Month: February 2023

The annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala will make its grand in-person return on Saturday night (Feb. 4) for the first time since 2020 due to the pandemic. And naturally, the legend promises it to be the most stellar, most star-studded one yet.

The 2023 gala will honor Atlantic executives Craig Kallman, CEO and chairman of Atlantic Records, and Julie Greenwald, CEO and chairman of Atlantic Music Group. Atlantic Records’ roster includes Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, Lizzo, Jack Harlow and more. The label scored 40 nominations at this year’s Grammys.

While speaking with Billboard days before his anticipated event, Davis reveals that two Atlantic superstars will perform. He also spoke of a duet between a “Latin superstar” and a “major rock hero” — which Davis first teased earlier this week at the Billboard Power 100 event, joking that “I’ve never followed Bad Bunny before.”

Davis also revealed how and when he begins to plan such an impressive party year after year, and shared the one thing he does right after each gala comes to an end.

“The demand for tickets is always intense,” he says. “And the challenge is to provide a show, not opportunities to quote ‘shmooze.’ It’s the show that everybody writes me of the memories.”

But regardless of who shows up and who performs this year, Davis has only one hope, “That it achieves what all the others did: that we have a celebration of music.”

The big conversation point for you this year is that this gala is coming back after three years. When did the planning start?

You know, you cannot plan until the Grammy nominations occur, because if you want someone who should be nominated — and you know that there have been surprises in recent years with people that should have been nominated and got no nomination — so nobody will commit to being in L.A. Grammy week. So we wait for the day that the Grammy Award nominations come out. However, we are no way whatsoever slaves to just have Grammy nominees perform. I mean, I’ve reached back. I thought eight years ago, “It’s time for Taylor Swift to see Johnny Mathis.” I brought out Johnny Mathis and I’m looking at Taylor from the stage and I’m saying, “Taylor, congratulations on all that you’re doing. You’ve probably never seen the next performer because he rarely tours, but he’s up there with Sinatra. The greatest of all time. And an album of his greatest hits was on the Billboard 200 for 10 consecutive years.” She did her trademark gasp and then I brought Johnny on to do his greatest hits. I have a version of that in mind for Saturday night. Something different, which I can’t talk about, but it’s a night that celebrates music.

Yes, Nancy Pelosi is coming for the 23rd consecutive year, and she’ll be there with her husband, Paul. Everybody will be touched that he is well enough to come. But the audience has every year the top leading people who run companies all over the world, music publishers but also networks and motion picture studios and sports representatives. I mean, Magic Johnson comes every year and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Chris Bosh, CC Sebathia… if you love music, you want to be there. So the demand for tickets is always intense. And the challenge is to provide a show, not opportunities to quote “shmooze,” it’s the show that everybody writes me of the memories. That they saw Whitney with Nat King Cole. That they saw Alicia Keys duet with Aretha Franklin. That they saw Rod Stewart at the height of the Great American Songbook sing with Lou Reed and Slash. As I mentioned, I didn’t know I’d be following Bad Bunny [at the Power 100 event]. So it did trigger [me discussing] Latin music, what has happened with him and Rosalia, with Anitta and so many others. I’m really pleased that we have a unique duet Saturday night of a major rock hero with a Latin superstar, and I was very pleased to point that out being in the position of following Bad Bunny. This came from the rock artist that his two songs he would like to do with the major Latin star. And I don’t know whether they ever worked together before. I had not heard of such, but it’s killer, as they say. A killer combo. 

The gala is honoring Atlantic Records’ Craig Kallman and Julie Greenwald this year. You’ve known them for some time, do you have a favorite memory having worked together?

I don’t work with them. I compete with them. Because Craig is very close with two of my sons, Fred Davis and Doug Davis, we have gotten personally friendly. We are Jewish and we have Passover dinners and Craig has attended with his wife a few of my Passover dinners. So we are really good extended friends, extended family. 

When making the guest list, how do you find the right balance between inviting legends and the newer artists that you’re always so good at spotting?

We have every year given the Icon winner an opportunity to pick two artists, and we have about nine artists that we show. So the Icon section usually does not take place until after five or six artists have appeared that have no relationship to the Icon. I can’t tell you right now, but there are definitely two very, very, very talented Atlantic artists performing and I believe that an Atlantic Records artist will introduce part of the segment verbally, which is a nice touch that we’ve never had before. So they’ll definitely be, performance wise, at least two Atlantic artists.

What’s exciting to you in music right now?

