Music News

30 Nov 2023

Tony Gonzalez Praises Taylor Swift Amid Her Travis Kelce Romance for Bringing ‘New Audience’ to NFL

Taylor Swift has become a full-blown Chiefs fan amid her romance with Travis Kelce, and now, former Kansas City star Tony Gonzalez is returning the love. 

On the Thursday (Nov. 30) episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the retired tight end praised the pop star for generating more buzz for the NFL. “I think it’s great that Taylor’s done this for the NFL,” he said. “She’s brought a whole new audience.” 

And though he hasn’t played professionally since 2013, Gonzalez recently saw Swift’s impact in action when a young fan approached him at the airport. “Men usually come up to me … and occasionally a woman — but a 10-year-old girl?” recalled the Hall of Famer, laughing. “I was like, ‘Oh, how cool, I’m getting so popular!’ She goes ‘Hi, is your name Tony? Do you know Travis Kelce?’” 

Gonzalez — who started his career with the Chiefs and was later traded to the Atlanta Falcons — is one of many NFL pros to approve of the “Anti-Hero” singer’s enthusiasm regarding the league, following similarly positive remarks from the likes of Magic Johnson, who co-owns the Washington Commanders, Thursday Night Football announcer Al Michaels and even NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Others, however, have criticized sports media outlets’ coverage of Swift’s attendance at Kelce’s games. (Clarkson herself came under fire last month for saying that watching games on TV felt more akin to “Housewives” ever since Swift joined Chiefs Nation.) 

Gonzalez’s interview on the Kelly Clarkson Show comes shortly after Kelce became the fourth and fastest tight end to ever reach 11,000 receiving yards in the NFL. Earlier this month, he also broke Gonzalez’s record for most receiving yards in Chiefs history, something Gonzalez congratulated his successor for on Twitter. “Congrats and well earned my friend! Keep it going ??,” he wrote. 

Gonzalez also gave Kelce props for the record when talking to Clarkson, adding that the Ohio native is “such a good dude.” 

Watch Tony Gonzalez’s interview above. 

30 Nov 2023

Nicki Minaj Teases Lyrics, Promises That ‘Pink Friday 2’ Is ‘Beyond Anything I Could Have Imagined’

Nicki Minaj offered up a stern warning and an exciting promise about her upcoming Pink Friday 2 album in a series of early morning tweets on Thursday morning (Nov. 30). “December 8th is COMING SOON,” she wrote about the collection due out on her birthday, before adding an ominous alert.

“If you on my $h!t list, you will never EVER recover. The. Fkng. End.”

Nicki also teased that her fifth studio collection is a certified classic that she can’t wait to share with the Barbz. “This album is just beyond anything I could have imagined,” she tweeted hours before. She also appeared to share some lyrics from an unnamed track on the collection, which read, “I just wanna watch him do his push-ups w/his sweats on/ Every time he hit it, he gon nail it like a press-on/ When I ride his d!&@ the only time he gettin flexed on/ Hit it from the bak with my pumps & my dress on.”

The hard-hitting bars are just the first in what Minaj promised would be a series of new lyrics, with a line slated to drop every day until Dec. 8. But before that, she let the Barbz decide something crucial: “on a scale from 1-10, how hard you want me to go on #PinkFriday2,” she asked, with the options including “TEN (to the white meat), EIGHT (foot on necks), FIVE (let’m live but ntm) and ONE (#NiceNicki #PopStar).”

Never one to soft-pedal her skills, Minaj has been stoking the hype train all week, assuring Barbz on Monday that it had just dawned on her that she is about to release “one of the greatest albums of ALL TIME.” She followed that promise up on Wednesday with an all caps second assurance that minds will be royally blown. “Right now as a type this mthaPHUCKAZ HAVE NO PHKNG IDEA WTF IS ABOUT TO PHKNG HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WILL CHANGE AFTER DECEMBER 8th, 2023!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SHALL APOINT BARBZ ONLY!!!! EVERY CONGRESSMAN, SENATOR, PRESIDENT, MONARCHY, YOU NAME IT!!!!!”

She also responded to a tweet from the Walmart account (“nothing but respect for the queen of rap! [heart emoji],” writing, “Can’t wait to go to Walmart & pick up my 5th album. My goodness [crying face emoji].”

