Ovy on the Drums and Blessd exclusively premiere their new collaboration, “Billboard,” on Billboard today (June 28)—nine months after they first created it at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Week.
The three-minute and 54-second song is backed by Ovy’s innovative reggaeton beats (where violins and hard-hitting drums meet) and Blessd’s sultry, raspy vocals. “Billboard,” named after the place it was born — during our “Making the Hit, Live!” panel at last year’s LMW conference — tells the story of a man who can’t forget about the girl he likes and how everything is so insignificant without her.
Though the lyrics are about an infatuated love, the Colombian urban singer born Stiven Mesa Londoño does reference Billboard, chanting toward the end of the track: “Se me fue la musa pa’l Billboard,” which loosely translates to “my inspiration went to Billboard.”
The simple-yet-aesthetic music video also pays homage to music’s leading magazine, showing the two Medellin-born artists performing the song in the recording studio as they take breaks to read the 2021 “Greatest Hit” issue with The Weeknd on the cover.
Watch the exclusive video premiere below:
Making The Hit, Live!
“Billboard” was created in only 30 minutes during the “Making the Hit, Live!” panel held on Sept. 28, 2022, at Billboard Latin Music Week.
With a laptop, microphone and headphones in hand, both Ovy on the Drums (real name: Daniel Echavarria Oviedo) and Blessd got to work while a sold-out venue observed how they create music in real-time. “It’s the first time I produce a song this way, so much pressure,” said Ovy after taking the stage at the Faena Forum in Miami Beach.
Blessd, on the other hand, felt comfortable as he improvised the lyrics about heartbreak. “I come battling on the streets so my thing is to improvise. I never sit down to write lyrics. Improvising allows me to feel the music,” he said.
Almost nine months after creating the track, Ovy and Blessd released the song — which was mainly finished after reading all the positive feedback on the panel and fans encouraging them to unleash the track. A couple of weeks leading up to the release on June 28, both artists shared snippets of the “Making the Hit, Live!” panel, and shared a preview of the head-bopping reggaeton tune.
“Billboard” is the pair’s fifth collaborative effort, following “Mi Niña,” “Te Extraño,” “Tendencia Global” and “Medallo,” which hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s Latin Airplay chart in 2022.
“Our chemistry is great,” Ovy said during the panel. “We have a lot of things in common, which was really important when it came to creating music together.”
Revisit the discussion below:
