey her impact on the 23-year-old rapper’s instantly iconic red-carpet moment. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” she wrote.
Of course, stunning the crowd with an impeccable look wasn’t Lil Nas X’s only achievement at the 2022 VMAs. The rapper actually took home three Moon Person trophies at the show — best collaboration, best art direction and best visual effects — for his song “Industry Baby” with Jack Harlow. But Lil Nas X didn’t quite remember his series of wins, as he tweeted the next day. “I was drunk af last night ngl just realized i won 3 thank u vmas.”
Along with paying tribute to Iman’s iconic Met Gala moment, Lil Nas X is also gearing up for his own fashion moment in the coming weeks. Alongside Hailey Bieber, the “Call Me By Your Name” singer will be featured parts of Vogue‘s upcoming New York Fashion Week event Vogue World, which is set to celebrate the brand’s favorite fall 2022 fashions and its 130th anniversary.
Here’s what you missed on Glee: Lance Bass was recently asked who he’d pick to replace Justin Timberlake in a potential *NSYNC reunion, and he chose the actor known for playing everyone’s favorite Warbler/hair gel connoisseur, Blaine Anderson: Darren Criss.
Appearing as a guest on the Sunday (Aug. 28) episode of Pod Meets World — a podcast hosted by former Boy Meets World stars Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong and Will Friedle — Bass responded to questions regarding the logistics of a possible *NSYNC comeback. Fishel, who just so happens to be the 43-year-old singer’s ex-girlfriend, specifically wanted to know who could fill Timberlake’s shoes if Bass’ former bandmate was unavailable to go on tour with the rest of the guys again.
“Oh, I know exactly who it would be,” Bass said. “He’s really great with harmonies. A lot of people don’t know that [in college] he studied music and amazingly good harmonies — Darren Criss.”
“He loves boy bands,” he added about Criss, who earned his BFA at the University of Michigan. “He’s from that era. He would just be the perfect fit with us.”
Criss, who just a couple months ago finished his run in the Broadway revival of American Buffalo, got his breakout television role when he landed the part of Blaine in 2010 in season two of Glee. Coincidentally, he was part of the show’s tribute to *NYSNC during season four, performing “Bye Bye Bye” with his costars while tied to marionette puppet strings to recreate the song’s 2000 music video.
Fans have been waiting for about two decades for *NSYNC to properly reunite, but Bass, Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez and Joey Fatone have remained distinctly noncommittal toward the idea. They’ve teamed up for a few performances here and there since going on hiatus in 2002, for which Timberlake is sometimes absent from the lineup. (See: the band’s surprise guest appearance at Ariana Grande’s 2019 Coachella show.)
And while an *NSYNC reunion is still up in the air, Bass and Fishel did announce on the podcast that a movie about their relationship, which took place between 1999 and 2000, was in the works. Both teen idols of the late ’90s, the pair got together after meeting at an event — where Timberlake played the part of wingman and got Fishel’s number to pass on to Bass. The pair attended Fishel’s senior prom together before breaking up.
“Lance and I had a hotel room booked and I had a vision for what that night was going to be,” the 41-year-old actress shared. “That is the night Lance talks about, where he felt like he was hurting me by not being honest with himself or anyone else about what was going on in his life. It was kind of the impetus for him to say, ‘I’m going to end our relationship.’”
“The reason we wanted to make this prom story into a film, I think so many people can relate to that story,” Bass added. “So many people in the LGBT community, their prom night was the night they were like: ‘Oh, wait a minute. This can’t happen anymore.’ This was the catalyst for me that made me start to accept myself, which took a long time after that, but that was definitely the first little straw that broke.”
Listen to Lance Bass talk *NSYNC, Darren Criss and his movie with Danielle Fishel below:
Jay Wheeler earns his first top 10 success on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart as his newest LP, Emociones, launches at No. 10 on the Sept. 3 dated ranking.