What hip-hop has become. My concern was and has been that hip-hop has so dominated not only its own genre but Top 40, that I worry where the next Bob Dylan, where the next Bruce Springsteen is going to come from. I wonder where the next Aretha Franklin or Whitney Houston is. It’s not easy, even for the biggest voices that are around, although I’m encouraged by what’s happening with SZA and Jazmine Sullivan and a few others. As I see hip-hop broadening its vision and combining with R&B or seeing artists of pop and folk and rock broaden their horizons, I’m seeing a broadening of musical influence. But we’ve got to make sure as exciting as Kendrick Lamar and Drake are and as wonderful as hip-hop stars are, that we don’t narrow the breadth of what contemporary music is all about.

After the gala, what is the first thing that you do?

We go to the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel and do the postmortem. You know when you have a party, whether it be a wedding or another event, that you want the postmortem to review what happened and get the reactions. You want to stew about it, gossip about it, enjoy it. So that’s what I do. 

Is there one postmortem that stands out the most, where you all couldn’t believe what had just happened? 

You know what’s surprising, and it happens every year, and maybe that’s why it’s lasted as long, is every year in a heartfelt, honest way, the postmortem is, “This was the best party ever.” I can’t believe how every year, with a straight face, so many say, “This was the best ever.” If you ask me now, reminiscing — we’re going to put together a documentary of the greatest hits of the greatest parties — it’s hard to evaluate which performance or memory was most special. 

What is the most memorable or over the top thank you that you have received?

I was leaving Arista and I decided that there’d be only two artists performing at my Grammy party that year. There was Carlos Santana performing memorably with Rob Thomas and Wyclef doing “Black Magic Woman,” Oye Como Va” and “Evil Ways” from the first time I signed him and “Smooth” and “Maria, Maria” from the second. But then Whitney came on after two memorable speeches of what my work has meant to music. One was from Stevie Wonder and the other was from Lauryn Hill, and they were both incredibly touching. But the most touching was Whitney coming to the center of the stage and singing, “I Believe in You and Me,” just to me. And then singing “I Will Always Love You,” just to me. So it was a very vulnerable time in life and it was so touching to see her love. Neither of us thought that we’d be back together again two or so years later. But you can’t top that. You can’t top those songs sung by Whitney personally expressing her love. 

Ahead of Saturday night’s gala, what is your one hope for this year’s event?

That it achieves what all the others did: that we have a celebration of music. That they see performances that are among the greatest that they would’ve seen. I’ve gotten so many personal emails from very celebrated people. I’ll give you examples of Tim Cook meeting David Hockney for the first time. Brandi Carlile meeting Joni Mitchell for the first time. Her hero. It was her first year in the audience and I got to know her because we were doing 10-20 interviews together and what emerged was what a unique heroine Joni was to Brandi. Well, I put her at the same table and it changed both [of their lives]. They are so close [now]. So meeting people that they would not otherwise meet, whether it be [Barbara] Streisand, Puffy or Pharrell. Trevor [Noah] is coming this year. Just hearing people when they attend the party saying how special it is for them.

HARDY’s “Wait in the Truck,” featuring Lainey Wilson, rolls into the top 10 of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart dated Feb. 11. The song pushes from No. 11 to No. 9, up 5% to 19.3 million audience impressions in the week ending Feb. 2, according to Luminate.

HARDY lands his third Country Airplay top 10 as a recording artist, after “Beers on Me,” with Dierks Bentley and BRELAND, led for a week last April and “One Beer,” featuring Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson, ruled for a week in December 2020. HARDY has co-written 11 No. 1s on the survey, including those two chart-toppers.

“Truck” gives Wilson her fourth consecutive career- opening Country Airplay top 10. Her debut, “Things a Man Oughta Know,” topped the tally for a week in September 2021; “Never Say Never,’’ with Cole Swindell, dominated for two frames last April-May; and her third top 10, “Heart Like a Truck,” rides 10-7 (21 million, up 7%) for a new high on the latest list.

HARDY penned “Truck” with Renee Blair, Hunter Phelps and Jordan Schmidt.  “You rarely hear songs like this that bring light to heavy situations that people are really scared to talk about,” says Wilson of the tense murder ballad. “I feel, in my heart, that our job is to sing about the things that people are afraid to talk about. It’s a song that definitely starts a conversation.”

“Wait” is the lead single from HARDY’s LP The Mockingbird & The Crow, which launched at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart dated Feb. 4 with 55,000 equivalent album units, marking his first leader and biggest week to-date.

‘Didn’t Do’ Does It

Carly Pearce nets her fourth Country Airplay top 10 as “What He Didn’t Do” rises 12-10 (19.1 million, up 5%). Co-penned by Pearce, the song follows her first three No. 1s: her Ashley McBryde team-up “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” which led for a week last May; “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” with Lee Brice (one week, June 2020); and “Every Little Thing,” (one, November 2017).

