Month: May 2023

Rising singer-songwriter Paris Paloma remembers exactly when she realized she had something special with “Labour.” It was the last day in a week-long studio session with producer Justin Glasco in Los Angeles, and she was preparing to record vocals for the climactic bridge to the stormy alt-folk anthem, with fellow women backup singers Natalie Duque, Nolyn Ducich and Annabel Lee. “That was a moment where I was like, ‘This is coming together as a song now,’ ” she recalls. “Because us women, just all shouting in a room — I was like, ‘This is what it’s about.’ ”

“Labour” has inspired no shortage of women doing exactly that since its March release. The single initially became a sensation on TikTok for Paloma’s mighty vocals and powerful message about having to do all the emotional heavy lifting in a relationship — and to a lesser extent, for her strikingly British pronunciation of the word “capillaries” (cuh-pill-uh-rees). (“I stand by the British pronunciation of it!” she insists. “I don’t think the American one sounds nice, I’m sorry.”) It has quickly become the 23-year-old U.K. singer-songwriter’s breakout hit, debuting at No. 9 on Billboard’s Hot Alternative Songs chart (dated April 8) and No. 13 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales listing — while in her home country, it entered at No. 29 on the Official Songs Chart.

Hailing from Ashbourne, Derbyshire in England, Paloma began writing music when she was 14, and started recording and releasing her own work in 2020. At the beginning of the pandemic, she attracted the attention of High Plateau Productions owner/CEO David Fernandez when he was invited to virtually attend a songwriter session. “Paris was the first to sing and literally, as soon as she opened her mouth, I pinged her on Instagram,” he recalls. “I was like, ‘Hey, look, I’m the weird dude in the room… let’s take a phone call.’ ”

Fernandez officially came on as her manager in March 2021. “It was basically just me and her,” he remembers of their early days together. “With my limited knowledge of mixing and mastering, [we were] both learning Logic at the exact same time.” While Paloma’s voice is what immediately drew Fernandez in, he soon became even more enamored with her songwriting: “Just the content that she writes about, and the meaningfulness of her lyrics — it touches me as a music listener.”

Paloma scored a minor breakthrough in 2022 with her biblically framed relationship analysis “The Fruits,” attracting the attention of Nettwerk Records, who she signed with that fall. Her first time recording in a proper studio was last September for “Labour” — a song she’d originally written as two separate works, before realizing they shared a theme. “They’re [about] the same thing — putting too much labor into a relationship where you’re not having it returned,” she explains. “And how common of an experience that is for women, because of the way that we’ve been programmed to view heterosexual relationship dynamics. And it’s so normalized.”

Upon hearing the song’s demo for the first time, Fernandez insisted that it would need reinforcements beyond the two of them and a laptop: “I just knew if I could get her in with Justin [Glasco] and add [his] sprinkle of fairy dust on top of the thing — I had a really, really good feeling.” Even before they put it to tape, though, the song was already starting to garner interest, thanks to an early clip Paloma posted to TikTok in August, teasing lyrics for the song that she’d just penned.

“I often do videos whilst I’m songwriting, and I did that the first evening when I wrote the lyrics for what ended up being the bridge,” she says. “It was just a video of me in my room singing these words that I’d written like, 20 minutes before… but it gave me a little indicator that was like, ‘OK, I think this is something that I want to be heard, and I think people want to hear it.’ ”

Those early signs proved right on the money when the full song was released through Nettwerk in March, drawing not only millions of streams but countless responses on TikTok from fans who found the themes to be resonant — and not just from women. “I’ve got several messages from men who’ve realized [from the song] that they should be doing better in relationships,” Paloma says. “That’s amazing. Because I keep getting asked, ‘What can we do to solve this?’ And it’s not up to women: That’s the whole point. It’s up to men to listen and to take action.”

Through the success of “Labour” and Paloma’s other songs, she has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok. But Fernandez is insistent that neither he nor Paloma want her to be seen as a “TikTok artist” — which is part of the reason they declined to release sped-up or slowed-down versions of “Labour,” instead opting to record a totally reimagined, more orchestral version of the song with production duo Myriot that’s dropping soon. “It’s just not falling into that trap of, ‘Let’s copy what everyone is doing right now,’ ” Fernandez says. “Let’s try to forge our own way. And if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

Paloma is now getting ready to play some live shows at 300-500-cap spaces in London and upcoming festival dates at Summerfest and Bonnaroo. She’s also beginning to think about a debut album, which Fernandez says fans can most likely expect in July or August. By then, it will have been about a year since she wrote “Labour.”

“It’s already been a lot of time in between,” she says. “In that time, I’ve written a lot newer music, which — not to say that it’s better, but you always think that your most recent stuff is the best, because it’s the most accurate reflection of where your creativity is. I’ve got so much work I want to get out.”

A version of this story will appear in the May 13, 2023, issue of Billboard.

Snoop Dogg is joining the Hollywood Bowl’s 2023 concert lineup. Snoop Dogg & Friends — subtitled 30th Anniversary of Doggystyle & More and produced by Dr. Dre — will take place June 27-28 (8 p.m. PT). The Los Angeles Philharmonic announced the new addition to the Bowl’s summer slate Tuesday (May 2).

A host of special guests will help the hip-hop pioneer, media personality and entrepreneur celebrate the anniversary of his seminal debut studio album. The performers will be backed by the ReCollective Orchestra led by conductor Derrick Hodge.

Released in 1993 by the rapper then known as Snoop Doggy Dogg, Doggystyle spun off two top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and also his first as a lead artist: “What’s My Name?” and “Gin and Juice.” Guests on the album included Nate Dogg, Warren G., Kurupt, The Lady of Rage, The D.O.C., Tha Dogg Pound and R&B group The Dramatics.

Produced by Dr. Dre following Snoop Dogg’s own guest contributions to the former’s 1992 classic The Chronic, Doggystyle debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and topped that chart for three weeks. The later RIAA-certified multiplatinum album initially sold 803,000 copies its premiere week which, at that time, was a first-week record for a debut rap album, according to Luminate. The record stood for nearly a decade until 50 Cent’s 2003 debut studio album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, which logged 872,000 units sold in its first week. Doggystyle was released by Death Row Records, which Snoop Dogg now owns, and Interscope Records.

Tickets for Snoop Dogg & Friends go on sale Friday, May 5, at 10 a.m. PT. Visit the Hollywood Bowl’s website for more information.

On this week of keeping up with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny, the entertainment industry’s buzziest rumored new couple stepped out together for a glamorous post Met Gala outing Monday night (May 1).

Both Jenner and the Puerto Rican superstar were guests at the Karl Lagerfeld-themed gala that evening, the former sporting a black and white leotard with dramatically long sleeves, and the latter wearing a backless white suit with a train of fabric roses. Though the two arrived separately to the red carpet, they were later seen at each other’s side as they headed to an afterparty together in New York City.

Photos taken on the scene show Bunny, having changed out of his Met Gala attire, in a simple white T-shirt, brown slacks and jacket plus a sparkling cross necklace. Jenner also switched out her couture look, opting for a sheer bodysuit layered underneath black underwear.

The two stars’ Met Gala night is just the latest of several public appearances together since romance rumors began earlier this year. A couple weeks ago, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star was spotted getting cozy with Bunny at Coachella, and in March, the pair was spotted appearing to lock lips.

Before that, Jenner and the “I Like It” musician were seen riding horses together near Los Angeles. In February, the two went out to dinner on a double date with Jenner’s friends Hailey and Justin Bieber.

See Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner on their way to a Met Gala afterparty below: