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Let’s open the latest mailbag.
Dear Gary,
With “Luther” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, it joins the list of songs that have incorporated people’s names in chart-topping titles. The song is, of course, a tribute to the late Luther Vandross, who never topped the chart as a billed artist, although his voice has been heard on multiple No. 1s dating back nearly a half-century.
No. 1 songs with proper names in their titles continue a trend that began soon after the Hot 100 started in 1958. Here’s a (long) look at them below (including one famous group name, in a 2016 hit), while realizing that there’s room for interpretation; Faith is a name, but George Michael didn’t mean it that way in his 1987 hit. Thankfully, others are as obvious as can be: “Venus was her name!”
Thanks,
My name … Jesper TanSubang Jaya, Malaysia
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“Tom Dooley,” The Kingston Trio (1958)
“Stagger Lee,” Lloyd Price (1959)
“Venus,” Frankie Avalon (1959)
“Running Bear,” Johnny Preston (1960)
“Cathy’s Clown,” The Everly Brothers (1960)
“Mr. Custer,” Larry Verne (1960)
“Michael,” The Highwaymen (1961)
“Hit the Road Jack,” Ray Charles and His Orchestra with the Raelettes (1961)
“Runaround Sue,” Dion (1961)
“Big Bad John,” Jimmy Dean (1961)
“Johnny Angel,” Shelley Fabares (1962)
“Sheila,” Tommy Roe (1962)
“Sherry,” The 4 Seasons (1962)
“Hey Paula,” Paul and Paula (1963)
“Dominique,” The Singing Nun (1963)
“Hello, Dolly!,” Louis Armstrong and the All Stars (1964)
“Ringo,” Lorne Greene (1964)
”Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” Herman’s Hermits (1965)
“Help Me, Rhonda,” The Beach Boys (1965)
”I’m Henry VIII, I Am,” Herman’s Hermits (1965)
“Hang On Sloopy,” The McCoys (1965)
“Ruby Tuesday,” The Rolling Stones (1967)
“Ode to Billie Joe,” Bobbie Gentry (1967)
“Judy in Disguise (With Glasses),” John Fred and the Playboys (1968)
“Mrs. Robinson,” Simon & Garfunkel (1968)
“Hey Jude,” The Beatles (1968)
“Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet,” Henry Mancini (1969)
“Venus,” Shocking Blue (1970)
“Cracklin’ Rosie,” Neil Diamond (1970)
”Me and Bobby McGee,” Janis Joplin (1971)
“Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” Paul & Linda McCartney (1971)
“Maggie May,” Rod Stewart (1971)
“Theme From Shaft,” Isaac Hayes (1971)
“Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl),” Looking Glass (1972)
“Ben,” Michael Jackson (1972)
“Me and Mrs. Jones,” Billy Paul (1972)
“Frankenstein,” The Edgar Winter Group (1973)
“Bad, Bad Leroy Brown,” Jim Croce (1973)
“Brother Louie,” Stories (1973)
“Delta Dawn,” Helen Reddy (1973)
“Angie,” The Rolling Stones (1973)
“Bennie and the Jets,” Elton John (1974)
“Billy, Don’t Be a Hero,” Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods (1974)
“Annie’s Song,” John Denver (1974)
“Angie Baby,” Helen Reddy (1974)
“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” Elton John (1975)
“Mandy,” Barry Manilow (1975)
“Lady Marmalade,” Labelle (1975)
“A Fifth of Beethoven,” Walter Murphy & the Big Apple Band (1976)
“Sir Duke,” Stevie Wonder (1977)
“MacArthur Park,” Donna Summer (1978)
“Bette Davis Eyes,” Kim Carnes (1981)
“Jessie’s Girl,” Rick Springfield (1981)
“Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do),” Christopher Cross (1981)
“Jack and Diane,” John Cougar (1982)
“Mickey,” Toni Basil (1982)
“Billie Jean,” Michael Jackson (1983)
“Come On Eileen,” Dexy’s Midnight Runners (1983)
“St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion),” John Parr (1985)
“Oh Sheila,” Ready for the World (1985)
“Sara,” Starship (1986)
“Rock Me Amadeus,” Falco (1986)
“Venus,” Bananarama (1986)
“Amanda,” Boston (1986)
“Jacob’s Ladder,” Huey Lewis & the News (1987)
“Dirty Diana,” Michael Jackson (1988)
“A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme),” Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle (1993)
“Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix),” Los Del Rio (1996)
