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Get ready for the Swarm! Donald Glover’s Prime Video series, about an obsessed fan base that can’t stop buzzing over its Queen Bee, premieres on Friday (March 17).
Dominique Fishback, Chloë Bailey and Damson Idris star in the show, which is set between 2016 and 2018 and follows Dre (Fishback) a devoted fan of the world’s biggest pop star who embarks on a cross-country journey.
Donald Glover’s New Series ‘Swarm’ Gets Premiere Date & Buzzy Teaser: Watch
03/16/2023
Billie Eilish will make her acting debut in the series. Prime tweeted a clip of her guest appearance on Thursday (March 16).
Bailey guest stars as Dre’s sister, Marissa, while Idris plays Marissa’s boyfriend, Khalid. Rickey Thompson, Paris Jackson, Rory Culkin, Kiersey Clemons, Byron Bowers also appear in the series co-created and executive produced by Glover and Janine Nabers.
In an interview with Billboard, Fishback opened up about portraying Dre in the series. “I really wanted to stretch myself as an actor,” said the 31-year-old actress.
“Presence was really important,” she explained of her approach to the role. “If I tried to map out Dre, I wouldn’t be able to play an authentic character because she isn’t that. It became a thing where I would do something really weird and I would try to get a reaction out of Donald [Glover]. If I could get him to be like, ‘Huh, that was strange,’ then I was doing something.”
Glover directed the pilot episode and Nabers serves as showrunner. Stephen Glover, Fam Udeorji, Steven Prinz and Michael Schaefer are executive producers. Fishback is also a producer on the series.
Swarm premiered at the SXSW Film Festival on March 10. Keep reading for directions on how to stream the series for free on Prime Video.
Watch Swarm on Prime Video: How to Stream for Free from Anywhere
Swarm is an exclusive series available only on Prime Video. All seven episodes from season one are expected to drop Friday at 12:00 a.m. ET.
The show will stream at no additional charge for Prime members and Prime Video subscribers. If you’re already have Prime Video, click here to begin streaming the series when it drops on Friday.
Not a Prime member? Join today and unlock a free 30-day trial to stream Swarm and countless other programs in the mega-library of films, movies and TV shows including tons of other Prime Originals free of charge. Prime Video carries a massive collection of music shows and concerts such as Daisy Jones & The Six, The Weeknd x Dawn FM Experience, Pink! All I Know So Far and Kendrick Lamar Live from Paris: The Big Steppers Tour.
Prime Video
$14.99/month after 30-day fee trial
Amazon Prime is $14.99 a month (or $139 a year) after the free trial ends. Aside from Prime Video, the membership includes free same-day, one-day or two-day delivery on your favorite items, exclusive deals for Prime members, two-hour grocery delivery, unlimited photo storage, Prime reading, Amazon Prime Music, Prime Gaming, savings on prescriptions and more. Additionally, Amazon Prime offers 50% off for qualifying students and EBT/Medicaid recipients. Prime Video is also available as a solo subscription for $9.99/month after a free trial.
Stream The Marvelous Ms. Maisel, Harlem, Invincible, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Fairfax, Upload, The Wheel of Time, I Want You Back, The Boys, The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Fire, Fleabag and other Prime Video exclusives in addition to movie rentals from outside the Prime universe.
Prime Video allows members to stream content from other platforms including HBO Max, Paramount+, Starz, Showtime, Discovery+, BET+ and MGM+.
Watch the official trailer for Swarm below.
Demi Lovato has officially begun directing her very first feature film, Hulu shared on Thursday (March 16).
Along with Nicola Marsh, the pop star will co-direct Child Star, a Hulu Original documentary film that promises to “deconstruct the highs and lows of growing up in the spotlight through the lens of some of the world’s most famous former child stars,” according to a release.
“There is no better film or topic for my directorial debut than this story, which is close to home,” the Disney Channel alum said in a statement. “Our project sheds light on important messages about growing up in the public eye, learning to protect our boundaries, and becoming active advocates of our own destinies. I’m humbled to be able to learn from the individuals who have lived the unique experience of child stardom and share their stories in our film.”
The doc is currently scheduled to stream on Hulu sometime in 2024 and will also follow the paths of several other child stars in addition to Lovato reflecting on her childhood stardom in shows like Barney & Friends, As the Bell Rings, Sonny With a Chance and more.
Most recently, Lovato contributed “Still Alive” to the soundtrack for Scream VI. The track serves as the first follow-up to the nonbinary artist’s rock-heavy 2022 album Holy Fvck, which charted at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums tallies upon its release last August and spawned the singles “Skin of My Teeth,” “Substance” and “29.”
Netflix unveiled the trailer for its new Lewis Capaldi documentary, Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now, on Thursday (March 16).
