Hot Ones

BLACKPINK‘s ROSÉ was almost taken down by the spicy wings on Hot Ones, but not before she could deliver a final message to someone very important in her life — her dog Hank.
Appearing on an episode posted Thursday (Nov. 7), the singer found her body turning against her as the series’ famously intense hot sauces got increasingly spicy. Her nose started running, she couldn’t help but let out several screams of anguish and she furiously struggled to quell the pain with ice cream and ice cubes before joking that the wings were “going to kill me.”

After coming to that realization, ROSÉ looked into the camera and shared some heartfelt “last words” with her beloved canine, whom, she explained earlier in the video, was named after actor Tom Hanks. “Hank, I love you so much,” she said as off-camera violins swelled and a photo of the dog appeared onscreen. “I hope I survive this, but if I don’t ever see you again, I love you — just know that.”

Trending on Billboard

Of course, the New Zealand native did make it out of the Sean Evans-hosted series alive, but not before admitting: “This is hurting my ego … I thought I’d be better.” Elsewhere in the clip, ROSÉ spoke about her “raw and honest” upcoming debut solo album rosie and explained what unites her and BLACKPINK bandmates JENNIE, JISOO and LISA.

“The one thing that’s so strong about BLACKPINK is the fact that each one of us, we want such big things for ourselves and we work so hard everyday,” she said on the latter subject. “I’ve never seen someone that’s just like, ‘I just want to rest.’ Even if we’ve said that before, I don’t think anyone means that. BLACKPINK is really hardworking.”

Ahead of rosie‘s Dec. 6 release date, ROSÉ and Bruno Mars dropped a single titled “APT.” in October. The track has since spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.

As the star explained to Evans, “APT.” was inspired by a Korean drinking game of the same name. “It’s one of many drinking games, but that seemed to be the one that all my friends in the studio were like vibing to,” ROSÉ said on Hot Ones. “I was like, ‘Huh, this is interesting’ … I was really lucky enough to have Bruno jump on it. Craziest experience of my life.”

Watch ROSÉ on Hot Ones above.

Ariana Grande has complicated relationships with hot sauce and some of her old songs, but she powered through both on the latest episode of Hot Ones.
Appearing on the series’ season finale Thursday (Aug. 8), the pop star began by asking host Sean Evans for his expert opinion. “Where do you think I’ll sit on the scale from DJ Khaled to Lorde?” she asked. “I do my homework.”

Grande went on to barely break a sweat while eating the spicy vegan wings, save for an inaudible burp here and there. She kept her composure even as the Scoville levels increased, but at one point she admitted, “I think I’m learning that I don’t like hot sauce.”

The Grammy winner also answered questions about her Billboard 200-topping new album, Eternal Sunshine, working with Max Martin and doing stunts on the set of the Wicked films, the first of which arrives this November. “There was lots of bubble singing, which was very high up, and I wasn’t harnessed — I was just kind of there,” she revealed. “I had a lot of stunty singing, but nothing compares to Cynthia Erivo.”

Trending on Billboard

“Watching Cynthia in her harness with a broom, a hat, wig, corset, dress — the whole thing — flipping upside down, flying around the set, singing ‘Defying Gravity’ every take like it’s nothing … just the most phenomenal thing I’ve ever seen,” Grande, who plays Glinda opposite Erivo’s Elphaba, continued. “We had to do some really insane and beautiful things for this film.”

The “We Can’t Be Friends” vocalist went on to open up about the “disheartening and disappointing” experience of having her unreleased music leak online. “It sucks,” she put it plainly. “And I am constantly trying to get to the bottom of like how people get stuff … that is very frustrating and feels very dehumanizing, and then the other side is like but I’m so grateful to be an artist that people care about and my fans want more of me so they’re going to these extremes to steal and break in.”

Toward the end of the episode, Evans asked Grande whether she’s tired of performing any of her old songs. The Victorious alum has been releasing music for more than a decade at this point, with nine of her songs reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since her debut record, Yours Truly, dropped in 2013.

“That’s a natural thing that all artists can relate to,” she replied. “There was a time when it was hard for me to feel that same gratitude that I do now for certain songs and for the music … becoming a pop star is insane at 19 or 20, and I think that experience was sort of married to some of the songs a little bit. Or some of the songs that are more emotional, the experience that inspired them can be married to the music. But with time and therapy, we sort of are able to re-embrace, so I feel just really proud and grateful and happy when i hear them, where as I used to maybe hear it and cry.”

Watch Grande on Hot Ones above.

Sabrina Carpenter is no stranger to spiciness in her lyrics, but in her chicken wings? She doesn’t fare quite as well.  
On the latest episode of First We Feast’s Hot Ones Thursday (July 11), the 25-year-old pop star answered questions about her skyrocketing career while eating hot chicken wings with host Sean Evans, and trying not to succumb to spice overload. Before the Scoville levels got too overwhelming, Carpenter addressed complaints about her Billboard Hot 100 top five hit “Espresso,” the main hook of which earned a barrage of memes when the track first dropped in April thanks to its slightly clunky syntax: “That’s that me espresso.” 

“So much of what I like is the punchline,” the singer told Evans. “If people don’t know the punchline, it’s like, waste. That’s how I feel about ‘me espresso.’ I’ve heard a lot of people that were like, ‘She should’ve said, That’s that blonde espresso, duh.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, yes. That is another song as well that deserves its spot in the world, but this one for me … ‘me espresso’ just felt like the right thing to say, and it rhymes with the line before it.” 

“I just think it’s so funny,” she continued, shrugging. “Maybe everyone’s right.” 

Trending on Billboard

The “Please Please Please” artist also opened up about how the success of her Emails I Can’t Send single “Nonsense” — which she almost always performs with an NSFW improvised outro tacked on at the end — has given her confidence before putting her love of The Beatles to work in a round of trivia. It was shortly after Evans asked Carpenter about her affinity for covering other artists’ songs during her live shows, however, that things started getting a little dicey. 

“That was so crazy … You just want to scream,” she exclaimed, exhaling heavy sighs while trying not to yell. She tried to hold it in, but just a few seconds later, she let out a loud, pained, “Oh my god!”  

“It’s really, really hot,” she added with tears in her eyes. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Has anyone ever sued you?” 

The episode comes about a month and a half ahead of Carpenter’s sixth studio album, Short N’ Sweet, which drops Aug. 23. “Notice I didn’t call it Short N’ Spicy because I like sweet things better,” she quipped through tears at the very end of the interview. 

Watch Carpenter on Hot Ones above.