Pop Shop Podcast: Vance Joy Talks Life on the Road, Why We Shouldn’t Expect to See Him Dancing Onstage

Jason Lipshutz
·3 min read
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Welcome to the new episode of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, your one-stop-shop for all things pop on Billboard’s weekly charts. In addition, you can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop.

Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard co-director of charts Keith Caulfield and Billboard editorial director Jason Lipshutz every week 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).

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On the latest show, we welcome our special guest, Vance Joy! The friend of the podcast — who is aiming to release a new studio album in early 2018 — returns to the Pop Shop for a fun conversation about life on the road, hiking, if he gets nervous before playing shows and how he’s not exactly known for choreography on stage. (Listen to the chat, below.)

Joy recently hit No. 1 on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart with “Lay It On Me,” marking his second leader and fourth top 10 on the tally. Joy broke through in 2014 with his single “Riptide,” which reached No. 7 on the Adult Alternative Songs chart and No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Joy jokes with Billboard that, after watching a video of himself performing, he says, “I also was made aware of how the range of motion in my hips is so limited, that I just like … I march (on stage) so stiffly.”

So, it’s safe to say we won’t be seeing a lot of choreography and dance numbers on his tour then, right?

“Not a lot of choreography, and just a… lack of hip extension range,” Joy says. “I think I need to work on that. That’s a separate thing. Just watching myself, I’m like… I see Bruce Springsteen and he’s grinding into the mic stand and I’m so not as sexy as that.

“I just don’t think… That’s not my aptitude. My aptitude is playing the guitar the way I play it and, like, marching on the spot. Maybe I will have a sexier hip movement at some point, but I think it’s just gonna take years and years of yoga and, like, unlearning being the stiffest guy in the world.”

In addition to our chat with Joy, we also dive into news about how Justin Timberlake was announced as next year’s Super Bowl halftime performer, how Taylor Swift is continuing to ramp up her promo in the run-up to the release of her new album, Reputation, and we take a look at some super early Grammy Awards predictions, as showcased in our Grammy Awards preview edition of Billboard magazine.

Plus, in charts news, P!nk scores her second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart — with the biggest week of the year for a woman — Niall Horan is on his way to a No. 1 debut on the albums chart with his debut solo effort and we’ve got two different rock bands in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in over 10 years!

Listen above and click here to subscribe/rate the Pop Shop Podcast on iTunes.

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