Billboard Hot 100 fest features rising artists and hit-makers

Halsey, Future, Daya and Rae Sremmurd were just a few of the roughly 50 names in pop music who played across three stages at the Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater for the Billboard Hot 100 Music Festival’s fourth year.

Throughout Aug. 18 and 19, a mostly-teenaged audience donning fashions like Hawaiian shirts and glittery makeup came out for what has become a staple for local pop music fans.

“Kids from Long Island come back from camps and activities to end their summer with us,” said Joe Kelly, Executive Director Of Artist Relations, who curated this year’s lineup.

Similar to its decades-old music chart of the same name, the Hot 100 festival is known for booking acts on the verge of fame. In its first year, Philadelphia singer Elizabeth Mencel, known for her stage name Rozes, sang alongside DJ duo The Chainsmokers on the same stage that she played as a solo act last weekend.

“There are so many times when I feel that I’m a hamster in a wheel and I ask myself if I’m going anywhere,” Mencel said of being a budding musician in the industry today. Mencel had written piles of songs in the style of artists like Lana Del Rey before releasing “Roses,” her collaboration with The Chainsmokers. In the months following, she said, numerous DJs and artists reached out to work with her.

The festival featured upcoming artists with similar success stories, such as Olivia O’Brien and Kelsey Regina Byrne, known by the moniker VERITE, both of whom began their careers by releasing music on Soundcloud.

O’Brien shared with the Herald how she catapulted into the public eye after recording her single “i hate u, i love u” with singer gnash. The 18-year old performed the song twice during the festival, once with gnash and again during her solo set.

Byrne is an unsigned artist who was once worked 70-hour weeks as a waitress in Manhattan so she could fund her first record. When asked what it’s like to establish a career as an independent musician, she said, “It’s like banging your head against a wall constantly. And I think it’s all about developing resiliency and continuing to work because there’s always gonna be another wall and another obstacle you’re going to have to face.”

The hard work paid off for Byrne, who said that she now has creative control over her work and could make her own decisions without the influence of a record label. Her next show on Aug. 28 exemplifies this, as it features her with a 20-piece orchestra at National Sawdust in Brooklyn.

The weekend also included a set by breakout alternative-rockers lovelytheband, who drew a sing-along from their crowd when they played their radio hit “Broken.”

“Festivals in general are the best,” said frontman Mitchy Collins. “You get more people seeing you that wouldn’t always come to your headlining show.” He noted that their most popular song came from a rough period in his life during which he coped through self-destructive behavior. To him, the song is a way of uniting others by letting them know that it’s okay to feel damaged.

Other notable acts included Sheppard, an Australian indie-rock group who played their chart-topping song “Geronimo,” and Loote, the pop-duo who wrote the song “No Promises,” recorded by Cheat Codes and Demi Lovato.

The weekend concluded with a trap-heavy set by Future, who featured a stage full of dancers and mixed old hits and some of the most popular songs of this summer.