djfrosty

26 Feb 2023

Woody Harrelson Channels Adele in Dramatic Sendoff to Moldy Bread in ‘SNL’ Musical Sketch: Watch

Woody Harrelson hilariously showcased his musical chops — to the tune of Adele — during Saturday Night Live on Feb. 25.

In a pre-recorded sketch titled “Musical Promo,” the veteran actor joins other SNL other cast-members in a faux trailer for an upcoming Broadway show, called By Yourself: The Musical, about the little songs people sing to themselves when nobody else is watching.

Harrelson, who hosted SNL for the fifth time on Saturday, launched the cut-for-time skit by sitting alone at his kitchen and singing a catchy tune about his Tupperware-encased dinner. “Chicken, chicken, chicken,” he joyfully croons. “Eatin’ all the chicken in my house.”

Later in the three-minute sketch, after mindless ditties about washing dinner plates (Kenan Thompson) and opening Amazon packages (Molly Kearney), Harrelson returns for a dramatic sendoff to a moldy piece of bread inspired by Adele’s megahit “Hello.”

“Hello, it’s bread/ I forgot that you were there and now you have to go be dead/ See you on the other side,” Harrelson impressively sings to the expired loaf before chucking it into the garbage can.

“Hello,” from the British songstress’ chart-topping third album, 25, spent 10 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2015.

Watch the full “Musical Promo” sketch below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes as well.

26 Feb 2023

SZA’s ‘SOS’ Makes It 10 Weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200

SZA’s SOS enters even more rarer air, as the set collects its 10th nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated March 4). Since 2010, only eight albums have notched at least 10 weeks atop the list, including SOS. The last to do so was Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti, with 13 nonconsecutive weeks in 2022. The last album by a woman with 10 weeks at No. 1 was Adele’s 25, with 10 nonconsecutively in 2015-16.

In the latest chart’s tracking week, ending Feb. 23, SOS earned 87,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. (down 7%), according to Luminate.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, P!nk claims her ninth top 10-charting effort, as her latest studio album, Trustfall, lands at No. 2.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new March 4, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Feb. 28). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of SOS’ 87,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 23, SEA units comprise 86,000 (down 7%, equaling 118.39 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 500 (down 21%) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 8%).

The last R&B/hip-hop album with at least 10 weeks atop the list was Drake’s Views, which 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 (May 21-Oct. 8, 2016). SOS has the most weeks at No. 1 for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman, or an R&B album by a woman, since Mariah Carey’s self-titled debut spent 11 weeks, all consecutively, at No. 1 in 1991. (Honorable mention to the Whitney Houston-led soundtrack to The Bodyguard, which logged 20 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 1992-93. The 12-track album has six songs by Houston and six songs by other artists.) SOS has the most weeks at No. 1 for any R&B album since The Bodyguard’s 20-week reign. (R&B/hip-hop and R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top R&B Albums charts, respectively.)

P!nk’s Trustfall debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, giving the star her ninth top 10-charting album. The new effort, her first studio release since the chart-topping Hurts 2B Human in 2019, bows with 74,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 59,000, SEA units comprise 12,500 (equaling 16.61 million official on-demand streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 3,000.

Trustfall was preceded by the single “Never Gonna Not Dance Again,” which marked P!nk’s 30th hit on the Pop Airplay chart, 19th top 10 on the Adult Pop Airplay list and 35th entry on the Billboard Hot 100.

Five former No. 1s are next on the Billboard 200: Taylor Swift’s Midnights (a non-mover at No. 3; 54,000 equivalent album units earned, down 11%), Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains (6-4; 47,000 units, up 7%), Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (4-5; 44,000 units, down 1%), Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti (5-6; 41,000 units, down 7%), and Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss (a non-mover at No. 7; 38,000 units, down 6%) round out the top seven.

Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak climbs 11-8 with 28,000 equivalent album units earned (down 6%), while Rihanna’s chart-topping ANTI falls 8-9 with 27,000 units (down 24%) and Harry Styles’ former leader Harry’s House dips 9-10 with 27,000 units (down 19%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

26 Feb 2023

Sally Field Made the Billboard Hot 100 With This Song in 1967

Sally Field did not have a long career as a Billboard Hot 100 chart hitmaker, but she had one. Her 1967 single “Felicidad” spent four weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 94 in December 1967.

