‘Billboard Unfiltered’: Future’s Run, Chloe Bailey’s Solo Career & Janet Jackson’s Kamala Harris Comments
The planets have aligned and it’s Pluto season once again. The third time’s a charm for Future as he returned with his guest-less Mixtape Pluto album last week, which leads the discussion surrounding the new episode of Billboard Unfiltered.
Future is angling for his third No. 1 album of 2024 and his eighth consecutive leader on the Billboard 200. For staff writer Kyle Denis, there’s never enough Future in his life. “Never too much Future for me, to be honest,” he said. “‘Told My’ is my favorite song. ‘I told my b—h if I gotta be faithful, I might fall off.’ That’s a bar.”
More from Billboard
Denis continued: “That’s gonna be something I live by for the next eight months or so until the next tape drops maybe. I had a great time with the Future record. I just feel like he never lets me down in terms of giving me a collection of solid tracks that I like to bump for the next couple of months.”
Deputy Director, Editorial Damien Scott lent his stamp of approval to the project. “I love the album, I think it’s great. I also love the other two albums he dropped. There’s only so many hours I could devote to Future. I can’t play him around my kids,” Scott admitted. “It’s not like too much Future, but you could’ve held off on this while we’re still enjoying this other album that still has legs.”
He added: “He’s great at making the story. He’s great at furthering the narrative. Everything we’ve learned about Future is through The Shade Room, which is hilarious because we don’t learn much from his music about him, but he’s able to continue this narrative that we all buy into album after album.”
Over the weekend, Janet Jackson made headlines when she told The Guardian that presidential candidate Kamala Harris is “not black” and she “heard that she’s Indian.” She faced plenty of backlash on social media over the false claims.
Guest anchor and senior producer Tetris Kelly chalked this up to being a classic case of misinformation being spread. “No matter how famous you are, she’s still an auntie,” he said. “That’s the way I look at it. That’s your Black auntie that be at the cookout that be like, ‘Yeah, I saw on Facebook.’ We talk about misinformation and that’s kind of how it works.”
Kyle Denis took a different approach expecting more from Ms. Jackson. “I’m expecting her to be a knowledgable person because she’s a voting citizen who’s grown.”
The discussion took a turn when breaking down Chloe Bailey’s solo career as the fellas gave her advice on how she could capitalize on her talents and fully blossom into a star.
“I think she would do well with an editor or an executive producer to streamline the visions that she has that feel too much on a single song let alone an entire album,” Denis said. “She probably does have too much freedom. Sometimes you need to hone it in.”
Denis thinks there needs to be a realignment for Chloe’s branding so she could reap the benefits like we saw with Sabrina Carpenter and her Short ‘n Sweet summer of dominance.
“When I think of the name Chloe Bailey, a lot of things come to mind, but they’re not really a uniform brand of what Chloe Bailey is or represents,” he continued. “Half the reason people were so into the Sabrina Carpenter arc this year was how well she branded herself across those singles aesthetically, style-wise all that stuff. There’s a disconnect there on that level with Chloe.”
Damien Scott wants to see her hit the studio with a sonic savant like the Grammy-winning Darkchild to help steer her next era’s direction.
“I think there could be a lot of success had if she were to sit down with somebody we all threw out Darkchild. I think she needs a direction. The way that Darkchild talked about working with Brandy, that’s the type of work she needs,” he said. “What are you really trying to say? Let’s find some sounds that match that. Let’s find some themes that match that.”
Watch the full episode below.
Best of Billboard
Sign up for Billboard's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
