Welcome to the new episode of the Billboard.com Pop Shop Podcast, Billboard’s weekly audio breakdown of the Billboard charts, hottest music news and year’s biggest musical events. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard co-director of charts Keith Caulfield and Billboard.com senior editor Katie Atkinson every Tuesday on the Pop Shop Podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in iTunes (click here to listen to the previous Tuesday’s edition of the show on Billboard.com).
On our latest show, we’re joined by Hailee Steinfeld! We met up with the singer/actress at a dance studio in Hollywood, where she was promoting her partnership with Mission for their first line of women’s athletic apparel by leading a dance workout with her choreographer Amy Allen. Before working up a sweat, we got in some questions about Pitch Perfect 3, her latest music and much more.
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Steinfeld just wrapped filming on the aca-threequel in Atlanta, and she said life on set was just as fun as the cast’s behind-the-scenes pictures made it look. “It was awesome,” she gushes. “We jumped right back into it as if no time had passed in between. Crazy to think years had gone by since the last one. I had the best time. That’s two of my worlds combining, with the singing and the acting. It was a blast. I can’t wait for people to see everything they want and more.”
So what will her uber-upbeat character Emily Junk be up to when the movie arrives in December? “I will tell you that Emily is — and I didn’t think this was possible — even more optimistic than the last movie, and more positive and eager and willing to do whatever it is to make things work,” Steinfeld teases. “She’s very excited a lot of the time, which is great. I applaud it and support it.”
As for her pop-star side hustle, Steinfeld talked all about teaming up with Machine Gun Kelly for their Pop Songs-climbing track “At My Best” (“I’ve always wanted that sort of song”), her “goal” to hit the road (“A world tour is something that I’ve dreamed of”) and how she finds time to record new music, like her just-released single “Most Girls” (below). “When I sleep — I record in my sleep,” she laughs. “That’s the crazy thing: I recorded so much in Atlanta. Any day I wasn’t shooting [Pitch Perfect 3], I was in the studio recording. Back in L.A., I had sessions booked every day.”
Also on the show, we’ve got news about the all-star first round of Billboard Music Awards performers, the ill-fated Fyre Festival, and Nick Jonas joining Shania Twain on the Stagecoach stage. Plus, chart updates about Bruno Mars’ latest Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee‘s megahit “Despacito” climbing into the top five, and which acts have earned top 40 hits on the chart in each of the last four decades (one might surprise you…).
Listen above and click here to subscribe/rate the Pop Shop Podcast on iTunes.