An impossibly perky and wholesome ditty, “Felicidad” makes “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music sound like “In-a-Godda-Da-Vida.” The song charted less than two weeks after Field turned 21 and two months after the debut of her hit ABC sitcom The Flying Nun. (That flyweight series ran for three years, a testament to Field’s charm and likeability.) “Felicidad” appeared on Field’s album, The Flying Nun, which logged four weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 172.

Field, of course, has gone on to a far more enduring career as a film and TV actress. That career is being honored on Sunday (Feb. 26) as Field receives the life achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild. Actor Andrew Garfield is scheduled to present the award.

“Felicidad” entered the Hot 100 at No. 100 in the week ending Nov. 18, 1967. Other new entries that week included The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” (which went on to top the chart for four weeks), Gary Puckett & the Union Gap’s breakthrough hit “Woman, Woman” (which peaked at No. 4) and Johnny Rivers’ “Summer Rain” (with its memorable nod to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band).

“Felicidad” entered the chart one week after the arrival of Stone Poneys’ “Different Drum,” which was the first Hot 100 hit for Linda Ronstadt. Field and Ronstadt took vastly different routes to the top, but they both got there. They were in the same class of Kennedy Center Honorees in December 2019.

Dominic Frontiere and Diane Hilderbrand co-wrote “Felicidad.” Jack Keller produced Field’s recording. Keller had composed the irresistible theme song “(Wait Till You See My) Gidget” (performed by Johnny Tillotson) for Field’s first TV series Gidget (1965). Keller co-wrote many Hot 100 hits, including a pair of No. 1 hits in 1960 for Connie Francis, “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” and “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own.”

Field has won three Primetime Emmys (for starring roles in Sybil and Brothers & Sisters and a guest role on ER) and two Oscars (for lead roles in Norma Rae and Places in the Heart). She also received a Tony nomination for The Glass Menagerie (best actress in a play, 2017).

Field gave the best description of her career in 1985 when she won her second Oscar. This will forever be remembered as the “You like me! You really like me!” speech, though Field never uttered that exact line.

“This means so much more to me this time. I don’t know why. I think the first time I hardly felt it because it was all so new. I owe a lot to the cast … to my family … But I want to say thank you to you. I haven’t had an orthodox career and I’ve wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn’t feel it, but this time I feel it. And I can’t deny the fact that you like me. Right now, you like me!”

26 Feb 2023

Madonna’s Older Brother Anthony Ciccone Dies at 66

Madonna‘s older brother Anthony Ciccone has died, according to a social media post by the pop icon’s brother-in-law Joe Henry. He was 66.

Henry, a musician who is married to Madonna’s sister Melanie Ciccone, announced the sad news through Instagram on Saturday (Feb. 25). In his emotional post, the songwriter and producer described Anthony Ciccone — one of Madonna’s seven siblings — as a “complex character.”

“My brother-in-law, Anthony Gerard Ciccone, exited this earthly plane last evening,” Henry wrote alongside a youthful photograph of his brother-in-law. “I’ve known him since I was 15, in the spring of our lives in Michigan so many years now gone. As brother Dave Henry (who took this photograph) notes here, Anthony was a complex character; and god knows: we tangled in moments, as true brothers can.”

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Henry continued, “But I loved him, and understood him better than I was sometimes willing to let on. But trouble fades; and family remains — with hands reached across the table. Farewell, then, brother Anthony. I want to think the god your blessed mother (and mine) believed in has her there, waiting to receive you. At least for today, no one shall dissuade me from this vision.”

Further details about Ciccone’s passing were not provided.

Henry’s Instagram post was liked by Madonna, but the legendary pop superstar had not released a statement about her brother’s passing at press time. Billboard has reached out to her representatives for comment.

Ciccone had reportedly struggled with alcoholism and was homeless for several years. In 2013, he needed nine stitches to his forehead after resisting arrest in a public bathroom in Michigan. His blood-alcohol level at the time was 0.40, according to the Associated Press.

Ciccone spoke out in a 2011 interview against Madonna, accusing the star and the rest of his family of not caring about him. “I’m a zero in their eyes — a non-person. I’m an embarrassment,” Ciccone told the Daily Mail. “If I froze to death, my family probably wouldn’t know or care about it for six months.”

