Culture

19 Jan 2024

This 2-in-1 Duffle Bag Will Make Travel Easier – And It’s On Sale for $35

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Need a new travel buddy? If you’re the kind of traveler who hates ironing your clothes, this $35 duffle bag might be the answer to your problems.

The Modoker 2-in-1 Garment Duffle Bag transforms from a duffle bag into a garment bag that you can hang up, so your clothes don’t get wrinkled.  It also has a passport pocket and a compartment for shoes, a garment pocket, necktie pocket and a pocket to keep small items handy.

Perfectly suitable for the airport and road trips, the convertible duffle bag is great for short travel including business trips and weekend getaways.

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According to the product description, Modoker’s convertible bag is made from “high quality polyester fiber & jacquard” and measures 37.5 inches x 20.8 inches as a garment bag (the duffle bag measures 22.8 inches x 11 inches).

The bag scored 4.5 out of 5-stars and 9,619 customer ratings on Amazon, earning points for portability and value.

According to the customer reviews, you can fit a couple shirts, pants, suit jackets, dresses and smaller items comfortably in the bag, which is available in black, navy blue, caramel and multiple shades of grey.

The bag will be a “game-changer” for your travel routine, as one customer wrote on Amazon. “I easily fit a suit, a couple of dresses, and all my weekend essentials without feeling like I was bursting at the seams.”

Another customer review noted, “It’s great for weekend or even a few days. I took this bag for a [four-day] weekend for a wedding and it fit everything perfectly.”

The Modoker duffle bag is currently 35% off at Amazon — which drops the price to $35.19 (reg. $55), plus free shipping for Prime members. Not a member? Click here to launch your 30-day free trial.

For more shopping recommendations, check out the best tote bags for travel and other travel essentials to put on your packing list.  

19 Jan 2024

Justin Timberlake’s Best ‘SNL’ Sketches

We’ve compiled his best Saturday Night Live sketches over the course of his career.

Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live

Dana Edelson/NBC

Justin Timberlake is putting on his suit and tie, and heading back to Saturday Night Live.

The star is set to make his SNL return on Jan. 27, marking his fifth time as musical guest as a solo artist. Dakota Johnson will be joining Timberlake, returning to the show as host for the second time.

The 10-time Grammy winner is no stranger to the Saturday Night Live stage. He joined SNL‘s coveted Five-Timers Club in March 2013, two times of which he pulled double duty as both host and musical guest. 

The “Say Something” singer has been teasing fans via social media over the past week of a potential new album era, wiping his Instagram clean before posting a series of photos from what looks like a music video set. “EITIW,” he captioned the post, with fans theorizing that the single will be called “Everything I Thought It Was.” Redditors even tracked down a trademark application filed by a mysterious LLC early last year for that phrase, as well as for “Everything I Thought It Was…A Sonic Film.”

In celebration of Timberlake’s return to Saturday Night Live as well as another year of new music from the star, we’ve compiled a list of his best SNL sketches over the years, including everything from a song about gifting genitals and a short where he pimps his singing skills for vegan delights to another that finds him transforming into one “classic” lady. See below.

19 Jan 2024

Queer Jams of the Week: New Music from Aurora, Green Day, Adrianne Lenker & More

With the weather getting colder, warm up your ears with a few new tracks from your favorite queer artists. Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of Queer Jams of the Week, our roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.

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From Aurora’s stunning new single to Green Day’s bisexual anthem, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below.

Aurora, “The Conflict of the Mind”



Norwegian pop star Aurora is firmly in her empath era. With “The Conflict of the Mind,” the singer pushes every emotion she’s felt to the forefront, and embraces the feelings of those she loves dearly in a gorgeous, sharply-crafted melody. The production of her latest track retains all the dainty aspects of her past projects, while simultaneously pushing her sound forward into new sonic territory. Her voice, meanwhile, remains her strongest instrument, evoking pain and pleasure and love and heartbreak and every other emotion she’s left unspoken for this long.

