genre pop
KATSEYE says it’s going to be a “Gnarly” Summer, especially with Ice Spice on the new remix that dropped Friday (June 6). “Oh my god, this song’s so lit,” KATSEYE quoted the song’s lyrics on Instagram underneath the remix’s gnarly cover art featuring an anonymous hand ready to cut into a double decker sandwich. The […]
Mariah Carey isn’t playing it safe on new single “Type Dangerous,” which ushered in a new musical era for the vocalist Thursday (June 5). Featuring the superstar singing over a swaggering, percussion-heavy beat, the track showcases Mimi channeling her sultriest, most confident self. “Looking for the dangerous type,” she croons. “I like them dangerous/ That’s […]
Addison Rae’s rise to main pop girl is equal parts master class and modern spectacle. Having started on TikTok, becoming one of the platform’s top users known for choreographing brief dances to catchy hits, Rae always had her sights set on a bigger stage — literally. In the past year, she’s performed onstage with Charli […]
Sabrina Carpenter‘s new song “Manchild” is here, kicking off what could very well be another summer of dominance for the pop star. Following the success of hits such as “Espresso,” “Please Please Please” and “Taste” on the charts last year, the pop star returned Thursday night (June 5) with a track that pokes fun at […]
One of the most musical shows on Broadway right now isn’t, in fact, a musical. Pop music has a tangible presence in, and is intrinsic to the fabric of, Kimberly Belflower’s play John Proctor Is the Villain. The story follows a group of girls from small-town Georgia who, amid the #MeToo era, are reading Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and starting to doubt that the titular protagonist is as morally upstanding as he’s often portrayed to be — just as a classmate and friend (played by Stranger Things star, and now Tony nominee, Sadie Sink) returns to town after a much gossiped-about absence. Concurrently, they decide to form a feminism club in an attempt to learn more about a subject the adults around them don’t seem to love addressing head-on. And from the bop-filled pre-show playlist (constructed meticulously by sound designer and composer Palmer Hefferan) to Hefferan’s original music woven throughout to the references to seminal female pop singer/songwriters like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Selena Gomez and Lorde written into (and crucial to) the plot, the pop music the girls love might as well be another character in the play.
“There’s something about music that is so connective — there’s just this language there that everyone understands,” says actor Fina Strazza, a Tony nominee for her portrayal of passionate overachiever and club founder Beth. “Even if you don’t know the song we’re referencing, you can see what it’s about and what it means to them.”
Chief among those songs is Lorde’s “Green Light,” which is referenced throughout the play before finally being played at its most cathartic moment (no further spoilers here!). Belflower — who calls it “a perfect song” — never considered any other in its place, which made its somewhat complex journey to approval especially anxiety-inducing. Songs are usually cleared off-Broadway on a production-by-production basis, but once John Proctor moved into wider publication and was clearly headed for Broadway, “We were like, ‘OK, we need to clear this song, like, forever,’” she explains, which entailed approaching Lorde’s publisher, UMPG. Belflower wrote an impassioned letter to Lorde, asking that it be passed to her personally — only to get a “no” as the first response from her team.
Sadie Sink and Amalia Yoo onstage.
Julieta Cervantes
“I had, like, a panic attack in the Whole Foods parking lot when my agent called to tell me,” she recalls now with a laugh. But two weeks later, a “yes” came through from the artist herself, saying she loved the letter (and that the initial “no” had just been due to a miscommunication between teams; while Lorde hasn’t seen the show yet, Belflower is hopeful that will change whenever she’s next in the city).
John Proctor Is the Villain — at the Booth Theater through Aug. 31 — is now the most Tony-nominated play on Broadway currently, with seven nods. In advance of the awards ceremony on Sunday (June 8), Belflower, Hefferan and Strazza spoke to Billboard about a few of its most prominent music moments and how they came to be.
Dayna Taymor and Kimberly Belflower on the first day of rehearsals for “John Proctor is the Villain.”
