Music

Few music industry vets approach the level of royalty in the radio world that Andrea Ganis, Variety‘s Hitbreaker of the Year, inhabits. She rose through the ranks at Atlantic Records until they had to create a new title for her: president of promotion. “Atlantic was a powerhouse then as it is now, so I got

“I was writing sad stuff but covering it up with a happy beat,” says 20-year-old singer Benee of her irresistible hit “Supalonely.” The tune started as a TikTok sensation in February, and by lockdown had crossed over to radio, amassing more than 272,600 spins in 2020, the vast majority at Top 40. Benee collaborated with

At the end of 2014, Charli XCX was on top of the pop world. She’d enjoyed a global smash with “Boom Clap,” she’d co-written and sang on both Iggy Azalea’s chart-topping “Fancy” and Icona Pop’s global hit “I Love It.” She was 22 years old, had just released her sophomore album “Sucker” to rave reviews,

The alphabet soup of pandemic-related financial-aid acts rocketing around Capitol Hill can be hard to follow, but an important one was introduced into the Senate by Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Marsha Blackburn (R–Tenn.) on Thursday morning. With many of the CARES Act provisions expiring, the Help Independent Tracks Succeed (HITS) Act, a bipartisan solution that

“I’m a two-hit wonder — officially,” crows Lewis Capaldi, who, last year at this time, was actually using “one-hit wonder” as his temporary Twitter handle. “The jury is out on three and four, but one and two are in the bag.” Those would be “Someone You Loved,” a No. 1 song from 2019 that has

This was the year in which it took a village working from home to achieve a hit song. Notwithstanding all those hitmakers who were fortunate enough to get their songwriting and recording in under a wire that no one saw coming, 2020 saw legions of the biz’s finest hitbreakers zigging, zagging and, of course, Zooming

Coming into 2020, Maren Morris had already been a massive crossover artist — but with a massive asterisk attached to that. The country star’s previous pop success had been as the featured vocalist on Zedd’s ubiquitous 2018 smash “The Middle.” Could she cut out the middleman, as it were, and strike gold at pop formats

Universal Music Group (UMG) is launching Mercury Studios, a new outfit that will encompass existing global film and television producer Eagle Rock Entertainment (ERE). The new content studio will develop, produce and invest in innovative, music-based storytelling. Music will serve as the foundation for projects across performance/live, factual/reality, scripted, artist and filmmaker partnerships and remastering

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Pearl Jam are joining forces for a virtual fundraiser benefitting the Georgia Senate runoff election. Hosted by actor and Georgia native Wayne Brady, the fundraiser will take place via the virtual venue Looped on Dec. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET/ 5:30 p.m. PT. The event will feature Miranda and Pearl Jam in

Lily Cornell Silver, elder daughter of late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, made her debut public performance during a tribute to Alice in Chains on Tuesday night. The 20-year-old singer paid homage to the event’s honorees with a version of their 2009 song “Black Gives Way to Blue,” accompanied by fellow Seattle native Chris DeGarmo of

Todd Rundgren has a virtual road trip on the books for this winter, although the literal part of it will take him and his 10-piece band only as far as Chicago, and leave them there. The legendary singer-songwriter/producer is announcing a 25-city “tour” that will target different cities around the country and, through, geofencing, make

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the two-hour Season 4, Episode 10 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired Dec. 2 on Fox. It was a mega unmasking on Wednesday as Fox’s “The Masked Singer” revealed three celebrities in a special 2-hour semi-final edition: Singer/songwriter Tori Kelly (as the Seahorse), music

Blackpink is coming in your area — virtually, anyway. YouTube Music has announced a livestream concert featuring the K-pop group, set for launch on Dec. 27 at midnight ET. The event, available exclusively on Blackpink’s YouTube channel, will include first-time performances of songs from “The Album,” released in October. Members of Blackpink, Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa

Warner Chappell Music has promoted June Gao to the new role of China general manager, the company said Wednesday. She will continue to be based in Beijing, reporting to Monica Lee, president of Warner Chappell Music Asia Pacific. Gao will oversee all of the firm’s China business and build up a larger team there. Warner