Green Day, “Bobby Sox”



Leave it to Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong to pen a grungy pop-punk song that doubles as a much-needed bisexual anthem. “Bobby Sox” plays as a punchy-yet-sweet love song, with the romantic lyrics asking if the song’s subject wants to be his girlfriend while sitting around and watching TV, while the chorus’ chunky guitars and pounding drums throw long-time fans back to the band’s Dookie days. But from the second verse on, Armstrong switches up the game, intermittently switching out “girlfriend” for “boyfriend,” giving everyone a new celebratory single to jam along to.

Adrianne Lenker, “Sadness as a Gift”



Big Thief frontwoman Adrianne Lenker has always thrived at transforming complex emotions into revelatory pieces of songwriting. That trend shows no sign of ending on “Sadness as a Gift,” the singer-songwriter’s latest solo single. The spare indie-folk song pairs Lenker’s inimitable vocal with a simple guitar-and-violin combo, as she embraces the ending of a relationship. She wants it to be simpler than it is, but knows that nothing will make it easy right now; “We could see the sadness as a gift and still/ Feel too heavy to hold,” she sings.

Maggie Lindemann, “Hostage”



For anyone who’s ever felt trapped in their own psyche, alt-pop singer Maggie Lindemann has just the song. “Hostage,” the singer’s volatile new single, follows Lindemann into the recesses of her own mind, as she explains the various ways her brain places her in a constant state of panic, even when the world around her does nothing to arouse those fears. Over a torrent of gothic synths, Lindemann begs the listener to “hold me close when my voice gets shaky, be patient with me.”

Sleater-Kinney, Little Rope



When you live in a world where catastrophe is the new normal, how do you learn to keep going? That’s a central question posed on Sleater-Kinney’s phenomenal new project Little Rope, an LP that revels in its elusiveness at every given opportunity. Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker masterfully craft each song on the LP with enigmatic shifts in sound and theme, all while providing emotive new tracks for fans to dive deep into. Whether foreboding (“Hunt You Down”), fatalist (“Dress Yourself”), or frenzied (“Needlessly Wild”), Little Rope is an execellent ode to finding meaning — or the lack thereof — in pain.

Shygirl feat. Boys Noize, “Tell Me”



Get ready to rave, because Shygirl and Boys Noize are here to heat up your next party. “Tell Me,” the latest single off of Shygirl’s forthcoming Club Shy EP, delights in it’s early-2000s Eurodance aesthetics — Boys Noize amp up every ounce of the song with out-of-this-world synths and a relentless beat. But Shygirl’s vital voice centers the track in the here-and-now, begging a lover to stay with her.

Gossip, “Real Power”



Just when we need them, Gossip is back, baby. With their latest anthem “Real Power,” the alt-rock trio is calling on people to seize their own means of self-actualization, even in the face of controlling systems that would try and stop them. Inspired by frontwoman Beth Ditto’s hometown Portland and the city’s Black Lives Matter protests in June 2020, “Real Power” brings everything that makes Gossip great — advocacy-focused writing with infectious melodies and stratospheric vocals — into one glorious song.

Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:

19 Jan 2024

Watch Reneé Rapp & Bowen Yang Spoof Barry Keoghan’s NSFW ‘Saltburn’ Scene on ‘SNL’ Set

As Barry Keoghan’s nude Saltburn romp continues to cast a large shadow over social media, the Saturday Night Live is sharing its own spin on the film’s buzzy conclusion.

At the end of Saltburn, Keoghan’s character frolics and dances around an empty castle completely nude as Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 2002 dance smash “Murder on the Dancefloor” booms in the background. In a new video posted to the variety show’s official Instagram page Friday (Jan. 19), Emmy-nominated cast member Bowen Yang and Jan. 20 musical guest Reneé Rapp re-enacted the scene — completely clothed, of course.

As Yang and Rapp serve for the camera, the Mean Girls star still found a way to pay proper homage to Keoghan’s scene, opening her black blazer and cradling her breasts mid-spin. Once the duo finishes their romp — also to the tune of “Murder on the Dancefloor” — the camera then pans to Jacob Elordi, who starred alongside Keoghan in Saltburn, giving his approval with a deliciously dramatic slow clap.