The film promises a behind-the-scenes look at the Divinely Inspired to a Hellish Extent singer’s meteoric rise to fame with his No. 1 hit “Someone You Loved,” as well as the impact the success as taken on his mental health.
“I think I’ve never been more insecure in my life than I am now,” he admits in the supercut. “And I think that’s got worse the more successful I’ve got.”
Later, the singer confesses he felt a remarkable amount of “tension all the time” to deliver a worthy follow-up to his 2019 breakout album. (“You get your whole life to write your first album, and a year or six months to write your second … The clock’s ticking,” he points out.)
The rest of the trailer follows Capaldi on the journey to improve his mental health, all as he feels the weight of everyone depending on him to continue his career. “You can only be the next best thing for, like, a year,” he says. “Of course there’s pressure … I’ll probably f–k up, but we’ll have a good time while we do it.”
Earlier this month, the Scottish crooner was forced to postpone a pair of shows in Zurich and Milan due to a doctor’s orders that he take at least three days rest to recover from a case of bronchitis.
Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now is slated to premiere on Netflix on April 5. Watch the full trailer below.
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.
Calling all collectors! Walmart Collector Con kicks off on Thursday (March 16) and continues until Friday (March 17).
The two-day event features dozens of epic figurines and other collectibles for fans of Star Wars, Marvel, Funko, LEGO, Barbie, Pokemon, WWE and more, including pre-orders, new releases and Walmart Exclusives.
For LEGO lovers, Walmart Collector Con curated a list of affordable and splurge-worthy building kits such as LEGO Stars Wars and Marvel items ranging from around $15 up to $600.
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The lot of collectibles featured on the first day includes LEGO Marvel Thanos Mech Armour Avengers Set ($14.90), Star Wars The Razor Crest Ultimate Collector’s Series Starship Model Kit ($599) and LEGO Marvel Black Panther T’Challa Model Building Kit, which is on sale for $299 (regular $349.99).
Music fans can get their hands on cool exclusives such as the Funko! Pop Album Deluxe: Def Leppard Vinyl Set and the Blink-182 Funko Pop! Album Deluxe: Blink-182 Enema of The State Vinyl Figures (2022 Limited Edition Walmart Exclusive), which are on sale for $25.
Other music-related collector’s items include the best-selling Tina Turner Barbie ($109), the Barbie Signature Elvis Presley Doll ($46.99) and a Barbie Rewind ’80s Edition Doll ($26.10), which comes complete with a hot pink boom box, translucent keytar and microphone.
Purchase the Walmart exclusive, Blink-182 and Def Leopard Funko Pop! collectible sets below. Click here for additional product recommendations.
Walmart
Funko Pop! Album Deluxe: Blink-182 Enema of The State Vinyl Figures (2022 Limited Edition Walmart Exclusive)
$25 $49.88 50% off% OFF
The Enema of the State Pop! Albums Deluxe collectible commemorates the 1999 release of Blink-182’s chart-topping album and features mini figurines of band members Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker and Tom DeLonge. The vinyl figurines measure approximately 4-inches tall and stand on platforms around a record-backdrop next to a replica of the Enema of the State album cover. This collectible comes in a prepackaged case (measuring 23.5 wide x 12.25-inches tall and a 3.75-inch depth) that can be hung on the wall or displayed in your music collection.
Walmart
Funko Pop! Album Deluxe: Def Leppard Hysteria Vinyl Figures (2022 Limited Edition Walmart Exclusive)
$25 $49.88 50% off% OFF
Rock out with this collection of Def Leppard Pops! Joe Elliott, Rick Allen, Rick Savage, Steve Clark and Phil Collen are featured in the Hysteria Pop! Albums Deluxe collectible honoring the 1987 release of the best-selling Hysteria album. The 4-inch figurines stand on platforms centered around a record-backdrop and a recreation of the Hysteria album cover. Like the Blink-182 collectible, Def Leppard Hysteria vinyl figures are designed to hang on the wall or display on a bookshelf, table, desk and other flat surfaces.
David Byrne is getting the enormous suit out of storage. The Talking Heads frontman stars in a new promo video from studio A24 revealing that director Jonathan Demme’s landmark 1994 concert film, Stop Making Sense, is getting a reboot via 4K technology.
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In the trailer, Byrne, 70, visits his neighborhood dry cleaners with a wrinkled ticket — number A24, naturally — to see if they still have his signature gigantic outfit from the film that many consider to be one of the most eye-catching and important concert movies of all time.
“Hi, I’m picking up. It’s been here for a while,” he tells the cleaner’s owner. “Yeah that’s it!” Byrne enthuses when the plastic-wrapped outfit is pulled from the back. After riding his bike through the New York streets to get his prize home, Byrne slips back into the enormous suit originally built by costume designer Gail Blacker and practices some bendy choreography in a mirror to the strains of “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” from the band’s 1983 Speaking in Tongues album.
