Month: August 2022

In 1997, Porter’s Call founder/executive director Al Andrews moved from Colorado to Nashville to become a counselor at a private practice in Nashville. After a couple of years as a counselor in Nashville, he realized that 90% of his patients worked in music and that their needs were unlike the rest of his clientele.

“They were different, not because they have different problems than most people, but I’ve never met an artist who can come regularly on a Tuesday at 9 a.m.,” Andrews tells Billboard. “And at the beginning of an artist’s career, maybe they cannot afford the going rates.”

Andrews decided to meet with record labels to see if any would be willing to purchase a day of counseling sessions for their artist roster. The first person he visited was Peter York, then president of EMI Christian Music Group (now Capitol CMG).

“I said, ‘Labels spend so much money investing in artists’ careers to get them out there and successful, but we all watch artists crash and burn all the time, for different reasons,’” Andrews recalls. The label’s philanthropic The Sparrow Foundation offered Andrews a generous grant to launch a pilot program, but with one stipulation–that he be willing to see any artist from any label.

“Usually, labels don’t help other labels, but he and his team wanted to open it up to all the competing labels’ artists. I asked him why, and he said, ‘We think this is something the whole industry needs.’”

After three months of meeting with artists, York and Bill Hearn (then EMI Christian Music Group’s CEO) encouraged Andrews to launch Porter’s Call, which offers free counseling and mental health support to both signed and unsigned recording artists (as well as their significant others). Porter’s Call officially launched in 2001 just outside of Nashville in Franklin, Tennessee, and over 20 years later, Andrews says the organization has helped more than 3,000 recording artists.

Tonight (Aug. 30), Porter’s Call will celebrate its 13th annual Evening of Stories event at the newly opened Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Nashville’s Belmont University. Kelsea Ballerini, “I Hear a Symphony” singer Cody Fry, “Sunday Sermons” hitmaker Anne Wilson and country trio Lady A’s Hillary Scott will appear. Also featured will be British sailor Tracy Edwards, MBE, who gained acclaim as the skipper of the first all-female crew to sail around the world in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, as well as People’s Choice Award winner (for favorite viral video star in 2011) and author Carlos Whittaker.

“Porter’s Call has been a true pillar for my mental health and personal growth over the last few years, and I am beyond honored to honor the incredible work they do during this year’s event,” Ballerini tells Billboard via a statement. “I’ve learned that through vulnerability in our storytelling, true connection happens, and I’m so looking forward to sharing more of mine.”

The Evening of Stories events launched in 2009, welcoming approximately 150 attendees. Since then, artists including Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Thomas Rhett and Holly Williams have shared their stories and songs to support Porter’s Call. Andrews expects approximately 500 attendees at tonight’s event.

Andrews estimates that 90 percent of the funds raised from the event are raised before the event happens, via sponsorships. “When you come to Evening of Stories, we don’t have the awkward checkbook moment,” Andrews says. “It’s really a celebration and thank you to donors and supporters. The artists take part in Evening of Stories willingly and so many say that Porter’s Call has been part of their career and they want to give back and share about their experience.”

Throughout the year, the remainder of Porter’s Call’s operating funds come from donations from an array of record labels, publishers, managers and often, artists themselves who want to give back. Importantly, relying on donations also allows the organization to offer its services to artists free of charge. Andrews estimates the organization has collectively saved artists over $6 million from not having to pay the going counseling rates.

“We never ask artists for money for our services, though often on their own, we’ve seen them turn around and give back in various ways,” Andrews says.

Porter’s Call takes its name from Benedictine monasteries in the fifth century, when a porter opened the monastery doors to sojourners, aiding them with food or counsel. “We wanted people to knock on our door so we can help them find the way to what they need,” Andrews says.

Artists make use of the service as needed, with some going to sessions over many years, while others use the service for a more limited time. For artists struggling with addiction, Porter’s Call acts as a referral resource if needed. When artists are off the road or in Nashville between tour dates, they can have in-person sessions, while on the road they can set up phone or Zoom sessions.

Porter’s Call has grown to five staffers, including Andrews, an office manager and three porters, though Andrews says they are looking at adding more porters, in response to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on artists.

“As we look around the counseling community and our city, the need has been so great with all of the issues that COVID brought, such as artists not touring for over a year,” Andrews says. “Also, people are also much more open about needing help. We are trying to be as creative as we can in meeting those needs, such as [starting] smaller groups of artist peer relationships.”

Andrews has fielded requests from people in New York City, Los Angeles and Florida to expand Porter’s Call to other areas, though he says it is Nashville’s supportive, community-driven feel that has made Porter’s Call unique. “It’s not quite a franchiseable thing at the moment,” he says. “In Nashville, people came together to support it and it continued to grow. But I have told people if they want to start a similar program, we are glad to talk them through it or offer ideas. But even the fact that it is no cost to artists is unique. It takes a community of people to invest and work together to make something like this happen.”

Meghan Markle unpacks the history and meaning of the word “diva” on the latest episode of her new “Archetypes” podcast. And, fittingly, she digs into the subject with the singer who has most glitteringly defined the term for more than three decades: Mariah Carey.

But the topic the Duchess of Sussex is most eager to tackle on the “Duality of Diva” episode of her Spotify pod with MC is their mutual experience of growing up biracial and the challenges Markle said she could relate to, describing “her [Carey’s] constant struggle to find her place and to fit in.”

Carey, who lived with her mother after her parent’s divorce, talked about moving homes 14 times as a child and how she idolized people she saw on TV whose hair was always “flowing in the wind” (hence, her always perfectly breeze-tossed tresses). “I didn’t fit in. I didn’t fit in. You know, it would be more of the Black area of town or then you could be where my mom chose to live, were the more, the white neighborhoods,” Carey said. “And I didn’t fit in anywhere at all.”

Markle said she could relate as Carey described trying to find her place at a predominately white school where a student mocked her clothes and the Duchess explained that having Mariah on the pod was so important to her for this very reason. “I had to talk to you,” she said. “You were so formative for me. Representation matters so much. But when you are a woman and you don’t see a woman who looks like you somewhere, in a position of power or influence, or even just on the screen… you came onto the scene and [I said], ‘Oh my gosh, someone kind of looks like me!’”

Mariah wondered if Markle immediately knew that the singer was biracial — she did — with Markle saying that from a young age she realized the power of people’s perceptions. Recalling an article she read about actress Halle Berry, Markle said, “they were asking her how she felt being treated as a mixed-race woman in the world. And her response was her saying, ‘Well, your experience through the world is how people view you.” So she said because she was darker in color, she was being treated as a Black woman, not as a mixed woman.”

Because she and Carey are light-skinned, Markle said “you’re not treated as a Black woman. You’re not treated as a white woman. You sort of fit in between.” In her case, though, the intense scrutiny that came with her marriage to Prince Harry meant that once they began dating, “then I started to understand what it was like to be treated like a Black woman. Because up until then, I had been treated like a mixed woman. And things really shifted.”

Saying she could totally relate to the “interesting” idea of being forced to choose between identifying as Black or white, Carey — who noted that her father is Black and that her great-great grandmother was Venezuelan — added, “As mixed woman, because I always thought it should be okay to say I’m mixed. Like it should be okay to say that. But people want you to choose.”

She continued, “My father’s family is black, so everybody was like, ‘her father’ is Venezuelan and Black’ because they didn’t know how to put me in that box. They want to put you in a box and categorize you,” Carey said, adding that her mother is Irish, “all the way back to the Blarney Stone.”

Listen to the full “Archetypes” podcast below.

Bad Bunny returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Sept. 3), reigning as the top musical act in the U.S. for a fifth total week, thanks to the continued success of his latest LP, Un Verano Sin Ti.

The album spends a ninth week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 105,000 equivalent album units earned in Aug. 19-25 tracking week, according to Luminate – and ties the Encanto soundtrack for the most weeks tallied atop the chart this year. The last album to spend more weeks at No. 1 was Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, which led for 10 weeks in 2021.

Bad Bunny concurrently places 11 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, the most of any act. Here’s a recap of his entries on the latest list.