A majority stake in late rapper Juice WRLD‘s rights and income streams quietly sold to Opus Music Group in early 2022 in a nine-figure deal, according to a source close to the acquisition. Opus now owns 90% of Juice WRLD’s interest in master recording income and 90% of his share of publishing ownership.

The prolific Chicago-born talent’s deal includes his “hundreds” of unreleased tracks as well as his full released music catalog. Ownership of his master recordings remains with his label partners, Grade A Productions and Interscope Records.

Opus Music Group is financially backed by Elliott Management, a New York-based investment management company with one of the largest activist funds in the world. According to Opus Music Group’s website, the firm represents three artists: Juice WRLD, Rauw Alejandro and Maluma.

Juice WRLD boasts five top five-charting albums on the Billboard 200, encompassing the entirety of his charting releases. Two of those albums, Death Race for Love and Legends Never Die, finished at No. 1 on the tally. The late rapper has also charted nine songs on the Billboard Hot 100. He’s earned 16.3 million equivalent album units in the United States for his solo albums as well as his collaborative set with Future, according to Luminate. He also has 26.2 billion on-demand official streams in the U.S. for his catalog of songs where he’s billed as the primary artist, including those credited to Future & Juice WRLD from their collab set, according to Luminate.

Opus Music Group, which would not comment on deal terms, emailed the following statement to Billboard: “To represent the body of work of Juice Wrld – whose cultural significance and generational influence can’t be overstated – is an honor and a responsibility.”

A representative for Juice WRLD declined to comment.

Born Jarad Anthony Higgins, Juice WRLD died in 2019 following a seizure when he was 21 years old. He is best known for his hit “Lucid Dreams,” a melodic, emo-tinged rap track that brought the Soundcloud Rap subgenre to mainstream airwaves in 2018 and reached No. 2 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. The emotive, catchy track was the focal point of his debut album, Goodbye and Good Riddance (2018), a record which also included “All Girls Are the Same,” his first song to gain serious traction, as well as “Lean wit Me,” “Wasted” and “Armed and Dangerous.” That same year, he released the collaborative mixtape with Future called Future & Juice WRLD Present…Wrld on Drugs. One year later, he released his second album, Death Race for Love, which featured the song “Robbery” and reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Juice WRLD was also known for featuring on other artists’ tracks, often crossing traditional genre lines in the process. Some of his collaborators included Lil Uzi Vert, Benny Blanco, Trippie Redd, Ellie Goulding and BTS.

Posthumously, Juice WRLD has released even more music, starting with the 22-track record Legends Never Die (2020) and Fighting Demons (2022).

Throughout his six-plus decades in country music, Bill Anderson has been lauded for his considerable talents as both an artist and a songwriter, with more than 30 top 10 Billboard Country Songs hits to his credit as an artist, including seven chart-toppers. As a songwriter, he’s seen his songs recorded by artists including George Strait, Brad Paisley, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Dean Martin.

But even as a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, the 85-year-old Anderson is still notching career firsts. Leading into Sunday’s (Feb. 5) Grammy Awards, Anderson is celebrating his first Grammy nomination as an artist, as “Someday It’ll All Make Sense (Bluegrass Version)” earned a nomination in the best American roots performance category.

The nomination is Anderson’s fifth overall Grammy nomination, with his four previous nominations stemming from his skill as a songwriter. He was the sole writer on Connie Smith’s 1964 hit “Once a Day” and Porter Wagoner’s “Cold Hard Facts of Life,” which were each nominated for a Grammy in the best country & western song category. His work as a co-writer on Steve Wariner’s “Two Teardrops” and George Strait’s “Give It Away” earned nominations in the same category, after it was renamed best country song.

“I knew I had Grammy nominations for writing. I have never won one. It’d probably be my last shot at it,” he says with an unassuming chuckle, seated at a table in his business office just outside of Nashville.

Anderson recalls playing the song for Sony Music Publishing Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston: “I didn’t even tell him I was going to play it, and he didn’t know Dolly was involved. He’s sitting there listening to it and of course, I sing the first verse of the song myself. When Dolly’s voice came on, he was like, ‘A Grammy!’ So he believed in it from the beginning.”

“Someday It’ll All Make Sense,” which Anderson wrote with Bobby Tomberlin and Ryan Larkins, is featured on Anderson’s most recent album, As Far as I Can See: The Best Of, which released in June on MCA Records/Ume.

