Innholdsfortegnelse for April 29, 2017 i Billboard Magazine

HARRY STYLES’ DEBUT SOLO SINGLE, “SIGN OF THE Times,” launches at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, with the One Direction member’s track soaring in at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart with 142,000 downloads sold in the week ending April 13, according to Nielsen Music. It bows at No. 18 on Streaming Songs (16.5 million U.S. streams) and sports 23 million airplay impressions in its first full week of tracking after its April 7 release. “Sign of the Times” follows Styles’ 29 Hot 100 entries as part of 1D. The boy band has scored six top 10s, charting highest with “Best Song Ever” (No. 2, 2013). In February 2016, following his exit from the group, Zayn Malik became the act’s first member (past or present) to…

When Harry Styles’ first single “Sign of the Times” arrived April 7, he became the third One Direction alum, after Zayn Malik and Niall Horan, to launch his post-boy-band solo career with a debut single — and fans have taken notice. Here’s how each release performed in sales, streams and on the Billboard Hot 100 in its first week. Jan. 29, 2016 ZAYN MALIK ”Pillowtalk,” the first post-1D solo track from any band member, raced to the top of the Hot 100 upon release, making him the first U.K. artist to bow at No. 1 with a debut charted single. Sept. 29, 2016 NIALL HORAN ”This Town” arrived by surprise on a Thursday and debuted at No. 63 on the Hot 100 — based on just one day of sales…

COAC HELLA EDITION Selena Gomez, The Weeknd Rule Coachella’s Best Party The clear power couple of Coachella 2017 was The Weeknd and Selena Gomez, who snapped cuddly photos of themselves while enjoying the main stage performances from the VIP area on April 15. Later, the pair stopped by the Neon Carnival presented by Levi’s and Don Julio tequila, which hosted rides, games and photo booths at the Desert Resorts Airport in Thermal, Calif. Rihanna, who was spotted enjoying sets by Gucci Mane and Lady Gaga on Saturday, was in attendance, as were Leonardo DiCaprio, Halsey, Future and Jhené Aiko. With Gomez’s face hidden under a white baseball cap, she and The Weeknd joined Drake, who was a surprise guest during Future’s set that night, as well as French Montana, Sean…

“That show got kids to not hate science class, and that full-on worked.” —TYLER, THE CREATOR The rapper in a video on Twitter revealing what led him to record a new version of the theme song for Bill Nye the Science Guy’s Netflix reboot. “$20 tickets because I’m 20 and because I love you.” —LORDE The artist tweeting details of her first show in more than two years in Los Angeles, ahead of her Coachella performance two days later. “My only brother Taylor Bennett made me this song for my birthday and brought me to tears.” —CHANCE THE RAPPER The hip-hop artist on Twitter sharing a remix of the song “Only Brother” that his younger sibling made for him in celebration of his 24th birthday. “I can’t go home yet,…

Still only in their 20s, Edén Muñoz and his Calibre 50 represent a new generation of regional Mexican acts appealing to a young, bicultural, digital-savvy fan base eager to connect with its roots (of the four new artist of the year finalists at 2017’s Billboard Latin Music Awards, two — Ulíces Chaidez y Sus Plebes and Crecer Germán — are regional Mexican). Here are the leading social-media stars driving the genre’s renaissance ULÍCES CHAIDEZ Y SUS PLEBES Chaidez, 17, and his “plebes” sing both romantic fare and corridos with sparse arrangements (two guitars and tuba), emulating the sound of Chaidez’s hero Ariel Camacho. “When I started playing, I actually explored other genres,” Chaidez, who has three Hot Latin Songs hits, told Billboard last year, “but I knew right away that…

Fonsi, 38, has supported St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for 11 years and has served as its Thanks and Giving campaign ambassador since 2008, raising awareness of the hospital’s mission to find cures for cancer and other diseases. Why do you support St. Jude? I sang at fundraisers for St. Jude very early in my career, but in 2005 I realized nobody was the face of the Latin community for the hospital. I said, “I’d like to be that messenger.” Now I do concerts and PSAs, and every time I play Puerto Rico, I save two rows for families and patients. What moment related to your St. Jude work stands out? A young Dominican kid sang [my hit] “No Me Doy Por Vencido” [“I Don’t Give Up”] to me. He…

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, HIP-HOP icon-in-the-making Tupac Shakur (stage name: 2Pac) made his Billboard chart debut with his first release, 2Pacalypse Now, which peaked at No. 13 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart dated April 25, 1992. The set also spawned a national outcry when then-Vice President Dan Quayle condemned 2Pacalypse Now that September, saying it “has no place in our society” and calling upon 2Pac’s label, Interscope, to withdraw it from sale. (It didn’t.) Quayle’s comments were prompted by the murder trial of 18-year-old Ronald Ray Howard, who shot and killed 43-yearold Texas state trooper Bill Davidson in Houston. During the trial, Howard’s attorney said that 2Pacalypse Now, which was playing on Howard’s car stereo when he was stopped by Davidson, influenced his decision to pull the trigger. Shakur —…

