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As fortunate fans spilled into the intimate and sweaty Maxim’s de Paris on Wednesday night (June 18), no one knew exactly what to expect. Vocals? For sure. Fashion? Absolutely. This is Miley Cyrus, after all.
But when the superstar combined two of her biggest hits – none other than “The Climb” and “We Can’t Stop” – into a special one-off medley, fans were floored. “We put this together just for all of you tonight,” shared Cyrus, in her first of two Mugler looks.
The special and career-spanning fusion – reminiscent of two distinct times in the pop star’s life – was fitting for an equally special evening. Cyrus hadn’t performed in Paris for over 10 years, and she made sure her grand return was well worth the wait. The evening’s set was for Spotify’s Billions Club Live, making Cyrus only the second artist, after The Weeknd, to ever earn a Billions Club concert. (As Spotify previously confirmed to Billboard, Cyrus’ Billions Club Live show was filmed to be released later this summer.)
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Despite such a massive milestone, Cyrus stayed true to form and kept the setting and guest list rather intimate, with only a few hundred fans packed into Maxim’s downstairs venue. But unlike her famed Chateau Marmont sets in Los Angeles or her recent performance at an equally intimate New York space — all in support of her latest album, Something Beautiful — Wednesday night was perhaps the most wide-ranging setlist fans have enjoyed for some time.
Thanks to the nature of Spotify’s Billions Club Live, Cyrus’ set was a tight hour (including an outfit change) of her biggest hits on the platform — all of which, yes, have reached more than 1 billion streams. (On the pre-show playlist, deep cuts including “Cattitude” off her She Is Coming EP satiated superfans.)
“Being a part of the Billions Club is only a part of me – it’s an honor, but in no means is it holistic,” Cyrus said. “Each of you are a piece of a billion, and without each of you, the billion doesn’t even exist. That’s how important and crucial you are to the success in my life. The confidence and goals that I have achieved [is] because of you and your support. And I’ve never really been too interested in numbers because math is done from the mind, but true authentic beauty is from the heart.”
During her set, Cyrus demonstrated just how much of her heart has always been in her hits – and is likely what has pushed these in particular to become some of her biggest. During opener “Flowers,” she emphasized and riffed on the line “no regrets, baby” while holding up a bouquet of flowers gifted by a fan. And while introducing “The Climb,” she shared that the song is “inspired by the effort and the struggles that it takes to become the person you want to be. … I truly believe the most authentic version of yourself is deep within the struggle. … Everything in my life that I can stand here and be proud of at one point was towering over me like a mountain.” (The mere mention of a mountain elicited emphatic cheering.)
And before performing her Plastic Hearts hit “Angels Like You” accompanied by nothing more than a piano, Cyrus told her fans: “You are the earth angels that make my life heaven.” And in another unexpected twist, she performed the impassioned “Wrecking Ball” next while still backed by only keys.
After an outfit and hairdo change – from teased waves and a Mugler dress dripping with crystals to an updo with a Mugler crystal corset and suit jacket – Cyrus returned to the stage alongside her full backing band, which included a four-person string section and guitarist Maxx Morando. A front-row fan declared that Cyrus looked “super French,” to which Cyrus replied that they’ve actually been discussing what to name her current backing band, before concluding that “Super French” was the best idea they’ve heard yet.
Cyrus then closed the show with a one-two punch of Something Beautiful standouts: “End of the World” and “More to Lose.” Before performing the latter, she said, “A lot of my songs are about resilience, and I’m very proud of that,” noting that the theme of resilience is one not only personal to her and her music, but that is universally felt – and desperately needed right now.
Halfway through “More to Lose,” she turned to Morando and said she’s tired of crying and wanted to do something a bit more fun. The solution? “Easy Lover.” Cyrus performed the song with an extended outro, during which she strutted from one side of the small stage to the other, blowing kisses to fans who were within arm’s length before returning to its center to take a bow.
And after showing off her outfit one last time, Cyrus seamlessly disappeared behind thick red velvet curtains, as if bringing her “End of the World” lyric to life: “Let’s go to Paris, I don’t care if we get lost in the scene.”
As the wide-eyed expressions across the room proved, there’s hardly a better scene to get lost in.
While Spotify’s Billions Club contains an exclusive group of artists who’ve had songs reach one billion streams, there’s an even more elite crop of African artists who are members. “Essence” collaborators Wizkid and Tems have both reached this milestone, but not for their Billboard Hot 100 top 10 smash, and they both did it alongside […]
Tems has become the first African female artist to hit one billion streams on Spotify with Future‘s “WAIT FOR U,” also featuring Drake, Spotify has confirmed. “WAIT FOR U” samples Tems’ “Higher” from her 2020 EP For Broken Ears and was featured on Future’s 2022 Billboard 200-topping album I NEVER LIKED YOU. The song hit […]
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The Weeknd‘s Q4 career moves have proven the pop star has remained dedicated to finishing the year strong before kicking off 2025 with a bang: He performed a one-night-only stadium show in São Paulo, Brazil in September and released three singles that he debuted during the show: “Dancing in the Flames,” the Billboard Hot 100 No. 3 hit “Timeless” with Playboi Carti and “São Paulo,” featuring Anitta. In October, he took over a handful more stadiums in Melbourne and Sydney during his rescheduled Australian tour. And the following month, he announced his sixth studio album Hurry Up Tomorrow will be released on Jan. 24, and he’ll perform another one-night-only stadium show at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl the day after.