Read Henry’s full post on Instagram here.

26 Feb 2023

Jack White Joins ‘SNL’ Five-Timers Club, Ferociously Performs Songs From His 2022 Albums: Watch

Jack White is officially a member of Saturday Night Live‘s prestigious Five-Timer’s Club.

The White Stripes alum appeared for the fifth time as musical guest during the long-running NBC sketch comedy series on Saturday (Feb. 25), ferociously delivering songs from his 2022 solo albums, Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive.

In a cosmic coincidence, Saturday evening’s show was hosted by veteran actor Woody Harrelson, who was also celebrating his fifth appearance on SNL.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

“Ladies and gentleman, Jack — you know what? He’s been here five times too, does he get a jacket?” Harrelson joked when introducing White’s first musical performance. “Anyway, ladies and gentleman, Jack White!”

From there, White launched into an electrifying medley of “Taking Me Back” and “Fear of the Dawn,” the opening songs from his 2022 album Fear of the Dawn. For his second performance, the rocker slowed things down with a rendition of “A Tip From You to Me,” from his second 2022 album, Entering Heaven Alive.

White previously rocked the Studio 8H stage in 2002, 2012, 2018 and 2020. His most recent SNL appearance was in 2020 as a last-minute fill-in for country singer Morgan Wallen, who was booted from the lineup for violating the show’s COVID-19 protocols at the height of the pandemic.

Watch White’s SNL performances below. For those without cable, the broadcast will also stream on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans on demand access to previous SNL episodes as well.

26 Feb 2023

Angela Bassett, Beyonce Top 2023 NAACP Image Awards (Full List of Winners)

Angela Bassett and Beyoncé were the top individual winners at the 2023 NAACP Image Awards on Saturday (Feb. 25), with three awards each. Bassett took the top award — entertainer of the year — and opened her speech by having a little bit of fun with Ariana DeBose’s much-maligned rap at last weekend’s BAFTAs, where the young star rapped, “Angela Bassett did the thing.”

“I guess Angela Bassett did the thing,” Bassett said, to much laughter. This marked the first time all five entertainer of the year nominees were women. The other nominees were Mary J. Blige, Quinta Brunson, Viola Davis and Zendaya.

Bassett also won outstanding supporting actress in a motion picture for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and outstanding actress in a drama [TV] series for 9-1-1 on FOX.

All three of Beyoncé’s categories were presented prior to Saturday and she wasn’t present on the telecast. She took outstanding album for Renaissance, outstanding soul/R&B song for “Cuff It” and outstanding female artist.

Chris Brown, Brunson, Ryan Coogler and Davis each won two awards. (Some of their shows also won awards; this counts only awards presented to individuals.)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever won outstanding motion picture, just as the original Black Panther did four years ago. This marks the second time in three years that a franchise film has won in this category. Two years ago, the award went to Bad Boys for Life, the third film in that franchise.

In television awards, ABC’s Abbott Elementary won outstanding comedy series, while Starz’s P-Valley took outstanding drama series.

The 54th annual NAACP Image Awards were presented in nightly ceremonies last week, culminating in a live broadcast on Saturday from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, Calif. The show, hosted by Queen Latifah, aired on BET and was also simulcast across a dozen Paramount Global networks including CBS, MTV, VH1 and CMT.

Here’s the complete list of winners for the 54th NAACP Image Awards:

Entertainer of the Year

Angela Bassett

Recording Categories

Outstanding New Artist: Coco Jones – “ICU” (Def Jam Recordings) 

Outstanding Male Artist: Chris Brown – Breezy (Deluxe) (RCA Records/Chris Brown Entertainment)

Outstanding Female Artist: Beyoncé – Renaissance (Columbia Records/ Parkwood Entertainment) 

Outstanding Gospel/Christian Album: Kingdom Book One – Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin (Tribl Records, Fo Yo Soul Recordings and RCA Inspiration)

Outstanding International Song: “No Woman No Cry” – Tems (Def Jam Recordings) 

Outstanding Music Video/Visual Album: “Lift Me Up” – Rihanna (Roc Nation/Def Jam Recordings)

Outstanding Album: Renaissance – Beyoncé (Parkwood/Columbia Records)

Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation Album: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music From and Inspired By – Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Archie Davis and Dave Jordan (Def Jam Recordings/Hollywood Records)

Outstanding Gospel/Christian Song: “Positive” – Erica Campbell (My Block Inc.) 