The scene then splits to the original, in which the singer does some of his patented herky-jerky dance moves on stage before the camera seamlessly pans back to his well-lit apartment and the screen reads, “Stop Making Sense 2023.” The original was shot over three nights during four shows at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles in December 1983 and has since been added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
It features the group — including bassist Tina Weymouth, drummer Chris Frantz and guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison — performing such now-classics as “Psycho Killer,” “Slippery People,” “Burning Down the House,” “Life During Wartime” and “Once in a Lifetime,” as well as Frantz/Weymouth side project Tom Tom Club’s oft-sampled “Genius of Love” on a spare stage.
A24 celebrated the success of its multiverse dramedy Everything Everywhere All At Once at last weekend’s Academy Awards.
Check out the Stop Making Sense 2023 trailer below.
The Masked Singer has made its most fitting collaboration to date. On the Wednesday (March 15) episode, judges Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy and Robin Thicke appeared alongside several fan-favorite characters from Sesame Street to perform BTS‘ 2020 smash hit “Dynamite.”
Elmo kicked off the performance by sitting at a piano and getting warmed up before announcing to the crowd, “The Masked Singer, Sesame Street is here!” Big Bird kicked off the track’s first verse, before swapping between Cookie Monster — who, naturally, popped up from a cookie cart — and Elmo. Jeong then came in enthusiastically, singing,”Ladies and gentleman, I got the medicine so you should keep ya eyes on the ball!”
After verse cameos from Grover, Abby Cadabby and Count von Count, the rest of the judges filed in and joined in for the song’s upbeat chorus: “‘Cause I-I-I’m in the stars tonight/ So watch me bring the fire and set the night alight/ Shining through the city with a little funk and soul/ So I’ma light it up like dynamite, whoa oh oh,” they sang in unison before a grand finish, complete with raining confetti.
“Dynamite” is one of BTS’ No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. The track spent three weeks atop the tally in September 2020, and enjoyed 32 total weeks on the chart. The song also served as the K-pop group’s first No. 1 on the all-genre chart.
Watch The Masked Singer judges perform “Dynamite” alongside Sesame Street characters above.
Halsey is not in the mood for anyone’s b.s. in the first look at director Tony Tost’s heist drama Americana. In a 90-second sneak peek that dropped on Wednesday (March 15), the singer — rocking a 1970s-style choppy shag cut and all-black ensemble — is minding her own business while filling up her orange muscle car when she’s interrupted not once, but twice.
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“Beautiful day today,” says Paul Walter Hauser’s (Black Bird) character Lefty to Halsey’s Mandy. “Still, they say it might rain. Any big weekend plans?,” he continues. Mandy is clearly not interested, snapping back, “Hey buddy, today is not the f—ing day.”
The confrontation is interrupted by Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria), whose character Penny Jo sticks a gun into Mandy’s back demanding the mythical Native American artifact that she and Lefty were planning to steal. “Do you have the artifact?” Penny Jo asks as Mandy looks back over her shoulder in annoyance.
“I thought you were sweet,” she says, her face softening in seeming condescension. “Do you have it?” Penny Jo repeats more menacingly as Mandy suggests she might have the object, or maybe not. “Give it to me,” Penny Jo demands. “No,” Mandy says as she finishes pumping, walks away and dares Penny to “shoot me” nonchalantly.
Americana marks Halsey’s big screen debut and according to Deadline, the movie follows waitress Penny Jo and lonesome cowboy Lefty as they plan to swipe the mythical “Lakota Ghost Shirt” from some criminals to fund Penny’s Nashville dreams. “Things get complicated when the lead criminal’s long-suffering girlfriend (Halsey) decides to take the artifact for her own personal reasons,” reads a description.
“It’s one of my favorite scenes because none of these characters are smooth, experienced criminals in the slightest, and I love how Sydney, Paul, and Halsey all play their desperate intentions and discomfort to quietly comedic effect,” Tost told Deadline. The film, Tost’s first major feature, also stars Eric Dane, Simon Rex, Zahn McClarnon and Gavin Maddox Bergman. Americana is slated to make its world premiere at 2:30 ET on Friday (March 17) at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX during SXSW.
Check out the Americana sneak peek below.
Sesame Street, that special, friendly place where every door opens wide, was the theme for The Masked Singer on Wednesday night (March 15). For two unlucky contestants, both foreign-born females, those doors slammed shut on the competition.
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Season 9, episode 5 got underway with Elmo, Big Bird, the Count and Co. performing “What’s The Name of that Song,” then lighting the fuse for BTS’ “Dynamite” with judges Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke.
After performing “Just The Two of Us” by Grover Washington Jr., Squirrel was the first to go. Under the furry helmet was Malin Akerman, the Sweden-born, Canada-based raised actress and model.