Elordi is set to make his SNL hosting debut this Saturday, Jan. 20. The gig follows his starring turns in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla and Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, which recently earned him a pair of BAFTA Film Award nods for best actor in a supporting role and rising star.

The latest edition of SNL also marks Rapp’s first visit to the iconic set. After releasing her debut studio album last year — Snow Angel, which peaked at No. 44 on the Billboard 200 — the Broadway alum kicked off 2024 with the box office-topping Mean Girls movie musical.

Check out SNL’s alternate Saltburn ending below:

19 Jan 2024

Justin Timberlake Is Returning to ‘Saturday Night Live’ as a Musical Guest Amid New Music Rumors

He’s bringing sexy back to Saturday Night Live! Justin Timberlake is set to make his SNL return on Jan. 27, NBC announced on Friday (Jan. 19). He’ll be the musical guest for the fifth time as a solo artist. Dakota Johnson will be returning to host that evening for a second time.

Fans have been speculating that the singer-actor is about to announce a new album after Timberlake wiped his Instagram account clean earlier in January. Since then, he’s also announced a one-night-only show in Memphis happening Jan. 19, the same day that NBC announced his return to Saturday Night Live. Then on Jan. 17, he made a cryptic Instagram carousel post, teasing “EITIW,” which fans have speculated may be his new musical era, as the photos appeared to show the set of a music video, while sleuths on Reddit found a trademark filing for “Everything I Thought It Was…A Sonic Film.”

And to further whet fans’ appetites, the next day, it was revealed that the “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” singer is set to appear as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Jan. 25.

The 10-time Grammy winner is no stranger to Studio 8H at 30 Rock. He joined SNL‘s Five-Timers Club in March 2013, with two of those times when he pulled double duty as musical guest as well. His stints on the late-night comedy show have also resulted in several of his sketches going viral (“Dick in a Box” and “The Barry Gibb Talk Show,” for example.)

Ahead of Timberlake’s return to Saturday Night Live, Mean Girls‘ Renee Rapp is set to be musical guest on the Jan. 20 episode, which Saltburn star Jacob Elordi hosting.

Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT, and streams on Peacock.

19 Jan 2024

‘The Last of Us, Part II: Remastered’ Is Here: How to Buy the Game Online

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Nearly four years after its original release, Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment remastered The Last of Us, Part II for the PlayStation 5.

Out now with a retail price of $49.94 at Walmart, The Last of Us, Part II: Remastered has enhanced 4K graphics and audio for PS5, while keeping the same gameplay, story and combat from the sequel game, which was first released in June 2020 for PS4.

However, there are some new goodies that come with this 4K remastered edition, including new character and weapon skins, a speed run mode and a new “No Return, A Roguelike Survival Mode,” which deepens combat and the adventure with new options and routes for a different experience.

And since it’s from Walmart, you’ll get it shipped to you for free if you’re a Walmart+ member. Otherwise, your cart has to be more than $35 to get free shipping.

Not a member? You can sign up for a 30-day free trial to take advantage of everything the retailer’s rewards program has to offer, including free delivery; fuel savings at Exxon, Mobil, Walmart or Murphy gas stations; streaming access to Paramount+ to watch hit originals such as Halo, Fatal Attraction, Star Trek: Lower Decks; early deals access and much more. Learn more about Walmart+ here.

The Last of Us, Part II: Remastered for PS5 is also available at Amazon, Best Buy and Target.

'The Last of Us Part II: Remastered' for PS5: Pricing, Availability

Sony

‘The Last of Us, Part II: Remastered’

Meanwhile, if you’d like to experience a new remaster of the first game for PS5, Walmart also has The Last of Us, Part I available. It’s on sale for $39.97, or nearly 45% off its list price, from the retailer.

Priced at $49.94 at Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy and Target, The Last of Us, Part II: Remastered is out now for PS5. In the meantime, you can watch the launch trailer from Sony, below.