Jenny Anderson
Selena Gomez, “Bad Liar”
Ed Sheeran‘s love for India sparkles on his new song “Sapphire,” which dropped alongside an adventurous music video Thursday (June 5).
On the effervescent dance track, the British pop star mixes percussion elements of traditional Indian music with his signature absurdly catchy melodies, singing about never wanting to stop dancing with a lover whose aura shimmers just like the blue diamond for which the song is named.
“We are surrounded but I can only see/ The lights, your face, your eyes/ Exploding like fireworks in the sky,” Sheeran sings on the song.
Adding flair to the recording are vocals and sitar provided by Indian artist Arijit Singh, who also appears with the four-time Grammy winner in the “Sapphire” music video. Filmed across various locations in India during Sheeran’s tour through the country earlier this year, the visual keeps the English musician in the center of the frame as he walks through bustling streets, explores beaches, visits tourist spots, hangs out with locals and sings with a team of youth soccer players.
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His companion in those sites is often Singh, with whom Sheeran sings in Punjabi, “ਚਮ-ਚਮ ਚਮਕੇ ਸਿਤਾਰੇ ਵਰਗੀ” — which translates to “They sparkle just like stars,” according to YouTube’s captions.
“‘Sapphire’ was the first song I finished for Play that made me know where the album was heading,” wrote the “A Team” singer in a statement, referring to his September-slated LP. “It’s why I finished the recording process in Goa surrounded by some of the best musicians in India.”
“The final jigsaw piece for me was getting Arijit on the record,” he continued. “Me and him have done a full Punjabi version of the song that will come out in the next few weeks, which has a lot more of him on it. This is the album version of the song, and my favorite song on the album. Hope you guys love it.”
“Sapphire” follows previous Play singles “Azizam” and “Old Phone,” the latter of which dropped at the beginning of May. Arriving Sept. 12, the new album will serve as the first in Sheeran’s next series of LPs, marking a departure from his yearslong mathematics-themed saga.
“Play was an album that was made as a direct response to the darkest period of my life,” he recently wrote on Instagram. “Coming out of all of that I just wanted to create joy and technicolor, and explore cultures in the countries I was touring. It’s a real rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish, it encapsulates everything that I love about music, and the fun in it, but also where I am in life as a human, a partner, a father.”
Watch the “Sapphire” music video above.
This is partner content. This summer is packed with festivals, and we’re highlighting incredible stars such as Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Kim Petras and more, who will be bringing their hottest hits to the stage! Tetris Kelly: The festival season is far from over, and as we gear up for the rest of the year, we’re […]
1D has hit 1B — again. More than a decade after its release, the music video for One Direction‘s “Night Changes” has surpassed a billion views on YouTube, marking the band’s fourth visual to reach the milestone. Directed by Ben Winston and posted in November 2014, the “Night Changes” music video gave fans the chance […]
Arthur Fonzarelli could have had a way different vibe if the team behind beloved 1970s/early ’80s sitcom Happy Days had gone with their second choice. At least according to The Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz, who told People magazine that back in the day he auditioned for the role of the jukebox-smacking, shark-jumping bad boy with a heart of gold.
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After his run on The Monkees (1966-1968), the last surviving member of that American fab four said he was on the hunt for a role that would break him out of the mop top drummer cage, so in 1973 he auditioned for the role of Arthur “The Fonzie” Fonzarelli, the leather jacket-wearing greaser next door who became the break-out star of the show.
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“I almost got it,” Dolenz, 80, said. “Supposedly it was between me and Henry [Winkler]. He remembers it too. The story I heard is that he was in the waiting room, saw me come in, and thought, ‘Oh s–t, I’ll never get this — Micky Dolenz is here!’ So we laugh about it now. He’s a good friend and a brilliant talent.”