Minaj pushed the album’s original Nov. 17 release date back earlier this month to avoid a conflict with good friend and longtime mentor Lil Wayne’s joint album with 2 Chainz, Welcome 2 Collegrove. The rapper previously said that she delayed the collection because she had writer’s block during her pregnancy and didn’t want to say “freaky” stuff. Pink Friday 2 is the follow-up to Minaj’s 2018 album, Queen.

Check out Minaj’s tweets below.

30 Nov 2023

Phish Booked For 2024 Four-Show Sphere Run in Las Vegas

Phish are the next major act booked to play Las Vegas’ eye-popping Sphere venue. The band announced on Thursday (Nov. 30) that they will do a four-show run at the building from April 18-21, 2024, with each night set to feature a unique setlist and visuals.

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“From the moment we first heard about Sphere and its potential, we’ve been dreaming up ways to bring our show to this breathtaking canvas,” Trey Anastasio, Phish guitarist and vocalist said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to present this completely unique experience to Phish fans.”

Known for switching things up every show, the band promised that the Sphere gigs will continue that tradition, while adding a “once-in-a-lifetime audio-visual experience” into the mix; they also noted that these will be the only Sphere shows by Phish in 2024.

The mind-bending globe-shaped performance space features a 160,000 sq. foot LED display inside the main venue, which wraps up, over and around the audience for a fully immersive experience in cutting-edge 16K x 16K resolution.

Ticket requests for the Phish run (April 18, 19, 20 and 21) now open here, and will stay open through noon ET on Dec. 11; all remaining tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning Dec. 15 at 1 p.m. ET.

The venue’s first resident artist, U2, wrapped their four leg of the U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere residency on Nov. 4, with Billboard Boxscore reporting that the 17 show grossed $109.8 million and sold 281,000 tickets, marking the fastest-grossing residency in Boxscore history.

30 Nov 2023

Shane MacGowan, Pogues Singer Dies at 65

Shane MacGowan, the legendarily shambolic, magnetic frontman of Celtic rock band The Pogues, died on Thursday (Nov. 30) at age 65 following a recent hospitalization. The band confirmed the passing of their notoriously hard-living vocalist, whose yearning, howling vocals super-charged the Pogues’ meld of traditional Irish music and punk rock spirit on such beloved songs as “Dirty Old Town” and “A Pair of Brown Eyes.”

The group issued a statement in honor of their beloved bandmate on behalf of MacGowan’s wife, Victoria Mary Clark, sister Siobhan and father, Maurice. “It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of SHANE MACGOWAN. Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning (30 November, 2023) with his wife Victoria and family by his side. Prayers and the last rites were read which gave comfort to his family,” it read, alongside a picture of MacGowan in his prime, a cigarette and glass of wine in hand, flashing his signature infectious, crooked smile.

In an Instagram post, Clark wrote, “I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it. Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love ❤️ of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese.”

The singer, who the BBC reported had been unwell for quite a while, struggled openly for many years with drugs and drink and was booted from the band in 1991 after his alcohol abuse made him unreliable; he returned to the fold in 2001 for a final thirteen-year stint before the band split for good in 2014. MacGowan was hospitalized in Dec. 2022 with viral encephalitis and spent several months in intensive care earlier this year as a result.

MacGowan was as mythical a figure on the British music scene as the grizzled characters he inhabited in the Pogues’ songs, which were inspired by figures from literature, the Bible, mythology and the hard-scrabble lives of working class heroes. His vocals, filled with a mix of anger, pugnaciousness and sad-eyed resignation, could swing from a howl and a growl to a grizzled tenderness in the span of a single track.

His death just weeks before Christmas added an extra layer of poignancy to the loss, as this is the season when the Pogues’ 1987 holiday standard, “Fairytale of New York,” is often in heavy rotation. The swaying, sentimental ballad featuring MacGowan trading vocals with the late singer/songwriter Kirsty MacColl has been in the UK’s top 20 19 times since its release, perennially charting around Christmastime and peaking at No. 2 on the UK charts during the year of its release.

After an opening scene in which MacGowan’s characer laments sleeping off a drinks binge in a New York drunk tank, the tune has the two trading (not-PC) insults as they lament dreams deferred by addiction, brought home by the crooned chorus, “The boys of the NYPD choir/ Still singing Galway Bay/ And the bells are ringing out/ For Christmas day.”