Emociones marks Wheeler’s fourth chart visit, three of which the Puerto Rican achieved in 2022. His previous high came with El Amor y Yo, when it debuted and peaked at No. 13 on the Feb. 26-dated survey.
Emociones, released Aug. 19 via Linked/Dynamic/EMPIRE, debuts with 5,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. after its first tracking week ending in Aug. 25, according to Luminate. Streaming activity makes for almost all the album’s opening sum, The set’s songs generated 7.1 million on-demand official streams.
The Top Latin Albums chart ranks the most popular Latin albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.
The 19-track set Emociones — which includes collaborations with Jhayco, El Alfa, Reik, among others — gives the singer-songwriter his first visit to the top tier with his fourth charted release, dating back to the No. 16-peaking Platónicos, his joint effort with DJ Nelson, in January 2021.
Emociones concurrently starts at No. 8 on Latin Rhythm Albums, where it becomes Wheeler’s second top 10 effort among a collection of three entries.
Wheeler joins two other acts who have captured their first top 10 on Top Latin Albums in 2022, after Yahritza y Su Esencia and Ivan Cornejo, both regional Mexican artists whose sets Obsessed (EP) and Dañado debuted at No. 7 (May 7) and at No. 4 (June 18), respectively.
Jon Pardi claims his fifth No. 1 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart as “Last Night Lonely” ascends to the top of the list dated Sept. 3. In the tracking week ending Aug. 28, the track gained by 9% to 25.3 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.
The song was penned by Jimi Bell, Joe Fox and Dylan Marlowe, all of whom top Country Airplay for the first time as writers. It’s the lead single from Pardi’s album Mr. Saturday Night, due Sept. 2.
“I love the way ‘Last Night Lonely’ [was] written, and when I first heard it I knew it was one I wanted, for sure, on the new record,” Pardi tells Billboard. “The response to the song has been really amazing to watch. We knew we felt good about it, but it’s really connected with our fans. It’s incredibly cool to have it be the first No. 1 for the writers, too. I’m so excited for them.”
On the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart, “Last” lifts 8-7. It drew 5.3 million official U.S. streams and sold 1,000 downloads in the Aug 19-25 tracking week.
The 37-year-old Pardi, from Dixon, Calif., last led Country Airplay as featured on Thomas Rhett’s “Beer Can’t Fix,” for a week in May 2020. The song followed Pardi’s first three No. 1s: “Heartache Medication” (one week, February 2020), “Dirt on My Boots” (three, March-April 2017) and “Head Over Boots,” (one, August 2016). Pardi boasts nine top 10s on the tally, including, between his two latest leaders, “Tequila Little Time” (No. 5, this January) and “Ain’t Always the Cowboy” (No. 3, December 2020).
‘Ends’ Begins
Bailey Zimmerman’s “Where It Ends” enters Hot Country Songs at No. 7, marking his second top 10 debut and third top 10 overall, after “Rock and a Hard Place” opened at its No. 2 high in June and “Fall in Love” rose to its No. 6 best in July. (“Fall” and “Rock” rank at Nos. 6 and 10, respectively, on the Sept. 3 chart.)
Released Aug. 19, “Ends” drew 10.4 million streams and sold 6,000 in its first week. It arrives atop Country Digital Song Sales, becoming Zimmerman’s second No. 1, after “Rock.”
Meanwhile on Country Airplay, “Fall” climbs 22-16 (7.9 million, up 16%).
Proven Hit
Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof,” which debuted atop the May 28-dated Hot Country Songs chart, rebounds for its second week at the summit. It attracted 14.6 million streams, as it tops Country Streaming Songs for a 10th week, and sold 4,000 downloads in the latest tracking week. On Country Airplay, “Proof” pushes 10-7 (19.2 million, up 15%).
Andress’ Second Top 10
Ingrid Andress’ “Wishful Drinking,” with Sam Hunt, bumps 11-9 on Country Airplay (16.1 million, up 9%). The song, from Andress’ sophomore album Good Person, released Aug. 26, becomes her second top 10 on the chart, after her launch single “More Hearts Than Mine” hit No. 3 in May 2020.
