Pop

Music Streaming Set A New Record By Crossing The Trillion-Play Threshold In 2022, With R&B And Hip-Hop At The Helm

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Musicians and industry professionals have a well-documented obsession with chart placement. However, now in the dawn of streaming, there’s a growing pressure to deliver in other analytical ways, including streaming numbers. With physical albums sales continuing to fall, artists like Billie Eilish, Drake, and Ed Sheeran have all dominated across streaming platforms.

Although, traditional music medium such as vinyls seeing a huge spike in popularity, with artist like Taylor Swift and Adele (much to the displeasure of independent artists) including it in their album rollouts, streaming remains in the top spot of music activity. In fact, according to Luminate, the entertainment and data insight company behind Billboard‘s chart tracking, “on-demand song streams (audio and video combined) increased 12.2% to 1.268 trillion,” marking “the first time that yearly U.S. on-demand audio streams surpassed 1 trillion.”

The report revealed that “29% of all on-demand audio streams in the U.S. in 2022 were R&B/hip-hop songs.” No further information was provided for what role other genres play in this milestone.

Digital streaming platforms have like Apple Music and Spotify have continued to introduced new features to increase users’ app usage. Last year, Apple Music introduced Apple Music Sing, which gives subscribers an elevated experience with their favorite songs through enhanced karaoke abilities. While, Spotify expanded their Spotify Wrapped data points to include mood breakdowns and personality points of users most popular songs.

The Weeknd Revealed He’s ‘Been In The Studio’ Working On New Music Amid Oscars Buzz

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The Weeknd just celebrated the one-year anniversary of his fifth studio album, Dawn FM, but it looks like a new era may soon be upon us. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he revealed that he has begun working on new music.

“I’ve definitely been inspired,” he said. “I’ve been in the studio.”

Earlier in the interview, he shared that this bout of inspiration has been largely in part to being placed on the shortlist for the upcoming Academy Awards. His song, “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength),” which was used as the theme for Avatar: The Way Of Water.

“I feel honored to be part of that list,” he said. “Any kind of recognition for it feels like a blessing.”

The original Avatar premiered in 2009, which The Weeknd said was a dark time in his life. At the time, he had dropped out of high school and wasn’t sure where his musical endeavors.

“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to live to see tomorrow,” he said. “And I remember I somehow got to see the film in theaters. I don’t know how I got in. It was such an escape from my real life that the film is tattooed in my brain.”

Landing his song in the second movie sure feels like a full-circle moment for the pop star.

SZA Shuts Down ‘Kill Bill’ Fan Theories About When Her ‘SOS’ Deluxe Album Will Drop

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Yesterday, SZA dropped the entertaining video for her hit song, “Kill Bill.” Drawing visual inspiration from the Tarantino movie of the same title, SZA enlisted one of the original actresses, Vivica A. Fox, to help her carry out a revenge plot.

Still, fans watching SZA’s music video were clearly on the hunt for any and all possible Easter eggs. Given that she’s dropped clues in her past videos, from teasing snippets of songs at the end of “Shirt,” to using a license plate to announce when her sophomore album, SOS, would drop — it’s not far-fetched that there could be some secrets embedded in “Kill Bill.”

Fans spotted that the motorcycle license plate used in the “Kill Bill” video read August, sparking speculation that the deluxe version of SOS would be dropping this summer. (It also had “SOS” in bright red letters.)

However, SZA logged on to social media to shut those theories down, tweeting, “The deluxe is not coming out in august lol it’s just a license plate.”

Despite her statement, fans in the quotes joked back about the fact that the deluxe version might be dropping earlier and the fact that they couldn’t trust her. “She knew to have these comments off,” one person wrote.

“Then wtf is coming on aug 2023,” another added.

View some additional fan reactions to SZA’s SOS deluxe tweet.

Rihanna Loved Jerrod Carmichael’s ‘Very Controversial’ Joke About Her Upcoming Album At The Golden Globes

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At the 2023 Golden Globes last night (January 10), Rihanna’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever song “Lift Me Up” didn’t take home the award for Best Original Song, Motion Picture. She still stole the show, though, by getting multiple shout-outs during the broadcast. That included one from host Jerrod Carmichael, who cracked a joke that Rihanna fans are probably wishing he hadn’t.

Addressing Rihanna between awards, Carmichael said, “You know what? Honestly, only because I see Rihanna is here, and I’m gonna say… I’m gonna say something very controversial that… I will actually get in trouble for this: Rihanna, you take all the time you want on that album, girl. Don’t let these fools on the internet pressure you into nothing!”

As Carmichael got to the part about his comment being “controversial,” Rihanna smiled as she waited for the punchline. When that dropped, she gave a laugh and a clap, putting her hands on her face and saying something to the people around her.