Born Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan on Dec. 25 1957, in Kent, England to Irish parents, MacGowan showed creative promise from a young age, earning a scholarship to the prestigious Westminster school for his literary skills, only to be expelled in his second year for drug possession. He burst onto the English music scene in an incident that was fittingly chaotic and tinged with punk-fueled violence when he was photographed covered in blood while attending a 1976 gig by The Clash at which his ear was ripped open, spawning the NME headline “Cannibalism at Clash Gig.”

After briefly joining a punk band called The Nipple Erectors (aka “the Nips”), MacGowan formed The Pogues in London in 1982 with tin whistle player Peter “Spider” Stacy, banjo player Jem Finer and former Nips accordion player James Fearnley; they were originally known as “Pogue Mahone,” a winking twist on a Gaelic phrase that roughly translates to “kiss my arse.”

With the addition of bassist Cait O’Riordan and drummer Andrew Ranken the band began playing London pub gigs and signed to punk label Stiff Records, which released their 1984 debut, Red Roses For Me. The album set the table for the Pogues’ signature sound from the very first song, “Transmetropolitan,” a rousing pub rocker featuring MacGowan’s excitable vocals, which fronted a collection of originals mixed with a number of traditional Irish songs.

Quickly establishing a reputation for high-energy, chaotic live shows, the group’s profile was kicked up several notches when Elvis Costello signed on to produce their breakthrough 1985 album, Run Sodomy & the Lash, which featured such classics as the lament “A Pair of Brown Eyes,” “Sally MacLennane,” “The Old Main Drag” and the frenetic pirate tune “Billy’s Bones,” all written by MacGowan.

Their next album, 1987’s If I Should Fall From Grace With God, (which featured “Fairytale”) was their best-seller and their most eclectic, swapping some of the traditional Irish sounds with more world music touches, including a epic take on the the Australian anti-war lament “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.”

That was followed by 1989’s Peace and Love and 1990’s Hell’s Ditch, whose U.S tour was scotched due to MacGowan’s unreliability, which led to his sacking in 1991. The singer quickly formed the solo band Shane MacGowan and the Popes, with whom he released two studio albums and a live album. In 2000, Sinead O’Connor reported MacGowan to the police for heroin possession, which angered the singer at first, though he later thanked her for helping him kick the drug; when O’Connor’s son Shane, 17, died in 2022, MacGowan paid tribute to the “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer, writing, “You have always tried to heal and help.”

MacGowan returned to the Pogues in 2001 and the group toured for much of the next decade while stories of MacGowan’s life and times were chronicled in the autobiography A Drink With Shane MacGowan and the 2020 film Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan.

Hailed by late Clash singer Joe Strummer — who briefly joined the band in 1991 — as one of England’s greatest songwriters, MacGowan won the prestigious Ivor Novello songwriting award in 2018. His passing was honored by Irish president Michael Higgins, who said, “His words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history … The genius of Shane’s contribution includes the fact that his songs capture within them, as Shane would put it, the measure of our dreams – of so many worlds, and particularly those of love, of the emigrant experience and of facing the challenges of that experience with authenticity and courage, and of living and seeing the sides of life that so many turn away from.”

See the family’s statement and listen to some MacGowan’s most beloved songs below.





30 Nov 2023

The Recording Academy’s 2023 New Member Class Is 50% People of Color

A record-breaking 2,400 people have joined the Recording Academy as part of the organization’s 2023 new member class. Fully half of the new class is composed of people of color, while 46% are under the age of 40 and 37% are women. The Academy calls these statistics “a demonstration of the Academy’s commitment to remaking its overall membership.”

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The Academy further said that the 2,400 new members includes 1,700 new voting members and 700 new professional members (people who work in the industry but aren’t involved in the creation of recordings). This brings the total current membership to about 14,000 – 11,000 voting members and nearly 3,000 professional members.

The Recording Academy’s membership model is community-driven and peer-reviewed to create a more diverse and engaged membership base. Since implementing this new membership model in 2019, people of color have gone from comprising 24% of the Academy’s total membership to 38%. The percentage of Academy members who are women has also increased in that time frame, albeit at a more modest rate, from 26% to 30%.

“I’m proud as our organization continues to evolve and build a membership body that reflects the diverse talents and backgrounds that make up our music community,” Harvey Mason, jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “Our commitment to diversity and inclusivity, however, is an ongoing effort. While we celebrate our progress, we also acknowledge that there’s still more work that must be done. Our members play a crucial role in everything we do, so representation is integral to our mission of supporting and uplifting music makers.”

The Recording Academy reports that the new member class is 50% people of color, 37% white or Caucasian and 13% unknown. The 50% people of color statistic breaks down like this: Black or African American, 28%; Hispanic or Latin, 10%; Asian or Pacific Islander, 5%; South Asian, 2%; Middle Eastern or North African, 1%; and Indigenous or Alaskan native, less than 1%. Four percent replied that they prefer to self-describe.

In terms of gender, 54% of the new member class is male, 37% is female, 8% is unknown and 1% is non-binary. Less than 1% replied that they prefer to self-describe.

In terms of age, 46% of the new class is under 40, 40% is over 40 and 14% is unknown.

All of these numbers refer to total members — which encompasses both voting members and professional members.

The Recording Academy also specifically asked voting members in the new member class to indicate which genres they are most aligned with. (They could choose more than one genre, so the totals exceed 100%.) Pop leads, as expected, with 41%, followed by R&B (29%), rock (23%), rap (22%), jazz (21%), alternative (21%), global music (17%), classical (15%), dance/electronic (15%), contemporary instrumental (13%), American roots music (12%), gospel/Christian (12%), Latin (12%), country (11%), visual media (10%) and seven other genres that each had less than 10%.

Jazz and classical rank higher than their market share would indicate. Latin and country, two of the hottest genres of recent years, rank lower than their market share would indicate; notably, the Grammy nominations that were announced on Nov. 10 were light on Latin and country representation in the Big Four categories. Latin was shut out completely in those marquee categories, while country was represented by just a pair of best new artist nominees: Jelly Roll and The War & Treaty (and that husband-and-wife duo is primarily associated with Americana). This brought criticism from people in the Latin and country fields.

Full statistics surrounding the demographics of the new class can be found here.

The Recording Academy reports that it’s 98% of the way toward its goal of adding 2,500 women voting members by 2025. It expects to achieve this milestone next year, a year ahead of schedule.

The final round of voting for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards extends from Dec. 14 until Jan. 4, 2024. All voting members, including those welcomed in the 2023 new class, are eligible to vote.

In addition to voting in the Grammy Awards process, members can submit product for Grammy consideration, propose amendments to Grammy rules, run for a Recording Academy board position or committee, vote in chapter elections and more.

For more information on the Recording Academy’s membership process and requirements, visit here.

30 Nov 2023

Miley Cyrus Posts Video of Her Jazzy ‘Flowers’ Live Debut Performance at Chateau Marmont Party

Miley Cyrus celebrated her big 2023 in the only way she knows how: by singing about it. The singer posted a three-minute video on Wednesday night (Nov. 29) in which she gave herself flowers for the global success of her “Flowers” single.

“Live from Chateau Marmont,” she captioned the clip filmed at the famed Hollywood hotel last week in which she presented the live debut of her huge hit single for the first time since its release 10 months ago. “Thank you for the support this year. Love, Miley [rose emoji].” The video opens with footage of the crowd mingling and Miley greeting her guests as a piano player tinkles around in the background while a list of accomplishments fills the screen:

“Flowers — Spotify’s #1 most streamed song of 2023 globally, Billboard top global 200 song, Billboard top global (exlu. U.S.) song, Billboard top radio song, Danish Music Awards international hit of the year, NRJ Award International song of the year, NRJ International Music video of the year,” reads the crawl.

Cyrus, wearing a short black dress, long black gloves and with her hair pulled back in a bun then takes the floor to perform a jazzy version of “Flowers” accompanied by piano in which she playfully inserts a series of sassy ad-libs in between the self-love song’s lyrics. “I didn’t want to leave you (but I had to)/ I didn’t want to fight (but we did)/ Started to cry, but then remembered I (I’m in Dolce!),” she sings exuberantly.

By the end, she wails the “I can love me better than you can,” holding it a few beats longer as the assembled crowd whoops and hollers in delight. The song from Miley’s eighth album, Endless Summer Vacation, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and logged eight non-consecutive weeks on the tally, giving Miley her second No. 1 chart; her first was “Wrecking Ball” in 2013. The song also spent 13 non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Global 200 chart and broke two records on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart with 25 weeks at No. 1. In addition, it logged the Spotify record for the most streamed song in a week and the fastest song in Spotify history to reach one billion streams.

“Flowers” landed three nominations for the upcoming 66th Grammy Awards, including record and song of the year and pop solo performance.

Watch the video below.

30 Nov 2023

Cher Scores No. 1 Song on a Billboard Chart In Seventh Decade With ‘DJ Play a Christmas Song’

For a seventh straight decade, Cher has earned a new No. 1 on a Billboard songs chart, as her latest hit, “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” jingles 3-1 on the Dec. 2-dated Dance/Electronic Song Sales survey. The track is the lead single from the pop diva’s first holiday album, Christmas.

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Cher joins the Rolling Stones with at least one new No. 1 on a Billboard songs chart in each of the seven decades from the 1960s through the 2020s (excluding any Bubbling Under rankings).

Cher scored her first No. 1 as half of Sonny & Cher, when “I Got You Babe” topped the Billboard Hot 100 dated Aug. 14, 1965.

In the 1970s, she logged a trio of Hot 100 No. 1s of her own: “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” in 1971, “Half-Breed” in 1973 and “Dark Lady” in 1974. She also claimed another No. 1 with Sonny, “All I Ever Need Is You,” on the Adult Contemporary airplay chart in 1971.

In the 1980s, Cher landed a pair of No. 1s on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1989 with “After All,” with Peter Cetera, and “If I Could Turn Back Time.” In the next decade, Cher returned to No. 1 on the Hot 100 with “Believe” in 1999, and it also crowned the Dance Club Songs tally. She notched two more No. 1s on the Dance Club Songs list that decade: “Strong Enough” and “All or Nothing.” (Cher additionally topped other Billboard rankings that decade, such as the now-defunct Hot Singles Sales and Dance Singles Sales charts.)

In the 2000s, Cher achieved three more No. 1s on the Dance Club Songs chart with “Song for the Lonely” (it also topped the Dance Singles Sales list) and “A Different Kind of Love Song” in 2002, and “When the Money’s Gone” in 2003. The following decade, she racked up further No. 1s on Dance Club Songs with “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” in 2011 and “Woman’s World” in 2013.

The Rolling Stones, meanwhile, began their streak of No. 1 songs in seven straight decades just a month before Cher, when “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated July 10, 1965. They most recently led a songs survey with “Living in a Ghost Town,” which ruled the Rock Digital Song Sales chart dated May 9, 2020.

29 Nov 2023

Lana Del Rey Performs a Moody Cover of ‘Unchained Melody’ for ‘Christmas at Graceland’: Watch

The spirit of Christmas and the spirit of Elvis Presley collided Wednesday night (Nov. 29) for NBC’s all-star Christmas at Graceland special.

Post Malone, Kasey Musgraves, Alanis Morissette, John Legend and Lana Del Rey led the holiday special line-up, which helps to celebrate the legacy of the late King of Rock ‘n Roll.

When it came Del Rey’s time in front of the cameras, she didn’t mess about. The “Summertime Sadness” singer performed a trademark moody rendition of “Unchained Melody,” a hit for the Righteous Brothers’ in the mid-60s. Elvis, of course, turned the song into a piece of history with a stirring performance on June 21, 1977 at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, South Dakota. Elvis passed less than two months later, at the age of 42.

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More than a decade has passed since Del Rey introduced herself to the world with “Video Games,” lifted from her second studio album (and major label debut) Born to Die from 2012.

Her ninth and most recent LP, 2023’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and is one of her nine top 10 appearances on the chart, a list that includes two No. 1s (with 2014’s Ultraviolence and 2017’s Lust For Life).

Christmas at Graceland marks the first live musical televised holiday special of its kind at the late Presley’s 13.8-acre Memphis, Tennessee estate, and featured never-before-broadcast footage of the legendary singer. In 1982, Graceland was opened to the public as a museum, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to honor the life of Presley.

