INTERSCOPE CAPITOL'S "TRUE" HOT STREAK

Interscope Capitol is cruising into the new year—and Grammy season—at warp speed, thanks to such chart-ruling acts as Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Doechii and this weekend’s Saturday Night Live musical guest, Gracie Abrams.

Abrams’ “That’s So True” recently summited the Spotify USA chart (its worldwide stream count on the platform is nearing 300m) and is Top 15 at Pop radio, while prior hit “I Love You, I’m Sorry” has earned north of 377m streams at the Spot. Both tracks—as well as “Close to You,” also Top 15 at Pop—appear on her smash set The Secret of Us (Interscope). She's a contender for a Best Pop Duo/Group Grammy for “us.,” her duet with Taylor Swift. And the breakthrough star’s first headlining arena tour has just added shows in L.A. and NYC. Her poised and passionate SNL performance should further prime the pump.

TDE/Capitol’s sizzling Doechii snagged three Grammy noms, including Best New Artist and Best Rap Album for Alligator Bites Never Heal, which Rolling Stone called “one of the year's most fully realized breakout albums.” The rap disruptor’s recent appearances, notably a riveting Colbert segment, an attention-getting NPR Tiny Desk Concert and a killer set at Camp Flog Gnaw, have significantly goosed her stream and listener counts and suggest she’s leveled way up as a live act.

The spectacular performance of seven-time Grammy nominee K-Dot’s pgLang/Interscope set GNX—which has two songs in the Spotify USA Top 5 (and three in the Top 10) as well as the entire Top 3 at Apple Music—is all the more stunning given that the album was a surprise. Kendrick, we might add, is in for a pretty eventful February. His “Not Like Us,” of course, was one of the biggest songs of the year and is vying for ROTY, SOTY, Rap Song and Rap Performance. And a week after those envelopes are opened, he’ll perform for one of the planet’s hugest audiences during the Super Bowl halftime show.

Darkroom/Interscope’s Eilish, who’s up for Album, Record and Song of the Year, will segue out of 2024 on a high note of her own, concluding the North American leg of her Live Nation-promoted HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Tour with a five-night stand at L.A.’s Fabulous Forum, 12/15-17 and 12/20-21—the final two shows added after the rapid sellouts of the initial dates.

Gaga’s SOTY-nominated duet with Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile,” has been an absolute monster at DSPs and is #1 at Spotify global as of this writing. The protean superstar will headline Coachella 2025.

A true hip-hop event, meanwhile, came with Missionary, a new Death Row/Aftermath/Interscope album from Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. The new set, which arrived 12/13 featuring guests ranging from Eminem (who's also vying for several Grammys) to Jelly Roll to Sting, brought together the inimitable rapper and the trailblazing producer more than 30 years after the epochal drop of The Chronic.

John Janick, Steve Berman, Tom March and teams should be chilling the bubbly to celebrate the close of a sensational year—and likely the start of an equally stellar one.

Gracie Abrams photo: Abby Waisler