As for those fools on the internet, they don’t seem to feel the same as Carmichael. One Rihanna fan wrote, “Who this [clown] Jerrod Carmicheal calling a fool? Talking bout ‘don’t let these fools on the internet pressure you into nothing.’ Rihanna owes us that album and we need it ASAP!” Even the Golden Globes themselves got in on the moment, tweeting, “Jerrod Carmichael may want you to take your time but we’d like that album ASAP.”

Find the full list of 2023 Golden Globe winners here and check out some more reactions to Carmichael’s Rihanna joke below.

Rihanna, Taylor Swift, And Lady Gaga Lost At The Golden Globes To An Extremely Popular Song You May Not Have Heard Of

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The 2023 Golden Globe Awards ceremony took place last night (January 10), and while the proceedings are focused on TV and movies, music makes its way into the mix, too. Specifically, there are two music categories: Best Original Score, Motion Picture and Best Original Song, Motion Picture. The former was won by Justin Hurwitz’s work on Babylon.

As for the latter, songs by Taylor Swift (“Carolina” from Where The Crawdads Sing), Rihanna (“Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), and Lady Gaga (“Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick) were in contention. None of those ended up winning, though. Instead, the Best Original Song award went to Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, and Rahul Sipligunj’s “Naatu Naatu,” a Telugu-language song from the hit 2022 Indian movie RRR.

While “Naatu Naatu” may not be backed by the star power of a song by Gaga, Rihanna, or Swift (among American/English-speaking audiences, at least), it has achieved massive popularity with over 111 million views on YouTube. That puts it right up there with its competitors: “Hold My Hand” has 138 million views while “Lift Me Up” is at about 92 million and “Carolina” has around 8 million.

Rihanna was in attendance and was a good sport, as she made sure to offer her congratulations to the folks behind RRR.

Meanwhile, RRR was also up for Best Picture, Foreign Language, but that award went to Argentina, 1985.

Find the full list of 2023 Golden Globe winners here and listen to “Naatu Naatu” below.

The Full Coachella 2023 Lineup Is Here And It’s Led By Frank Ocean, Bad Bunny, And Blackpink

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If the end of the year is for looking back, then the start of it is for looking ahead. Music fans are gearing up for the 2023 music festival season, and now the biggest of them all has made a major announcement: Coachella organizers, as they tend to do around this time of year, just revealed the festival’s 2023 lineup.

Ahead of the official reveal, rumors indicated that Blackpink, Bad Bunny, and Frank Ocean — the latter of whom festival co-founder Paul Tollett said in 2021 would lead the 2023 event) would be headlining this year’s fest. It turns out that was true. Also on this year’s poster are acts like Gorillaz, Burna Boy, Rosalía, Boygenius (Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker), The Kid Laroi, Charli XCX, Björk, Kali Uchis, Dominic Fike, Latto, Willow, Glorilla, Weyes Blood, Calvin Harris, Alex G, Mura Masa, Snail Mail, Earthgang, Pusha T, Wet Leg, Muna, Doechii, Benee, and Magdalena Bay, among many others.

This year’s event is set for the weekends of April 14 to 16 and 21 to 23, in its usual location at Indio, California’s Empire Polo Club. Pre-sale for tickets starts on Friday, January 13 at 11 a.m. PT, although organizers note, “Very limited Weekend 1 passes remain. For your best chance at passes, look to Weekend 2.” More information about tickets is available on the Coachella website.

Meanwhile, the 2022 festival was full of memorable moments: Arcade Fire was added to the lineup at the last minute, Hayley Williams joined Billie Eilish to perform Paramore’s “Misery Business,” Lizzo popped up at Harry Styles’ set, Kendrick Lamar made a surprise appearance with cousin Baby Keem, The Weeknd played an apology voicemail on stage, and 100 Gecs’ set was cut short.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Beyoncé Reportedly Reached Out To Fellow Queen Bee Britney Spears For A Collab That Didn’t End Up Happening

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It looks like we almost got a collaboration between two music icons. Today, Page Six reported that Beyoncé and Britney Spears had a collaboration planned. According to the publication, Bey reached out to Spears to appear in a new music video. Unfortunately, the collaboration did not come to fruition.

Both Spears and Beyoncé came up together around the same time. Destiny’s Child self-titled debut album dropped in 1998 and Spears’ debut album, …Baby One More Time came out a year later. Still, the only collaboration the two have on record is a 2004 Pepsi commercial, which also featured Pink, in which the three pop icons covered Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”

Three years prior, both Spears and Beyoncé appeared in Austin Powers In Goldmember.

In recent years, both artists have shown nothing but love to each other. In a 2016 interview with NME (per Digital Spy), Spears shared some kind words about Bey’s album, Lemonade.