Hunt adds his 11th Country Airplay top 10 and first since “23,” which became his ninth No. 1 in April. Meanwhile, his own “Water Under the Bridge” rises 33-31 (3 million, up 5%).
New Heights
Tyler Hubbard achieves his first Country Airplay top 10 as a soloist as “5 Foot 9” climbs 12-10 (15.3 million, up 7%).
Florida Georgia Line – the duo of Hubbard and Brian Kelley – has rolled up 19 Country Airplay top 10s, including 16 No. 1s. Most recently, the pair reigned as featured on Chase Rice’s “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.” for a week last August.
Hubbard previously hit Country Airplay apart from FGL with “Undivided,” his team-up with Tim McGraw that hit No. 16 in May 2021.
When Dierks Bentley sings the earthy hook to his new single, “It might be gravel but it feels like gold,” one could argue that it’s an assessment of his own scratchy voice.
But it’s actually a return to an increasingly familiar theme in his work: the importance of living in the moment, rather than worrying about the future or fretting about the past.
“It’s a message for me more than anybody else,” he says. “I try to write stuff sometimes that I get a chance to sing myself onstage every night and remind myself of something. And if it resonates with me, I’ve learned it’s probably going to resonate with my core fans.”
The message in “Gold,” though, only came about because the writers in the room — Bentley, Luke Dick (“Don’t Come Lookin’,” “Burning Man”), Ashley Gorley (“She Had Me at Heads Carolina,” “Take My Name”) and Ross Copperman (“Beers on Me,” “Half of My Hometown”) — embraced a simple musical idea. Dick came in with a brisk, basic two-chord guitar pattern that provided an enthusiastic atmosphere for the appointment, a strummed acoustic foundation similar in tone to Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary” and Rod Stewart circa 1972.
“Sometimes I come in and I feel prepared for a write, and sometimes I don’t feel prepared and I just try to do something before I walk into the room that feels good,” Dick says. “You don’t know if what you came up with is going to move anyone else. So I just played what I came up with — and Ashley, Dierks and Ross liked it, and then we all turned it into a song.”
Bentley had driven his 1994 Chevy pickup to Music Row for the appointment. It’s the same truck he used to move to Nashville from Arizona 28 years ago and also references in “I Hold On.” The rust around its edges came into play, providing inspiration for a lyric about embracing imperfection on life’s journey. With the music rolling steady in the background, they brainstormed several ideas, landing on the contrast between common gravel and shiny gold.
“We’re going back-and-forth and kind of had this ‘gold’ idea and ‘gravel,’ ” Bentley recalls. “Working with Ashley is so fun, just watching how he’s able to spin that into something and hammer that into ‘might be gravel but it feels like gold.’ When he said that, there was like, ‘Oh, that’s it. That’s the hook.’ It didn’t feel like it was a hit single or anything. It’s just, ‘OK, that’s definitely the angle’ — and then creating a story around that.”
That story recognizes people’s tendency to diminish the value of their current circumstances while focusing on future success. The first verse suggests that we frequently are surrounded by rainbows even as we strive for the pot of the gold at their end. And the second brings the recognition that the atmosphere on the ground is the same as in the blue sky that seems so far away and unattainable.
“There are moments of heaven here,” Bentley says. “It’s hell here, too. A lot of people are [experiencing] hell on earth, going through terrible things on a daily basis around the world. Life can be just a frame of mind, just reframing something, looking at it from different angles, realizing that the moment you’re in right now, this could be it. It’s happening right here.”
Copperman and Dick shaped the demo as they went, building on top of the acoustic guitar rhythms that inspired “Gold.”“Me and Luke just start vibing out,” Copperman says. “We threw an acoustic out there, and then I remember we maybe found a slide laying around. We really needed a hook on these turns, and Luke just grabbed a slide and [popped one out]. I was like, ‘Oh, my God. I love that.’ And that ended up being the foundation of the whole damn thing.”