Want more? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best gaming chairs, best over-ear headphones, wifi extenders, laptop deals and more.

19 Jan 2024

Green Day Throws a ’90s House Party in New Video for Queer-Affirming Song ‘Bobby Sox’

Nostalgia for the ’90s can be found all throughout today’s music, but when Green Day leans into penning a ’90s-style punk track, it just hits different.

On Friday (Jan. 19), the legendary rock trio shared the music video for their new song “Bobby Sox.” The single unveiled off of their just-released album Saviors, “Bobby Sox” sees the band leaning into its fuzzed-out punk sound with a rocked-out love song in which frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sings to prospective partners — both male and female — in a nod to his bisexuality.

In the grainy new video, Green Day takes over a backyard to throw a daylight rager, as members of the diverse crowd make out, get tattoos, jump off roofs and yes, sing along to the band’s performance of its new track. “Do you wanna be my girlfriend?” Armstrong wails in the final chorus. “Do you wanna be my boyfriend?”

In a statement released with the video, Armstrong said that the group wanted to capture the feeling of their early career with a new song, while also making a song that spoke to queer audiences as well. “‘Bobby Sox’ is one of my favorite songs on the album, it’s the ‘Nineties’90s song that we never wrote,” he said. “It started out being a song I wrote for my wife, but as it materialized, I wanted to switch it up and added, ‘Do you wanna be my boyfriend?’ on top of ‘Do you wanna be my girlfriend’ … So the song becomes a kind of universal anthem.”

Armstrong also spoke about the track in a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times, saying that it felt “liberating” to sing about someone wanting to be his boyfriend. “It became more of a queer singalong,” he said.

Check out the video for Green Day’s “Bobby Sox” below:



19 Jan 2024

Jeffrey Wright Recalls the Time David Bowie Asked If He Wanted to Hear Some Unreleased Tunes: ‘Sure, Put in Your Little Disc’

Like many of us, David Bowie was one of American Fiction actor Jeffrey Wright’s all-time heroes. But unlike most of us, Wright not only got meet the late rock legend, he also had the opportunity to act alongside him in the 1996 biopic Basquiat, in which he played neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat alongside Bowie as pop art figurehead Andy Warhol.

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On The Kelly Clarkson Show on Friday (Jan. 19), Wright recalled meeting Bowie on the film in reaction to a picture Clarkson put on the big screen from a photo shoot the actor did with the “Space Oddity” singer to promote the biopic about the talented street-artist-turned-international-phenom.

“He meant the world to me,” Wright said of Bowie, who died of liver cancer in 2016 at 69. “There were periods of my life where his music was the soundtrack.” Wright describe the intense prep he did for the film — directed by artist Julian Schnabel — in which the actor painted for six months in Schnabel’s studio in the presence of dozens of original Basquiat paintings to get into character.

One day while working on a canvas, Wright said the door opened and Bowie — who also dabbled in painting, as well as quite a bit of big screen acting — walked in unexpectedly. “He kneels down next to me and he says, ‘do you mind if I watch?’,” Wright said Bowie asked. “And I said, ‘well, I think I’m gonna have to get used to it, yeah.’”

Wright recalled that they had a laugh and for the remainder of the shoot Bowie was “so generous and so smart and funny… and he couldn’t have been cooler to me.” In fact, one day he was in the hair and makeup trailer with Gary Oldman — who played a fictional composite character modeled on Schnabel — and Bowie walked in with a most incredible query. “‘Do you want to hear some music?’” the singer asked them.

“And we’re like, ‘huh?!’,” Wright remembers responding in gleeful shock. “And we’re like, ‘yeah David Bowie we’ll tolerate your music, yeah sure! Put in your little disc.’” What Bowie cued up were tracks from his then-unreleased new album, the arty concept song cycle Outside, which included some songs that ended up in the film.

“And we’re listening to it and we’re like, ‘Whoa!’ and David’s sitting there air-guitaring to his own music… and it was like, you know, the cool guy at school who found some obscure record somewhere and brought it in,” Wright recalled thinking. “Except the cool guy was David Bowie!”

