Ally Brooke Teams Up with Dinah Jane to Release “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” Cover

Posted on December 1, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Ally Brooke is hoping you get you into the holiday spirit…

The 30-year-old Mexican American singer has joined voices with her former Fifth Harmony group mate Dinah Jane to release their rendition of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”

Ally Brooke’s single with Dinah Jane follows on the heels of her recently-released four-track holiday EP Under The Tree, which includes the title track, an original song.

Ally and Dinah made the collaboration announcement by way of their socials earlier in the week.

“I’m beyond thrilled to be back together with my former Fifth Harmony mate Dinah,” Ally enthuses in a statement. “There are no words to explain how it feels to be reunited with our collaboration. We hope to bring lots of happiness to our fans and the world with our reunion.”

Christmas is, of course, a time for family. And this holiday cut represents the first time any of the former 5H bandmates have collaborated since the pop group went on hiatus in 2018.

Formed on The X Factor in 2012 with the lineup of Brooke, Jane, Normani, Lauren Jauregui, and Camila Cabello, the group went on to land four top 10 titles on the Billboard 200 chart, and earned a top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Work From Home” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, peaking at No. 4 in 2016.

“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” comes years after Fifth Harmony disbanded, at the time reduced to a four-piece when Cabello left.

Jane presents the new song as a special gift to long-suffering Harmonizers.

“There’s a special type of joyous spirit that Christmas brings us all,” she comments. “This holiday season, I’m grateful for this healing union that has brought my good ole sister Ally Brooke and I together through music”.

“May this song encourage you to embrace love, forgiveness, and bring comfort to all,” concludes Dinah. “I pray that this song may connect souls to our dear Savior as His love is the reason for all seasons.”

“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is now bundled into Brooke’s Under the Tree collection.

Lauren Jauregui Releases New EP “In Between”

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Lauren Jauregui is embracing the In Between…

The 26-year-old Cuban American singer/songwriter and former Fifth Harmony member has released her latest EP In Between.

“I think there’s more movement to this EP. This is a continuation of Prelude, which is my first EP that I dropped — kind of the sound and vibe that I’ve been cultivating from that point,” she tells Billboard.

The six tracks on her new project were written starting back in 2018, as she hasn’t “locked in to” writing new material as of yet, said Jauregui.

But the tracks on In Between shouldn’t be considered leftovers from her Prelude era, she insists. Instead, the EP represents “a continuation of a story that would’ve been told, maybe, in the past.”

The EP’s lead single “Wolves” features dual guest appearances by her ex-boyfriend Ty Dolla $ign — who previously collaborated with the pop singer and her 5H bandmates on the worldwide hit “Work From Home” — and Russ, and it also contains previously released singles “Always Love” and the vulnerable “Trust Issues.”

Jauregui also opened up to Billboard about learning to embrace her sexuality in her music and personal life after being outed by Perez Hilton in 2016.

“I’m older now; I was 16 when I started in this industry and I’m now 26,” she said. “So I feel like you blossom into yourself over the course of those years; you discover yourself, you meet people, you fall in love, you fall out of love and you learn yourself.

“And I think, even when it comes to expression and identity and sexuality, I’m very fluid,” the singer-songwriter added. “So I feel like I’ll continue to discover and engage with different parts of myself as grow and as I’m alive.”

Camila Cabello’s “Havana” Music Video Joins YouTube’s Billion Views Club

Posted on November 24, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a repeat billion performance for Camila Cabello…

The 24-year-old Mexican and Cuban singer and former Fifth Harmony member’s “Havana” video, featuring Young Thug, has surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube, the video-sharing site has announced.

Cabello’s video was released in October 2017 and the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2018 — marking Cabello’s first No. 1 on the chart.

Cabello is no stranger to YouTube’s Billion Views Club. Before launching her solo career, Cabello’s all-girl group Fifth Harmony— as of August this year — has racked up a pair of videos with 2 billion views on the site: 2015’s “Worth It” and 2016’s “Work From Home.”

Cabello also racked up 1 billion views with her 2019 Shawn Mendes duet “Señorita,” which joined the club in April 2000. The former couple’s steamy duet also hit No. 1 on the Hot 100.

J Balvin Lands Two Singles on Spotify’s “Billions Club” Playlist

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

J Balvin is officially in special company…

Spotify has launched its “Billions Club” playlist to highlight the music of the members of its Billion Streams Club, including two of the 36-year-old Colombian singer/songwriter’s most iconic singles.

According to Spotify, the new playlist — which currently features more than 150 songs — highlights the megahits that have surpassed the one billion streams mark. Included on the new playlist are J Balvin’s “Mi Gente” with Willy William and his collaboration with Cardi B and Bad Bunny, “I Like It.”

In all Cardi B has three singles on the playlist. Along with “I Like It,” the other singles are “Girls Like You” with Maroon 5, and “Taki Taki,” her collaboration with Selena Gomez, Ozuna and DJ Snake.

Selena Gomez has three singles. Along with “Taki Taki,” her other singles on the playlist include “We Don’t Talk Anymore” with Charlie Puth, and “It Ain’t Me” with Kygo.

Bruno Mars has three singles on the playlist “That’s What I Like” and “Just the Way You Are,” as well as “Uptown Funk” with Mark Ronson.

Other Latin artists appearing on the playlist include Karol G, Danny Ocean, Fifth Harmony, Camila Cabello and Luis Fonsi.

“Spotify has long celebrated artist milestones and we wanted to find a unique way to honor the artists and songs fans can’t stop listening to,” Ashley Graver, Global Head of Creative Artist Partnerships, tells Billboard. “The Billions Club playlist is a natural evolution of the plaques you have seen from multiple artists, and we are excited to give fans a one-stop destination to enjoy some of the most streamed songs in the world.”

Also in celebration of the newly rounded up collection of songs, Spotify created a video sharing how various artists have reveled when learning of the milestone and receiving their One Billion Streams plaque from the streamer.

Prior to the launch of the “Billions Club” playlist, some artists have marked hitting the billion streams achievement by doing more than just showing off their shiny new plaques on social media. Several have literally eaten off the platter-shaped badge of honor: Halsey dug into some Cheetos and candy, Joe Jonas dined on some McDonald’s, and Quavo ate some scrambled eggs and waffles with plenty of syrup, for example. (See Billboard’s gallery.)

Spotify has been busy this year launching new features beyond the just announced “Billions Club” playlist.

In April, the streaming service started adding some livestream events to artist pages, and in late May, partnered with Driift for tickets to a virtual concert series.

Cardi B, “I Like It,” featuring Bad Bunny & J Balvin
Cardi B, “Girls Like Me,” with Maroon 5
Bruno Mars, “That’s What I Like”
Bruno Mars, “Just the Way You Are”
Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk,” with Mark Ronson
Fifth Harmony, “Work From Home,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign
Karol G, “Tusa,” featuring Nicki Minaj
Selena Gomez, “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” with Charlie Puth
Selena Gomez, “Taki Taki,” with DJ Snake, Cardi B & Ozuna
Selena Gomez, “It Ain’t Me,” with Kygo
Camila Cabello, “Senorita,” with Shawn Mendes
Camila Cabello, “Havana,” featuring Young Thug
Luis Fonsi, “Despacito – Remix,” with Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber
Luis Fonsi, “Despacity,” with Daddy Yankee
J Balvin, “Mi Gente,” with Willy William
Danny Ocean, “Me Rehuso”

Camila Cabello Makes History as “Never Be the Same” Reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Songs Chart

Posted on June 27, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Camila Cabello is making history …

The 21-year-old Mexican and Cuban singer’s “Never Be the Same” rises 2-1 on Billboard‘s Adult Pop Songs radio airplay chart, dated June 30.

The track previously led the Pop Songs airplay chart for three weeks beginning May 12.

The song is Cabello’s second No. 1 on each list from her debut album, Camila, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated January 27. The set’s lead single, “Havana,” featuring Young Thug, led Pop Songs for seven weeks (beginning December 9) and Adult Pop Songs for one frame (March 3).

With “Never” following “Havana,” Cabello is the first artist to crown both the Pop Songs and Adult Pop Songs charts with the first two promoted singles from a debut LP.

Lorde had previously come closest to achieving the feat, as “Royals,” the lead single from her first studio full-length, Pure Heroine, ruled both rankings in 2013. Follow-up “Team” topped Adult Pop Songs but peaked at No. 2 on Pop Songs.

The Pop Songs chart, which began in 1992, measures total weekly plays, as tabulated by Nielsen Music, among its reporting panel of 160 mainstream top 40 stations. Adult Pop Songs (launched in Billboard magazine in 1996) reflects airplay on 84 adult top 40 stations.

While “Never” is Cabello’s second total Adult Pop Songs No. 1, after “Havana,” “Never” became her third leader on Pop Songs, after “Havana” and “Bad Things,” with Machine Gun Kelly, for two weeks in February 2017.

Additionally, Fifth Harmony, with Cabello as a member, led Pop Songs for two frames with “Work From Home,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, in June 2016; Cabello was a member of the now-on-hiatus group from its 2012 inception to December 2016.

Camila Cabello Pulls a Rare Double as She Earns First No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Havana”

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a rare double for Camila Cabello…

The 20-year-old Cuban and Mexican singer and former Fifth Harmony Member has reached the summit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated January 27) for the first time, as “Havana,” featuring Young Thug, rises from No. 2 to No. 1.

The song was released on SYCO/Epic Records and is the 1,070th No. 1 in the Hot 100‘s history, which dates to the chart’s August 4, 1958, inception.

Cabello’s Hot 100 coronation accompanies her No. 1 entrance on the Billboard 200 albums chart with her debut solo set, Camila.

Additionally, “Havana” becomes Cabello’s first No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart, jumping from No. 5 with a 34 percent gain to 44.9 million U.S. streams in the week ending January 18, according to Nielsen Music.

The track charges 4-2 on Digital Song Sales (which it led for two weeks), up 57 percent to 80,000 downloads sold in the week ending Jan. 18, aided by a 69-cent iTunes Store sale price. It claims the Hot 100’s top gains in both streaming and sales.

On Radio Songs (which it topped for four frames), “Havana” holds at No. 2, with 131 million in all-format airplay audience (down 5 percent) in the week ending Jan. 21.

Cabello had previously peaked as high as No. 4 on the Hot 100 both as a soloist and a member of vocal group Fifth Harmony, which she departed in December 2016. Her own “Bad Things,” with Machine Gun Kelly, hit No. 4 on February 11, 2017, while 5H‘s “Work From Home,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, reached the same rank on June 11, 2016.

“Havana” spent seven (nonconsecutive) weeks at No. 2 before topping the Hot 100. That’s the most time for a song at the runner-up spot before hitting No. 1 since Justin Bieber‘s “Sorry” logged a record-tying eight weeks at No. 2 in 2015-16 prior to leading for three weeks beginning January 23, 2016.

“Havana” hits No. 1 in its 23rd week on the Hot 100, equaling the longest rise to the summit for a song by a female artist in the Hot 100’s history. It matches Sia‘s “Cheap Thrills,” featuring Sean Paul, in 2016, and Patti Austin‘s “Baby, Come to Me,” with James Ingram, in 1982-83.

Only six songs overall have taken more scenic routes to No. 1 than those three, led by Los Del Rio‘s “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)“: 33 weeks in 1995-96.

Beyonce was the last artist to earn both firsts as a soloist simultaneously, with “Crazy in Love,” featuring JAY-Z, and Dangerously in Love, on July 12, 2003. The song began an eight-week Hot 100 reign the same week that her first solo album apart from Destiny’s Child (and including “Crazy”) launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Still, Beyoncé had previously topped both charts as a member of Destiny’s Child.

Counting purely first weeks at No. 1 on the tallies overall, Cabello is the first artist to earn both firsts in the same week since Britney Spears, whose “…Baby One More Time” ascended to No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated Jan. 30, 1999, the week that her debut album of the same name opened atop the Billboard 200.

Meanwhile, Cabello is the first artist to top both the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 concurrently at all since Kendrick Lamar, who did so “Humble.” and DAMN., respectively, on May 6, 2017.

The last woman to double up at No. 1 on the charts before Cabello this week? Rihanna, with “Work,” featuring Drake, and ANTI, nearly two years ago (April 2, 2016).

Camila Cabello’s “Havana” Reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Songs Chart

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

She may have left her heart in Havana, but Camila Cabello is also leaving her mark on the Billboard music charts.

The 20-year-old Cuban and Mexican singer has earned her second No. 1 as a solo artist on Billboard‘s Pop Songs radio airplay chart, as “Havana,” featuring Young Thug, rises 3-1 on the tally dated December 9. Young Thug reigns in his first visit to the chart.

The Pop Songs chart, which began in 1992 measures total weekly plays, as tabulated by Nielsen Music, among its reporting panel of 162 mainstream top 40 stations.

Cabello previously crowned Pop Songs for two weeks beginning February 18 with “Bad Things,” alongside Machine Gun Kelly.

As a member of Fifth Harmony, Cabello led Pop Songs when the group’s “Work From Home,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, began a two-week rule that June 4.

Cabello is additionally just the fifth artist to post multiple Pop Songs No. 1s as a soloist while also having ruled the ranking with a group. She joins an illustrious group that includes Beyoncé, Adam Levine, Gwen Stefani and Justin Timberlake.

With its Latin vibe (fueled by its new Spanglish mix with Daddy Yankee, the track debuted on the Deember. 2 Latin Pop Songs chart at No. 18), “Havana” “stands out in a big way and it raises its hand among all the noise of straight-ahead pop-sounding singles,” Brian Kelly, program director of Pop Songs reporter WXSS Milwaukee (and Entercom top 40 format captain), recently told Billboard, adding that Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee‘s smash “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber, “knocked down the door [for] this type of sound.

“What once seemed like an impossible fit all of a sudden makes sense.”

On the all-genre airplay, streaming and sales-based Billboard Hot 100, “Havana” has reached a No. 2 high, for the past three weeks.

Camila Cabello Earns First No. 1 on UK Singles Chart with “Havana”

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a special first for Camila Cabello…

The 20-year-old Cuban singer and former Fifth Harmony member has landed her first No. 1 hit as a solo artist in the United Kingdom with “Havana.”

Cabello beats her previous best, the runner-up spot, on the U.K. Official Singles Chart Top 100 with 2016’s “Work From Home” when she was a member of Fifth Harmony.

“Havana” finished the chart week nearly 4,000 combined units ahead of “Rockstar” by Post Malone featuring 21 Savage, which falls to No. 2 after four weeks at the top.

Fifth Harmony’s “Down” Sees Post-MTV VMAs Sales Increase of 205%

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Ally Brooke Hernandez and Lauren Jauregui are cashing in…

The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards generated a sizable sales gain in digital song downloads for tracks performed on the August 27 show, including the Latina singers’ Fifth Harmony single “Down” according to Nielsen Music.

Following the all-girl group’s performance, as well as its win for Best Pop Video during the ceremony, the track jumped 205 percent in sales.

“Down” debuted at number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week dated June 24, 2017, with first week sales of 36,000 copies, 9.2 million streams and a 7.1 million audience reach.

This marked their second highest debut on this chart, following “Work from Home,” which debuted at number 12.

Meanwhile, Demi Lovato’s “Sorry Not Sorry” saw a 41 percent uptick in sales. The 25-year-old part-Mexican American singer performed the track, backed by a gospel choir, in front of a pool full of people.

“Sorry Not Sorry” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 52 three days following its release.

It sold 45,000 copies in the US alone in its first three days.

Gomez Named Favorite Female Singer at Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards

Posted on March 12, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Selena Gomez is still the Kids’ choice…

The 24-year-old Mexican American singer/actress was named Favorite Female Singer at the 2017 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles.

It’s Gomez’s fourth award in the category in the last seven years, and her tenth orange blimp overall.

She’d previously won five awards for Favorite TV Actress for her starring role on the Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place.

Meanwhile, Ally Brooke Hernandez, Lauren Jauregui and former member Camila Cabello and their former Fifth Harmony members picked up their second straight Favorite Music Group award. Additionally, the all-girl group won a second award for Favorite Song for “Work From Home” (featuring Ty Dolla $ign).

Here’s the complete list of winners below:

Favorite Kids’ Show Henry Danger
Favorite Family Show Fuller House
Favorite Reality Show America’s Got Talent
Favorite Cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants
Favorite Male TV Star
Jace Norman (Henry, Henry Danger)
Favorite Female TV Star
Zendaya (K.C., K.C. Undercover)
Favorite Movie Ghostbusters
Favorite Movie Actor
Chris Hemsworth (Kevin, Ghostbusters)
Favorite Movie Actress
Melissa McCarthy (Abby, Ghostbusters)
Favorie Animated Movie
Finding Dory
Favorite Voice From An Animated Movie
Ellen DeGeneres (Dory, Finding Dory)
Favorite Villain
Kevin Hart (Snowball, The Secret Life of Pets)
Favorite Butt-Kicker
Chris Evans (Captain America, Captain America: Civil War)
BFFs (Best Friends Forever)
Kevin Hart & Dwayne Johnson (Bob/Calvin, Central Intelligence)
Favorite Frenemies
Ginnifer Goodwin & Jason Bateman (Judy/Nick, Zootopia)
Most Wanted Pet
Snowball from The Secret Life of Pets (Kevin Hart)
#Squad Finding Dory – Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Kaitlin Olson, Hayden Rolence, Willem Dafoe,
Ed O’Neill, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy
Favorite Music Group
Fifth Harmony
Favorite Male Singer
Shawn Mendes
Favorite Female Singer
Selena Gomez
Favorite Song
“Work From Home” – Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign
Favorite New Artist
Twenty One Pilots
Favorite Music Video
“Juju on That Beat” – Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall
Favorite DJ/EDM Artist
Calvin Harris
Favorite Soundtrack Suicide Squad
Favorite Viral Music Artist
JoJo Siwa
Favorite Global Music Star
Little Mix (UK)
Favorite Video Game
Just Dance 2017

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

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