Hot 100 Rank, Title:

• No. 9, “Me Porto Bonito,” with Chencho Corleone
• No. 14, “Tití Me Preguntó”
• No. 25, “Moscow Mule”
• No. 35, “Efecto”
• No. 57, “Party,” with Rauw Alejandro
• No. 59, “Ojitos Lindos,” with Bomba Estéreo
• No. 61, “Después de La Playa”
• No. 68, “Tarot,” with Jhay Cortez
• No. 72, “Neverita”
• No. 87, “La Corriente,” with Tony Dize
• No. 89, “Un Ratito”

Elsewhere on the Artist 100, Madonna re-enters at No. 8, her highest rank since hitting No. 1 in June 2019, thanks to her new remix compilation Finally Enough Love. The set debuts at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 with 30,000 units, becoming her 23rd top 10. She becomes the first woman to have earned a newly charting top 10 on the chart in the 1980s, ’90s, 2000s, ’10s and ’20s.

Plus, Panic! At the Disco returns to the Artist 100 at No. 10, placing in the top 10 for the first time since February 2019, as its new album Viva Las Vengeance arrives at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 (27,000 units).

The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

The Wiggles continue their golden run with the announcement of another arena tour of Australia, a run that places the childen’s entertainers in the history books.

With The Wiggles Holiday Party Big Show, announced Tuesday (Aug. 30), the Wiggles become the first band in Australian history to perform two national arena tours in a single year.

The “Hot Potato” singers will hit the road for 15 end-of-year dates, wrapping Dec. 17 at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena — the country’s biggest arena, with a 21,000 capacity.

Bruce Springsteen did the double with his Wrecking Ball tour in 2013 and with the High Hopes jaunt in 2014. The Boss’ visits were separated by twelve months, but weren’t in the same calendar year.

The festive-themed concert will featuring all eight Wiggles — Anthony, Simon, Lachy and Tsehay, who’ll be joined by John, Caterina, Evie and new “Blue Wiggle” Lucia, who dons the blue skivvy just like its original owner, her dad.

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This year has been an extraordinary one for the Wiggles, which won triple j’s Hottest 100 for the first time; landed a No. 1 album on the ARIA Chart (also a first), sold out Australasian arenas with their children’s Fruit Salad TV Big Show Tour and adult’s OG Reunion Tour; and scooped the Ted Albert Award for outstanding service to Australian music (a first for a kid’s entertainment act). They’re set to appear on the September cover of Rolling Stone Australia magazine, out next week.

The Wiggles Big Show Tour heads north for a tour of Canada, starting Sept. 28 at Avenir Centre, Moncton.

Two more accusers took the witness stand at R. Kelly’s child pornography and solicitation of minors trial Monday (Aug. 29), bringing to three the total number of accusers to have testified to date at the federal trial in Chicago.

The first accuser, who testified two weeks ago under the pseudonym “Jane,” is critical to another of the charges — that the R&B singer successfully rigged his 2008 state child pornography trial by threating witnesses and concealing video evidence.

Kelly, 55, was handed a 30-year prison sentence by a federal judge in New York in June for convictions on racketeering and sex trafficking charges.

In all, the prosecution cited five accusers in pre-trial filings, though it is unclear if both of the remaining accusers will testify before the government rests sometime this week. The trial was expected to last a month, wrapping up in mid-September.

An accuser who used the pseudonym “Pauline,” told jurors Monday she was a middle school classmate of Jane’s and that Jane introduced her to Kelly in 1998 when they were 14 and Kelly was around 30.

When she was at Kelly’s Chicago home later that year, Pauline said she was startled to walk in on Kelly and a naked Jane in a basement area. She said Kelly told her that “we all have secrets” and that this is “our secret.”

Pauline several times told jurors she had loved Kelly. But, as a 37-year-old mom, she said she now had a different perspective.

“If somebody did something to my kids, I’m killing ’em. Period,” she said.

Kelly sexually abused her over 100 times, starting when she was 14, and they first had intercourse when she was 15, she testified.

Under cross-examination, lead Kelly lawyer Jennifer Bonjean accused Pauline of being imprecise about how many times she had sex with Kelly when she was underage.

“Whether it is once or twice, what’s wrong is wrong,” Pauline shot back.

The second accuser to testify Monday, referred to only as Tracy, said she was introduced to Kelly when she was 16 by a boss at a record company she was interning for in 1998. Tracy told jurors she repeatedly rebuffed Kelly’s advances.

