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John Legend Seals the Deal on ‘The Voice’ With Promise of Wife Chrissy Teigen’s Homemade Cheesecake

John Legend is a fierce competitor. The “All of Me” singer proved it on Tuesday’s (Feb. 27) second night of the blind audition round on The Voice when he dangled one of his wife Chrissy Teigen’s signature dishes as enticement to win over an impressive singer.

The delicious moment came when season 25 contestant Nathan Chester busted out an impressive, high-energy cover of Al Green’s soul-pop classic “Take Me to the River,” which elicited chair turns from Legend and new coaching due Dan + Shay. “I’m always waiting for someone to inspire me, excite me, and Nathan, when I heard you singing, I turned very quickly, because I was like, this man’s got it!” Legend gushed about the performance that added a rocking edge to the 1974 classic.

Chicago native Chester got Legend out of his seat, clapping along and shaking his hands in the air, even as Chance the Rapper admitted he didn’t turn around after he assumed that Chester’s vocals would be a perfect fit for Team Legend. Chester also noted that he sings on cruise ships and, not for nothing, he loves cheesecake.

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While the latter tidbit seemed kind of random — though coach Reba McEntire said that made him a “man after my own heart” — Legend put on the full-court press after emerging so far with only one artist on his team. “I’ve been very selective. I’m always just waiting for somebody to inspire me, excite me and Nathan, when I heard you singing, I turned very quickly because I was like, ‘This man’s got it!,’” Legend said.

After Dan + Shay playfully noted that “there’s a reason John’s only got one guy on his team,” they also laid it on thick in praising Chester’s vocals, with Shay Mooney adding, “Also, I love cruise ships and I love cheesecake a lot!”

Legend had the closer, though. “My wife makes a mean cheesecake,” he said of spouse Chrissy Teigen, author of the 2018 cookbook Cravings: Hungry For More and its 2021 sequel, Cravings: All Together. “And you can just come to the house and have cheesecake. Homemade cheesecake,” Legend piled on, eliciting groans of “unbelievable” from his fellow panelist.

In the end, the singer’s cheesy pitch did the trick and Chester picked Team Legend.

Watch Chester’s performance below.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=mFBZJnS78eI&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

Jack Harlow Launches Gazebo Festival With SZA as Co-Headliner

Jack Harlow is representing for his hometown in a major way. The “First Class” rapper announced the launch of Gazebo Festival in Louisville, Ky., on Wednesday (Feb. 28).

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The inaugural two-day festival is coming to Kentucky’s Waterfront Park on Memorial Day Weekend (May 25-26) to celebrate “the intersection of music and culture.”

SZA is slated to co-headline the festival on the Ohio River with Jack Harlow, while James Blake, Vince Staples, Veeze, Pinkpantheress, Rich Homie Quan, Omar Apollo, Majid Jordan, Slum Village, BNYX, Karrahbooo and more round out the bill.

“I GIVE YOUUU… GAZEBO FEST,” Harlow wrote on Instagram when announcing the festival.

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Pre-sale tickets will be available starting on March 6 at 10 a.m. ET, while the general public can get its hands on tickets through the festival website on March 8 at 10 a.m. ET.

Prices for the general admission tickets are penciled in to start at $255. VIP packages are available, which include viewing upgrades with better food options and access to an air-conditioned VIP lounge.

“Jack Harlow is an extraordinary Louisvillian who continues to give back to his hometown,” said Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg in a press release. “This is yet another way Jack is showing up for our city, and I can’t wait to see the excitement this festival creates. I am so grateful for his commitment to making first class things happen for Louisville and our people.”

A portion of all ticket proceeds will benefit community organizations and local initiatives in the Louisville area through the Jack Harlow Foundation, which the “Lovin On Me” rapper launched last year.

Find the entire Gazebo Fest lineup below.

Alicia Keys Shares Adorable Story Behind Her Son Becoming Friends With Billie Eilish

Alicia Keys and Billie Eilish’s friendship dates back to when Alicia beautifully covered the 22-year-old’s “Ocean Eyes.” Keys recently gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at her preparation while getting ready for her Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show appearance with Usher earlier this month.

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About 45 minutes before hitting the stage, she shared a story with her team about how her and Swizz Beatz’s 9-year-old son, Genesis Dean, wanted to become friends with Billie Eilish and send her a sweet video message.

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“He says, ‘I want to talk to her.’ … He bothers me for three days in a row. ‘Can I please send a video? Can I please send a video?’ I said, ‘OK,’” Keys recalled.

The video clip finds Genesis politely introducing himself: “Hi, my name is Genesis and I really like your music. And I’m Alicia Keys’ son.”

Keys’ message attached to the video read: “Someone wanted me to send you this message. I hope it makes you smile. How are you, beautiful? Big love!”

Genesis repeatedly followed up with his mother in the days after hoping a response from the “Bad Guy” singer would be in her inbox. He ended up taking matters into his own hands and shot Eilish another simple text under his video, “Hi,” although Keys wasn’t thrilled about that.

However, Eilish eventually responded and admitted that the heartwarming video made her day. “Genesis, it’s Billie,” she replied in a clip alongside her brother, Finneas. “I’m ready to be your friend any day. I would like to be your friend. Alicia is my friend, I love her. I love you. Let’s hang out and be friends.”

Genesis Dean was born in December 2014 and is Keys’ and Beatz’ second child together. Keys also linked up with Eilish in December 2019 when she guest hosted The Late Late Show With James Corden, where Eilish was a special guest and they had the chance to duet to “Ocean Eyes.”

Watch it all unfold below around the 13:30 mark.



Reneé Rapp Wanted to ‘Start Conversations’ Around Sexual Assault With Her Song ‘Snow Angel’

Over the last year, Reneé Rapp quickly became one of the internet’s favorite celebrities thanks to her phenomenal singing voice and her trenchant humor. Now, the Mean Girls star would like to get real for a second.

In an interview for the cover of The Hollywood Reporter, Rapp spoke candidly about her song “Snow Angel,” the lead single off her 2023 album of the same name, and how it was inspired by an “incredibly traumatic” event involving sexual assault. “I still feel like I’m sorting through those feelings … and it feels weird to talk about because I don’t remember it,” she said. “I recently was like, ‘I actually don’t want to follow this person on Instagram anymore because they left me at a club to get drugged’ … I woke up on a bathroom stall, face up in The Beverly Hilton with blood on my pants. And had been left alone at that point for, like, seven hours.”

That specific scenario not only inspired the lyrics of the song, but also Rapp’s viral performance of the track on Saturday Night Live. “I was like, ‘OK, well, when we do SNL, if I’m doing this [song], I am doing this,’” she said. “I will be on a red floor and I need to start laying down because that’s how I woke up. And there should be red underneath me and I should be in all white.”

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Since releasing the song, fans have praised Rapp’s candor and celebrated the track for its depiction of trauma, which is a discussion the singer says she had hoped to spark. “Ultimately, I’m not making music to just make music. I’m making music to start conversations. My idols make culture, my idols start conversation,” she said, adding that plenty of fans have brought their own perceptions of the song to the table. “I wanted to have ‘Snow Angel’ come out and it be confusing and left up to interpretation. And I still see so many funny takes now that are like, ‘Well, this song is clearly about when she was doing heroin.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re amazing, and I love your creativity.’”

Elsewhere in her wide-ranging interview, Rapp spoke about pitching herself to her label as “the bisexual Justin Bieber.” (Rapp now identifies as a lesbian.) “That boy is still cute to me, sorry. And he also, I think, has a similar [love] of R&B,” she explained. “He reminds me of a really sexy lesbian. Just the way he walks around and moves onstage and always has this demeanor that’s chill, sings his a– off, dresses really cool.”

The singer added that her role as Leighton on the hit Max series The Sex Lives of College Girls profoundly impacted the way she came out publicly. “Being celebrated for being out because of a TV show or celebrity or success or something was really interesting because I think it forced a lot of people in my life and my family to have to accept me in a weird way,” she explained. “That [show] was the most parallel experience in my life, and I remember doing that specific coming-out scene and not acting at all. At all. I was just sobbing.”

Rapp is currently closing out the final dates of her Snow Hard Feelings world tour in the U.K. During a recent show in Paris, Rapp performed a cover of Beyoncé’s 2016 country track “Daddy Lessons” in celebration of the superstar’s return to the genre — which prompted Queen Bey to send the “Poison Poison” singer a bouquet of flowers as a thank you gift.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can reach out to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). The organization provides free, confidential support to sexual assault victims. Call RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE) or visit the anti-sexual violence organization’s website for more information.