“Generally, I like songs that are bit different and I like moody stuff,” Spears said. “There are moments where you feel the light, airy Beyoncé, but most of the time it almost feels like a therapy album. I respect that.”

A year before, Bey and her husband Jay-Z were spotted at Spears’ Vegas residency, according to People.

Representatives for Beyoncé and Spears did not immediately return our request for comment regarding the rumored collaboration.

Bonnaroo’s 2023 Lineup Brings Kendrick Lamar, Foo Fighters, And More To Tennessee This Summer

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A week-plus into 2023, the precursor to festival season has begun: festival lineup announcement season. Today (January 10), one of North America’s premiere annual events, Bonnaroo, has unveiled its lineup.

The fest runs from June 15 to 18 in Manchester, Tennessee, and leading the opening day on Thursday the 15th are Zeds Dead and Liquid Stranger. Heading up the first full day on Friday the 16th is Kendrick Lamar, while Odesza headlines on Saturday the 17th and Foo Fighters close out the event with a headlining slot on Sunday the 18th.

Aside from those acts, other highlights from the lineup include Lil Nas X, Paramore, Marcus Mumford, Pixies, My Morning Jacket, JID, Jenny Lewis, Baby Keem, Vulfpeck, Three 6 Mafia, Korn, Fleet Foxes, Sylvan Esso, Rina Sawayama, Alex G, Muna, Black MIDI, 070 Shake, Big Freedia, Petey, Dehd, Griz, Portugal The Man, Noah Kahan, Subtronics, AGI, Sampa The Great, Tyler Childers, Louis The Child, Yung Gravy, Remi Wold, Cory Wong, and The Beths. On top of that, the Superjam, Outeroo lineup, late-night sets, and more are set to be announced later.

Check out the lineup poster above. Information about Bonnaroo tickets is available on the festival website.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Most Anticipated Concert Tours Of 2023

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The Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2023
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The touring industry is exploding right now. In a blog post written earlier this year, Lorde astutely noted how basically all of the artists who couldn’t tour during the pandemic are now all hitting the stage all at once. And that massive influx of high-profile concert tours is continuing into 2023. From long-awaited concert tours to anniversary celebrations to high-profile comebacks, these are the most anticipated concert tours of 2023.

Arctic Monkeys

For the first time in nearly ten years, Arctic Monkeys released a new album. The Car, is a cinematic melodrama enacted as debonairly as possible in the way that only Alex Turner and company can. They’re set to make 22 tour stops in North America at the tail end of summer and Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. are opening for them.

Beyoncé

While Beyoncé hasn’t announced any plans to tour in support of Renaissance yet (or release any music videos from it for that matter) she dropped a $20,000 hint that a tour is coming this summer. You see, at the WACO Theater Wearable Art Gala in October, Beyoncé put up an extravagant package for the charity auction. For $20k, the package description included airline tickets and a meet and greet to, “Beyoncé’s Renaissance 2023 tour.” Shout out to the Bey Hive member who sussed out this caper.

Big Thief

In a year that saw them releasing another dynamite album in Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, Big Thief announced an active schedule of concerts across four continents. But they really made waves this past week in laying out a plan to invite teachers and students to their soundchecks along the tour. The band wants to provide young people with opportunities to engage in learning experiences around creativity, music, playing shows, and songwriting. Awesome.

Blink 182

Not only is Blink 182 back, but guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge has rejoined the band making for a full reunion tour. Delonge, drummer Travis barker, and bassist/singer Mark Hoppus are also set to headline a slew of South American festivals, as well as the When We Were Young emo nostalgia fest in Las Vegas. Oh, and a new Blink 182 album is apparently on deck as well.

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are hitting the road in 2023 for the first time since 2017. Yet when news of the US tour dates hit, Ticketmaster’s flexible pricing model sent some seats soaring in the thousands of dollars range and fans were none too pleased. Springsteen answered the critics essentially saying that the imperfect system is what it is, but, “If there’s any complaints on the way out, you can have your money back.” They don’t call him The Boss for nothing.

Death Grips

For the first time in four years, horrorcore trailblazers Death Grips will be going out on tour. The experimental rap trio of Zach Hill, MC Ride, and Andy Morin put on an electric live show, with MC Ride an always visceral presence on the microphone.

Depeche Mode

It was a tough year for Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan and Martin Gore when longtime keyboardist Andy “Fletch” Fletcher died in May at the age of 60. But Depeche Mode are still planning on releasing their new album Memento Mori, this spring. “Fletch would have loved this album,” Gahan said. The Memento Mori World Tour begins in March in the US and only ends in August in Europe.

Ed Sheeran

With albums entitled +, =, ÷, and x Ed Sheeran is bringing the theme full circle with his North America megatour dubbed the Mathematics Tour. He’ll be playing gigantic stadium sets at venues like Houston’s NRG Stadium, Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, and Detroit’s Ford Field. Meanwhile, he has curated a diverse set of tour openers in Khalid, Maisie Peters, Russ, Rosa Linn, Cat Burns, and Dylan.

GloRilla

Hopefully, GloRilla is planning on giving her assistant a raise, because she’s going to be plenty busy with her first-ever headlining tour in 2023. The Anyways, Life’s Great Tour is tabbed as GloRilla “with friends,” so we’ll see who decides to pop up on stage with the Memphis rapper. Could one of those friends be Cardi B at some point? The pair collaborated on the track “Tomorrow 2” which hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2022.

Janet Jackson

When Janet Jackson announced the Together Again Tour for 2023, she also promised that “there will be new music.” Not that we really need any, considering how many #hits she’s turned out across the decades, but it definitely adds to the mystique of what the always explosive “That’s The Way Love Goes” singer does on stage. Ludacris is joining her as the opening act, cause why the heck not?

JID and Smino

Both JID and Smino dropped albums in 2022. JID’s Forever Story places him in the conversation of today’s best, while Smino’s incredibly unique Luv 4 Rent features A-List featured guests like J-Cole and Lil Uzi Vert. Now the Atlanta and St. Louis connection will come to fruition on the 32-date cross-continent Luv Is 4Ever Tour.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

Are King Gizzard the most prolific band in the world right now? The Aussie psycho rockers did just drop five albums in 2022. They’ve certainly become one of the most cultiish live bands on the planet regardless. They’re June 2023 tour begins at The Caverns Underground in Tennessee and ends with a three-hour “marathon set” at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Metallica

The pioneering metal band from San Francisco have a new album due out on April 14th called 72 Seasons and the corresponding tour will stretch far beyond 2023. Metallica will be hitting the road this year, making stops in both Europe, the US, Canada, while picking it up again for a slew of 2024 dates in Europe and all of North America including Mexico. The shows will feature them playing 2 nights in cities, with no song repeats and an in-the-round staging.

Paramore

Paramore’s much-hyped sixth album, This Is Why, is due out on February 10th and the Hayley Williams-led band have a tour ready to rock for the summertime. Beginning in May, Paramore will be touring all throughout North America and have an illustrious cast of support acts in tow in Bloc Party (whom they cite as a primary influence), Foals, The Linda Lindas, and Genesis Owusu.

The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie

Not only is The Postal Service embarking on a 20th Anniversary Tour for their cult-classic album Give Up, but it’s a double bill with Death Cab For Cutie. Ben Gibbard will be pulling double duty, but he’s the quintessential rockstar on stage and can more than handle it. And as great as Death Cab’s latest album, Asphalt Meadows, is, the vibes will surely be highest as soon as Jenny Lewis joins Gibbard on vocals for Give Up’s opening track, “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight.”

SZA

Sad hotties rejoice, SZA is going on tour! After an unfathomable number of teasers and delays, SZA’s new album S.O.S. finally dropped last month and she’ll be supporting it on tour with Omar Apollo as the opening act. We got a preview of SZA’s S.O.S. stage setup at Outside Lands festival 2022 in San Francisco this past summer and it’s thematic to the album to say the least.

Taylor Swift

Following the release of Midnights, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will mark her first stadium performances in five years. By now, you’ve surely heard about how Taylor damn near broke Ticketmaster when tickets went on sale and the tour has already netted over a half billion dollars in sales. This will mark the largest run of US dates for Swift, so do what you have to do to get into the stadium. And if all else fails, maybe her cat can put you on the guest list?

The Walkmen

A decade since The Walkmen went on an “extreme hiatus,” the indie rock staples announced a comeback for 2023 with a limited number of shows in only New York City at first. The tour has since expanded to add multi-night residencies in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington D.C. in addition to New York City. This could potentially mean that Hamilton Leithauser, Peter Bauer, and company might finally have a new album by The Walkmen on the horizon. The plan will surely unfold on this long-awaited slate of live performances which begins in April.

Wizkid

Weeks after dropping his latest album, More Love Less Ego, Wizkid already started teasing a new album called SaiLess. The promise of even more new music from the world-sweeping Afrobeats star will certainly drive the interest North American Tour. Beginning in March, Wizkid will be playing arena-sized venues like Houston’s Kia Center and Kia Forum in Los Angeles.

Zach Bryan

A noted critic of Ticketmaster’s purported monopoly and the exorbitant fees that they tack on concert tickets, Zach Bryan has decided to take matters into his own hands for his upcoming tour. “I’ve decided to play a limited number of headline shows next year to which I’ve done all I can to make prices as cheap as possible and to prove to people tickets don’t have to cost $450 to see a good and honest show,” the country music rising star said on Instagram. The dates have yet to be announced but Bryan has promised them “soon” and you’ve just got to admire the stance he’s taking.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.