"LALALA" MEANS THEY LOVE YOU

Does Ron Perry’s Columba have another viral monster in the making? The company that migrated Lil Nas X from bubbling-under phenom to world-conquering smasheroo now has a big streaming song with “lalala” by Y2K featuring bbno$. The track is trending Top 20 at Spotify U.S. (and is Top 40 global) with 43m+ streams; it’s just getting started at radio.

Like Lil Nas, the playful, Latin-flavored rap track by L.A.-based producer/composer/DJ Y2K (aka Ari Starace) first exploded on the video-meme site TikTok. As its profile grew, the labels naturally came knocking; an array of top execs got the Y2K bug and made their pitches, but Perry prevailed. There was a similarly frenzied contest for management; ultimately Lucas Keller-led Milk & Honey won the day, with GM Nic Warner—whose relationship with Y2K goes back a few years—making the collar and serving as manager. Paradigm is the agency of record.

How big will this thing get? We’re hardly qualified to predict. But we imagine Y2K’s team is gonna ride it ‘til they can’t no more.