“Maria Maria,” Santana feat. The Product G&B (2000)
“Ms. Jackson,” OutKast (2001)
“Lady Marmalade,” Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya & P!nk (2001)
“Hey There Delilah,” Plain White T’s (2007)
“Moves Like Jagger,” Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera (2011)
“Black Beatles,” Rae Sremmurd feat. Gucci Mane (2016)
“The Scotts,” The Scotts, Travis Scott & Kid Cudi (2020)
“Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” Lil Nas X (2021)
“We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz & Encanto Cast (2022)
“Jimmy Cooks,” Drake feat. 21 Savage (2022)
“Kill Bill,” SZA (2023)
“Luther,” Kendrick Lamar & SZA (2025)
Thanks, Jesper!
Oddly enough for a tribute song with such a title, as fellow longtime “Ask Billboard” contributor Pablo Nelson notes, the name Luther isn’t said in “Luther” (nor is Bill in SZA’s “Kill Bill”).
Meanwhile, five Hot 100 No. 1s other than Lil Nas X’s above include the word “name” in their names:
“Stop! In the Name of Love,” The Supremes (1965)
“A Horse With No Name,” America (1972)
“You Give Love a Bad Name,” Bon Jovi (1986)
“Say My Name,” Destiny’s Child (2000)
“What’s My Name?,” Rihanna feat. Drake (2010)
It shouldn’t be a surprise that so many songs with names in their titles have topped the Hot 100. After all, everyone hears their name in “Happy Birthday to You,” which is listed first in Guinness World Records’ recap of the most frequently sung songs in English.
As for Luther Vandross, he and Richard Marx shared the 2004 Grammy Award for co-writing “Dance With My Father.” In a 2012 visit to Billboard, Marx mused about meeting Vandross at the American Music Awards in 1990, while they were both touring. “You meet somebody and … ‘I could hang with this guy,’” he recalled of his early impressions of the R&B legend. “Then when we both came off the road, we went to dinner and he offered to sing background vocals on my record I was making” — 1991’s Rush Street, whose lead single, “Keep Coming Back,” with prominent runs by Vandross, hit No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
“I said at the dinner, ‘Dude, that’s like if I was having dinner with Michael Jordan and I said, ‘You know … me and my buddies play pick-up basketball in the park on Sundays,’ and Michael Jordan said, ‘Do you need somebody for your team?’ ”
Ultimately, “He was just my pal,” Marx said of Vandross, who passed in 2005. “We spent a lot more time watching movies, going to dinner, just driving around. I was in love with his voice, as everybody was, but I just miss him. He was the funniest guy — hilarious. I just miss my friend. My memories of Luther are, 99%: We were bros.”
Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer — a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single — by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor Roberta Flack, who died on Feb. 24 at age 88, by looking at the singer’s second of three No. 1 hits as a recording artist: the instant standard “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” (In case you missed it, here’s a look at her first No. 1, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”)
Roberta Flack could have brought a book or a magazine to read on an American Airlines flight from L.A. back home to New York in 1972. She could have watched the in-flight movie or even taken a nap. Let’s all be grateful that she instead chose to listen to the in-flight audio program, which included a pretty pop/folk ballad recorded by a then-20-year-old singer named Lori Lieberman.
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Flack scanned the list of audio selections and learned that the composition, “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” was written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox. Gimbel was then best-known for writing English-language lyrics to such global hits as “The Girl From Ipanema” and “I Will Wait for You”; Fox for creating the sunshine pop musical backgrounds on the hit ABC show Love, American Style.
