NEWS
Blood Orange has announced his new album ‘Essex Honey’ and shared the first two tracks – listen to ‘Mind Loaded’ and ‘Somewhere In Between’ below.
The album will be the first album from Blood Orange – aka Dev Hynes – since 2018’s ‘Negro Swan’ and it will feature appearances from Hynes’ previous collaborators Lorde, Caroline Polachek, Daniel Caesar, Mustafa, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates and Tariq Al-Sabir.
Also appearing are author Zadie Smith, The Durutti Column, Wet’s Kelly Zutrau, Tirzah and actors Naomi Scott and Amandla Stenberg. The record is released on August 29 via RCA Records and you can pre-order it here.
The first tastes of ‘Essex Honey’ come in the form of ‘Mind Loaded’, a minimalist but blissfully warm track that features vocals from Polachek, Lorde and Mustafa, and ‘Somewhere In Between’, a busier, slinky R&B track. Listen to both here:
A press release states that ‘Essex Honey’ is an album that has been “created from a dreamscape of his journey working through grief” and harkens back to his childhood growing up in the titular county.
Earlier this month, Hynes announced details of a UK and European tour for Blood Orange that will kick off later this year. It follows on from his upcoming US tour and kicks off in Berlin on October 29, with London shows planned for November 8, 9 and 10. See the full list of dates here and find UK tickets here and international tickets here.
Several of his US dates will see him opening for Lorde on her huge tour supporting new album ‘Virgin’, several songs of which were produced by Hynes. He also played cello and bass on the single ‘Man Of The Year’ and synths and guitar on ‘Favourite Daughter’.
He continues to be one of the most in-demand producers in alternative music, with the news coming this week that he has worked on ‘We Are Love’, the forthcoming new album from The Charlatans.
He also appeared on Turnstile’s ‘Seein’ Stars’ from the album ‘Never Enough’ this summer, contributing backing vocals, and also played cello on ‘Never Enough’ and ‘Look Out For Me’.
In a five-star review of ‘Negro Swan’ in 2018, NME wrote: “Spoken-word interludes from writer and transgender activist Janet Mock pepper the album, punctuating the stream-of-conscious, journey-into-the-unknown experience. At times, ‘Negro Swan’ crosses over from album and into a radio station from a world just outside ours; Dev Hynes has created a fabulous collection of cascading sounds.”
NEWS
Burna Boy gave fans an exclusive look inside one of the most important performances of his career, with Billboard there to capture the entire experience.
For a new Billboard video diary, the versatile musician walks viewers through his full routine as he got ready for the first FIFA World Cup Final halftime show on Sunday. The footage begins with his police escorted arrival and continues through the excitement of walking onto the field at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. It offers an honest look at everything that happened before and after the major performance.
Throughout the day, Burna enjoys several unforgettable encounters. He takes pictures with Shakira, his collaborator on the official 2026 FIFA World Cup anthem “Dai Dai.” The pair performed the track during Sunday’s halftime show, while it remains at the top of the Billboard Global 200 for a second week and leads the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart for a fourth week. Burna also catches up with streamer iShowSpeed, shares a hug with Justin Bieber and meets Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis, who surprised the audience by introducing Bieber. Once the greetings are over, Burna fits in one last rehearsal before heading out to perform.
The footage continues as Burna walks onto the field and joins the celebration. He looks thrilled when the set concludes, making his way through the players’ tunnel and returning backstage. There, he receives compliments from Chris Martin, who organized the halftime show and helped write the finale song “We Dance” alongside his Coldplay bandmates.
Watch Burna Boy’s complete Day in the Life video through Billboard below.