Jack Antonoff Reflects on Defending Taylor Swift Against Damon Albarn & Insulting Kanye West

Jack Antonoff knows exactly where he stands. In a Wednesday (Feb. 28) interview with the Los Angeles Times, the 39-year-old producer reflected on the moments he’s called out artists such as Damon Albarn – who in 2022 came under fire for questioning Taylor Swift’s songwriting credentials – and Kanye West. 

“I’m a little b—h sometimes,” he told the publication. “But you come after my friend Taylor, you’re toast to me.”  

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The interview comes more than two years after Albarn ruffled feathers by saying Swift “doesn’t write her own songs” in an interview. The “Anti-Hero” singer – who’s a frequent collaborator of Antonoff’s — quickly shut down the claims with a heated post on X, writing, “I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this … Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging.” 

Albarn later apologized and said that his remarks had been “reduced to clickbait,” but not before Antonoff slammed the Blur frontman in a tweet of his own. “i’ve never met damon albarn and he’s never been to my studio but apparently he knows more than the rest of us about all those songs taylor writes and brings in. Herb,” the former Fun band member wrote at the time. 

In the new interview, Antonoff said that questioning Swift’s songwriting prowess “is like challenging someone’s faith in God,” adding, “You just don’t go there.”  

The Bleachers founder is fresh off his third producer of the year Grammy win in a row. He and Swift also won album of the year at the 2024 awards thanks to their work on the “Karma” musician’s Midnights LP. 

And while accepting the prize for best pop vocal earlier in the ceremony, Swift announced the duo’s latest project together: The Tortured Poets Department, which arrives April 19. 

As for West – who’s notably an adversary of Swift’s — Antonoff has long been critical. In 2022, he called the “Donda” rapper a “little b—h” in response to Ye’s many antisemitic comments that year, and in late January, he tweeted, “kanye on bleachers release date is hilarious little cry baby b-tch.” (The rapper’s Vultures 2 and Bleachers’ self-titled album are both scheduled to arrive March 8.) 

To the L.A. Times, Antonoff reiterated that West “just needs his diaper changed so badly.” 

“It’s been a long time since I would’ve taken Kanye’s call,” he added when asked about whether he’d want to work with Ye in the future. “I’m so incredibly bored when someone doesn’t have the sauce anymore, so they go elsewhere to shock. It’s just a remarkable waste of space.” 

Garth Brooks, Charlie Puth, Metallica & More Set to Perform as Elton John & Bernie Taupin Receive 2024 Gershwin Prize

Artists from across the musical spectrum will perform in honor of Elton John and Bernie Taupin as they receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on Wednesday, March 20.

The lineup will include 2020 Gershwin Prize honoree Garth Brooks, plus Brandi Carlile, Annie Lennox, Metallica, 2024 Billboard Women in Music Visionary honoree Maren Morris, Billy Porter, Charlie Puth and Jacob Lusk of Gabriels. None of these artists performed on the platinum 1991 album Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin, which underscores the depth and breadth of the fanbase among artists for the songwriting pair.

Porter will host the invitation-only event, which will include appearances by John and Taupin.

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PBS stations nationwide will premiere the concert — Elton John & Bernie Taupin: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song — at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, April 8 (check local listings).

Bestowed in recognition of the peerless songwriting team of George and Ira Gershwin, the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song is the nation’s highest award for influence, impact and achievement in popular music. The honoree is selected by the Librarian of Congress in consultation with a board of scholars, producers, performers, songwriters and music specialists.

Elton John & Bernie Taupin: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song is a co-production of WETA Washington, D.C.; Ken Ehrlich Productions, Inc.; and the Library of Congress. Ehrlich served as producer or executive producer of the Grammy Awards for 40 years.

The show will be available via broadcast and streaming on PBS.org and the PBS App. It will also be available to U.S. Department of Defense locations around the world via the American Forces Network.

Taupin will also appear at the Library of Congress on Thursday, March 21, at 7 p.m. ET as part of the “Live! at the Library” series in conversation with Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress. The event is open to the public. Register for tickets here.

Ecliptic Festival Is Being Headlined by Angel Olsen & a Solar Eclipse

Indie star Angel Olsen is among the group of artists that has joined the lineup of Ecliptic, a singular four-day festival in Arkansas that will feature music performances, science presentations, expert panels and a one-of-a-kind view of a highly rare total solar eclipse.

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On Wednesday (Feb. 28), Olsen, Dengue Fever, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists and Mythbusters host Adam Savage joined a lineup that previously included Allah-Las, Blonde Redhead, Deerhoof, Shannon and the Clams, Sun Ra Arkestra, Mary Lattimore and a variety of speakers and specialists. Presented by Atlas Oscura, Ecliptic will be held at Cedar Glades Park outside Hot Springs, Ark. from Apr. 5-8.

The festival site is situated along the Path of Totality, allowing for a unique view of the eclipse that will occur in the afternoon of the fest’s final day. The next total solar eclipse that can be seen from the contiguous United States will occur in roughly two decades, on Aug. 23, 2044.

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“We are thrilled to host this joyous celebration of the solar eclipse,” says Megan Roberts, Atlas Obscura’s VP of Experiential. “With science and nature by day and music by night, there will be something for everyone —  including 3.5 minutes of otherworldly midday darkness and thousands of fellow revelers to share the experience with. Whether attending the full weekend or just spending the day at this stellar eclipse viewing site, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience a rare cosmic phenomenon in a truly unique way.” 

In addition to the music lineup, Ecliptic will offer sunset solar meditations, stargazing sessions, educational science seminars, film screenings and hiking explorations. Atlas Obscura is presenting Ecliptic in partnership with Low Key Arts, the producers of long-running indie festival Valley of the Vapors.

Click here for more info on Ecliptic Festival.

Jay Belin Promoted to VP of International Touring at AEG

AEG Presents announced the appointment of Jay Belin as vp of international touring. A prolific talent booker with over 17 years of live music experience, Belin will be responsible for executing major concerts across Europe with the AEG Presents Global Touring division, utilizing his strong history and relationships built in his previous roles. Directly reporting to svp of global touring Michael Harrison and Simon Jones, Jay will initially be based in AEG Presents’ New York office before moving to AEG Europe’s headquarters in London. Jay’s roles and responsibilities will focus on European touring operations and projects for Global Touring clients.

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“AEG Presents is an artist-first organization and that is something you can’t fake,” says Belin, who began his career at AEG Presents subsidiary The Bowery Presents. “In a world where authenticity still counts for something, Rich’s vision and the team executing it embody that spirit. We all arrived at AEG through a shared love of live music and being a conduit to help artists bring that experience to their fans is an irreplaceable feeling.”

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Adds Rich Schaefer, president of Global Touring for AEG Presents: “Jay has been a close friend for many years and I’m so excited for him to join our team as our focus on global growth continues. His background in live music touches almost every single part of the ecosystem, which gives him invaluable insight into artist relations and where our business is headed. I expect Jay will quickly become an important asset to our touring artists and promoters around the globe.”

Belin’s live music career began with booking shows at the Mercury Lounge in New York for The Bowery Presents. He then spent two years as senior talent buyer at Live Nation, booking venues across New York City, Long Island, and New Jersey, including such storied rooms as Irving Plaza, Stone Pony, and Roseland Ballroom. Belin’s rise in the business continued with a pivot to the agency side, and he spent the next 10 years at WME, where he booked domestic and international tours in the agency’s New York and London offices.

Post Malone’s 20 Best Songs: Critic’s Picks

Post Malone burst onto the scene in the mid-2010s grinning from ear-to-ear with his gold grills, braids, face tattoos and a Bud Light in his hand. The Texas native quickly became a household name in hip-hop with his genre-blending flair, delivering hit after hit while developing an unbreakable bond with his fanbase. 

Less than a decade later, Posty traded the Hollywood Hills for Utah’s snowy solace, and has more RIAA-certified diamond songs to his name than his beloved Dallas Cowboys have Super Bowl victories.

“I’ve made music for years and years, and down the line, I just want to relax and enjoy the simple things. Be like a kid again,” Posty told Billboard in his 2022 cover story. “Have no responsibilities and everything is handled: your kids, your family, everybody is set and doesn’t need to worry, so you can just play games and play in the tall grass.”

Post Malone – born Austin Post – has been a staple on the Billboard charts throughout his prolific career, with 75 Hot 100 entries, four of which have reached the chart’s apex. Three of them even found a slot on Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Songs list. Posty has accumulated about 33.5 billion U.S. on-demand song streams in total to date, according to Luminate.

With five albums on the Bud Light fanatic’s résumé – all of which peaked inside the Billboard 200’s top five – Billboard sifts through the 28-year-old’s anthem-filled discography, to handpick his best 20 songs. See our choices below.

Reneé Rapp Credits Beyoncé as the ‘Reason That I Know How to Sing’

Reneé Rapp is on a roll. After earning the biggest U.S. sales debut in 2023 for a debut pop album by a female artist with Snow Angel, the multi-hyphenate has translated that success to film with the box office-topping Mean Girls as she preps new music. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter (Feb. 28), the “Tummy Hurts” singer gushes over getting literal flowers from Beyoncé, her special friendship with Megan Thee Stallion and her dreams of making an R&B album.

On Feb. 13, just two days after Beyoncé surprise-dropped her new country songs “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” during the 2024 Super Bowl — Rapp performed a cover of Queen Bey’s first proper foray into country music: “Daddy Lessons” from 2016’s Grammy-winning Lemonade. Just four days later (Feb. 17), Rapp took to her Instagram page to share a photo of herself with her hand over her mouth as she took in the gorgeous bouquet of flowers sent to her by none other than Beyoncé herself.

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“I’ve never been speechless in my life. It’s literally going to make me cry,” Rapp told The Hollywood Reporter. “She is everything — and the reason that I know how to sing. I would sit down and listen to her different tonalities and phonics and phrasing styles and be like, ‘Please, Jesus, let me be able to do this.’”

Beyoncé has been a fixture in Rapp’s life long before she took the world by storm with Mean Girls, The Sex Lives of College Girls and her Snow Angel LP. Back when she was trying to break into the industry, Rapp used to upload covers of Beyoncé songs on YouTube. Queen Bey also provided a bit more than just musical inspiration for a young Rapp. “I had body dysmorphia and feeling like I had too much of an a–. If I felt badly about my body, my mother would make me sing ‘Bootylicious,’ and it was everything to me,” Rapp recalled, referencing Destiny’s Child‘s 2001 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit.

Rapp may have gotten flowers for her quick embrace of Beyoncé’s country era — “Let’s be clear, Beyoncé doing country is the best thing that’s ever happened to country music” — but she’s been taking inspiration from all of Queen Bey’s era, especially her R&B ones. The “Poison Poison” singer notes Beyoncé, SZA, Frank Ocean and Jazmine Sullivan as formative musical influences who “have made the biggest impact in [her] life.”

“I wanted so badly to do something that was slightly R&B-leaning, but in a way that wasn’t making something my own that is not at all my own, and something that feels authentic,” she explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “I would love to do a project like that, but it needs to be done well … because I think if a white girl does anything that slightly emulates R&B, it’s praised 10 times more than when Black people do it … just because of the way the f—king world works, and it’s s–ty in that regard. But yeah, it is something that I want to do so badly, and I will do.”

In the interim, Rapp is still pursuing her pop-star dreams, which she recently funneled into “Not My Fault,” a Megan Thee Stallion collaboration that served as the lead single for the Mean Girls movie musical soundtrack. Gushing over having been a fan of the H-Town Hottie “since she was doing music videos and mixtapes on the f–king top of the parking garage, in that little tan top,” Renée describes Megan as caring friend to whom she can open up about anxiety.

“It’s comforting to talk to her too about having anxiety,” she said. “I’ll text her, I’ll be like, ‘I’m petrified.’ And she’ll be like, ‘It’s cool, I’m here. I’m scared too, but look, I’m going to be at the same thing. And so, at least we’ll have each other.’”

Reneé Rapp has landed one title on the Billboard 200; her debut LP, Snow Angel, peaked at No. 44. “Not My Fault” has proven to be her most successful single to date, peaking at No. 18 on Pop Airplay and at No. 2 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100.