Outstanding Jazz Album – Instrumental: JID014 (Jazz is Dead) – Henry Franklin, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge 

Outstanding Jazz Album – Vocal: The Evening: Live at Apparatus – The Baylor Project (Be A Light)

 Outstanding Soul/R&B Song: “Cuff It” – Beyoncé (Columbia Record/ Parkwood Entertainment) 

Outstanding Hip Hop/Rap Song: “Hotel Lobby” – Quavo, Takeoff (Motown Records/Quality Control Music) 

Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration (Traditional): Silk Sonic – “Love’s Train” (Atlantic Records)

Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration (Contemporary): Chris Brown feat. Wizkid – “Call Me Every Day” (RCA Records/Chris Brown Entertainment) 

Motion Picture Categories

Outstanding Motion Picture: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel Studios) 

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture: Will Smith – Emancipation (Apple)

Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Viola Davis – The Woman King (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Tenoch Huerta – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel Studios)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel Studios) 

Outstanding Independent Motion Picture: The Inspection (A24)

Outstanding International Motion Picture: Bantú Mama (ARRAY) 

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance in a Motion Picture: Jalyn Hall – TILL (United Artists Releasing/Orion Pictures) 

Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel Studios) 

Outstanding Animated Motion Picture: Wendell & Wild (Netflix)

Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance – Motion Picture: Keke Palmer – Lightyear (Walt Disney Studios)

Outstanding Short Form (Live Action): Dear Mama… (Film Independent) 

Outstanding Short Form (Animated): More Than I Want to Remember (MTV Entertainment Studios) 

Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Motion Picture): Ericka Nicole Malone – Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story (Hulu) 

Television + Streaming Categories

Outstanding Comedy Series: Abbott Elementary (ABC) 

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series: Cedric The Entertainer – The Neighborhood (CBS) 

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series: Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary (ABC)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Tyler James Williams – Abbott Elementary (ABC)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Janelle James – Abbott Elementary (ABC)

Outstanding Drama Series: P-Valley (Starz)

Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series: Nicco Annan – P-Valley (Starz)

Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series: Angela Bassett – 9-1-1 (FOX) 

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Cliff “Method Man” Smith – Power Book II: Ghost (Starz) 

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Loretta Devine – P-Valley (Starz)

Outstanding Television Movie, Limited–Series or Dramatic Special: The Best Man: The Final Chapters (Peacock) 

Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Limited–Series or Dramatic Special: Morris Chestnut – The Best Man: The Final Chapters (Peacock) 

Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Limited–Series or Dramatic Special: Niecy Nash-Betts – Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix) 

Outstanding News/Information (Series or Special): ABC News 20/20 Michelle Obama: The Light We Carry, A Conversation with Robin Roberts (ABC)

Outstanding Talk Series: Sherri (Syndicated)

Outstanding Reality Program, Reality Competition or Game Show (Series): Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls (Amazon Studios) 

Outstanding Variety Show (Series or Special): The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)

Outstanding Children’s Program: Tab Time (YouTube Originals)

Outstanding Performance by a Youth (Series, Special, Television Movie or Limited–Series): Ja’Siah Young – Raising Dion (Netflix)

 Outstanding Host in a Talk or News/Information (Series or Special) – Individual or Ensemble: Jennifer Hudson – The Jennifer Hudson Show (Syndicated)

Outstanding Host in a Reality/Reality Competition, Game Show or Variety (Series or Special) – Individual or Ensemble: Tabitha Brown – Tab Time (YouTube Originals) 

Outstanding Guest Performance: Glynn Turman – Queen Sugar (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)

Outstanding Animated Series: The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (Disney+)

Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance (Television): Kyla Pratt – The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (Disney+)

Outstanding Short Form Series – Comedy or Drama: Between The Scenes – The Daily Show (Comedy Central)

Outstanding Short Form Series – Reality/Nonfiction: Daring Simone Biles (Snap) 

Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Television): Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary (ABC)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Movie, Limited–Series or Dramatic Special: Keith David – From Scratch (Netflix)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Television Movie, Limited–Series or Dramatic Special: Nia Long – The Best Man: The Final Chapters (Peacock)

Writing Categories 

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series: Brittani Nichols – Abbott Elementary – “Student Transfer” (ABC) 

Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series: Marissa Jo Cerar – Women of the Movement – “Episode 101” (ABC)

Outstanding Writing in a Television Movie or Special: Scott Mescudi (Story By), Ian Edelman, Maurice Williams – Entergalactic (Netflix)

Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture: Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel Studios)

Directing Categories

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series: Angela Barnes – Atlanta – “The Homeliest Little Horse” (FX) 

Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series: Giancarlo Esposito – Better Call Saul – “Axe and Grind” (AMC)

Outstanding Directing in a Television Movie or Special: Anton Cropper – Fantasy Football (Paramount+) 

Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture: Gina Prince-Bythewood – The Woman King (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Outstanding Directing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture): Reginald Hudlin – Sidney (Apple TV+) 

Documentary Categories

Outstanding Documentary (Film): Civil (Netflix) 

Outstanding Documentary (Television): Everything’s Gonna be All White (Showtime)

Literary Categories

Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction: Take My Hand – Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Penguin Random House) 

Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction: Finding Me – Viola Davis (HarperCollins Publishers) 

Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author: Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen – George McCalman (HarperCollins Publishers) 

Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/ Autobiography: Scenes from My Life – Michael K. Williams, Jon Sternfeld (Penguin Random House) 

Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional: Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration – Tracey Lewis-Giggetts (Gallery/Simon and Schuster) 

Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry: To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness – Robin Coste Lewis (Alfred A. Knopf)

Outstanding Literary Work – Children: Stacey’s Remarkable Books – Stacey Abrams, Kitt Thomas (HarperCollins – Balzer + Bray) 

Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens: Cookies & Milk – Shawn Amos (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) 

Podcast Categories

Outstanding News and Information Podcast: Beyond the Scenes – The Daily Show (Central Productions, LLC) 

Outstanding Lifestyle / Self-Help Podcast: Therapy for Black Girls (Therapy for Black Girls)

Outstanding Society and Culture Podcast: LeVar Burton Reads (SiriusXM’s Stitcher Studios)

Outstanding Arts and Entertainment Podcast: Two Funny Mamas (Mocha Podcasts Network)

Costume Design, Make-Up & Hairstyling Categories

Outstanding Costume Design (Television or Film): Ruth Carter – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel Studios)

Outstanding Make-up (Television or Film): Debi Young, Sandra Linn, Ngozi Olandu Young, Gina Bateman – We Own This City (HBO Max)

Outstanding Hairstyling (Television or Film): Camille Friend – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel Studios) 

Social Media Category

Outstanding Social Media Personality: @KevOnStage – Kevin Fredericks

Special Awards

Jackie Robinson Sports Award: Serena Williams 

Chairman’s Award: Congressman Bennie Thompson. 

Youth Activist of the Year: Bradley Ross Jackson

Activist of the Year: Derrick Lee Forward

Social Justice Impact Award: Benjamin Crump

President’s Awards: Gabrielle Union-Wade and Dwyane Wade

25 Feb 2023

Snubs & Surprises at the 2023 NAACP Image Awards

Angela Bassett and Beyoncé were the top individual winners at the 2023 NAACP Image Awards, with three awards each. Bassett took the top award – entertainer of the year – and opened her speech by having a little bit of fun with Ariana DeBose’s widely-mocked rap at last weekend’s Brit Awards, where the young star rapped, “Angela Bassett did the thing.”

“I guess Angela Bassett did the thing,” Bassett said, to much laughter. This marked the first time all five entertainer of the year nominees were women. The other nominees were Mary J. Blige, Quinta Brunson, Viola Davis and Zendaya.

Bassett also won outstanding supporting actress in a motion picture for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and outstanding actress in a drama [TV] series for 9-1-1 on FOX. The veteran actress is considered the front-runner to win an Oscar in the Oscar for best supporting actress on March 12. (DeBose won in that category last year for the reboot of West Side Story.)

All three of Beyoncé’s categories were presented prior to Saturday and she wasn’t present on the telecast. She took outstanding album for Renaissance (her third win in the category), outstanding soul/R&B song for “Cuff It” and outstanding female artist (her record-extending seventh win in the category).