Sequencing has become somewhat of a lost art in the age of shuffle, but not in Harry Styles’ eyes — or ears. To hear Variety‘s Hitmaker of the Year tell it, an album’s cohesion relies on getting the track list right. How many variations did the singer consider before deciding the final order of “Fine

Last December, when Ellie Goulding accepted the Variety’s Decade award at our annual Hitmakers event, she noted — more out of curiosity than bitterness — that for all the commercial and critical success in her decade-plus-long career, particularly in her native U.K., she has had little recognition from the industry’s biggest awards. “I haven’t really

“When there aren’t any more trees, your comic books are going to go the way of all vinyl,” David Lee Roth says. Then he laughs. “That’s good! Mark that one!” And then he follows up. “Hey, no more vinyl trees ’round here!” With Diamond Dave, there’s always a laugh. And there’s usually a follow-up. It’s

In celebration of pop star Britney Spears’ birthday, her label RCA Records has unveiled the previously  unreleased track “Swimming In the Stars,” available to stream now (below) and for pre-order as an exclusive vinyl pressing from Urban Outfitters. The new limited edition deluxe vinyl of Spears’ 2016 album “Glory” will also include other previously unreleased

Did Van Morrison and Eric Clapton not get the memo that there is a global health catastrophe that has so far claimed nearly 1.5 million lives worldwide? Do they not know that this pandemic is far from over? In what world are these two living? The fact that they would decide to collaborate on a

Elliot Grainge, founder and CEO of the independent record label 10K Projects, has promoted Theo Battaglia to the newly created position of executive vice president/head of creative at the company. In this new role, Battaglia will oversee all creative services at the company, and will continue in his role leading the artist marketing team, including

Jaden Smith isn’t just an actor and a musician. The 22-year-old son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith is also a social activist — more specifically a water activist. His nonprofit 501CTHREE.org has teamed up with KindHuman and Homeless Health Care to install a water box in Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles to provide

Under normal circumstances, 2020 should have been a nonstop victory lap for Roddy Ricch, who has enjoyed as good a past 12 months as any 22-year-old rapper could imagine. He won his first Grammy in January, for his appearance on Nipsey Hussle’s “Racks in the Middle,” and he just racked up six nominations for next

In her new memoir, “Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good,” Tina Turner explores spirituality and her Buddhist practice and how they have helped her overcome loss, negativity and domestic abuse. Variety caught up with the 81-year-old music icon, who lives in Switzerland, via email ahead of the the book’s release

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Taylor Swift fans no longer have to leave what her re-recordings of her old catalog might sound like to pure speculation. She has revealed a snippet of one of them in a highly comical new commercial for the dating site Match: a redo of her O.G. hit “Love Story.” Swift posted on Twitter: “Okay so

Death Cab for Cutie will release on Friday “The Georgia E.P.” — a five-track E.P. of covers of songs by artists from the state of Georgia, with all net proceeds going to Fair Fight Action, Stacey Abrams’ voter’s rights organization that promotes fair elections around the country through voter education, election reform, and combating voter suppression.

Industry veteran Josh Deutsch and celebrated music supervisor Randall Poster have joined forces, combining their two respective companies, Premier and Search Party. Premier Music Group, a leading sync agency launched in 2017 by Downtown Music co-founders Deutsch and Terence Lam, announced the acquisition today. Poster founded Search Party in 2004. In consolidating the two companies,

Despite the opinions of some highly placed Grammy voters, The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” positively dominated radio in 2020, as evidenced by the year-end charts from the largest network in the U.S., iHeartRadio. The charts present total audience spins and streams across the network’s broadcast stations and digital outlets — and “Blinding Lights” was far in

“Just for Variety” is back. Variety’s signature column, which first appeared in Daily Variety 75 years ago and ran until 2005, is returning as a weekly print and digital franchise starting on Dec. 2. Written by senior culture editor Marc Malkin, the column will focus on industry dish from both behind and in front of

An artistic marriage between singer Phoebe Bridgers and actor Phoebe Waller-Bridge sounds like something straight out of a modern pop-culture version of “The Name Game,” but there’s a lot more to their relationship than celebrity assonance. The two Phoebes teamed up for a new music video, “Savior Complex,” based on one of the songs from