They beefed up the groove with four eighth-note drum beats that lead into the next measure. “It’s hard to call that a hook, but it is,” Dick says, “and I feel like we were chewing off it a bit.”
Amid the song’s life philosophy, they brought a girl into “Gold” on an optimistic bridge, focused on the “silver linings in the clouds” and “rose-colored Ray-Bans.”
“The song’s called ‘Gold’ — we got to find some silver,” Bentley says. “And put those John Conlee rose-colored Ray-Bans on and look at the world through your ‘Rose Colored Glasses,’ which is one of my favorite songs of all time.”
They recorded the final version of “Gold” with Bryan Sutton, Danny Rader and Charlie Worsham handling the driving acoustic guitar sound in bulk at the Ocean Way studios on Nashville’s Music Row. And drummer Aaron Sterling brought an extra edge to the beat. After the session, Bentley enlisted Jon Randall (Parker McCollum, Miranda Lambert) for co-production during overdubs with Bentley, Copperman and F. Reid Shippen.
“I’ve got all these old references,” Randall says. “When I’m talking to players, I’ll bring up some random guitar sound off of a record that’s like 40 years old. That’s when I get pulled in, like, ‘Hey, man, we need some of that.’”
They brought in mandolinist Sam Bush, who helped brighten some of the shadings around the heavenly lyrical references. And Copperman worked specifically at his home studio to get Bentley’s breezy, gravelly vocals, which include a hard “D” on the word “gold” at the close of every chorus — appropriate for a metal substance. “I just wanted it to be obvious,” Copperman says. “That line kind of hangs out there, and you could easily not have a ‘D’ on that word.”
The end result was a cheery, big-sounding single with a valuable philosophical observation delivered in a unique way. “It’s such a cool hook and such a cool song,” Randall says. “It was one of those you knew that once you heard it mixed and shiny, the label was probably going to go, ‘Yeah, this is the single.’ ”
Indeed, Capitol Nashville released “Gold” to country radio through PlayMPE on July 28. It rises to No. 35 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart dated Sept. 3.
“It’s about the climb, the journey,” Bentley says. “Like the song says, it’s not about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s about being in the rainbow. And a lot of time we don’t recognize the moment we’re in.”
Megan Thee Stallion’s live shows are known to be some of the most entertaining and bootylicious performances. And recently, the “Sweetest Pie” rapper upped the ante again when she gifted a fan a hilarious surprise.
During a performance, an overzealous fan threw their phone on stage while it was still recording. Megan noticed the phone and proceeded to stand over it, twerking along to one of Beyoncé’s “Savage (Remix)” verses. “Somebody threw their phone on stage already recording,” she captioned the Instagram post on Monday (Aug. 29). “I said welp.”
Though she didn’t indicate when the video was taken, Meg’s performance at England’s Leeds Festival on Aug. 27 comes at the tail end of a blockbuster festival season for the Grammy-winning superstar. With standout performances at Coachella, Glastonbury, Wireless, and more, Megan Thee Stallion has been pumping out memorable sets to go along with her new music.
Her sophomore studio album, Traumazine, was released Aug. 12; it debuted and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Traumazine joins Good News (No. 2), Something For Thee Hotties (No. 5), Suga (No. 7), and Fever (No. 10) as the “Freak Nasty” rapper’s fifth project to reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200. Megan’s new album features three Billboard Hot 100-charting singles: the Dua Lipa-assisted “Sweetest Pie” (No. 15), the Future-featuring “Pressurelicious” (No. 55), and “Plan B” (No. 29).
The H-Town Hottie has earned a pair of chart-toppers on Billboard’s primary singles chart: “Savage” (with Beyoncé) and “WAP” (with Cardi B). Megan has earned 29 overall Hot 100 entries including “Thot Shit” (No. 16), “Body” (No. 12), and “Her” (No. 62).
Take a peek at the treat Megan left on her fan’s phone here:
