Billboard‘s Women In Music 2023 was held in Los Angeles last night, March 1. The annual event was hosted by Quinta Brunson and, as the title suggests, celebrated the impact of several powerful women in music.
Roughly 20 minutes later, Doechii’s mother, Celesia Moore, introduced her as this year’s Rising Star before she took the stage to deliver a dynamic performance of “Persuasive.” (Doechii also teased “new music” is on the way earlier in the day.)
Lainey Wilson, this year’s Rulebreaker Award winner, was up next around the 37-minute mark, and she allowed everyone to catch their breath from Doechii with the ballad “Heart Like A Truck.”
After Ivy Queen and SZA were honored with their respective awards — complete with a video message from Lizzo, who sang her “favorite SZA song” “Warm Winds” and called her friend “the real deal” — Chlöe hyped up Latto as the Powerhouse Award winner.
Chlöe ran through how overwhelmingly successful “Big Energy” has been for Latto and expressed how Latto “has been there for advice … but even more special, she has openly shared her sisterhood with me.”
She continued, “It can be difficult as a young woman to find your own confidence. I struggle with that every day. But just put any Latto record on, and it is hard not to feel like a boss. She is the personification of a powerhouse.”
And Latto backed up Chlöe’s words with a, well, powerful staging of her latest single, “Lottery.”
Becky G later brought”Mamiii” to the stage after she was presented the American Express Impact Award by Dove Cameron, and TWICE capped off the night with a soaring performance of “Moonlight Sunrise.”
Watch performances from Petras, Doechii, Latto and Becky G below, or stream the entire Billboard Women In Music event above.
Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
It’s time to shake off the snow because spring is here (at least for our purposes, for which we’re considering spring to be from March 1 to May 31). Our purposes? To look at what albums set to drop this season we’re looking forward to most.
Indeed, there are a lot of albums to anticipate this March, April, and May. The No. 1 single “Flowers” has made Miley Cyrus’Endless Summer Vacation an especially major release, the Boygenius reunion is in full swing, and Lana Del Rey and Yves Tumor are coming through with album titles that feature so many words.
Instead of giving everything away in the intro, let’s get into the list below. Here are the most anticipated albums of spring 2023.
Kali Uchis — Red Moon In Venus
Geffen
Release Date: March 3
Uchis apparently has two albums planned for 2023, but for now, the one that’s been officially announced is Red Moon In Venus. She launched the project in January with a revealing “I Wish You Roses” video, and joining her elsewhere are Omar Apollo, Don Toliver, and Summer Walker, who are making guest appearances on the album.
Lana Del Rey — Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
Polydor/Interscope
Release Date: March 10
Lana Del Rey’s dad Rob Grant has his debut LP coming out this summer, but the spring is all about Lana. There’s a lot going on with Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (which somehow almost had an even longer title): Father John Misty, Bleachers, and Jon Batiste are among the features on the project, and it includes songs with names like “Taco Truck X VB” and “Grandfather Please Stand On The Shoulders Of My Father While He’s Deep-Sea Fishing.”
Miley Cyrus — Endless Summer Vacation
Columbia Records
Release Date: March 10
Cyrus is in the midst of a career high as “Flowers” is her second No. 1 single, following “Wrecking Ball” back in 2013. Amping up the anticipation for Endless Summer Vacation even more is the fact that “Flowers” is so far the only song from the album that we’ve actually heard, so who knows what else is going on here. It’ll be interesting, too, to hear how Cyrus works with her batch of collaborators this time around: Brandi Carlile and Sia are the only features on the album, but there are also songwriting contributions from folks like James Blake and inaugural Songwriter Of The Year Grammy winner Tobias Jesso Jr.
100 Gecs — 10,000 Gecs
Dog Show/Atlantic
Release Date: March 17
Before the enigmatic 100 Gecs head out on tour in April, they’re gonna drop 10,000 Gecs, the duo’s second album that arrives nearly four years after 2019’s 1000 Gecs. Gecs can embody completely different genres in different songs. On “Hollywood Baby,” for example, they go in a pop-punk-leaning direction, but they could do just about anything else on the rest of the album.
Yves Tumor — Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)
Warp
Release Date: March 17
Lana Del Rey nearly had the long album title throne for spring before Yves Tumor came through. Tumor, of course, has been one of the most fascinating musical innovators for years now because, like they do on recent single “Heaven Surrounds Us Like A Hood,” they don’t let the need for stylistic experimentation get in the way of just plain old good songcraft.
6lack — Since I Have A Lover
Getty Image
Release Date: March 24
6lack had a breakout moment with his second album, East Atlanta Love Letter, which managed a No. 3 peak on the Billboard 200 and spawned the J. Cole collaboration “Pretty Little Fears.” That was back in 2018, though, and fans have been waiting for new material from him (save for the number of collabs he’s done in recent years). Just days ago, though, he revealed that Since I Have A Lover is dropping later this month.
Fall Out Boy — So Much (For) Stardust
Fueled By Ramen/DCD2
Release Date: March 24
We’ve had Fall Out Boy in our lives for over two decades at this point, and in case you haven’t been paying attention, they haven’t stopped pumping out No. 1 albums. Their past three LPs have all topped the charts and it’s clear Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, and company are still having a lot of fun doing it, like with their Easter-egg-packed “Love From The Other Side” video.
Boygenius — The Record
Interscope
Release Date: March 31
Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker are three of the most respected artists in their field, so it’s naturally always exciting when they find time to revive their collaborative project, Boygenius. Reviving it they are: Their 2018 self-titled EP caused a frenzy, so their upcoming full-length record is sure to draw even more enthusiastic support.
Chlöe — In Pieces
Jack Bridgland
Release Date: March 31
Since forging her own path outside of Chloe x Halle, Chlöe has turned herself into a genuine star, and it’s all set to culminate with her debut album. There’s still an aura of mystery surrounding the project, though, as we don’t even have a proper album cover or tracklist yet. What we can say, though, is that based on the singles and collaborations Chlöe has dropped over the past couple years, it’ll be worth paying attention to learn more about what’s going on with In Pieces.
Daniel Caesar — Never Enough
Republic
Release Date: April 7
When it comes to Caesar’s upcoming third album, he’s stayed mostly mum on it, save for a mysterious teaser he dropped in February. He did say in a previous interview, though, that some people he’s been working with have breathed new life into his music: “As far as other artists, there’s no one I would leak right now, but I have met a few people who have made me excited about making things again.”
Wednesday — Rat Saw God
Dead Oceans
Release Date: April 7
Wednesday made a major move last year by signing with Dead Oceans after earning acclaim with the first four albums. The group hasn’t given themselves much time to rest — Rat Saw God will be their fourth album since 2020 — but they don’t sound tired on songs like the shoegaze-y recent single “Bath County.”
Metallica — 72 Seasons
Blackened
Release Date: April 14
A fortuitous Stranger Things placement has helped put the long-running metal group back in the pop culture spotlight, and now they’re ready to capitalize on it with a new album. On lead single “Lux Æterna,” James Hetfield and company proved that despite how long they’ve been in the game, they’re far from ready to start phoning it in and just collecting paychecks with pedestrian material.
The Smashing Pumpkins — Atum: A Rock Opera In Three Acts
Martha
Release Date: April 21
Speaking of tenured groups, Smashing Pumpkins is another one that hasn’t stopped adventuring. Atum will be their twelfth album and its release is actually already in progress: The first act dropped in November 2022, the second arrived in January, and the project-completing third will be here in April. Bands less seasoned than Smashing Pumpkins lose their creativity all the time, so power to Billy Corgan and company for keeping their imaginations alive.
Indigo De Souza — All Of This Will End
Saddle Creek
Release Date: April 28
De Souza’s Saddle Creek debut Any Shape You Takewas an Uproxx favorite in 2021, and while it’s a tough act to follow, it appears All Of This Will End is up to the task. “Younger & Dumber” was certainly a prime choice for a lead single, as the evocative song is a lovely and thoughtful reflection on youth that sets the table for more greatness to come.
The National — First Two Pages Of Frankenstein
4AD
Release Date: April 28
Aaron Dessner apparently devoted a pocket of time to take a break from becoming one of pop’s newest go-to collaborators: The National have a new album ready to go. First Two Pages Of Frankenstein will be the band’s first since 2019 and Dessner’s connections actually helped here, too, as Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers (and Sufjan Stevens) make appearances.
Ed Sheeran — – (Subtract)
Atlantic Records
Release Date: May 5
This one’s a late addition to the list, as Sheeran just announced it yesterday (March 1). – (aka Subtract) will round out Sheeran’s series of mathematically named albums and while we have no clue what the LP sounds like yet, we do know that the vulnerable projects stems from Sheeran’s difficult early 2022, which featured “a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art.”
Arlo Parks — My Soft Machine
Transgressive Records
Release Date: May 26
In 2021, Collapsed In Sunbeams made Arlo Parks a star in her native UK and a Grammy-nominated critical favorite in the US. Part of Parks’ appeal is her vulnerability and it appears there’s plenty of that on the new LP: She previously described the project as confronting “the mid-20s anxiety, the substance abuse of friends around me, the viscera of being in love for the first time, navigating PTSD and grief and self-sabotage and joy, moving through worlds with wonder and sensitivity.”
The Kid LAROI — The First Time
Getty Image
Release Date: TBD
The Australian teenager has a major moment in front of him: His debut proper album. (F*ck Love and its various expanded editions were technically mixtapes.) It remains to be seen if The First Time will yield a single as globally popular as the Justin Bieber-featuring “Stay,” but either way, songs like “Kids Are Growing Up (Part 1)” show LAROI progressing through life and continuing to discover a more mature side of himself.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Worlds are about to collide: BTS’J-Hope announced that he’s dropping the solo track “On The Street” tomorrow (March 3) and that appearing on the tune is J. Cole.
The Cole appearance is revealed in a new teaser video, which starts with a shot from behind J-Hope as he walks on a city roof. As he approaches the ledge, Cole comes into view and the two lean against the ledge together and look out over the city.
This collab is probably particularly exciting for J-Hope, as he’s long been a Cole fan. On BTS’ 2014 track “Hip Hop Lover,” J-Hope raps (translated to English via Genius), “Hope hope world / Before I made my own world, Cole world / Ever since he shone on Friday nights.” In 2018, he named his debut solo mixtape Hope World, similar to Cole’s 2011 debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story. Then, J-Hope got to meet Cole at Lollapalooza 2022 and a video of the encounter makes it clear how special the moment was for him.
J-Hope (whose real name is Jung Ho-seok) didn’t actually model his stage name after Cole like it may seem, though. Rather, the J-Hope name came about because he wants to be a source of hope for the BTS Army.
Chaka Khan disputed the list for a different reason, and she wasn’t polite about it. The 10-time Grammy winner joined the latest episode of Los Angeles Magazine Presents: The Originals podcast with Andrew Goldman. At the end of the hour-long conversation, Khan said she hadn’t read the list — “I don’t read” — so Goldman filled her in by reading the blurb Rolling Stone wrote about her. Khan is ranked 29th.
“Just listening to that, if I didn’t know Chaka Khan, I would say, ‘Ooh, that earns at least a five. Maybe a 10, at the least,” she said. Khan agreed with Aretha Franklin topping the list (“As she f*cking should be! Thank you! There’s justice somewhere”) and Whitney Houston at No. 2 but belted her criticism of Mariah Carey’s fifth-place ranking with the oomph of “I’m Every Woman.”
“That must be payola or some sh*t like that,” Khan said of Carey’s positioning. She also declined to comment on Beyoncé at No. 8 before commenting on Beyoncé at No. 8: “I don’t have anything to say about Beyoncé. She’s a great singer. She really has [the] opportunity to be a great singer. She has what it takes. She got the chops. She does.”
Carey wasn’t the only one to upset Khan, as Adele, Christina Aguilera — “Whatever, a lot of Black people like Christina Aguilera. She’s alright” — and Mary J. Blige caught strays.
“I quit,” Khan said after Goldman revealed Adele ranked 22nd. And that was nothing compared to her reaction to Mary J.’s spot ahead of her at No. 25.
“You know what? That’s why I feel the way I do,” Khan said. “These are some blind bat b*tches. These b*tches are blind as a motherf*cking bat! They need hearing aids. They don’t have hearing aids. They have no eyes. They have no ears. You know what? These must be the children of Helen Keller.”
Whew. You’d think Khan was left off the list like Dion.
Just days after dropping his live concert film Live At SoFi Stadium, The Weeknd is dropping a companion album. The pop star announced the live album via social media today (March 1).
In the concert film, fans see The Weeknd performing at the iconic Los Angeles venue, delivering live performances of songs from all of his eras. Fans are seen singing and shouting the lyrics to his universal hits like “I Feel It Coming,” “The Hills,” and “Die For You” — the latter recently got an Ariana Grande remix nearly seven years after its original release.
In a 2021 interview with GQ, The Weeknd shared what he thinks makes his music so timeless.
“What makes any of my albums a successful album, especially this one, is me putting it out and getting excited to make the next one,” he said. “So the excitement to make the next project means that this one was successful to me. I want to do this forever. And even if I start getting into different mediums and different types of expressions, music will be right there. I’m not going to step away from it.”
Find the cover art for Live At SoFi Stadium below.
Republic
Live At SoFi Stadium is out 3/3 via Republic Records.
In a new piece from Rolling Stone, anonymous members of the cast and crew of Sam Levinson and The Weeknd’s forthcoming HBO show, The Idol, opened up about the reportedly toxic work environment that spiraled out of control.
The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) both starred and co-created the show. However, it was originally set to be directed by Amy Seimetz before she left the show — and Levinson (Euphoria) took over in her place. This is reportedly when the chaos started, resulting in an overhaul of Seimetz’s direction and shoots.
“It was like the Weeknd wanted one show that was all about him — Sam was on board with that,” a source shared. However, they also faced alleged difficulty with Tesfaye’s schedule as a musician, causing him to be less hands-on: “It was really frustrating because they were working so hard to make it possible to shoot and be released with his concert or whatever his timeline was [and] it all got thrown out the window.”
Last April, there was also a Deadline report that Tesfaye felt the show was focusing too much on his co-star, Lily Rose-Depp, as he thought it had too much of a “female perspective.”
Lizzo, continuing her European tour with stops in Germany, has leaned heavily into the country’s biggest heavy metal hits — particularly Rammstein’s 1997 song, “Du Hast.” A surprise choice, she performed an a capella version of the track during her Hamburg show last month. However, her Berlin rendition of the rock track, raised the stakes to another level.
“You better sing that sh*t,” Lizzo announced. “Y’all ready to go f*king crazy?”
As the instrumental drops, Lizzo and her backup dancers truly let loose. The singer took off her hat to headbang before also stomping and twerking to the hyped-up beat.
“One last time,” she adds, repeating the German lyrics. “Sing it at me.”
In the video, the crowd clearly knew the words too, as they can be audibly heard singing along at her request. By the time her cover finished, Lizzo looks truly pleased to just be up onstage and having a blast. “ICH LIEBE DICH BERLIN,” she captioned, which translates to, “I love you Berlin.”
Fans are loving Lizzo’s energy too, even if they weren’t in Berlin. “I didnt know I needed this, but I absolutely did,” one person commented on her Instagram post.
She also made it onto the viral “Crazy Ass Moments In Nu Metal History” Twitter account. “This proving that we as a society need to shake ass to metal more,” another fan added.
Keeping track of all the new albums coming out in a given month is a big job, but we’re up for it: Below is a comprehensive list of the major releases you can look forward to in March. If you’re not trying to potentially miss out on anything, it might be a good idea to keep reading.
Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.
Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of the best new vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of the best vinyl releases of February below.
Whitney Houston — Whitney Houston and Whitney (Reissues)
Legacy Recordings
Whitney Houston’s music is as impactful now as it was when it debuted back in the mid-’80s, so there’s never a bad time for a vinyl reissue. Houston’s first two star-making LPs, Whitney Houston and Whitney, and among the pair is a handful of classic No. 1 singles, like “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and “Saving All My Love For You.”
Gorillaz went all out for the vinyl editions of their latest album, Cracker Island. There are a number of them available in the band’s webstore, including some bold picture discs and a deluxe box set that comes with a CD, sticker sheet, poster, notebook, and more.
Neutral Milk Hotel — The Collected Works Of Neutral Milk Hotel
Merge Records
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is the defining Neutral Milk Hotel work, but there’s a ton more worthwhile material beyond that, too. Now, it’s all been collected in a new box set… well sort of new: It was sold before, but only in the band’s online store. The collection includes a bunch of goodies, like a number of 10-inch and 7-inch records, as well as the band’s two albums (the other being On Avery Island) as gatefold LPs.
The Strokes’ early era was one to remember, and their new box set is a fantastic time capsule of it. It brings ten of the band’s singles from their first three albums — Is This It (2001), Room On Fire (2003), and First Impressions Of Earth (2006) — which means rare B-sides from the original releases.
Mötley Crüe — Crücial Crüe: The Studio Albums 1981-1989
BMG Rights Management
Mötley Crüe went hard in the ’80s, dropping a number of platinum albums and iconic singles like “Girls, Girls, Girls” and “Dr. Feelgood.” That decade has been wrapped up in a fresh box set, which compiles all of the band’s peak-era albums into a five-album collection that truly encapsulates a heck of an era.
Depending on where you shop, you’ll find a different pressing of Paramore’s latest album. Target, for example, carries a lovely gold version, while Urban Outfitters has a coral edition of its own and Walmart is keeping it classic with a black pressing.
Naughty By Nature — 19 Naughty III (30th Anniversary Edition)
Tommy Boy Records
It’s been 30 years since Naughty By Nature dropped 19 Naughty III (fantastic name for a 1993 album, by the way), and now the group’s celebrating with a reissue. Notable are the six bonus tracks this new release comes with, including the previously unheard extended mix of “Hip Hop Hooray” and remixes from Pete Rock and The Beatnuts.
Kacey Musgraves — Same Trailer Different Park (VMP Reissue)
Vinyl Me, Please
Kacey Musgraves is a crossover star now, but once upon a time, she had yet to carve out a space in the pop space and was dominating the country scene. Same Trailer Different Park was a striking debut album back in 2013, and for its tenth anniversary, Vinyl Me, Please pressed it on gorgeous “cactus green” vinyl, a fantastic visual complement to the album art’s greenery.
Pearl Jam still sounds as vital(ogy) as ever these days, and perhaps in a “time flies” example for some readers, the band’s 1998 album Yield turns 25 years old this year. Naturally, there’s a new vinyl reissue, and it’s pressed, as press materials note, “on 2LPs for the very first time on 180g translucent red & black hi-melt vinyl in a double gatefold, direct-to-board and die cut jacket.” It doesn’t ship until this summer, but we have a feeling that it will go fast.
Truth Is Where It’s At — A Gospel Truth Collection
Vinyl Me, Please
Vinyl Me, Please is shining a light on The Gospel Truth Records, a 1972 gospel imprint on Stax Records, with a new box set. The release highlights a number of releases from a number of artists: The Rance Allen Group by The Rance Allen Group, Jesus People by Maceo Woods and The Christian Tabernacle Concert Choir, A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson by Louise McCord, Whatever Happened To Love by Clarence Smith, The Gospel Artistics by The Gospel Artistics, and Blue Aquarius by Blue Aquarius.
(@doechii)