And somewhere in the middle of all of this, The Weeknd also became the artist with the most songs to hit one billion streams on Spotify, with 24 songs in the Billions Club. And nearly 2,000 of his top listeners on Spotify got to relive those hits during Spotify’s first-ever Billions Club Live concert at Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar on Tuesday evening (Dec. 17).
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“It’s a little holiday gift for the OG XO fans supporting me since day one,” he said while blue strobe lights kicked off his 70-minute set. “2024 is almost done. But 2025, we got some new s–t coming out. New album, new tour, new movie. New everything!” His upcoming album Hurry Up Tomorrow, which is the third and final installment of his After Hours / Dawn FM trilogy, will be supported by a psychological thriller film of the same name that will mark the singer’s feature-starring debut.
It’s poetic that the Canadian-Ethiopian superstar (real name Abel Tesfaye) is closing this chapter of his career the same way he started it over a decade ago, with a trilogy of cohesive projects. Outside of his big-picture ideas, he finds clever ways to thread together little details from his entire discography. The popular idiom “this house is not a home,” for example, is a common lyrical theme, which The Weeknd references not only in the 2020 After Hours title track he performed but also dating back to “Twenty Eight” from his 2011 debut mixtape House of Balloons. But for someone as beloved as him, The Weeknd feels right at home on stage even during the remarkably intimate show.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been at a venue like this. Feels like back in the Kiss Land tour or Trilogy tour,” he reflected. “Maybe after the stadium tour, we might go back in time and we might do smaller venues.”
He tapped his frequent collaborator Mike Dean — whom The Weeknd jokingly blamed for his minor coughing fit because he was “hitting that f–king bong all night” — to steer the set “wherever you wanna take it,” before the hip-hop superproducer’s eerie synths introduced Metro Boomin‘s “Creepin,’” featuring The Weeknd and 21 Savage. The Weeknd later summoned his drummer Ricky Lewis to play “Popular,” the platinum-certified hit with Madonna and Carti from his 2023 HBO drama series The Idol. It’s one of two songs from the show to hit one billion Spotify streams, with the other being “One of the Girls” with JENNIE and Lily-Rose Depp. Then, he called on his guitarist Patrick Greenaway to cue the next song — and Greenaway’s scene-stealing shredding summoned “Heartless.” The Weeknd had multiple opportunities to bring out special guests, considering 13 of the 24 songs in the Billions Club are collaborations, but the unprecedented concert felt more suited for his solo victory lap rather than an all-star relay race.
“Oh s–t, this hit a billion?!” he marveled as “Reminder,” from his 2016 album Starboy started playing. The Weeknd warned the crowd of the song’s gunshot background sound during the chorus, a conscious reminder his concertgoers have picked up on from his previous shows. And while this one’s circular stage setup was much simpler than his ornamented stadium show designs, it didn’t stop The Weeknd from making the night memorable: Yellow spotlights flickered as he sang the “I just wanna see you shine ’cause I know you are a stargirl” outro from his and Lana Del Rey‘s “Stargirl Interlude,” and they later twinkled to recreate the grandiose ballroom feel of “Earned It” from the 50 Shades of Grey film. And red strobe lights provoked the sinister aura of his 2015 Hot 100 chart-topper “The Hills” from Beauty Behind the Madness.
He asked if any of his ballads had hit one billion Spotify streams to slow down his set, but the singer was taken aback by the siren-like synth intro of his Gesaffelstein-featuring “I Was Never There” from his 2018 EP My Dear Melancholy, classifying it as more of a “power ballad.” After his 2012 debut single “Wicked Games” (“I know that song didn’t hit a billion, but I felt like I had to do it. It’s necessary, at least one House of Balloons song,” he said matter-of-factly) and “Die For You” — which experienced a TikTok-fueled resurgence six years after its release and produced the Hot 100 No. 1 remix with Ariana Grande — The Weeknd wanted to “pick up the pace” and Daft Punk‘s fuzzy disco-pop production from “I Feel It Coming” instantly got the audience in a groove.
After what felt like the ultimate finisher with “Blinding Lights” — the first song to hit four billion Spotify streams as well as the top Hot 100 song of all time — The Weeknd teased his Hurry Up Tomorrow era by singing a snippet of an unreleased song he’s teased during previous shows, reportedly titled “In Heaven.” “In 2025, everything is fine. In 2025, everything will be fine. I’ll come back for you, XO. But until then, hurry up tomorrow! Hurry up tomorrow! Hurry up tomorrow! Hurry up tomorrow!” he bellowed.
Check out the full set list from The Weeknd’s Spotify Billions Club Live concert below.
“Call Out My Name”
“Moth to a Flame”
“After Hours”
“Lost in the Fire”
“Creepin’”
“Popular”
“Starboy”
“Heartless”
“Reminder”
“Stargirl Interlude”
“One of the Girls”
“The Hills”
“Often”
“I Was Never There”
“Wicked Games”
“Earned It”
“Die For You”
“I Feel It Coming”
“Can’t Feel My Face”
“Save Your Tears”
“Blinding Lights”
Encore:
“Timeless”
“São Paulo”
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