Magazine
How Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ Became a Christmas Hit Decades After Its Release
Since the business of Christmas music is growing so fast – it occupies five of the top 10 places on the Billboard Hot 100 this week – we are re-presenting some of our stories from Christmas past. This piece, about how Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” came to be considered a holiday song, originally ran in 2019. The story of the song is recounted in the recent documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song. Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” with its ambiguous, imagistic lyrics about sex and spirituality, was once described by Jeff Buckley, perhaps the song’s most famous interpreter, as “the hallelujah of the orgasm.” So how did an a cappella version by Pentatonix get to No. 21 on the Billboard Holiday 100 in 2018 — after peaking on that chart at No. 2 in 2016...
These Two Former Billboard Staffers Produced One of Rap’s Biggest Christmas Hits
Since the business of Christmas music is growing so fast – it occupies five of the top 10 places on the Billboard Hot 100 this week – we are re-presenting some of our stories from Christmas past. This piece, about how two former Billboard staffers produced the holiday hit “Christmas Rappin’” for then-up-and-coming rapper Kurtis Blow, originally ran in 2019. Since then, in 2020, Robert Ford passed away. One groundbreaking Christmas hit didn’t just make the Billboard charts — it was produced by two former employees. In 1979, J.B. Moore and Robert Ford left the magazine to produce “Christmas Rappin’ ” for an up-and-coming rapper named Kurtis Blow. Released on Mercury Records, the single went gold, and Blow became the first rapper to sign a major-label deal. At Billboard, Moore ...
Conversations With Every Songwriter of the Year Nominee on Making History Together
The 65th annual Grammy Awards will include the first-time category of songwriter of the year, with five nominees who are behind some of 2022’s biggest hits across genres. Below, each one in the running discusses the importance of spotlighting songwriters and their contributions, why this addition is long overdue and the bigger-picture impact the award will hopefully have on the industry moving forward. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Amy AllenNominated writing credits: Lizzo, Harry Styles, King Princess, Alexander 23, Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter Amy Allen Caity Krone How did you feel when you heard about the new songwriter of the year category? Songwriting is my dream job, and I’m so grateful to do it every single day, but I think you...
Why Stephen Sanchez Wants to ‘Flirt With the Audience’ In His Lyrics & Live Show
Stephen Sanchez is infatuated with love — but he’s not interested in approaching it from a 21st century lens. “I think it’s a lost art to tell somebody that you’d pull the moon down for them,” he tells Billboard. Growing up listening to ’50s and ’60s records on vinyl in Northern California, he has always been drawn to an old-school charm within his own music. The inspiration ultimately led to his breakthrough hit, “Until I Found You,” which became his first Billboard Hot 100 hit and has remained on the chart for months. Penned in May 2021, just six months after moving to Nashville, Sanchez felt there was something special about the heartfelt song straight away — and another six months after its release that September, it debuted on the all-genre songs chart at No. 100. Since, it has spent ...
How Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Bad Bunny All Found Space to Thrive In 2022
When the 2023 Grammy Award nominations were announced in mid-November, the Big Four categories included a slew of household names: Beyoncé, Adele, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, Doja Cat, Lizzo. None of them were surprises. The Grammy noms were star-studded to reflect the past year in popular music: Following a pandemic-stricken period in which pop’s upper tier mostly held off on releasing new projects, 2022 was dominated by the A-listers, many of whom made good on the commercial promise of their returns and added new hits to their impressive résumés. “We’ve had almost every global superstar release music within a 12- to 18-month span,” says Joe Hadley, Spotify global head of artist partnerships and audience. Some of that overabundance of big names can sur...
Latin’s Top Producers Talk Stepping Out of the Studio and Into the Spotlight
One of the biggest global hits of the year belongs to a mysterious, fast-rising 24-year-old Argentine producer. Bizarrap’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52” — an electronica club banger featuring Spanish singer Quevedo — spent four weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Global 200 chart this summer and has quickly cemented the producer’s place alongside hit-makers like Tainy, Ovy on the Drums and Edgar Barrera. All four have helped pave the way for a new wave of Latin producers who are moving from behind the scenes and into the global spotlight. “It shows you in today’s world that consistency is more important than just a hit,” says Lex Borrero, Tainy’s longtime manager. “[Bizarrap] created a loyal fan base that led him to having the No. 1 record.” Bizarrap launched his music sessi...
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...
Cleopatra Records Founder on How to Make It as an Indie Label for 30 Years
Goth, industrial, punk and space-rock fans were the first to discover Los Angeles’ Cleopatra Records in the 1990s. The independent upstart — formed in 1992 by Brian Perera — initially rode the second wave of goth music right into the bins of indie record stores and chains. During that decade, it presciently created electronic music label Hypnotic Records (in 1996) and hair metal imprint Deadline Music (1998) ahead of the EDM explosion and the hard rock revival. Perera noticed the electronic body music movement in Europe expanding into trance and big beat and licensed earlier releases by U.K. stars like Juno Reactor and The Future Sound of London. The business strategy of signing ’80s hard-rock groups for moderate advances with low expectations and then watching the genre revive worked out ...
Meet George Johnson: The Angriest Songwriter in Washington, D.C.
It was a sweltering day in Washington, D.C., and George Johnson was running late for an appointment at the James Madison Memorial Building, the massive, bright-white marble box that is part of the Library of Congress. Inside, a high-priced lawyer for Pandora, impatient to move on with a 2016 hearing to set royalty rates for webcasting recorded music, suggested that the three-judge Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) simply call the next expert witness. But the judges decided to wait just a little longer. Finally, an hour after his scheduled time, Johnson, now 55, burst into the room, drenched in sweat and wearing a “Still Pissed at Yoko” T-shirt. (He was out of suits, and his Metro had stalled.) “It looked like he’d just run a marathon,” remembers Chris Harrison, then vp of business affairs for ...
All Eyes on Him: Why Bo Burnham’s ‘Inside’ Could Be a Big Four Grammys Contender
Bo Burnham’s ‘Inside (The Songs)’ aims for where few comedians have gone before: the Big Four. This story is part of Billboard’s 2022 Grammy Preview issue, highlighting the artists, issues and trends that will define awards season. Read our cover story on Halsey, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross here. Tyler Arnold was only 20 minutes into Bo Burnham’s latest musical comedy special, Bo Burnham: Inside, released on Netflix in May, when he started searching for the songs online. When he couldn’t find them, the Republic Records A&R executive immediately reached out to the comedian’s team to change that. The album Inside (The Songs) arrived on streaming platforms on June 10, and it has remained on the Billboard 200 for 19 weeks, including five in the top 10...
Ryan Hurd ‘Never Expected’ Maren Morris Duet ‘Chasing After You’ to Become a Hot 100 Hit
On Friday (Oct. 15), Hurd celebrates another career first with the release of his full-length debut album, Pelago, out via Arista Nashville. The album is a major milestone for the Michigan native, who initially moved to Nashville to be a songwriter instead of an artist. Hurd is signed with House of 42 for management (which also manages Morris), WME for booking and Big Machine Music for publishing. While studying sociology at Belmont University, Hurd focused on bettering his songcraft, and later found success writing for other artists, including two No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits for Luke Bryan, “Sunburn, Sunset, Repeat,” and “Waves.” Hurd also penned “Last Turn Home” for Tim McGraw, “You Look Good” and “What If I Never G...
Eco-Conscious, Safety-Centric, Tech-Savvy: 35 New & Renovated Venues to Watch in 2021
Madison Square Garden’s ambitious Las Vegas Sphere continues to be one of the most anticipated music venues in the world, with a price tag of $1.8 billion. Set to open in 2023 following pandemic-related construction delays, the structure will be anchored by what is touted as the largest and highest-resolution LED screen on earth, which will cover an area larger than three football fields. The screen is intended to create an immersive, virtual reality-style experience for ticket holders. In June, MSG completed the construction of the Sphere’s steel frame, while the exosphere is still under construction. Nashville Yards (Nashville)Concert capacity: 4,000 Developed by Southwest Value Partners, the 18-acre Nashville Yards complex will include a 1.3-acre park, two office towers for Amazon Nashv...
