Scoreboard: Shania Twain, ‘Mi Gente’

This week on Scoreboard Shania Twain takes #1 on the Billboard 200 and Beyoncé gives “Mi Gente” a boost

Billboard Artist Top 10

For the magazine dated October 21, 2016

See the full chart at http://www.billboard.com/charts/artist-100

Last week Scoreboard paid tribute to the late great Tom Petty and this week the charts reflect the resurgent interest in Petty’s work. Petty tops the Artist 100 and his Greatest Hits (with The Heartbreakers), released in 1993, outperforms new albums by Demi Lovato, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and Miley Cyrus on the Billboard 200. The only artist keeping Petty from reaching #1 on that chart is Shania Twain, who is back with new music for the first time in 15 years. Her new album Now takes #1, becoming her second career #1 on the Billboard 200. On the Hot 100 Cardi B spends a third week at #1 with “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” which faces new competition on that chart from Beyoncé‘s appearance on the remix of “Mi Gente,” a hit by J Balvin and Willy William that has been repurposed to raise funds for hurricane and earthquake relief and recovery efforts.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZyoSUclXl7/?hl=en&taken-by=ddlovato

Demi Lovato’s latest album Tell Me You Love Me starts the week at #3 on the Billboard 200

Shania Twain Lives in the Now

It’s nice to be Eileen Edwards a.k.a. @shaniatwain. From 1995 to 2002 she released three albums that were certified diamond and she still owns the best selling album of all time by a female artist in the U.S., 1997’s Come On Over. However, Twain’s output since 2002 has been limited to a greatest hits album and a few guest appearances. In 2011, Twain had a reality show on the Oprah Winfrey Network, in which she came clean about the hardships of her youth and about her 2010 divorce from record producer Robert “Mutt” Lange. That show ended on a positive finale: @shaniatwain married Frédéric Thiébaud.

With Now finally out, the album is a celebration of love and life. Among Twain’s classic hits nearly all of Now sounds like the blissful “Forever And For Always,” from 2002’s Up! First single “Life’s About To Get Good” has @shaniatwain musing in platitudes on the chorus – “life’s about joy / life’s about pain” – but it is hard to believe the latter part of the phrase. The rest of the album keeps up the giddiness with tracks such as “I’m Alright,” “Let’s Kiss And Make Up,” and “We Got Something They Don’t.” Throughout the album Twain moves between country and soft rock, channeling tropical vibes on “Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed” and sounding like a singer on a Chainsmokers hit on “Poor Me.” With 16 tracks on the Deluxe Edition, Now may be excessive in demonstrating @shaniatwain’s happiness. However, if it took Twain 15 years to reach her happy peak she must have had to leave a lot of baggage behind. And that is all she needed to be back at #1.

Shania Twain finally has new songs to sing on her world tour

“Mi Gente” Arrives in the Top 10

2017 has been the year of “Despacito,” the smash hit by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber on the remix. At the end of the summer the remix tied an all-time Billboard Hot 100 record for most weeks at #1 and the video for the original set a YouTube record for most views globally for any video, ever. On its heels came “Mi Gente,” a top 20 hit for J Balvin and Willy William in its original Spanish version. @jbalvin hails from Colombia and, like Daddy Yankee, is an international reggaeton star. @willywilliamofficiel is a French DJ who never had a global hit before “Mi Gente.” Yet neither has the global fame and influence of Beyoncé, whose appearance on the “Mi Gente (Remix)” just sent the song to #3 on the Hot 100.

Clearly @justinbieber set the trend with his “Despacito” appearance, but @beyoncé did not just get on “Mi Gente” to try to get another #1, all of her proceeds from the remix will be donated to earthquake victims in Mexico and hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands. In fact, J Balvin and William contacted Beyoncé as their #1 choice for the remix to which Queen Bey replied “Si.” On the remix, @beyoncé brings her own sassy Spanglish, taking a hot club hit to the next level. Check out the video for the remix below and check Scoreboard every week to see if Beyoncé and her companions can take #1 on the Hot 100.