Despite being tapped to leave, Akerman wore a smile that could be seen a mile away. Jeong paid tribute to her talent, remarking “you have an amazing voice, you’re just one of the sweetest people.”
Why enter the zany world of Fox’s The Masked Singer, remarked Scherzinger. Apparently the contestant watches it with her son, who was in the audience, and her dad, who made the trip from Sweden.
“Everyone dreams of being a rock star,” Akerman remarked. “It’s such an honor to be here.”
With Squirrel moving on out, that pitted Fairy (who performed “You’re No Good” by Linda Ronstadt) and Jackalope (who performed “Whenever Wherever” by Shakira) in a “Battle Royale.”
The two tussled with “On Top Of The World,” for an over-the-top performance.
Only one would progress — Fairy. On receiving her marching orders, Jackalope lifted the disguise to reveal Lele Pons, the Venezuela-born singer and social media influencer.
Host Nick Cannon quipped how he couldn’t tell her talents from Shakira. Scherzinger gushed about her “beautiful voice” and how she “really showcased it” on the show.
So, why do the show? “I love to do new things,” Pons remarked. “I don’t like to repeat stuff so I’m here now and I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow.” One thing’s for sure – she won’t be on The Masked Singer.
Akerman and Pons join a growing list of unmasked celebrities, including Michael Bolton (Wolf), Grandmaster Flash (Polar Bear), Debbie Gibson (Night Owl), Howie Mandel (Rock Lobster), Sara Evans (Mustang) and Dick Van Dyke (Gnome).
Darren Criss competed on NBC’s That’s My Jam on Tuesday (March 14) and was tasked with several new spins on “Toxic” by Britney Spears.
The challenge came when the actor was assigned the brand new game “One Song, Many Genres” by host Jimmy Fallon’s giant chrome microphone lever. “I did Glee; I feel like I’m prepped for this,” Criss stated. “It’s kind of a complicated song, I would fare much better if I did this with a guitar. Is that OK if I play guitar on this? … So if I can’t sing it, at least I’ll be able to play.”
After coordinating with the band on the correct key, the Glee alum launched into Spears’ 2004 single in the style of ’70s soul. “Baby can’t you see I’m callin’?/ A guy like you should wear a warnin’/ It’s dangerous, I’m fallin’,” he sang before quickly having to transition to heavy metal, complete with a throaty growl. “There’s no escape, I can’t wait/ I need a hit, baby gimme it/ You’re dangerous, I’m lovin’ it.”
From there, Criss cycled through a litany of wide-spanning musical genres, from new wave and ska to Brazilian lounge and Eurodance before finishing up the song as a bluegrass jam.
Elsewhere during the episode, his teammate Sarah Hyland performed Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle” in the pop-punk style of Avril Lavigne for “Wheel of Musical Impressions,” while Billy Porter nailed a gospel version of Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” and Patti LaBelle performed her own “Lady Marmalade” in a game of “Nonsense Karaoke.”
Watch Criss reinvent “Toxic” in seven different genres below.
As George Santos continues to dig himself deeper and deeper into the ongoing scandal about his many (many) lies, viral comedian Randy Rainbow is happy to sit back and watch … and yes, sing a show tune or two.
On Wednesday (March 15), Rainbow released his latest parody song, “Life’s a F–king Fantasy for Santos,” castigating the New York congressman for his repeated lies both on and off the campaign trail. Kicking off the video with a cheery reinvention of “Jolly Holiday” from Disney’s 1964 classic Mary Poppins, Rainbow wastes no time in letting Santos know exactly what he thinks of him. “Ain’t he a sack of BS?/ How’d they elect such a mess?” Rainbow opines in the song’s opening strains. “I think he might be high.”
As the song picks up steam, Rainbow — now dressed in full Julie Andrews drag — begins to rattle off a list of things on Santos’ resumé. The resulting patter mixes in disputed claims the representative has actually made (that he was a “Wall Street tycoon,” for example), other claims that he has attempted to obscure (such as his alleged career as a drag queen in Brazil), and a few funny jokes that the comedian peppered in (calling Santos “the very first woman to land on the moon.”)
Just as things begin to get as chaotic as they can, Rainbow suddenly transitions into new parody of The Seekers’ 1966 hit “Georgy Girl,” taking on the Australian folk-pop group’s groovy look to further humiliate Santos. “Hey there, Georgy girl/ Shut your stupid hole and don’t deflect,” he croons over the mellow production. “Find a little self-respect/ And maybe it’s you they’ll like.”
By the time it’s the final stanza of the song, Rainbow expertly mashes both songs together to get in a series of last digs at the embattled congressman. “His nose keeps growing as the Feds close in,” Rainbow declares. “‘Cause everything’s a fantasy with Santos/ My fantasy’s that Santos goes away!”
Check out Rainbow’s full parody video above.