While Yale School of Drama grad Winkler came into his audition with plenty of stage experience and roles in the indie movies The Lords of Flatbush and Crazy Joe, Dolenz was already a seasoned TV pro by the time he auditioned for Happy Days. At 11, he got the lead role of Corky in the adventure series Circus Boy, which ran on NBC for one season before jumping to ABC for another short run in 1957. A young Dolenz then scored a few TV roles in the late 1950s and early 1960s — credited as Micky Braddock — before being cast as Micky on The Monkees alongside Michael Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork.
When that show ended, Dolenz decided to focus on directing and producing, realizing that his gig as the spacey, floppy-haired drummer would likely get him typecast like his father, George Dolenz, an actor he said got pegged as a “swashbuckling romantic lead in sword-fighting movies” such as The Purple Mask and Sign of the Pagan.
“After Circus Boy, I went to a few auditions as a 12-year-old, and the minute I walked in, they’d say, ‘Circus Boy’! That’s just typical in this business. I knew it was par for the course,” said Dolenz, who added that after the Monkees it was more of the same. “‘What are you doing here? We don’t need any drummers!’” he said casting directors would tell him.
Following his pivot to a number of small movie roles and voice work on dozens of cartoons in the 1970s, “I’m a Believer” singer Dolenz said he has no regrets about the one that got away. “Oh my God, he’s just so good,” he said of Winkler, who parlayed his iconic role into a fifty-plus year career on TV (Mork & Mindy, Arrested Development) and movies (Night Shift, The French Dispatch). “I was definitely not as good as he was. Come on — he was The Fonz! He had that New York, New Jersey thing down. I’m from Southern California. It wasn’t gonna happen!,” Dolenz said.
Dolenz is going on tour this summer with his Songs & Stories tour, which mixes his iconic hits with stories about fellow L.A. legends such as Joni Mitchell, David Crosby and Jim Morrison. The tour is slated to kick off on August 11 at the Ocean City Music Pier in Ocean City, NJ.
Lorde revealed in a new interview that she has multiple favorite songs from her upcoming album, Virgin. But on the other side of the coin, there’s one that she can’t even listen to because of how raw it is — and it’s about a pretty NSFW topic.
Speaking to Jake Shane on an episode of his Therapuss podcast posted Wednesday (June 4), the New Zealand native shared that track seven — which is named after a popular pregnancy test brand — is particularly emotional for her. “There’s a song that I love so much called ‘Clearblue’ that is about unprotected sex,” she began, laughing.
“And just the experience of taking a pregnancy test, and like, this flood of emotions that goes through your body,” she continued, noting that the track is one of several “slammers” on the album. “Whatever you want to say — it’s such a moment.”
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“That whole song just destroys me,” Lorde added. “I can’t even really listen to it.”
According to the pop star, “Clearblue” is one of several songs on Virgin that features sexual content, despite the album’s contradicting name. She explained to Shane of the title, “It speaks to a sort of purity, but the album is quite sexual, so it wasn’t sexual purity … virgin steel, virgin hair, all of these things that denote purity, but I’m also kind of always trying to take me to my teen self.”
Arriving June 27, Virgin will mark Lorde’s first album in four years. In the weeks leading up to its release, she’s been open about how the confluence of stopping birth control, recovering from disordered eating habits and embracing her gender fluidity have shaped the project’s direction.
The album’s subject matter and percussive, electric sound are expected to mark a distinct shift from the Grammy winner’s last project, Solar Power, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. That LP found Lorde singing about her gravitation toward a more peaceful, unplugged lifestyle after years of living the pop-star life following the successes of 2013 debut album Pure Heroine and 2017 follow-up Melodrama. But on Therapuss, she revealed that the concept of Solar Power doesn’t really resonate with who she is today.
“I love Solar Power so much, and I truly needed to make it,” she told Shane. “I wouldn’t be here with another album if I hadn’t made Solar Power, but I think it showed me that you sort of just have no choice but to be what you’re supposed to be. Me sort of disappearing and being all wafty and on the beach, I was just like, ‘Actually, I don’t think this is me.’ I just am this person that’s meant to make bangers that f–k us all up … I love to vibe out. That is me to my core.”
Watch Lorde’s full Therapuss interview above.