Cover Story
Meet Maluma the Mogul: From Selling Sandwiches to Running an Empire
Eighteen years before he sold out stadiums across the globe, Maluma was selling ham and cheese sandwiches. “That’s where my entrepreneurial spirit comes from,” he says, a proud gaze peeking out from behind his black-rimmed, orange-tinted shades. As a 10-year-old in Medellín, Colombia, Maluma (born Juan Luis Londoño Arias) would neatly pack his homemade sandwiches and tote them to Hontanares Elementary School, where he would sell them alongside lollipops. Then he would put the money he made back into his sandwich startup. “I bought more bread, more ham, more cheese and started to grow in the sandwich industry,” Maluma says, letting out an infectious chuckle. “I’d come to school with my sandwiches and people would ask me, ‘How much do they cost?’ And I’d say, ‘How much do you have?’ ” F...
Alison Mosshart on Potential Dead Weather Reunion: “It’ll Have To Feel Just Right”
At some point between The White Stripes’ debut and now, Jack White crossed over from being the frontman of an exciting blues rock duo to being an ambassador for the very essence of the music he creates. And, as evidenced by the many groups he’s played in and/or produced for, White isn’t hesitant to share some of that essence. In Consequence’s latest cover story, starring White, Alison Mosshart (of The Kills and The Dead Weather) shares her experience working with the rock icon. “[He’s a] wildly creative mind, of course. He moves quick, ideas come to him like boom, boom, boom, and he’s fearless in all his projects,” Mosshart tells Consequence. “[He] just fires up the engine and goes. There is total heart and passion running through all of his work. His energy is huge, and he’s a great colla...
Brandi Carlile Is a Queer Icon — And She’s Making the Music Business Better, Too
Brandi Carlile is happy to expound upon bad wine. Bad wine gives her a hangover. The pretension of wine culture leaves a bad taste in her mouth. “Without sounding like I’m judging wine as a concept, it’s annoyingly bougie and culturally hetero,” she says with a laugh. “It’s like golf.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news So when it came to developing her own boutique wine label, XOBC, she knew what she did want. It would be a wine for folks who are “a little left of center.” Something a bit rugged — maybe for a camping trip, to be sipped out of a Solo cup — “but it’s not going to give you a f–king headache.” And like everything Carlile does, it wouldn’t just be good — it would do good, too. Because Carlile and her wife, Catherine Shepherd, ...
Anitta’s Global Vision: A Trilingual Takeover
Indio, Calif., and Rio de Janeiro are nearly 7,000 miles apart. Indio is a desert, and Rio a tropical beach paradise; Rio a bustling metropolis of nearly 7 million people, and Indio, for most of the year, a sleepy small town. But in mid-April, the disparate locales somehow became one when Anitta turned Coachella into a Brazilian Carnival. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Sérgio Mendes’ classic samba “Mas Que Nada” played over the speakers; then, as it transitioned into her own “Onda Diferente,” the 29-year-old rode a motorcycle onto the main stage, wearing a spangled and feathered Roberto Cavalli ensemble in yellow, green and blue, the colors of the Brazilian flag. Over the course of the next 45 minutes, her eye-popping show — a mas...
Why Artists Like Pusha T and Nigo Trust Manager Steven Victor’s Vision
The line stretched around the block, to Houston Street on Manhattan’s West Side, south down Wooster, wrapping around Prince and then back up Greene Street, the tail end bumping up against the entrance. The kids all looked the part: KENZO, BAPE, Human Made and Supreme, logos as prominent and fresh as their Air Force 1s, dutifully waiting for the chance to pick from a selection of exclusive $130 T-shirts, $450 sweatshirts and $2,000 varsity jackets inside. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news For a streetwear fan on a Saturday in New York, there was no better place to be than here, outside a SoHo pop-up shop celebrating the latest collaboration from Nigo. The Japanese cultural legend — who founded BAPE in 1993 and ushered in an aesthetic that made him...
Brandi Carlile Is Right on Time
It’s dead quiet backstage at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, save for the sound of Brandi Carlile’s patent Gucci loafers clicking against the floor on the way into the greenroom. Fresh off a win for Artist of the Year at the Americana Honors and Awards the night before, Carlile is talking fondly about envy. “Margo Price sang a song last night that made me blind jealous,” Carlile says, sitting on a couch in a rainbow tie-dye cardigan and jeans. It’s the same cardigan she posed in for a photoshoot with the New York Times, because Carlile is not the wear-and-toss type. Growing up in poverty can do that to a person, no matter how many pairs of loafers or cashmere sweaters she can now afford. “I just thought, ‘I fucking love that song, why didn’t I write that?’ So I went right up t...
