genre country

A new supreme is rising — and her name is Blue Ivy Carter!
Beyoncé kicked off her 32-date Cowboy Carter stadium tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on Monday night (April 28), and her eldest daughter stole the show several times.

After dazzling the crowd with an “America Has a Problem” dance break borrowed from 2023’s Renaissance World Tour — and a cameo alongside little sister Rumi during “Protector” — Blue returned later in the show for “Déjà Vu,” the 2006 Billboard Hot 100 top five hit that introduced the world to her mom’s Grammy-winning sophomore solo album, B’Day. Decked out in an on-theme brown leather chaps and tank combo with fringe details, the young singer-actress-dancer pulled out her best model walk as she strutted down center stage before leading her mom’s dancers in a thrilling rendition of the original mid-’00s “Déjà Vu” live performance choreography.

With her lengthy braids contouring the intense hairography and her lines and extensions crisper than ever, Blue flawlessly executed the dance break — and proved the enduring influence of Josephine Baker, whose iconic “Danse Sauvage” inspired the original “Déjà Vu” choreography. Elements of the moves Blue nailed have appeared in countless Beyoncé performances, from the song’s music video to the 2006 World Music Awards to her 2018 Coachella headlining set.

In the two years since she made her dancing debut on the Renaissance World Tour with “My Power” and “Black Parade,” the eldest Carter offspring has blossomed into a truly self-assured performer. In December, Blue joined her mom for the NFL’s Netflix-assisted Christmas Day halftime show, also known as “Beyoncé Bowl,” a 13-minute showcase of the Cowboy Carter LP. Blue has definitely spent the past few years living up to the Carter family name, and even her aunt Solange couldn’t resist showering her with love on social media. “TT’s babbyyyyyy killing s–t!” she posted on X Monday night (April 28), quoting a clip of Blue breaking down the “America Has a Problem” dance break.

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Outside of dancing, Blue Ivy has also made a killing at the box office. Last year, she starred as Kiara (Simba and Nala’s daughter) in Mufasa: The Lion King, Disney’s Barry Jenkins-helmed prequel to 2019’s photorealistic Lion King remake, in which her mother voiced Nala. The $722 million-grossing film arrived four years after Blue won a Voice Arts Award (best voiceover – children’s audiobook award) for her narration of Hair Love, the audiobook companion to Matthew A. Cherry’s 2019 Oscar-winning independent animated short film of the same name.

Launched in support of her historic Cowboy Carter album — which finally won Bey the long-elusive album of the year Grammy and made her the first Black woman to hit No. 1 on Top Country Albums — the Cowboy Carter Tour will visit nine American and European cities via a series of mini-residences hosted at some of the world’s grandest stadiums. The show is with flying cars and horseshoes, a special tribute to the Renaissance album and live renditions of every Cowboy Carter track (save “My Rose”).

Watch Billboard’s footage of Blue Ivy slaying the “Déjà Vu” dance break below, and check out a side-by-side clip of 2006 Beyoncé and her eldest daughter killing the choreography.

Like millions of other fans, Kelsea Ballerini idolizes Taylor Swift, but when it came to starting her own music career, the former quickly learned that she’d need to find her own identity in order to stand apart from the superstar.
While speaking to Variety for her Power of Women Nashville cover story published Tuesday (April 29), the “Peter Pan” singer reflected on the struggle of coming up in Music City in the wake of the Eras headliner’s unprecedented success. At the time, the hitmaker’s shadow loomed especially large over aspiring stars such as Ballerini, who, like Swift, was also a young, blonde, female singer-songwriter — something that forced The Voice coach to find ways to stand out from the 14-time Grammy winner in order to be successful.

Recalling how one label executive dismissed her early on because, as Ballerini recalled him saying, “‘There’s already a Taylor Swift,’” the country artist conceded, “And he was right.”

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“There weren’t a lot of young female singer-songwriter girls in country music to look up to,” she continued. “I had to grow into my own identity as an artist and a songwriter and learn to differentiate myself.”

Distinguishing herself from Swift was even more difficult given Ballerini’s personal obsession with the “Love Story” singer — “Taylor was the North Star for me, and still is in a lot of ways,” she told Variety — but the Tennessee native eventually found her own distinct voice. Her self-titled debut EP dropped in 2014 via Black River Entertainment and earned Ballerini her first-ever Billboard Hot 100 entry with “Love Me Like You Mean It,” soon after which the project even got a cosign from none other than Swift.

“Driving around with the @KelseaBallerini EP on repeat.. SO lovely:)” the country-turned-pop behemoth tweeted in March 2015.

Swift quickly took Ballerini under her wing, with the latter telling Billboard the following year, “She’s like my big sister … She’s walked this so gracefully, so she’s the person that I go to when I’m like, ‘Hey, this is what I’m struggling with right now. How do I navigate this?’”

Also in her Variety cover story, Ballerini gushed about someone else who’s also been hugely influential in her life, but for very different reasons. Of boyfriend Chase Stokes, the singer recalled how patient the Outer Banks actor was as she released her 2023 EP Rolling Up the Welcome Mat — which is famously about her divorce from Australian musician Morgan Evans — as well as Stokes’ reaction to hearing Ballerini’s love song for him, “To the Men That Love Women After Heartbreak.”

“He loved it,” she said. “When we first started talking, I hadn’t put out Welcome Mat yet, and he stood beside me through that whole musical chapter. But when it was time to write Patterns, I wanted to write about the things we were learning in our relationship. And I think with a lot of patience and therapy, we mutually have grown a lot in these last two-plus years.”