American Fiction — about a struggling Black novelist horrified by the smash success of a racially charged book he wrote as as joke — is in theaters now.

Watch Wright talk about Bowie below.

18 Jan 2024

Reneé Rapp Is So ‘Mother’ in New ‘Saturday Night Live’ Promos With Jacob Elordi

We’re guessing 6-foot-5 actor Jacob Elordi isn’t often called “baby girl,” but that’s just what Reneé Rapp and Bowen Yang label him in new Saturday Night Live promos, released Thursday night (Jan. 18).

“Reneé, you were so right. He is so baby girl,” SNL castmember Yang says after Elordi announces his hosting gig, to which musical guest Rapp responds: “I know. That’s what I said. He is so baby girl.”

“Me? I’m a baby girl?” Elordi asks. “So what’s Reneé?”

“Oh, I’m mother,” Rapp responds — citing a moniker she’s often given by her adoring fans on social media. “And I’m big, wrinkly son!” Yang proudly declares.

Elordi is hosting the NBC sketch comedy show for the very first time this weekend after starring in his two biggest films to date last year: playing Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla and the irresistible Felix in Emerald Fennell’s black comedy Saltburn. Rapp will also make her SNL debut this weekend as the musical guest, a week after the release of the Mean Girls musical movie, in which she reprises her Broadway role as Regina George.

Elsewhere in the promos, Yang plays off Elordi’s heartthrob status, saying as he fans himself: “More like ‘Jacob Oh Lordy!’ Am I the first person to say that?”

Elordi lets Yang know that he’s not even the first person that hour to make the pun, with Rapp imploring him: “Bowen, just stop.”

“Wow, Reneé! You really are a Mean Girls,” Yang shoots back — awkward plural and all.

SNL returns on Saturday night at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC. Watch the promos below:

18 Jan 2024

Michael Jackson Biopic Casts Juliano Krue Valdi as Young Michael

Just one week after confirming an April 18, 2025, release for the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic, the creators behind the film have cast their young King of Pop.

Nine-year-old actor Juliano Krue Valdi will portray Michael Jackson during his formative years in the Jackson 5 — the legendary family band behind such timeless hits as “I’ll Be There,” “ABC” and “I Want You Back.” Valdi is well-known across social media for his Michael Jackson impersonations, with videos of him flawlessly executing the moonwalk garnering thousands of likes and views. He joins Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, who is set to play the older version of the late music icon.

“This opportunity is really important to me because Michael Jackson is the King of Pop, and he is very special in my heart. I’ve been dancing to his songs for five years now,” Valdi said in a statement. “He makes me feel really special and makes me feel good about myself. I love the energy of Michael Jackson.”

Titled Michael, the forthcoming biopic will be directed by Antoine Fuqua, the filmmaker behind 2001’s Oscar-winning Training Day and 2022’s Will Smith-starring Emancipation. In a statement regarding Valdi’s casting, Fuqua said: “Casting the role of the young Michael was more difficult than casting the adult role, because where do you find a child actor with the chops of the greatest entertainer who ever lived? In the end, that was our focus — talent — and we looked far and wide for an actor who could embody Michael’s spirit through his voice, his charisma, and his dance skills. Juliano’s undeniable, raw talent put him at the top of our list.”

Michael also features a slew of accomplished producers, including Graham King of the Oscar-winning Bohemian Rhapsody and John Branca and Jon McClain, co-executors of Jackson’s estate. John Logan, a Tony winner and three-time Oscar nominee, wrote the script. Michael is set to survey Jackson’s life and historic four-decade career. Principal photography begins next week (Jan. 22).

Michael Jackson is one of the most successful artists of all time. As a soloist, he earned 13 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits, including “Billie Jean” (seven weeks), “Rock With You” (four weeks) and “Black or White” (seven weeks). Over on the Billboard 200, the music legend score six No. 1 albums, including 1982’s Thriller (37 weeks), 1987’s Bad (six weeks) and 1991’s Dangerous (four weeks).