In addition to Del Rey, other artists taking part in the Christmas at Graceland special were country star Kane Brown, newly named CMA entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson, Lana Del Rey, 2024 Grammys best new artist nominee The War and Treaty.

Watch Lana Del Rey’s performance below.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=KrkrV&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

29 Nov 2023

Cher Dazzles With Darlene Love on ‘Christmas in Rockefeller Center’ Tree-Lighting Special

After a festive performance last week at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Cher-mas continued Wednesday night (Nov. 29) with a double-header at the Christmas in Rockefeller Center tree-lighting special.

Cher started with a repeat performance, hitting the Radio City Music Hall rooftop for “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” the lead single from her 2023 holiday album titled Christmas and the same song she performed along last week’s parade route.

But instead of dancers dressed as red toy soldiers like they were on Thanksgiving, this time Cher’s backup troupe wore sparkly silver minidresses with silver go-go boots, coordinating with the pop legend’s silver puffer coat, silver corset and bedazzled wide-leg jeans.

Throughout the performance, the camera cut to Christmas in Rockefeller Center host Kelly Clarkson singing along to every word. “Oh my gosh, you guys,” Clarkson said breathlessly afterward. “Cher just put out a Christmas jam, y’all! That song is so good! That is my favorite song in a very long time!”

“DJ Play a Christmas Song” debuted at No. 3 on Billboard‘s Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart last month — Cher’s highest-peaking song ever on the chart — while its parent album, Christmas, debuted atop Billboard‘s Top Holiday Albums earlier this month.

Next up on the tree-lighting special, Cher joined forces with longtime friend Darlene Love to sing Love’s signature holiday hit “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” of which they recorded a duet version for the new Christmas album. Cher went for a full outfit and hair change for the fiale performance, switching into a sequined silver three-piece suit and icy-blond long locks from her signature black ‘do. Love wore a sparkly black suit to wail co-lead on the song with Cher — and Santa Claus even popped up to play a saxophone solo.

As Clarkson noted ahead of the performance, as a teenager, Cher sang background vocals on Love’s original 1963 recording of the song from A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector. In the Christmas liner notes, Cher thanks Love, writing: “Singing with you – ‘one of the greatest singers ever’ – is a special kind of miracle. Just think, I was 17 when I sang background on this song. … I’m still so in awe of you!  Now we’ve come full circle.”

29 Nov 2023

Boy Band Vet S’more Melts Off ‘The Masked Singer,’ Says Show Was ‘Unlike Any Experience I’ve Ever Had’

Spoiler alert: This story contains the identity of the contestant eliminated on Wednesday night’s (Nov. 29) episode of The Masked Singer.

With his rakish graham cracker, marshmallow hat and chocolate-dripping goatee, the swashbuckling S’more had a killer run on The Masked Singer. The clearly veteran stage performer displayed his personality and people skills early on during a swoony run through The Plain White T’s’ “Hey There Delilah,” which made judge Nicole Scherzinger “melt.”

After the snack singer told viewers he’d spent time on the road with his “brothers” back in the day and revealed that he’s a dad, Scherzinger guessed New Kids on the Block singer Jordan Knight, or maybe Jury Duty actor James Marsden. Meanwhile, always-wrong panelist Ken Jeong guessed Matchbox 20 singer Rob Thomas, while Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg — an avowed expert on boy bands — cued in on a “hairspray” clue and though it could be O-Town singer and Broadway vet Ashley Parker Angel. 

S’more, who also brought it on NFL Night with Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger” — during which the tall drink of water scored a touchdown with his smooth moonwalk — got the judging panel lasciviously touching marshmallow props along with him after his crush-worthy take on former One Direction member Niall Horan’s solo hit “Slow Hands.” 

His last splash was on Wednesday night’s (Nov. 29) Disco Night Group A finals, where S’more went up against Cow and Gazelle as he took on one of his favorite dance-floor hits, “That’s The Way (I Like It)” by KC and the Sunshine Band.

Other clues along the way included his journey from obscurity to worldwide fame and “heartthrob status” in just weeks, as well as a Chicago deep-dish pizza and oranges, which led to some more close-but-not-quite boy band guesses, including *NSYNC’s JC Chasez, Backstreet Boys’ Kevin Richardson and Jeong’s other swing-and-misses: Shang-Chi star Simu Liu or BSB’s AJ McLean

All wrong, however — except for McCarthy-Wahlberg, who, as it turns out, had already correctly guessed that the singer was none other than Wicked‘s Fiyero Tigelaar, aka O-Town’s Ashley Parker Angel.

