Magazine
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...
Yebba’s ‘Dawn’: The Long, Difficult Road to the Stunning Singer’s Debut
But just before 2016 ended, Yebba agreed to perform alongside Chance the Rapper for his Saturday Night Live appearance — and ended up stealing the show. She and her team, then a bare-bones operation led by co-manager Ross Michaels and his Park Avenue Artists team, decided to capitalize on the moment and uploaded a clip from the Sofar set of Yebba singing her first original song, “My Mind.” It went viral, raking in over 18 million YouTube views. “It was like a one-two punch,” says Michaels. That kind of start-stop trajectory has hampered Yebba’s promising launch for nearly five years, with her fans begging for her debut album online. “There has never been a moment where I was like, ‘Man, we really lost out,’ because when she puts out a song, it’s amazing,” says Michaels. “It has this e...
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...
UEFA invite Christian Eriksen, medics who saved him to Euro final
European football governing body UEFA have invited Denmark international Christian Eriksen and the paramedics who helped save his life during an on-field cardiac arrest to attend the EURO 2020 final at Wembley on Sunday. The brilliant Danish midfielder was resuscitated in front of shocked fans and a massive global TV audience during his nation’s first match of the tournament. Uefa said Eriksen, his wife and six medics were invited to the final, but there was no confirmation he would attend. One of the paramedics, Peder Ersgaard, said he was honoured to receive a VIP invite from Uefa boss Aleksander Ceferin. “I’m excited, like a child on Christmas Eve,” he told the Fagbladet FOA magazine. “I’m very proud of my efforts, but also of the whole team. It wasn’t a one-man effort.” Eriksen collaps...
Troops kill 11 Boko Haram terrorists in Borno
The Nigerian Army has said its troops have killed 11 terrorists in separate operations in Borno State over the last three days. It said troops attached to the 82 Division Task Force Battalion, while on patrol in the Ngoshe-Ashigashiya area, neutralised five suspected Boko Haram members during a gun duel. The Director of Army Public Relations, Onyema Nwachukwu, said this in a statement titled, ‘Operation Hadin Kai: Troops on trail of terrorists recover arms and ammunition, truck of petroleum oil and lubricant’, dated July 4, in Abuja, on Monday. The statement read in part, “Troops of 82 Division Task Force Battalion on patrol along Ngoshe-Ashigashiya, about 12km from the unit’s location, have made contact with elements of Boko Haram terrorists at Daushe. “The troops, who fiercely engaged an...
Inside The Rise of Vinyl Me, Please, The Hottest (And Biggest) Record Club Anyone Can Get Into
Courtesy of Vinyl Me, Please Fiedler (left) and Schaefer “As everything was switching over to paying to access music rather than owning it, people were listening to music more and more passively,” says co-founder/CEO Cameron Schaefer. “We wanted to see if there were other people like us, and that really has remained the throughline throughout the growth of the company.” “What stands out to me now looking back at the origin of VMP is the simplicity of what we were trying to do,” he continues. “We were trying to just pick one record a month that we thought would be worth your time and attention, and that was it. The first several years we were living in constant awe that we got to do it for another year. I don’t feel like, early on, we had the luxury of looking ahead at what this could...
Dylan Scott Shares the Story Behind Hit Love Song ‘Nobody’
Scott is gearing up to accompany Luke Bryan on his Proud To Be Right Here tour this summer, along with Caylee Hammack, Runaway June and DJ Rock. Below, Scott tells Billboard the origin story behind “Nobody,” what he is most excited for upon his return to live shows and more. How did “Nobody” come together and what was your headspace when making the song? We were on the road playing shows and I had a couple of writers, Matt Alderman and Dallas Wilson. My wife and I, we’ve been together a long time — since we were 15 years old — so the love songs are kind of easy to write. I just remember us being on the back of the bus late one night like, “Let’s just write a simple love song.” So my budd...
How Porter Robinson Found ‘The Confidence I Used To Have’ To Finish His Long-Awaited Second Album
The album’s punchy, soaring lead single, “Get Your Wish,” arrived in early 2020, with a second, “Something Comforting,” following on March 10, just as much of the world went into lockdown. Originally intended for a September 2020 release date, Nurture was pushed back due to the pandemic, giving Robinson additional time to more or less remake the project. He wrote new songs, replaced existing music and expanded the album from 11 to 14 tracks. Writing on a piano, he composed, recorded and sang every song himself, pitching up his vocals to often sound childlike and feminine — an effect he was relieved to find out can be recreated in real time when he sings during future live performances. Robinson performed his only set of 2020 during his livestream festival, Secret Sky, a 14-h...
Azman Air apologises to NCAA chief over false accusations
After series of accusations and counter-accusations generated by the suspension of Azman from flight operations by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) over violation of safety rules, the management of the airline has finally apologised to the regulatory agency for the rash actions it took over the suspension. The suspension of Azman by the NCAA was negatively reacted to by the airline with the management issuing a scandalous statement which accused the director-general of the NCAA, Captain Nuhu Musa, of suspending the airline to punish it for a previous disagreement between him and the airline. Azman had in the statement accused the NCAA DG of embarking on a vengeance mission which elicited reactions from key players across the sector. However, the latest statement issued and sig...
Justice Onnoghen: How ex-President Obasanjo saved me from conspiracy by some judges
File Photo Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has rated ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo as a better listener than President Muhammadu Buhari. Speaking in Abuja at the book launch of Ogwu Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the former CJN said Obasanjo did not act based on falsehood. Buhari had in 2019 removed Onnoghen — weeks to the presidential election — over alleged failure to declare his assets and operating foreign accounts. He was thereafter convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and barred from holding public office for 10 years. At the event, Onnoghen said he was removed from office without being given the chance to defend himself, adding that he was never confronted with the allegations against him. Onnoghen recounted how a similar incid...
Nasri Almost Gave Up Writing for Other Artists. Now He’s Reintroducing Himself
So he hired Slaiby as his manager, then forged ahead writing for a growing network of superstars like John Legend and Gwen Stefani — and getting Grammy attention for his work with some of R&B’s coolest acts. Late last year, he earned a best R&B song nod for co-writing Skip Marley and H.E.R.’s chart-topping “Slow Down,” and he also contributed to Chloe x Halle’s Ungodly Hour, which is up for best progressive R&B album. A self-proclaimed “blue-collar songwriter,” Atweh sees the recognition as a helpful reintroduction: “With the Grammys, it’s like, ‘Does anybody new want to talk to me? Has there been anyone who has been hesitant to take a song who might not be hesitant now?’ ” His chill studio presence — Atweh likens his role to “songwriter and party host” and is fond of preg...
