Tag: lady gaga

Revisit the Biggest Songs, Artists, and Cultural Moments of the Last 10 Years with Spotify’s ‘The Decade Wrapped’ Podcast

December 16, 2019

With 2020 right around the corner—and the 2010s coming to a close—we’re taking a journey through the last decade in music with a new original podcast, The Decade Wrapped.

The podcast’s host, Eric Eddings, will be joined by critics, comedians, influencers, and writers as they look back at the music stories that defined pop culture between 2010 and 2019. This 10-episode series incorporates data and insights from Spotify’s popular Wrapped campaign. Launched earlier this month, the campaign revealed through personal Wrapped e-cards what our listeners have been streaming—not only over 2019, but over the past decade—as well as what the world listened to during that time. 

The first three episodes are available starting today, December 16, in the U.S. (The next seven episodes will be released daily over the course of the week.) Get a taste for the episode topics and featured songs:

2010: Nicki Minaj Tells Us to “Check It Out”/Female-Driven Pop

In the early 2010s, women like Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Katy Perry took the stage . . . but no one matched the omnipresence of Nicki Minaj. Before even dropping a full album, she was featured on tracks by Lil Wayne, Kanye, will.i.am, and Gucci Mane. Her debut album, Pink Friday, didn’t disappoint—and over the years she became a force in hip-hop.

2011: One Direction (Re)invents the Stan

In 2011, British boy band One Direction recorded their first album, released “What Makes You Beautiful,” and finished up their first tour. One Direction’s teen audience was fully internet literate and ready to make the band their own. Fanfiction and fanart take flight. So of course we had no choice but to stan.

2012: “Gangnam Style” Introduces K-Pop to the U.S.

One of the most-watched videos in the history of YouTube, “Gangnam Style” set the stage for K-Pop hits like BTS to come. The song, which has been streamed over 208 million times on Spotify, is credited with bringing Korean culture into the American mainstream.

2013: Harlem Shake[s the Internet]

If there was any year that your grandma might be caught dancing to an EDM song, 2013 was it. The “Harlem Shake” showcased the immense viral power of crossover appeal and memes, and the song became a mainstream number-one hit, with more than 2.1 million streams on Spotify. The 2010s were the decade of user-created content—and this song embodied that ideal.

2014: “Uptown Funk” and Taylor Swift Go Retro

In 2014, the 1980s came back to the top of the charts as Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” featuring Bruno Mars, battled for number one. “Uptown Funk” propelled producers to the forefront; it became one of Ronson’s biggest hits and underscored the increasingly key role of producers in music then and today.

2015: Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly Takes Flight, Drake Has the Biggest Year Ever, and Hamilton Shoots Its Shot

There were three differing perspectives on what the biggest musical story of 2015 was. Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly cemented Lamar as a cultural icon as it examined race, discrimination, anger, and violence. Meanwhile, Drake’s “Hotline Bling” and his diss track feud with Meek Mill fueled a massive year for him. And Lin-Manuel Miranda turned Broadway upside down when his hip-hop musical Hamilton exploded as a hit inside and outside the theater.

2016: Beyoncé Drops Lemonade

 With her release of Lemonade, Beyoncé solidified her status as a powerful force in music. Lemonade appeared to divulge intimate details about her life while at the same time commenting on black life in America. It was universally praised for its personal and political content—and also for crossing genres. Its controversial snub at the Grammys also marked the beginning of a broader conversation around recognizing black musicians.

2017: “Despacito” Gets All the Views

In 2017, “Despacito,” a catchy song from Luis Fonzi and Daddy Yankee, crossed a huge milestone to become the most-watched video. Not music video. Video. Oh, and it surpassed 1.3 billion streams on Spotify, making it the first Spanish-language song to reach the billion-stream milestone. 

2018: “thank u, next” and the Evolution of Ariana Grande

The year 2018 was all about Ariana Grande. She returned to music with the One Love Manchester concert and came out on top with “thank u, next,” proving that music has the power to help us process, heal, and face what’s next.

2019: The Yeehaw Agenda

The end of the decade gave us giant breakthroughs for two artists. For Lizzo, it’s a story of years of hard work that culminated in the artist’s becoming a mainstay in the mainstream. And for Lil Nas X, it was the perfect storm of a catchy song on TikTok and a cowboy hat.  

Take it all the way back with a listen to the first episode on Nicki Minaj and female-driven pop below.

https://open.spotify.com/show/4C9SyDbX6N7HfgxYAVs9NP?si=DSOxhIGkQsa7bQGpREV_cw

Which Movies’ Music Strikes More of a Chord?

February 22, 2019

Two of the biggest box office hits this year were about music: the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born, which featured new, original tunes by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Both films have been nominated for several Academy Awards®, but which movie’s soundtrack struck more of a chord with audiences after the credits rolled? Even though Bohemian Rhapsody isn’t up for an award in the music categories, just for fun we checked our streaming data to find out.

We also looked at the streaming totals to speculate the winners in the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories. The nominees for the best soundtrack are Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, If Beale Street Could Talk, Isle of Dogs, and Mary Poppins Returns. For the top tune, the nominees are “Shallow,” from A Star is Born, “All the Stars,” from Black Panther, “I’ll Fight,” from RBG, “The Place Where Lost Things Go,” from Mary Poppins Returns, and “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings,” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Check out who our data suggests will take home the statue in these two categories—and the streaming numbers—in the infographic below.

Tune in to the 91st Academy Awards ceremony Sunday, February 24, at 8:00 p.m. on ABC.

Mexico City Is Now the World’s Music-Streaming Mecca

November 19, 2018

Chilangos (people who live in Mexico City) have an insatiable appetite for things that taste, look and sound cool from around the globe—and music is certainly no exception. In fact, Mexico City has the most listeners on Spotify globally, ahead of Santiago, Chile, and New York City.

You might think New York City, London, and Paris are the cities setting style, culture, and music trends, but Mexico City is right there with them at the top of the pack. A multicultural mecca of nearly 22 million residents, the greater Mexico City metropolitan area is more populous than both the greater Los Angeles and greater New York City areas, respectively. And, it’s now a top-streaming destination for musicians like Adele, Diplo, Metallica, Harry Styles, Radiohead, New Order, Bruno Mars, Madonna, the late Michael Jackson, and many more.

As a result, artists from all over the world are hitting home with audiences there. Let’s dig into our streaming data numbers for a closer look at Mexico City’s impressive streaming stronghold—and the music makers benefiting from it.

From first to fastest-growing

Mexico City has evolved in a few short years from being Spotify’s first-ever Latin American market, in 2013, to our largest listener base worldwide today. Since we launched in Mexico City, Spotify has opened international artists’ eyes to this global music epicenter as a place to expand their reach and connect with new audiences.

The city’s increasing gravitational pull for artists is particularly evident ahead of the annual Corona Capital music festival on November 17 and 18. According to our data, Mexico City is the No. 1 city in the world for the festival’s headliners. Among them are Imagine Dragons (995,940 monthly listeners), Robbie Williams (322,851 monthly listeners), The Chemical Brothers (117,190 monthly listeners), and Nine Inch Nails (75,142 monthly listeners).

Drawn in by the power of streaming

Lured by the popularity of streaming in the city, aspiring and rising singers and songwriters are in on the trend, too. We’re seeing a wave of touring artists, like genre-bending singer-songwriter Mon Laferte from Chile and alt rock band Diamante Eléctrico from Colombia, flock to Mexico City to connect with fans and make their mark.

As Mexico City’s growing streaming numbers surface through Spotify data, the city is becoming a magnet for major live acts. Take seasoned alt rockers the Pixies, for example. The iconic Boston band’s streams spiked 346 percent in Mexico just one week before a series of performances in Mexico City. With 145,995 monthly Spotify listeners, Mexico City may hold their biggest fan base. Flush with numbers like that, it’s no wonder the Frank Black-led group played last weekend to a crowd of 100,000 in Zócalo, central Mexico City’s main square.

Gorillaz, a popular virtual hip-hop act, is also riding Mexico City’s streaming dominance. The quirky fictional character-based group has 434,023 monthly Spotify listeners in Mexico City. Not surprisingly, they played the final shows of their last tour there. But the Mexico City magic applies to indie artists, too. Hippo Campus, a Minnesota-based band, discovered in 2017 that Mexico City was their top city for Spotify plays as well. This led the group to play there live for the first time in May 2018. Fueled by Mexico City’s music magic, their popularity continues to soar in the area—and beyond—with 1.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify to date.

Rock on, Mexico City

Alt rock is a hit in Mexico City, but so is guitar-driven classic rock. A large cluster of the genre’s most loyal fans can’t seem to get enough of classic rock’s biggest bands, including the Beatles (506,714 monthly listeners). And in no other city is the revival of Queen so evident. On the heels of the recent theatrical release of the Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” streaming activity for Queen in Mexico City rocketed past a million (1,278,133) monthly listeners in all.

The city has evolved into one of the most sophisticated digital music markets in the last five years—and we don’t see its music magnet slowing down anytime soon.

5 Artists Rocked By Freddie Mercury, the Flamboyant King of Queen

October 19, 2018

He captivated the crowd in a catsuit, hitting a free and unpredictable vibrato. A master of reinvention and a flamboyant front man, Freddie Mercury’s operatic displays were part concert, part theatre, part fashion show. Fans never tired of watching the king of Queen kick, jump, and prance across an arena, but it was his powerful yet deeply sensitive performance style—from soft piano ballads to wild, aerobic onstage antics—that touched them to their core.

Queen’s larger-than-life rock ’n’ roll has been revered and imitated for generations, and now, with the film Bohemian Rhapsody debuting October 24, we get a more intimate look at Mercury’s lasting influence as a thrilling and dynamic rock singer. The new biopic digs deep into the life of the late musician, portrayed by Rami Malek, and recreates his electric stage presence (including Queen’s iconic set at Live Aid in 1985).

Mercury’s star power was apparent from the start. Beginning with the release of its self-titled debut in 1973, Queen developed their own distinctly campy, vaguely classical style, combining elements of prog rock, glam rock, and heavy metal. No matter the genre, Mercury’s magnetic charisma and musical prowess won over fans, critics, and contemporaries. If not for his untimely death in 1991 Queen could have continued, but Mercury’s legacy lives on. See how he’s rocked us all: In honor of Bohemian Rhapsody and as a tribute to music royalty, take a look at five artists who’ve bowed down to the greatness that was—and continues to be—Freddie Mercury and Queen.

Lady Gaga

Stefanie Joanne Germanotta famously took her stage name from the song “Radio Ga Ga,” and throughout her career, she’s never forgotten her devotion to Queen; Lady Gaga has repeatedly borrowed from the Freddie Mercury playbook with elaborate outfits (meat dress, anyone?) and theatrical antics both onstage and off. In 2009, she described her favorite Freddie performance in Rolling Stone. “Freddie created this image of himself as rock royalty,” she explained. “That performance screams, ‘Watch me! I’m a legend!’”

Katy Perry

Like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry is a pop star who loves drama—from colorful costumes to bold, unafraid lyrics, she’s a singer who loves to make a splash. “Queen’s track ‘Killer Queen’ made me discover music and helped me come into my own at the age of 15,” she once told Cosmopolitan. “The way Freddie Mercury delivered his lyrics just made me feel like a confident woman; I’d say his fingerprint is all over me in general.”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Early 2000s indie rock goddess Karen O and Yeah Yeah Yeahs weren’t exactly subtle. The band has been on hiatus since 2013, but few can forget Karen’s onstage attire, which was often daring, dramatic, and androgynous in style. Similarly, her vocals could be big and bold one moment, quiet and delicate the next. Listen to a song like “Maps,” with its hard-rocking, sentimental theatrics, for proof of Freddie Mercury’s influence.

Metallica

While Queen combined various genres of music, hard rock—with its over-the-top instrumentation and high drama—was always at the heart of their style. Metallica, one of the biggest metal bands in the world, owes a lot to the mainstream path paved by Queen in the ’70s and ’80s. In addition to their many operatic stage shows (featuring lasers and multi-day setups), Metallica is known for their wild cover of Queen’s 1974 metal-esque song “Stone Cold Crazy.”

Dave Grohl

As drummer of Nirvana and guitarist of Foo Fighters, two of the biggest rock bands ever, Dave Grohl knows what it’s like to perform for giant crowds. In his expert opinion, though, Freddie Mercury did it better than anyone else. “Every band should study Queen at Live Aid,” he told NPR. “I consider [Mercury] the greatest front man of all time.”

While you wait for Bohemian Rhapsody to hit theaters, stream the film’s thrilling, just-released soundtrack below.

What Lady Gaga’s ‘Shallow’ Says About ‘A Star is Born’—and Music Itself

October 18, 2018

It’s a familiar Hollywood plot, whether you’ve never seen A Star is Born or devoured each of the previous three versions: A rising starlet becomes the protégé of a falling star, outshines him, and must face the outcome on her own.

In the 2018 adaptation, Lady Gaga captivates audiences with the strength and tone of her unique voice—including those “HAA-AHHs” that had fans wailing their own (potentially off-key) versions after viewing the trailer (or browsing the internet at any point throughout the last few weeks).

Those few bars of chorus were unveiled as the bridge of the movie’s hero song, “Shallow,” a few weeks before the movie premiered on October 5. Since its September 27 release, the song has garnered 39.6 million plus streams on Spotify, with over 5 million of those streams occurring throughout the film’s opening weekend. And what’s more: The Monday after the premiere, the song was the seventh most repeated song in the U.S.