Billboard spoke to Angel before his elimination, asking what inspired his return to singing, whether this is a precursor to a boy band reunion, and how he felt watching one of his favorite groups, *NSYNC, come back together after a 20-year hiatus.

You’ve done time on a number of reality shows — Celebrity Cooking Showdown, Celebrity Surf Invitational, Making the Band — how did this experience compare?

This was unlike any other experience Ive ever had. It’s such a unique style show. I had watched the previous seasons and a lot of my family are obsessed [with it] and I’d had a lot of people guessing I was characters from previous seasons. But I never thought I’d be in a giant S’more costume performing these awesome songs I got to sing.

Why now? What inspired you to do this show at this point?

I had taken a break from performing for a little while after Wicked on Broadway and I moved home to focus on being a dad and then the pandemic hit and I started an online fitness company [High Level Performance Academy] and it ended up being so fulfilling working with people who had followed my career and it felt like I was making an impact helping people change their lives for the better. I told my agent this was what I was focused on and they were ready to let me me go because I was turning down so many things and stepping away from entertainment, which is what I’d done for 20 years as a singer, actor and performer. When I got the call for The Masked Singer, I already loved the show, so it was kind of perfect. Who doesn’t love to see their favorite celebrity get revealed? So I said, “hell yeah!”

Is this a precursor to you returning to the music biz?

I’ve been getting this question a lot and the truth is I love what I’m doing now as a health and wellness coach, but I had this opportunity now that my son is older and I wanted him to have a moment where he could see his dad on stage because I’d stepped away for a solid amount of time. It will always be a part of who I am, but no. I have no plans to launch an album or do music again. I get questions about an O-Town reunion [the group reunited in 2013 without Angel] and I’m not excited about that at this time in my life. I’m always excited about evolving to the next stage and taking on new challenges.

So many of the guesses were other boy band members — was that flattering?

It was, and the one I loved the most was Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20… I’m a huge fan and it was an honor and a privilege to have that guess. One of the things was that the mask looks so much like Kevin Richardson with that goatee, but that would have been almost too on-the-nose.

Jenny seemed to know it was you from the jump, though. What do you think gave it away for her?

She knows her MTV, as she said, and I feel like because of that clue the night that she guessed [a video of S’more curling dumbbells], that was unique to what I’ve been doing the last five years.

You got to show off your indie rock, disco and pop chops on the show with songs by Maroon 5, Plain White T’s and the Sunshine Band. Was it fun to tap into those different aspects of your vocals?

Totally. And the KC song, that’s one of my all-time favorite disco songs. With Niall from One Direction, of all the boy band members he looks like my younger brother and doing another boy bander was a nod to my boy band past.

You said you were nervous at first and you said you did tons of cardio to get your breath. But judging by the many ripped, shirtless pics on your Instagram, it seems like you’re probably in the best shape of anyone who has ever been on the show.

You are far too kind. I am 42 years old, so it’s not quite the same as in my 20s. And now I’m in a giant, heavy costume. They did say with your boy band background and Broadway experience, they wanted to give me a lot of choreography, and I said yes and then later I almost regretted it singing these songs — which takes so much breath — and adding the choreography. My focus on fitness gave me a real advantage. If not, I couldn’t have made it through one song.

Was part of your strategy flirting with the female judges?

I really tried to be as creative as possible during this process and I kept asking for these moments I might have with the judges. My idea to sing and serenade Nicole was because going back to when she was in Eden’s Crush and we would play a lot of the same shows, I’ve always been a huge fan, so it was really fun to ham it up and switch around some of the “Hey Delilah” lyrics to sing it to her.

Your old pals in *NSYNC recently got back together after 20-plus years. What did you think of their return?

I am friends with those guys and I think it’s awesome and I celebrate it. One of my audition songs for O-Town was *NSYNC’s “Tearing’ Up My Heart.” When i was in high school, Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC were the biggest bands in the world and O-Town was from the same camp, but I declined an opportunity to rejoin O-Town because it’s not exciting to me where I am in my life now.