“The title, of course, smacked me in the face,” Flack later said. “I immediately pulled out some scratch paper, made musical staves [and then] play[ed] the song at least eight to 10 times jotting down the melody that I heard. When I landed, I immediately called Quincy [Jones] at his house and asked him how to meet Charles Fox. Two days later I had the music.”
By most accounts, the song was inspired by Lieberman seeing Don McLean perform at the Troubadour club in Los Angeles in November 1971. McLean’s “American Pie” entered the Billboard Hot 100 that month (on its way to No. 1 in January 1972), but Lieberman was more taken by another song in the set, the haunting ballad “Empty Chairs.” The singer jotted some notes and impressions on a napkin. She later described the experience, and how deeply it affected her, to Gimbel, with whom she was working at the time. (Gimbel and Fox had signed her to a five-year production, recording and publishing deal.)
Lieberman’s description reminded Gimbel of a phrase that was already in his idea notebook: “to kill us softly with some blues.” The phrase had appeared five years earlier in a novel by Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar and Gimbel thought it had possibilities. Gimbel drew from Lieberman’s account, crafted the lyrics, and passed them on to Fox, who set them to faintly melancholy music.
Lieberman did not receive a co-writing credit on the song. There is even a dispute over whether, and to what degree, the song was inspired by McLean’s performance. When Dan MacIntosh of Songfacts asked Fox in 2010 about the McLean origin story, Fox said: “I think it’s called an urban legend. It really didn’t happen that way.”
Lieberman had a falling out with Gimbel (who died in 2018) and Fox (who is still living at 84). This backstage drama is intriguing, but mostly irrelevant to the story of Flack’s recording, which quickly became one of the biggest and best (and most celebrated) singles of its era.
Jones, who died less than four months ago, played a key role in this story a second time. In September 1972, Flack was opening for Jones at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. Flack was red-hot at the time, having landed million-sellers that year with the classic ballad “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and the ebullient “Where Is the Love,” a silky duet with Donny Hathaway.
When the audience at the Greek kept cheering, Jones advised her to go back out and sing one more song. “Well, I have this new song I’ve been working on,” Flack replied. “After I finished [‘Killing Me Softly’], the audience would not stop screaming. And Quincy said, ‘Ro, don’t sing that daggone song no more until you record it.’”
As usual, Jones’ instincts were correct. Flack recorded the song on Nov. 17, 1972 at Atlantic Studios in New York. Flack arranged the track, Joel Dorn produced it and Gene Paul engineered. Flack also played piano on the track, while Hathaway contributed harmony vocals. The other musicians were Eric Gale (guitars), Ron Carter (bass), Grady Tate (drums); and Ralph MacDonald (congas, percussion, tambourine).
Flack completely transformed the song. Lieberman’s version of the song, produced by Gimbel and Fox and arranged and conducted by Fox, is pretty, but rather bland. Her version plays like a very good demo, which is essentially what it was.
Flack boldly restructured the song. Her recording has a cold open on the chorus “Strummin’ my pain…” Lieberman’s version opens with a long, moody piano solo (which sounds like it could have been featured in Love Story, one of the biggest movies of the era). Then she sings the first verse, only hitting the “Strummin’ my pain” chorus at the 0:51 mark.
Flack also transformed the song from a pop/folk tune to one that drew from a wide range of American music forms – pop, soul and jazz. A 25-second section, which doesn’t appear at all in the Lieberman version, borrows from the scatting tradition. Lieberman’s version ends with a 40-second instrumental outro. In Flack’s version, she is singing until the final note. And Flack sings the song with more passion, bringing out all the drama of the key line, “I felt he found my letters/ and Read Each One Out Loud!”
Flack’s transformation of this song was as complete as Aretha Franklin’s reinvention of Otis Redding’s “Respect” or Ike & Tina Turner’s re-imagining of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary.” All three remakes show the power of interpretation – just as Lieberman’s largely unsung involvement in the song’s creation shows the importance of inspiration.
“Killing Me Softly” runs 4:46, longer than any other No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 in 1973. But it doesn’t seem long or padded as it seamlessly moves from section to section.
Fox has suggested that Flack’s version was more successful than Lieberman’s because Flack’s “version was faster and she gave it a strong backbeat that wasn’t in the original.” According to Flack: “My classical background made it possible for me to try a number of things with [the song’s arrangement]. I changed parts of the chord structure and chose to end on a major chord. [The song] wasn’t written that way.”
Flack’s version was released as a single on Jan. 22, 1973, with a version of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman” (drawn from her 1970 album Chapter Two) on the B-side.
It was the top new entry on the Hot 100 (at No. 54) on the chart dated Jan. 27. It reached No. 1 on Feb. 24, displacing Elton John’s first Hot 100 No. 1, “Crocodile Rock.” “Killing Me Softly” reached the top spot in just five weeks, the fastest climb since Sly & the Family Stone’s “Family Affair” also reached No. 1 in its fifth week in December 1971. “Killing Me Softly” held tight in the top spot for four weeks before being bumped to No. 2 by The O’Jays’ exuberant “Love Train.”
But “Killing Me Softly” wasn’t done yet. It returned to the top spot for a fifth and final week before being dislodged for a second time by Vicki Lawrence’s “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” Flack’s five-week run at No. 1 was the longest by any single in 1973.
Flack was a perfectionist, which came into play here in at least two ways. Flack rehearsed the song with her band in the Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, but she wasn’t satisfied with the background vocals on the various mixes. An executive at Flack’s label, Atlantic Records, assured her it would be a hit song no matter which mix was released. She refused to be rushed, recalling later that she “wanted to be satisfied with that record more than anything else.”
Also, Flack didn’t release an album with “Killing Me Softly” until Aug. 1, 1973, more than six months after the single’s release. That delay must have been agonizing for Atlantic executives. The album, with the shortened title Killing Me Softly, reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in September 1973. It would almost certainly have been a No. 1 album if it had been released while the single was being played every hour on the hour on every pop, soul and adult contemporary radio station in the land.
Flack followed “Killing Me Softly With His Song” with a slow and somber Janis Ian ballad, “Jesse.” It stalled at No. 30 on the Hot 100.
At the Grammy Awards on March 2, 1974, Flack became the first artist to win record of the year two years running, after taking home the award in 1973 for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” When Diana Ross announced her as the 1974 winner, a dazed Flack put her hand over her mouth. When she spoke, she simply said, “I’d like to thank the world.” (Since 1974, just two other artists have won back-to-back Grammys for record of the year: U2 triumphed in 2001-02 with “Beautiful Day” and “Walk On,” while Billie Eilish scored in 2020-21 with “Bad Guy” and “Everything I Wanted.”)
Flack won a second Grammy for “Killing Me Softly” – best pop vocal performance, female. (She probably should have won a third, best arrangement accompanying vocalists, but she wasn’t even nominated for that one.) The recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Killing Me Softly was also nominated for album of the year (losing to Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions). It marked the first time in Grammy history that Black lead artists won album of the year and record of the year in the same year. Gimbel and Fox won song of the year for writing the song.
Flack re-recorded the song with Peabo Bryson on their 1980 double live album Live & More (its title borrowed from Donna Summer’s 1978 collection).
Many other artists have recorded the song over the years, including Johnny Mathis, on his 1973 album Killing Me Softly With Her Song; Al B. Sure!, on his 1988 album In Effect Mode; and Luther Vandross, on his hit 1994 collection Songs.
Fugees recorded an updated, but still faithful and deeply respectful version of “Killing Me Softly” (they shortened the title) on their second album, The Score, in 1996. Group member Pras made the suggestion to cover the song, which showcased Lauryn Hill on lead vocals.
