Ado on Japan's vocaloid culture, being anonymous and performing in a cage.
Japanese singer Ado might not be a household name in the United States and other Western countries, but the 22-year-old has enough fans to play arenas across Europe, the U.S. and Latin America. Billboard spoke with Ado (through an interpreter) to find out about her beginnings as fan of vocaloid music, how she developed her amazing voice and what she saw when performing inside a back-lit, cube-shaped cage on her recent Hibana world tour.
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Mickey Guyton on Performing on Chinese TV, Recording New Holiday Music
Country singer Mickey Guyton joined Billboard's Behind the Setlist podcast from China where she was a contestant on the TV show "The Singer." She ended up coming in second place on finale on August. 8. "I'm the first country artist that they've had on the show, and it's just been so much fun," she said. "It's really been a beautiful experience." Up next for Mickey: the release of new holiday music.
Mickey has been with Capital Records Nashville for over a decade and released two albums, Remember Her Name in 2021, which contained what’s perhaps her best known song, “Black Like Me,” and House of Fire in 2024. She has also been a familiar face on television, co-hosting the ACM Awards in 2021 and performing the national anthem for Super Bowl 56 in 2022.
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Alexandra Kay on Upcoming Album, Working for Country Stardom and Coffee
In this episode we talk to country artist Alexandra Kay. Alexandra will release her second album, titled Second Wind, on October 24 through BMG’s BBR Music Group. She has already released three tracks to her fans — including her 8.6 million large social media following. You may know Alexandra from her Coffee Covers videos on YouTube or from the track “Leave the Light On” by Jelly Roll from the Twisters soundtrack. You're probably going to know more about her soon enough. "I truly believe my song ‘Straight For the Heart’ will be my first number one at country radio," she told us. "And I have no problem saying that, and I say it on stage all the time.”
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Zac Brown Talks Upcoming Sphere Residency and Album
Zac Brown sat down with Billboard's Behind the Setlist podcast to talk about two major projects that will debut on Dec. 5: a new album, Love & Fear, and a residency at the unparalleled, state-of-the-art Sphere venue in Las Vegas. "The last three or four years, I've been wanting to create a spectacle," said Brown, a three-time Grammy winner who broke into the mainstream in 2008 with the song "Chicken Fried" from the 5x platinum album The Foundation. When Brown took a tour of Sphere during its construction, he knew that was the place to create a production that could help put his band in the same category as such icons as The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones and The Eagles. Zac also talks about his collaboration with Dolly Parton and Snoop Dogg, what he learned from Jimmy Buffett and his reflections on the hard work and challenges that led him to a successful career.
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Ray LaMontagne
Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne doesn’t do a ton of press, so we were thrilled to get some time with him to discuss his latest tour and the 20th anniversary reissue of his album Trouble. First released in 2005, Trouble peaked at No. 164 on the Billboard 200. His next album, Till the Sun Turns Black, went to No. 28. His next three albums all reached No. 3: Gossip in the Grain from 2008, God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise from 2010, and Supernova from 2014. Ray got one track into Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart, “You Are the Best Right,” in 2008. The song was featured in the film I Love You, Man.
Ray’s ninth and latest album, Long Way Home, was released in 2024. Long Way Home was released independently (through Thirty Tigers, a Nashville-based distributor) after eight previous albums through RCA Records. The lead single, the R&B-soaked “Step Into Your Power,” topped Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart in August 2024.
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At Behind the Setlist, we talk to artists to get the stories about the songs they play live. Most artists are known best for their recordings, but they love to be on stage. That's where the music feels at home. That's where they connect with the audience. How do they pick the songs to take the audience on a journey? Why do they cover other artists' songs? How many new songs can an artist fit into a 16-song set when people want to hear the classics? We find out.
Hosted by Glenn Peoples (Billboard) and Jay Gilbert (Label Logic).
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