The Big Boss Talks: Daddy Yankee Is Teaching Reggaetón’s Stars How to Own Their Careers
Yes. When I’ve had to pay someone for the respect, I’ve done so. “I’m worth so much” — OK. I’ve always understood an artist’s value. If we collaborate and you charge me X, that’s fine. Most of my collabs are exchanges, but remember, there’s a very fine line there. What if my song works, but yours doesn’t? Hopefully both tracks work, but that’s not always the case, and I get that. I get that you have a value that you need me to cover so that in the end, we’re all in a good place. But the business is flexible, and I’m flexible in many areas. I understand that sometimes, we’re talking about cultural moments rather than simply chart position. “China” [Anuel’s hit featuring Karol G, J Balvin, Ozuna and Yankee] is a good example. I saw it as a song that was important for the genre. Whe...
CHVRCHES Reboot
Lauren Mayberry was recently stuck in traffic, as is often the case in Los Angeles. With time on her hands, she decided to listen to a playlist of “New Alternative Music” that an algorithm had recommended for her. Zooming from her Los Angeles home, Mayberry is wearing a red and white ringer t-shirt of fellow British romantics Wolf Alice. Alternative music is very much her thing, and for a while, her band CHVRCHES was one of the biggest in that world. But after spending some time safely immersed in the comforting sounds of the dreaded algorithm, she’s not sure where her band stands anymore — or what alternative music even is now. “After about 18 songs, we had come on [the playlist],” she says. “The style of my vocals is so fucking different. I sound like I’m screaming and shouting.” Feeling...
Inside the Business of BTS — And the Challenges Ahead
When the seven members — Jin and Suga, 28; J-Hope, 27; RM, 26; V and Jimin, 25; and Jungkook, the mystery hallway singer, is 23 — sit down and begin answering questions, however, they look and sound like the veteran pop stars they are. Seated in foldaway chairs on a stage — where the white surfaces bear shoe prints and other marks from a recent livestreamed appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon — they speak politely, eloquently and with conviction, emanating the humble charisma that has charmed millions of fans into supporting them with an almost religious fervor. “We are not exceptional people — our plate is small,” says rapper Suga, the group’s bookworm, using the Korean expression for lack of ability or small-mindedness. “We’re these rice-bowl-size guys getting so much po...
Swedish House Mafia Returns: In Stockholm With the Dance Music Legends
And the group was still hard at work on more new music: In June 2019, the members were in the studio with A$AP Rocky the day before he turned himself in to Swedish police following an alleged street brawl (and was subsequently held in detention for two months). Still, the group dragged its feet on releasing singles — it still felt the album was unfinished. Then, everything stopped. The COVID-19 pandemic struck — and the Swedes, in a way, got what they wanted: much more time to work on the music. “Now we laugh about the early ideas,” says Angello. “We’re like, ‘Holy s–t — we were supposed to put that out?’ ” The pandemic may have had some silver linings for artists, but the Swedes weren’t immune to its many downsides. Sweden never fully locked down and only recommended wearing ma...
Offset Is Finally Comfortable
The 29-year-old, born Kiari Kendrell Cephus, is laying, damn near flat, in the passenger’s seat of a car that’s probably worth more than twice my salary. We’re gossiping about movie roles that would be good looks for him and, without hesitation, he says that being a gangbanger on screen is the exact opposite of what he wants to do now. Let robbing people and selling drugs live in his past. He’s on to bigger and better things. Instead of revisiting a closed chapter, Offset wants to open a new book as an actor — one that he doesn’t think people believe he could write. “I want to show you something I can’t do — something that nobody thinks I can do — because when you see it, it’s more interesting,” he says, clearly thinking three steps ahead. His eyes travel to his scalp for a second, trying ...
Kings of Leon Are Standing Tall
Most people wouldn’t expect polite golf chat from Kings of Leon. Not from the group who emerged in the early aughts like a garage-rock thunderbolt. Proudly discussing the exploits of their young children? Sure, they are fathers, after all. But golf? Even with all their accolades and successes, one prize stands out for 41-year-old Nathan Followill, the group’s oldest and most affable member. “One of my proudest moments was making Golf Digest’s [2014] list of 100 best musician golfers,” the drummer says with a laugh, before explaining some of the game’s nuances — and his hopes of becoming the first musician who plays the game both left-and-right handed to make the list. But one thing that hasn’t changed: Kings of Leon are still one of the world’s biggest and most well-known rock ba...
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