The song reached No. 1 on both the Pop Airplay and R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay charts and No. 2 on Radio Songs. It likely would have been one of the year’s biggest Hot 100 hits were it not for rules at the time disqualifying songs not given an official single release. The track won a Grammy for best R&B vocal performance by a duo/group and an MTV Video Music Award for best R&B video. Flack and Fugees teamed to perform the song on the MTV Movie Awards on June 8, 1996.
Flack’s original track was remixed in 1996 by Jonathan Peters, with Flack adding some new vocal flourishes; this version topped the Hot Dance Club Play chart in September 1996.
Flack returned to the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 for a third and final time in 1974 with the silky “Feel Like Makin’ Love.” But let’s save that story for the next Forever No. 1 installment.
Liam Payne‘s blood alcohol level was more than three times the limit allowed while driving in the United States at the time of the singer’s death from a 40-foot fall in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October. The results were included in a report from the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14 released on Friday, which showed that an autopsy found that the former One Direction member and solo star had “alcohol concentrations of up to 2.7 grams per liter in blood” at the time of his death.
While Payne, 31, was not driving at the time, for context, the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) in the U.S. for drivers over 21 is 0.08%; 2.7 grams per liter translates to 0.27% BAC, which is more than three times the U.S. driving limit.
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According to the American Addiction Centers’ Alcohol.org, that BAC can cause, “confusion, feeling dazed, and disorientation… Sensations of pain will change, so if you fall and seriously hurt yourself, you may not notice, and you are less likely to do anything about it.” Other potential effects include: blackouts, nausea, vomiting and impairment of the gag reflex, “which could cause choking or aspirating on vomit.”
The Cleveland Clinic also notes that while a BAC of 0.15%-0.30% can cause the above symptoms and drowsiness, Payne’s measured level was just below the BAC (0.30%-0.40%) that can cause alcohol poisoning, “a potentially life-threatening condition… [which can cause a] loss of consciousness.”
The Argentinian report noted that in addition to the dangerous BAC, the autopsy revealed that Payne — whose death it said was a result of “multiple trauma and internal and external bleeding” caused by a fall from a three-story hotel balcony — also had cocaine metabolites, methylecgonine, benzoylecgomine, cocaethylene and the medication sertraline (Zoloft).
The prosecutor’s office announced in November that a toxicology report said Payne had “alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants” in his system when he died on Oct. 16.
Last week, an Argentinian court dropped charges of criminal negligence against three of the five people indicted in connection with Payne’s death. The court cleared the head receptionist at the CasaSur Hotel, Esteban Grassi, Argentinian-American businessman Rogelio Nores, a friend who accompanied Payne on the trip, and Gilda Martin, the hotel’s manager. Grassi made two emergency calls prior to the deadly accident, first reporting that a guest was “trashing the entire room” and later expressing concerns that the guest “may be in danger.”
In a recent Rolling Stone exposé, Payne’s former girlfriend, model Maya Henry, described the singer’s longtime struggles with depression and addiction, saying he became “someone unrecognizable” when he was using substances.
Frances Tiafoe never considered himself to be a Swiftie. But after the world’s No. 18-ranked tennis pro met Taylor Swift at a Kansas City Chief’s game at Arrowhead Stadium last November — where the singer was cheering on her boyfriend KC tight end Travis Kelce — he came away super impressed, and seemingly pretty buzzed.
In an interview with Tennis TV this week, Tiafoe revealed that not only is Taylor a great hang, she can also toss ’em back like a pro. “We go into this suite, and the first person we see in this suite is Taylor,” Tiafoe, 27, said of the game he attended with his girlfriend, Ayan Broomfield.
“We were drinking all day together. She was so cool. One of the most humble people for who she is. Super down to earth. Hopefully, we can do that again,” Tiafoe said, admitting he wasn’t a big fan of the singer before they met. “It’s crazy because, you know like, I’m not even saying I’m a Swiftie, but like, I appreciate greatness so much,” he admitted. “Seeing how cool she was, she’s got my ultimate respect.”
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Not only did they enjoy a few beverages, but singer/songwriter/actress/baker Swift also impressed Tiafoe by being “very knowledgable” about tennis, he said, noting that the singer told him she’d wanted to see him play in the final at last year’s U.S. Open, which he narrowly missed after losing in five sets to fellow American Taylor Fritz.
“And she was like, ‘Trav loves you,’” he added.
After wrapping her historic Eras Tour in December, and falling to the Eagles in this month’s Super Bowl LIX, Swift and Kelce, respectively, are seemingly taking some well-deserved time off to recharge.
Tate McRae is having a moment. With her latest album, So Close To What, surging toward the top of the Billboard 200, the singer-songwriter stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday (Feb. 25) to reflect on her whirlwind year.
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During her chat with Fallon, McRae reflected on her first time performing with boyfriend and fellow singer, The Kid Laroi, who appears on her new album, as well as the shock of discovering her entire project had leaked weeks before release.
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McRae and Laroi’s collaboration, “I Know Love,” marks their first official duet, but the singer admitted to Fallon that singing together didn’t come as naturally as some might expect.
“It was a little nerve-wracking,” she told Fallon. “I mean, the first time we ever sang in front of each other was actually at my MSG show last year.”
She described the awkwardness of rehearsing for that moment. “You just, like, fake sing in front of each other all the time,” she said. “So, like, even when we were at our show last year, we were sitting in soundcheck like, ‘Are you going to sing first?’”
McRae laughed as she recalled their time in the studio together. “It was the same kind of situation in the studio. I was just like, ‘Can you, like, not listen?’”
Beyond the excitement of her new album and collaboration, McRae also opened up about a nightmare scenario for any artist—her album leaking weeks before its official release. “I was sitting in the bathtub, and I get a DM from one of my fans, and they were just like, ‘Here’s the link to the whole album,’” she revealed. “And it was like five weeks till the album was gonna drop.”
“I call my mom, call my therapist,” she admitted. “I mean, it’s just hard because I feel like it takes away all your control as an artist. You want to deliver your art exactly how you want it to come out.”
Despite the setback, McRae took the situation in stride. “I feel like we turned it around and added some more songs,” she said. “I think that’s the only thing you can really do in a situation like this, is just take advantage of it.”
Fallon then shifted gears, bringing up an unexpected feature on the album—Sydney Sweeney’s surprise cameo on So Close To What track “Miss Possessive.” “I was in Pilates and ran into Glen Powell,” McRae explained. “He was like, ‘Oh my God, I was just talking about you with Sydney Sweeney!’”
To her shock, Powell pulled out his phone to reveal that Sweeney had sent him a voice memo about McRae. “Sydney was like, ‘I’m obsessed with Tate McRae!’”
That moment led to McRae recruiting the Euphoria star for a voice cameo. “So, I got her to be on the song!” she said.
Millie Bobby Brown knows what it’s like to grow up under a microscope after catapulting to fame for her role in Netflix’s Stranger Things, so it’s no surprise she once felt a connection to pop icon Britney Spears, who also found herself navigating worldwide stardom as a teenager.
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While Brown has expressed interest in portraying the pop icon previously, she’s now making it clear: Spears’ story is one only Spears herself should tell.
Speaking at the Los Angeles premiere of The Electric State on Feb. 24, Brown revisited whether she’d like to play Spears in an upcoming biopic in an interview with Access Hollywood. “I mean, she is an absolute icon. I would love nothing more than to be a part of her story,” Brown said. “But that’s her story, and I am in full support of her bringing her story to life how she wants to.”
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Brown’s comments come after a 2022 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, where she first revealed that her “dream role” would be playing Spears on screen. At the time, she explained why she felt connected to the singer’s journey.
“Growing up in the public eye, watching her videos, watching interviews of her when she was young… I see the scramble for words,” she told Barrymore. “And I don’t know her, but when I look at pictures of her, I feel like I could tell her story in the right way — and hers only.”
The response from Spears was swift. The following day, the “Toxic” singer took to Instagram with a post many assumed was directed at Brown. “I hear about people wanting to do movies about my life… dude, I’m not dead!!!” she wrote.
Since then, Spears has taken control of her own narrative. Universal Pictures secured the rights to her best-selling memoir The Woman in Me and announced in August 2024 that a biopic was officially in development, directed by Wicked filmmaker Jon M. Chu.
Spears herself confirmed the news, writing on X, “Excited to share with my fans that I’ve been working on a secret project with #MarcPlatt. He’s always made my favorite movies … stay tuned.”
Meanwhile, The Electric State, Brown’s latest film, arrives on Netflix on March 14.
Chappell Roan is still dancing at the “Pink Pony Club!”
The superstar performed the anthemic hit at the 2025 Grammy Awards, just before taking home the best new artist award.
Following the performance, in February 2025, nearly two years after its release, “Pink Pony Club” hit the top 10 on the Hot 100, jumping from No. 18 to No. 9 and becoming Roan’s second career top 10 hit, and first from Midwest Princess.
Below, find the full lyrics of Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.”
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I know you wanted me to stayBut I can’t ignore the crazy visions of me in LAAnd I heard that there’s a special placeWhere boys and girls can all be queens every single day
I’m having wicked dreams of leaving TennesseeHear Santa Monica, I swear it’s calling meWon’t make my mama proud, it’s gonna cause a sceneShe sees her baby girl, I know she’s gonna scream
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God, what have you done?You’re a pink pony girlAnd you dance at the clubOh mama, I’m just having funOn the stage in my heelsIt’s where I belong down at the
Pink Pony ClubI’m gonna keep on dancing at thePink Pony ClubI’m gonna keep on dancing down inWest HollywoodI’m gonna keep on dancing at thePink Pony Club, Pink Pony Club
I’m up and jaws are on the floorLovers in the bathroom and a line outside the doorBlacklights and a mirrored disco ballEvery night’s another reason why I left it all
I thank my wicked dreams a year from TennesseeOh, Santa Monica, you’ve been too good to meWon’t make my mama proud, it’s gonna cause a sceneShe sees her baby girl, I know she’s gonna scream
God, what have you done?You’re a pink pony girlAnd you dance at the clubOh mama, I’m just having funOn the stage in my heelsIt’s where I belong down at the
Pink Pony ClubI’m gonna keep on dancing at thePink Pony ClubI’m gonna keep on dancing down inWest HollywoodI’m gonna keep on dancing at thePink Pony Club, Pink Pony Club
Don’t think I’ve left you all behindStill love you and TennesseeYou’re always on my mindAnd mama, every SaturdayI can hear your southern drawl a thousand miles away, saying
God, what have you done?You’re a pink pony girlAnd you dance at the clubOh mama, I’m just having funOn the stage in my heelsIt’s where I belong down at the
Pink Pony ClubI’m gonna keep on dancing at thePink Pony ClubI’m gonna keep on dancing down inWest HollywoodI’m gonna keep on dancing at thePink Pony Club, Pink Pony Club
I’m gonna keep on dancingI’m gonna keep on dancing
Lyrics licensed & provided by LyricFind
WRITERSDaniel Nigro, Kayleigh Rose AmstutzPUBLISHERSLyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Charli XCX will collect the songwriter of the year award at the upcoming BRIT Awards. The Brat star is the recipient of the honorary prize, which has previously been won by British acts Ed Sheeran (2022), Kid Harpoon (2023) and most recently, Raye (2024).
The BRIT Awards ceremony will take place Saturday (March 1) at London’s O2 Arena, and will be hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall. Performances on the night will come from Sabrina Carpenter, Sam Fender, Teddy Swims, Shaboozey and more.
Charli is also competing in five additional categories on the night, including album of the year and British artist of the year. The songwriter of the year prize gives Charli her first-ever BRIT Award win, having been nominated four times previously in 2015, 2020, 2023 and 2024.