At a room in Kelly’s Chicago studio, she recalled telling him after he began pulling her close to him, “You know I’m 16?” Minutes later, when he “exposed himself… I tried to pull back but he had a hold of my shirt,” Tracy testified.

On another occasion, she described Kelly coming into a hotel room where Tracy was staying and yelling at her for having clothes on under her bathrobe.

“I told him I didn’t want to have sex,” she testified.

But she said Kelly ordered her to get into the bed with him anyway and that at several points used force to sexually abuse her. She said she first had intercourse with Kelly when she was 16, then dozens of times when she was 17 and 18.

Tracy began to cry on the stand Monday as she began to tell jurors about the day Kelly walked into a room where Tracy had been waiting. Kelly arrived with Jane.

“I was really confused and just really angry,” she recalled. “I just didn’t really think there was anyone else but me and Rob.”

Kelly’s 2008 trial revolved around a video that state prosecutors said showed Kelly abusing Jane. But after acquitting Kelly in 2008, jurors said they had no choice because the girl did not take the witness stand at that trial.

Jane did testify at the current trial, saying she was the child in the video and Kelly was the adult man.

In tennis, “love” means nothing. But in a new Gatorade ad narrated by Beyoncé to celebrate the final U.S. Open appearance from tennis legend Serena Williams, “Love Means Everything.”

That’s the title of the new commercial, which shows women of all ages who are dancers, fencers, roller skaters, equestrians and everything in between who have been inspired by the magnificent career and life story of Williams. The ad debuted during Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards ahead of Monday’s (Aug. 29) first day of the 2022 U.S. Open tennis tournament, which Williams announced in a Vogue essay earlier this month would be her final tournament as a professional player.

“When the world writes her down in history, we’ll begin where she started: at love,” Bey begins her narration. “No points, zero score — just love. It’s a love that we’ll remember through the generations, a love that started a movement, a movement to always love exactly who you are and who you can be. To be so in love with your identity that your very essence cannot be contained. To love the sound of your own voice and the way you move. To feel like a queen unapologetically, with a crown indefinitely. To cherish every muscle and every curve your body exhibits. A movement to always love being a proud Black woman, a parent, a dreamer, a leader. To love being one of a kind. To always love being you. The whole you. The real you. You. You. You. To always love you.

“So when we write her down in history, no matter who you are, no matter where you are, we’ll remember what she’s shown us,” Beyoncé concludes. “A movement to love you.”

With that, the commercial’s “Love Means Everything” motto flashes across the screen.

Beyoncé and Williams have long been champions of one another, with the tennis star hitting the stage during Bey’s Formation World Tour for “Sorry,” the Lemonade song whose music video Serena also appears in. Queen B and husband Jay-Z, meanwhile, can often be spotted in the crowd at Williams’ matches, and Beyoncé contributed the Oscar-nominated song “Be Alive” to King Richard, the 2021 biopic that Serena and Venus Williams executive produced.

Watch the full commercial below:

Chris Rock told the crowd at a Phoenix stand-up show this week that he was offered to host the 2023 Oscars, following the incident in which Will Smith stormed the stage and slapped him across the face.

According to AZ Central, the comedian declined the gig, as it would be like returning to the scene of a crime, referencing the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, whose ex-wife’s killing started out by leaving her mother’s glasses at an Italian restaurant. Rock said returning to the Oscars would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant.”

The tense moment in March occurred after Rock made an onstage joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, during the Academy Awards ceremony. “Jada, I love you. G.I Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,” the comedian said about her shaved head — which, unbeknownst to Rock, is caused by the actress’ struggles with alopecia.

Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes in response, while Smith laughed. Shortly after, the King Richard actor stormed the stage to slap Rock, who attempted to continue his banter before Smith began shouting from his seat, “Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth.”

Smith apologized for his behavior in a formal statement posted to his Instagram on March 28; he additionally resigned from his membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and has been banned from the Oscars and related Academy event for 10 years.

In July, Smith uploaded a video to YouTube, apologizing further. “I’ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that, he’s not ready to talk. When he is, he will reach out. I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable and I am here whenever you are ready to talk,” he said.

