Pop Shop Podcast: Tinashe on ‘Flame’ Single, Defying Genre & ‘Party’ing With Britney Spears; Plus Justin Bieber’s ‘Despacito’ Bump
Welcome to the new episode of the Billboard.com Pop Shop Podcast, Billboard’s weekly audio breakdown of the Billboard charts, hottest music news and year’s biggest musical events. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard co-director of charts Keith Caulfield and Billboard.com senior editor Katie Atkinson every Tuesday on the Pop Shop Podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in iTunes (click here to listen to the previous Tuesday’s edition of the show on Billboard.com).
On the latest show, we’re joined by our special guest Tinashe! The singer — who just released the music video for her new single “Flame” — dropped by the office recently to talk about how she wanted to make an emotional, “anthemic” song that people could relate to and considers it a “natural evolution” in her sound. The track is percolating under the threshold of our Pop Songs airplay chart and making gains at top 40 radio.
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Also in our chat, Tinashe talks about how it was a “fun challenge” to open for Maroon 5 earlier this year, how it was a “stan’s dream” to shoot the video for “Slumber Party” with Britney Spears and how she doesn’t limit herself to any specific genre when creating music.
“If you actually listen to my entire discography, from even the beginning, it’s been relatively versatile,” Tinashe says. “I’ve done collaborations with people completely outside the box — from dance people to Enrique Iglesias to Britney Spears. I’ve been really lucky to live in that world of not so black-and-white, and not having to box myself in.”
Plus, the Pop Shop team dives into news about how Jennifer Lopez will perform on the Billboard Latin Music Awards this Thursday, Fifth Harmony is at work on their next album, and how Billboard recently unveiled its ranking of the 100 greatest choruses of the 21st century. In addition, we review chart updates about Kendrick Lamar’s big week atop both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 charts, how Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee scored a top 10 hit on the Hot 100 (thanks to a boost from Justin Bieber) and how The Fast and the Furious film series clocks a fourth top 10-charting soundtrack on the Billboard 200 with The Fate of the Furious.
Listen above and click here to subscribe/rate the Pop Shop Podcast on iTunes.
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