Chris Brown, Brunson, Ryan Coogler and Davis each won two awards. (Some of their shows also won awards; this counts only awards presented to individuals.)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever won outstanding motion picture, just as the original Black Panther did four years ago. This marks the second time in three years that a franchise film has won in this category. Two years ago, the award went to Bad Boys for Life, the third film in that franchise.

ABC’s Abbott Elementary won outstanding comedy [TV] series. The show was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in that same category last year and while it didn’t win, it’s practically a foregone conclusion that it will win this year.

That doesn’t mean there were no surprises at the 54th annual NAACP Image Awards, which were presented at nightly ceremonies this past week, culminating in a live broadcast on Saturday (Feb. 25) from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, Calif. The show, ably hosted by Queen Latifah, aired on BET and was also simulcast across a dozen Paramount Global networks including CBS, MTV, VH1 and CMT.

One of the biggest surprises is that Kendrick Lamar didn’t win a thing. The acclaimed rapper received five nominations, which put him in a tie with Beyoncé for the most nods by anyone in the music categories. But where she won three awards this year, he was shut out.

Another hip-hop superstar, Drake, went 0-3 this year.

Without further ado, here are 14 Snubs & Surprises at the 2023 NAACP Image Awards.

25 Feb 2023

Angela Bassett Checked In On Ariana DeBose Over DM After Viral BAFTAs Performance

Angela Bassett did the thing. The actress sent a DM to Ariana DeBose to make sure she was OK after the loud criticism her BAFTA Awards opening musical medley received last weekend.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

“I DMed her last night,” Bassett told Variety on the red carpet of the NAACP Image Awards Saturday night (Feb. 25). “I did. It was beautiful, it was beautiful, it was beautiful. I just wanted to make sure she was OK because it’s a lot of attention, and she is A-OK.”

DeBose — who won the BAFTA supporting actress award last year for West Side Story — returned to the awards ceremony this year to open the show on Feb. 19 with a rap performance inspired by this year’s female nominees, including Bassett, who was the subject of perhaps the most talked-about lyric.

“That was the assignment. Like, ‘Come celebrate women,’ and I was like, ‘Absolutely!’ We did that and it was fun. Not gonna lie, I had a blast,” DeBose told BBC Radio 2’s The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show.

But before DeBose spoke out about it, she had been barraged with snarky criticism and memes of her performance, which led to deactivating her Twitter account.

BAFTAs producer Nick Bullen also came to DeBose’s defense, noting, “I think it’s incredibly unfair, to be frank. I absolutely loved it. Everybody I’ve spoken to who was in the room absolutely loved it. She’s a huge star, she was amazing.”

Watch the clip of Bassett talking about DeBose on the red carpet below.

25 Feb 2023

P!nk Praises Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish & SZA: ‘I’m So Proud of the Girls’

P!nk, plenty busy promoting her own new album this month, took a moment to give props to a number of fellow pop stars in a recent interview — naming Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and SZA as artists who are “changing the game.”

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

In a clip shared by Z100 New York earlier this week, P!nk spoke of how she’s honed her own lane in music and spoke highly of younger female music stars who are doing the same.

“I put my head down, I perfect my craft, I stay out of everybody else’s lane and I stay in my line. And now I own that lane, that’s my lane,” P!nk said. “For other people: It’s like, don’t worry about if your song is going to fit into radio format — I guess for other singers.”

She continued, “It’s like, just find the thing about that is you. It’s like Dr. Seuss: No one else can be you-er than you. Do you. Do you ‘cause no one else can do that. And craft real songs that people aren’t gonna forget.”

“I think that’s what Olivia Rodrigo is doing,” P!nk pointed out, revealing that her 11-year-old is a big fan: “That’s why I love that Willow loves her so much … She’s writing her own songs, she’s so good at it, she’s fronting an almost all-female band, she’s singing her a– off. She was like what, 17, 18, writing those songs? I’m so proud of the girls out. There’s so many bada– girls out that are changing the game. Billie Eilish, SZA — changing the game and I love it. I’m here for it.”

P!nk released her ninth studio album, Trustfall, via RCA Records on Feb. 17.

Watch the clip from Z100 and check out the full interview below.

25 Feb 2023

How ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ Composer Scored a Soldier’s Musical Themes

Composing the score for a war film can be, apologies for the metaphor, a minefield. Go too heavy on the orchestral oomph — all soaring strings and booming base — and you can quickly swing into schmaltz. Go too small and minimalist, and the onscreen explosions can overpower your music. Plus, there’s the danger of familiarity, of echoing the grand and epic scores of war films past.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

So, when director Edward Berger asked his regular composer, Volker Bertelmann, to write a score for his antiwar drama All Quiet on the Western Front, he told him to break all the rules.

“I said, ‘I want something different, something we’ve never heard before,’ ” says Berger, “then, and this is almost the most important thing: I said, ‘I want you to destroy the images onscreen. Don’t beautify or sentimentalize.’ [I wanted] a sound that feels like it’s coming from inside [lead character] Paul Bäumer’s stomach. I want the sound of fear, of hatred, of rage, of what a soldier feels when he has to kill in order to survive.”

“Something different” is pretty much Bertelmann’s M.O. The German pianist, who records and performs under the name Hauschka, is part of a cadre of experimental musicians who came up in the Berlin indie electronics scene and have quietly started to change the sound of Hollywood movies. Others from that milieu include Oscar-winning composer Hildur Gudnadóttir (Joker, Tár) and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson (Arrival, Sicario, The Theory of Everything), a two-time Oscar nominee.

Bertelmann is best known for his Oscar-nominated work on Garth Davis’ Lion and his score for Francis Lee’s Ammonite, which received an ASCAP nom for score of the year (both were co-written with Dustin O’Halloran). In Lion, the composers stripped out horns and strings to deliver a piano-driven sound that managed to be emotional while never being predictable. For Ammonite, a small, sparingly used chamber orchestra forms the film’s emotional core.

“Coming from the independent scene, I have a different approach to composing,” says Bertelmann. “It’s very intuition-driven, just trying something out and seeing what happens. Like, if I want a bass drum sound, instead of getting an orchestra to record it, or going through all the recorded bass drum loops to find just the right one, I’ll put contact mics on the wall and bang on them to see if that works.”

Bertelmann created the signature three-tone motif that echoes through All Quiet — a thundering dom-dom-DOM! sounding like a trumpet of doom — by picking up his grandmother’s old harmonium.

“When I played it, pressing the paddles and using these old panels on the side with my knees, it created this weird wooden sound,” he recalls. “You could hear all the technical bits from the materials of the machine creating the music. Normally, in a classical recording, you’d work to take those out. I amplified them. I stuck microphones inside the harmonium, underneath it, on the wood, everywhere, to capture that sound.”

The result is both old and modern, like a wooden turn-of-the-last-century synthesizer, and — as it plays over post-battle scenes, as boots and uniforms are stripped off corpses, thrown in piles and then trucked off to be washed, repaired and handed out to a new crop of cannon-fodder recruits — perfectly evokes the horrifying machinery of war.

But when intimate emotion is called for, as in a late wrenching scene when Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) lies next to a French soldier he has brutally stabbed, listening to him slowly die, Bertelmann’s score can go quiet.

“For that scene, I used this really fragile string motif, recording them in a clear pure way,” he says. “When Edward heard it, he said it was too emotional and overpowering the scene. But I thought we needed that feel, so I put a filter on the whole instrumentation, just cut off the high end. It made it sound a bit like the music is coming from underneath a blanket. It’s muffled, but the emotion still comes through.”

For the battle scenes, Bertelmann worked closely with the film’s sound designer, Frank Kruse, to harmonize his score with the rat-a-tat-tat of the machine guns and the monstrous thumps of the exploding shells.

“With fights and battle scenes, the music can very easily get swamped by all the war sounds,” he says, “so we tried to find the frequencies for each other’s instruments and complement, not compete. Say there were explosions. That could be the bass drums. So I wouldn’t use bass on that section, or I’d go even lower, deeper in tone, below the explosions. Or for an ambush scene, in place of the main rhythm portion, I use the specific metal sounds of the gunfire.”

Bertelmann’s favorite piece of music in the All Quiet score, he says, comes in the final scene, as Bäumer, mortally wounded, climbs out from underground to see the sky one last time. For the piece, called “Making Sense of War,” the composer returns to his three-tone motif, but this time classically orchestrated.

“It sounds a little bit like an opera,” he says. “It gives this moment of clarity and pause, where we question everything that we’ve seen, and what the whole point [of war is].”

This story first appeared in a Feb. stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.