Billboard Dance Chart Upstarts: Shallou, Phantoms & Dirty Pop
Each week, Billboard Dance looks at songs & albums rising on Billboard's dance charts.
Shallou featuring Wales, “Begin”
Chicago-based Shallou (Joe Boston) starts at No. 44 on Billboard‘s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated July 15) with “Begin,” featuring Wales. Fittingly, “Begin” marks the first Billboard chart action for both Shallou and Brooklyn-based singer Wales (real name: Samuel Aaron Bennett). The deep, downtempo track drew 580,000 U.S. streams in the week ending June 29, according to Nielsen Music. “Begin” is also receiving play on SiriusXM’s Chill channel.
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Phantoms featuring Verite, “Just a Feeling”
Phantoms, aka Los Angeles-based producers Vinnie and Kyle, start at No. 40 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay with “Just a Feeling,” featuring vocalist Verite. It’s the first appearance on a Billboard songs chart for Phantoms and the first Dance/Mix Show Airplay entry for Verite, who, as featured on R3hab‘s “Trouble,” reached No. 6 in April on Dance Club Songs. “Just” counts the entirety of its airplay from three core-dance formatted outlets: SiriusXM’s BPM, Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel and KNHC (C89.5) Seattle. The track has sold 5,000 downloads since its March 31 release on Phantoms’ self-titled debut album, which touched Dance/Electronic Album Sales at No. 23 (April 22).
Dirty Pop featuring Taylor Olson & Jackie Orlando, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”
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Dirty Pop (Los Angeles-based DJ/producers Drew G and Brian Cua) starts at No. 43 on Dance Club Songs with “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” featuring vocalists Taylor Olson and Jackie Orlando. It’s the third chart trip for the DJ duo, which reached No. 32 in January 2016 with “Gag” (featuring Jonathan Hernandez and Cory Wade), and the first Billboard appearance for each featured singer.
The new hit is indeed a cover of Starship‘s No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 smash from 30 years ago. It was the band’s third and final leader, for two weeks in April 1987, following “We Built This City” in 1985 and “Sara” in 1986. Dirty Pop’s version was remixed by Guy Scheiman, Leo Frappier and Cajjmere Wray, among others.
Says Drew G (real name: Andrew Hanser) of how the track came together, “It’s a funny thing, how history repeats itself. I was at a party many years back, put on my iPod and randomly, this track pops on. When I arrived home, I called Brian and immediately asked him if we should do a remix. He agreed and we started that evening.
“Fast-forward to Christmas 2016, we’re at a holiday party and they’re doing a karaoke contest. Random employees are coming up and singing; we weren’t paying much mind until we heard someone singing [Guns N’ Roses’] ‘Welcome to the Jungle.’ I looked over and there is this badass rocker gal belting out Axl Rose like nothing. Flawless. So of course, I asked her [Jackie Orlando] if she’d be interested in being on a track. She agreed, as Starship was also one of her favorites, and we decided to give it a go.”
Drew continues, “Taylor [Olson] had just sent me a demo track a few days earlier. I called him, asked if he wanted to be on the track and flew to Vegas the next morning to record the vocal. Brian and I wanted to create something modern yet anthemic and dance-y. Then something odd happened: When filing for permission to use the track I realized that it was released 30 years ago almost to the day, and not only hit No. 1 that year, but it was also [writer] Diane Warren’s first No. 1. We decided that we wanted to not only remake one of our favorite songs, but also hope to take the track to No. 1 again, 30 years later.”