As Far as I Can See is also the title of his current exhibit on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, detailing Anderson’s journey from being the 19-year-old disc jockey in Georgia who wrote “City Lights,” which would become a No. 1 hit for Ray Price in 1958. In 1960, Anderson earned his own first top 10 Country Songs hit with “Tips of My Fingers,” followed in 1962 by his first No. 1, the seven-week chart-topper “Mama Sang a Song.” He earned another seven-week chart-leader in “Still,” as well as later chart-toppers “I Get the Fever,” “For Loving You” (with Jan Howard) and “Sometimes” (with Mary Lou Turner).

By the 1980s, he parlayed his affable, humorous personality into work as a television game show host on The Better Sex and the now-defunct cable outlet Tennessee News Network’s country music-themed quiz show Fandango (he had previously hosted his own The Bill Anderson Show). However, in the 1990s, he began collaborating with Vince Gill, notably on the song “Which Bridge to Cross (Which Bridge to Burn).” That ushered in a renaissance for his songwriting career, leading to him writing with and for a new generation of artists and crafting fine-tuned hits including Kenny Chesney’s “A Lot of Things Different,” Strait’s “Give It Away,” and the Brad Paisley/Alison Krauss duet “Whiskey Lullaby” (which won the CMA’s song of the year honor in 2005).

Anderson talked with Billboard about his current Grammy nomination, working with his longtime friend and fellow singer-songwriter Dolly Parton, his thoughts on touring and songwriting and his memories from his decades in music.

How did Dolly come to be part of this song?

Her hairstylist is a girl named Cheryl Riddle, and we’ve been friends for many years. She’s had a lot to do with my career in some interesting ways. When I kind of quit songwriting for a while and backed away from it, she’s the one who encouraged me to do some co-writing. She was also doing Vince Gill’s hair at the time, and was trying to get me and Vince together to co-write. She finally succeeded, and that started my whole second songwriting career — and evolved into a wonderful friendship between me and Vince.

Bobby Tomberlin is also good friends with Cheryl, and he played some of it for her, with just me singing it. Cheryl said, “Oh my god, Dolly should be singing on that with him.” And asked for a copy. Dolly loved it, and next thing I know, they sent me a copy of her singing it with me. I told Dolly the day we filmed the video, I said, “This sounds like something you would’ve written,” and she said, “I wish I had! I love it,” which I took as a great compliment.

This is not the first musical collaboration you have had with Dolly. As Far as I Can See also features an early demo from around 1964 with Dolly, “If It Is All the Same to You,” a song you later recorded with Jan Howard.

It was lost for a long period of time. I’m almost positive that we did that session out at [Owen] Bradley’s barn. Dolly was new in town. Walter Haynes was working for the publishing company I was writing for at the time, and I said, “I need a girl singer to help me on this duet.” He said, “I know this girl from East Tennessee and she’s pretty good.” So she was hired and we sang the duet together. I think we recorded six or seven songs that night, and I went up there not long after to get a copy of the session, and someone had taken the duet and cut it out. There were seven songs on the demo but only six on the copy. Until recent years, I thought it had disappeared, until the Bear Family put out a box set of my music and uncovered it.

The two of you also filmed the video together for “Someday It’ll All Make Sense.” What do you recall about the day of filming?

She set aside from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., so we had three hours to do the video. When we finished filming all the scenes she would be involved, we got finished a little before one. There were all kinds of people coming to watch and Dolly stopped and said, “Okay, if anybody would like to get pictures or an autograph, we’ve got 15 minutes.” She stood there and took pictures with everybody in that room.

And then she turned to me and said, “Ok, I gotta go change clothes. I’m doing a video for the Queen of England” [for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, marking 70 years of service]. So she finished filming a video with Bill Anderson, changed clothes into something very prim and proper, a black dress with a set of pearls and did a video for the Queen of England, then changed again and did a video for NASCAR. She’s amazing.

In addition to being artists, writers and all-around entertainers, both you and Dolly were were part of impactful duos — Dolly and Porter were on the Porter Wagoner Show, and Jan Howard was part of your show and a frequent duet partner. Do you have any memories that stand out from that time?

There were occasions where promoters would book my show and Porter’s show together. There were some pretty big fairs up in the Northeast where Jan and my group, we’d do the first half of the show, and then there would be an intermission, and then Porter and Dolly would do their part of the show. One time, we did this cool thing where we decided to do a swap. Jan and I guested on the Porter Wagoner Show, and Dolly and Porter guested on the Bill Anderson Show, and we all sang songs together. I would love to have a copy of those shows.

You have several books here on your table, including a book about your Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit As Far as I Can See. What music or music business books have been some of your favorites?