FOR ALL THE OFFICIAL GUEST STARS THAT Gorillaz leader Damon Albarn corralled for the group’s fifth album, Humanz — Pusha T, Vince Staples, Kelela and Danny Brown among them — the most riveting cameo is unlisted: Noel Gallagher, former co-lead of Oasis, bitter ’90s rival of Albarn’s other band, Blur. Twenty years ago, Albarn and Gallagher were trading potshots as Britpop kings; in 1995, Gallagher famously wished Albarn would “catch AIDS and die.” But in 2017, both are pushing 50 and uniting on “We Got the Power,” on which Gallagher sings backing vocals. “We’ve got the power to be loving each other,” they declare, “no matter what happens.” It’s a startling listen, a duet that would’ve been unthinkable when Albarn emerged as a Cool Britannia pinup 25 years ago. “I…

The fifth annual Red Bull Music Academy Festival in New York will launch its monthlong series of events on April 29. Save these dates for a Solange multimedia performance or a Kid Capri dance party SAVE THE DATES! MAY 5 NEW JACK SWING NIGHT Haus Nightclub A chat with Blackstreet mastermind Teddy Riley (above) will focus on “the roots of a New York music genre,” says Red Bull’s Adam Shore. A dance party hosted by Kid Capri and Brucie B will follow. MAY 9 WERNER HERZOG Metropolitan Museum of Art Red Bull has been chasing the 74-year-old film icon for four years; he’ll be screening and breaking down his favorite music moments in cinematic history. MAY 16 GUCCI MANE & ZAYTOVEN Oak Room, Plaza Hotel The Atlanta rapperproducer duo will…

Universal Music Group is crying foul over allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation in its licensing deal for Prince’s catalog, which could result in the artist’s records once again being shopped to competing labels. In February, UMG agreed to a $30 million deal with the Prince estate, in which the label would assume the rights to Prince’s post- 1995 catalog globally; unreleased material; and, in the United States, the licensing and distribution of “certain key titles” from his Warner Music Group catalog, recorded between 1978 and 1995, including 1999. (Four soundtrack albums, including Purple Rain, will remain with WMG in perpetuity.) But recently, UMG sent a letter to Comerica Bank, which took over as administrator for the estate from Bremer Trust on Feb. 1, alleging that the terms of its deal were…

GORILLAZ The group’s first designs, which followed Hewlett’s work on the Tank Girl comics, were inspired by hip-hop and zombie movies. “They were looking at the darker side of life with a sense of humor,” he says. 2001 DEMON DAYS A grittier Gorillaz look was a response to realworld events like the 9/11 attacks, says Hewlett. The video for “Feel Good Inc.” features the group trapped in a tower, longing for escape. 2005 PLASTIC BEACH Instead of expanding the band’s cartoon universe, Hewlett began “taking stills of the real world and putting them into that.” The result is lush album art (below) and more textured video treatments. 2010 HUMANZ Hewlett, who has been stockpiling art since 2014, relied on digital animation to capture an unsteady moment for humanity. “Are we…

No. 14 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/ Hip-Hop Airplay chart Battle-rapping helped him confront his shyness. The 24-year-old hip-hop artist (born Ricardo Valentine), whose bleary breakup track “Prblms” reaches a new peak at No. 88 on the April 29 Billboard Hot 100, was an introverted child, preferring to draw cartoon characters and write rhymes in his notepad instead of make friends. But in middle school, his peers started challenging him to read his rhymes aloud. “When you’re at the lunch table and 15 people go, ‘So-and-so outside wants to rap,’ you don’t have time to think,” he says. Eventually he felt confident enough to pursue music, and even battle-rapped a pre-fame Young Thug at a video shoot in 2010. He’s obsessed with numerology. The Atlanta native points out that he was…

MY LIFE IS LIKE AN episode of Hoarders: the vintage edition,” quips singer-songwriter and top fashion model Karen Elson, surveying the racks upon racks of slinky silk and velvet dresses and exquisite sheer garments dating from the 1920s to 1950s, all of which she keeps in her colorful Nashville home. Back in the music spotlight after a seven-year hiatus, the British-born, flamehaired Elson, 38, just released her soulful sophomore album, Double Roses, on H.O.T. Records. It’s a delicate, dreamy meditation on life’s meaning that is worlds away from her organ-heavy, murder-ballad-laden 2010 debut, The Ghost Who Walks, which her then-husband Jack White produced. Before Elson linked up with White (they were married for seven years, divorcing in 2013), she was performing as a founding member of the downtown New York…

Arjona, 53, is one of Latin music’s highestgrossing acts, with 43 hits on the Latin Pop Airplay chart (tying with Shakira). The Guatemalan songwriter is aiming for his 21st entry on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart with the release of his next album, Circo Soledad, on April 21. Is there one particularly significant moment in your career that you are most proud of? When a label head told me it was time to choose another way to make a living. I’ve always been thankful to that idiot for the huge push he gave my self-esteem. How important are new business models and digital platforms? Platforms are simply pathways. The common denominator is the author. We don’t know how music will be delivered in the future, but without music there’s no…

EDNITA NAZARIO Puerto Rico’s most beloved diva discusses her memoir in the “Me, Me, Me” panel, which explores why Latin stars are a hot commodity for memoirs and biopics. Penguin published Nazario’s Una Vida in tandem with an LP and a tour of the same name. “It was hard for me to tell my story,” wrote Nazario in her book’s prologue. “Not the public one, but the [private] one I’ve protected all my life.” Nazario’s panel is at 3 p.m. on April 25. RESIDENTE One’s history is the theme of the first solo album by Residente, formerly of Calle 13. And following the premiere of his selftitled documentary at South by Southwest, in which he travels to 10 different countries, the Puerto Rican songwriter will open up about race, identity…