Smith continued, “I want to apologize to Chris’s mother. I saw an interview [she] did, and that was one of the things I just didn’t realize. I wasn’t thinking, but how many people got hurt in that moment. I want to apologize to Chris’ mother, I want to apologize to Chris’s family, specifically Tony Rock. We had a great relationship. Tony Rock was my man. This is probably irreparable. I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuance and complexity of what happened in that moment. I’m not going to try to unpack all of that right now, but I can say to all of you, there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment. No part of me that thinks that is the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insult.”

The dad of the year was in attendance at Harry Styles‘ Love on Tour show at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena this week.

According to Today, who found 16-year-old Sarita Rampersad and her father Nari at the shows, the dad surprised his teen daughter for her birthday with tickets for not one, but both nights of Styles’ tour in Toronto.

Sarita went on to plan the duo’s incredible outfits. The first night was to celebrate Styles’ sophomore album Fine Line by wearing coordinating blue and pink outfits, “because that’s the album when I finally got my dad to start listening to Harry too,” the teen told the publication.

“She had the idea for the outfits, but I did find two pairs of pants myself,” Nari added, noting that the two went thrifting to actualize the vision. “I found everything in the women’s section! It fit so much better than the men’s clothing! But nothing had pockets. How do you live without pockets? We had to buy a tote bag to carry my wallet and phone!”

Sarita posted their looks to her TikTok page, and the video currently has more than 350,000 likes at the time of publication. “He painted his nails and everything,” Sarita captioned the post. See it below.

Lizzo took to social media on Monday (Aug. 29) to show off her run-in with one-half of BLACKPINK at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards.

In a TikTok, the Special singer approached Lisa and Jisoo for a cute video on behalf of a follower, who requested, “TAKE A SELFIE WITH BLACKPINK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE.” While fans can’t hear what the K-pop idols and Lizzo are saying to each other due to the latter’s new single “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)” playing over top of the clip, the singer assured her followers, “THEY ARE SO SWEET” in the caption.

Both Lizzo and BLACKPINK were among the performers to hit the stage during the awards show on Sunday night, with the former playing a medley of her No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit “About Damn Time” and “2 Be Loved” and the girl group making their U.S. awards show debut with an electrifying rendition of Born Pink lead single “Pink Venom.”

And while Lizzo took home the award in the video for good category for “About Damn Time” during the telecast, Lisa beat out BTS, ITZY, SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids and TWICE  to win best K-pop for her eponymous and swaggering debut solo single “LALISA.” During her acceptance speech, Lizzo also took a page from the Nicki Minaj playbook to clap back “what’s good?”-style at comedian Aries Spears for attempting to throw shade at her.

Watch Lizzo’s giddy meet-up with Lisa and Jisoo below.

Nicki Minaj had quite the night at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, but her fun didn’t end with receiving this year’s Video Vanguard Award.

The honoree took to Instagram on Monday (Aug. 29) to share a video from the Republic Records VMAs afterparty with none other than Taylor Swift. “The big winner of the night is the beautiful Taylor Swift. Barbs, I know you love her; we all love her,” she told the camera over booming music as she and the superstar cozied up together.

Indeed, Swift walked away from the ceremony with her record-breaking third win for video of the year (for All Too Well: The Short Film) as well as Moon Persons for best longform video and best direction.

Later in the clip, which she captioned “Last night was mad real,” Minaj showed that she was out until at least 3:30 in the morning, when she took a video with a group of loyal fans waiting outside her hotel.

During the show, Minaj took to the stage at Newark, N.J.’s Prudential Center to run through a career-spanning medley 0f her greatest hits, including “Super Bass,” “All Things Go,” “Roman’s Revenge,” “Monster,” “Beez in the Trap,” “Chun-Li,” “Moment 4 Life,” “Anaconda” and her latest No. 1 single “Super Freaky Girl.”

The Queen Radio: Volume 1 rapper and Swift also shared a sweet moment during the ceremony, hugging it out as the latter accepted the award for video of the year moments before announcing her upcoming 10th studio album Midnights. Minaj also shouted out Swift during one of her acceptance speeches for her role in making “Super Bass” a pop hit.

Check out Minaj and Swift at the VMAs afterparty below.

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