Brat was named Billboard staff’s album of the year, with Kristin Robinson writing that the LP had “most exciting and culturally significant album launches in modern memory,” and catapulted “the longtime music maker into a new stratosphere of stardom.” The record peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and at No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart.
On Monday (Feb. 24), it was announced that A.G. Cook, Charli’s close collaborator and an executive producer on Brat, would collect the producer of the year prize. The trophy was first awarded in 1977 to Beatles producer George Martin, and in recent years has been won by Fred again.. (2020), Inflo (2022), David Guetta (2023) and Chase & Status (2024).
Speaking to Variety in 2020, Charli described her working relationship with Cook. “We really trust each other, and challenge and push each other in the right ways. And we’re also very smart and equally dumb, and I think that’s really important in pop music,” she shared. “A.G. will make a beat in a few minutes and I’ll yell over it, and even if it sounds crazy, we’re not afraid of sounding stupid because we know we can get there eventually.”
She continued, “We enjoy twisting formats and breaking rules but we also kind of like some rules; we’re a bit winky but we’re also very serious; we’re both fans of pop music but equally fans of wanting to disrupt things; and we like to dance around what people think we should be doing. So there’s enough tension and push and pull to make really interesting music.”
The BRIT Awards will be broadcast live on ITV and on streaming service ITV X from 8:15 p.m. GMT.
The second season of Netflix’s XO, Kitty makes major waves on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart, powered by Tunefind (a Songtradr company), for January 2025, led by Jung Kook’s “Seven” at No. 1.
Rankings for the Top TV Songs chart are based on song and show data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of January 2025.
Jung Kook’s “Seven,” which features Latto, enjoyed a synch in the eighth and final episode of XO, Kitty’s second season, which premiered alongside the other seven episodes on Jan. 16. In fact, it’s one of two songs from that eighth episode; ENHYPEN’s “XO (Only If You Say Yes)” bows at No. 9.
Trending on Billboard
“Seven” earned 12.5 million official on-demand U.S. streams in January 2025 en route to its Top TV Songs coronation, according to Luminate. The tune became Jung Kook’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 when it reigned for a week in July 2023 (it’s also Latto’s lone ruler to date).
In all, XO, Kitty boasts half of Top TV Songs’ 10 positions for January 2025. Chappell Roan’s “Picture You” is the next biggest at No. 3 (10.1 million streams), followed by Dua Lipa’s “Illusion” at No. 5 (5.9 million streams, 1,000 downloads).
Stay tuned for more potential XO, Kitty entries on the chart; the show was renewed in February for a third season.
The top non-XO, Kitty entry for January 2025 belongs to Apple TV+’s Severance, which returned for its second season beginning last month, with one episode premiering each week. It’s The Who’s “Eminence Front” that appears on the survey, entering at No. 2 via 3 million streams and 1,000 downloads after being heard in the third episode (Jan. 31).
“Eminence Front” peaked at No. 68 on the Hot 100 in January 1983.
See the full top 10, which also features music from Will Trent, The Recruit, Landman and High Potential, below.
Rank, Song, Artist, Show (Network)1. “Seven,” Jung Kook feat. Latto, XO, Kitty (Netflix)2. “Eminence Front,” The Who, Severance (Apple TV+)3. “Picture You,” Chappell Roan, XO, Kitty (Netflix)4. “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover,” Paul Simon, Will Trent (ABC)5. “Illusion,” Dua Lipa, XO, Kitty (Netflix)6. “BILLIE EILISH.,” Armani White, The Recruit (Netflix)7. “Blue Collar,” Drayton Farley, Landman (Paramount+)8. “Pretty Wings (Uncut),” Maxwell, High Potential (ABC)9. “XO (Only If You Say Yes),” ENHYPEN, XO, Kitty (Netflix)10. “Got Me Started,” Troye Sivan, XO, Kitty (Netflix)
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