I read all the time and have books stacked up. I’ve never thrown away a music book and an awful lot of ‘em are autographed. Probably the music book that got me the most, emotionally, was the Louvin Brothers book, Satan Is Real [written by Charlie Louvin with Benjamin Whitmer]. If I was a movie producer, I’d make a movie out of that book so quick. I knew Charlie [Louvin] quite well, and Ira as well as you could know Ira. They recorded quite a few of my songs. That book was just so brutally honest and it really moved me. But I’ve read Shania Twain’s book [From This Moment On], and Anne Murray [All of Me] and everything from Willie — Willie’s book of the month. I feel like I know Willie awfully well.

What Is ahead for you in terms of touring and recording?

I want to make some more records. [UMG Nashville president] Cindy Mabe has been a real champion for this whole project, and UMG re-released a lot of my older catalog digitally for the first time. So I’m just seeing what is ahead.

I’m not going out on the road right now. I haven’t been out on the road since [the] COVID [pandemic] started. Surprisingly, I haven’t missed it like I thought I probably would. I was on the road for over 50 years and I figured I couldn’t live without it. But I’ve kind of enjoyed just kicking back a little bit, writing a little bit more, taking time off and being with my kids and grandkids.

I’m not saying I’m never going back on the road — as soon as I say “Never,” something will change. I want to make more records and keep performing occasionally at the Opry. I’m not saying I’ll never work the road again, but it’s not on the top of my priority list.

You have had so much success, both as a solo writer and a co-writer. Who are some of your favorite rising songwriters?

I like Ryan Larkins, the third writer on “Someday.” And I like this kid, Drake Milligan. I’ve got two writing dates with him and one is going to be me and him and Vince. Ryan and Drake are two that I have connected with. They are young kids with old souls.

What are your thoughts on the nomination as we head into the Grammys?

I’ve been so blessed. I mean, I pinch myself sometimes that this has really all happened. If we do win a Grammy on Sunday, that’ll be the cherry on top of the sundae. And if we don’t, it’s still been a fun ride.

Billboard’s First Stream serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond. 

This week, GloRilla feeds the “Trolls,” Shania Twain is ready to come back over, and Morgan Wallen previews a huge new release. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:

GloRilla, “Internet Trolls” 

After breaking through last year with the Hitkidd team-up “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and proceeding to establish herself as a riveting new voice in hip-hop, GloRilla takes aim at those who have hid behind keyboards and tried to tear her down, with Hitkidd back to provide the soundtrack. “Internet Trolls” is a relatively short but dramatically rendered check-in, with GloRilla sneering, “They don’t wanna clap for you, they just want you to clap back,” while simultaneously proving those same haters wrong.

Shania Twain, Queen of Me 

While Shania Twain has plenty of hits to enshrine her legacy and bring in packed audiences whenever she heads out on the road, Queen of Me, her new album and second since kicking off a comeback with 2017’s Now, continues to forge ahead with rollicking country-pop and a seasoned perspective. More than any one song on Queen of Me, Twain’s sense of perspective and determination shines through: the album offers more cup-hoisting anthems that recall her Come On Over days, but their fabric is time-honored, and their sense of joy is hard-earned.

Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” / “Everything I Love” / “I Wrote the Book” 

A press release for Morgan Wallen’s forthcoming One Thing at a Time previews the 36-song effort as a “deeply personal album that combines Wallen’s musical influences — country, alternative and hip-hop.” And while the gargantuan LP will no doubt take some stylistic detours, this three-pack of songs ahead of its release finds Wallen in the crowd-pleasing modern country sphere that he’s become a force within: “Last Night” in particular sounds like it will be inescapable for months, its snappy rhythm and warbled harmonies ripe for endless country radio replays.

Karol G & Romeo Santos, “X Si Volvemos” 

“X Si Volvemos” is a breakup song, with both Karol G and Romeo Santos acknowledging that lingering physical temptations bring complications to a clean split — and while both artists understand how to deliver wide-reaching choruses, the nuances of their vocal deliveries make this collaboration shine. Both artists’ vocals ache over Ovy On The Drums’ scintillating production, as they try to move on from a fractured reality but their tones keep circling back toward each other.

RAYE, My 21st Century Blues 

To describe RAYE’s debut album “long-awaited” would be an understatement: the pop singer-songwriter tried for years to get her former record label to give the project a release date to no avail, eventually turned independent, and fortunately for her, scored a top 40 smash in “Escapism” to lead into My 21st Century Blues. Although her path has been winding, RAYE’s ambition has never wavered: the album soars with genre explorations (“Oscar Winning Tears” is a top-notch R&B showcase) and intimate songwriting (“Body Dysmorphia” is as harrowing as its title suggests), as she makes the most of her opportunity to finally share her story.