Music News

12 Oct 2023

Doja Cat Explains Why She Changed Her Album Title From ‘Hellmouth,’ Struggles With ‘Hot One’s Da Bomb

Doja Cat covered everything from her new album Scarlet to her obsession with “YouTube poop” and the real reason she loves being bald on her Thursday (Oct. 12) Hot Ones appearance — that is, before Da Bomb briefly stopped her in her tracks.

The 27-year-old rapper became the latest star to conquer Sean Evans’ hit First We Feast series, and luckily for curious fans everywhere, the host’s first question was about Doja’s album title change. The project, which dropped Sept. 22 under the name Scarlet, was originally titled Hellmouth, as revealed by the musician back in March.

“I don’t care about the meaning being so deep, as much as the word being a cool word,” she began. “I just like good words. I thought Hellmouth was cool … it’s like the gates of hell. But that felt so aggressive to me after a while, and I don’t know if I even like it anymore.”

“I change my mind constantly,” Doja added. “And Scarlet felt like the right thing to do, ’cause it’s kind of an ode to Hot Pink. I did the name of a color, but it’s not really; you think of [Scarlett] as someone’s first name, and not as a color. That was kind of the twist to it. And also red is just a passionate shade.”

The two also bonded about their shared hairstyles — both of them rock shaved heads — while devouring increasingly spicy chicken wings Doja made headlines last year when she razored off all of her hair, a decision she’s still loving now.

“What I like most about it, I can focus on what I’m wearing and less about my hair,” the Grammy winner said, struggling to answer while huffing, puffing and gasping through hot sauce No. 8 Da Bomb’s tear-inducing heat, looking at one point as if she might vomit. “Hair, it’s a whole other world. It’s like, f–k that. I can just wear a cute outfit and be bald. There’s hella bad b—hes that are bald in this world.”

Evans also asked Doja, who professed to being “addicted to the internet,” about her recent online obsessions — and, as expected, it yielded a very interesting response from the eccentric star. “YouTube poop has a lot of interesting — do you know what YouTube is?” she asked Evans, laughing. “It’s a sub genre of YouTube comedy.”

“I like it most when it’s a talk show, and you go in and edit it to make it sound like someone’s saying something that’s super crass and crazy,” she continued. “Like, there’s some Dr. Phil YouTube poops that are some of the best ones. I keep going back to them, but it’s a very deep rabbit hole.”

The “Paint the Town Red” musician made it through the rest of the show without too much trouble, until she was overcome by a coughing attack at the very end. That didn’t stop her from finishing a custom monster doodle inspired by Hot Ones, though.

Watch Doja Cat take on Hot Ones above.

12 Oct 2023

Rod Stewart Turns Down Saudi Arabia Gig In Protest Over Treatment of Women, LGBTQ+ Community

Sir Rod Stewart has turned down what could likely have been one of his biggest career paydays ever as a symbol of protest against what he said was the repressive policies of the Saudi Arabian government. “I’m grateful that I have a choice whether or not to perform in Saudi Arabia,” the singer wrote in an Instagram message on Thursday (Oct. 12).

“So many citizens there have extremely limited choices — women, the LGBTQ community, the press,” it continued. “I’d like my choice not to go… to shine a light on the injustices there and ignite positive change.” It was unknown at press time what Stewart, 78, was being offered to play in the kingdom where members of the LGBTQ+ community do not have state-recognized rights and where same-sex sexual activity is illegal and punishable by up to life imprisonment.

Human Rights Watch reported earlier this year that despite talk of reforms for women in the nation, “authorities continue to implement a male guardianship system requiring women to obtain male guardian permission to get married, leave prison, or obtain some forms of sexual and reproductive healthcare.”

While Sir Rod turned down the gig — at press time a spokesperson for the singer had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the details of his decision — the Kingdom has hosted other Western pop stars in recent years, including Bruno Mars, David Guetta, Mariah Carey, Black Eyed Peas and Iggy Azalea, among others. In 2019, Nicki Minaj pulled out of the Jeddah World Festival in Saudi Arabia in support of LBGTQ and women’s rights while Chris Brown, Janet Jackson, Future, 50 Cent and others agreed to play the event in the country whose morality police once frequently raided venues playing loud music.

In a statement to People magazine a spokesperson for Stewart added, “Sir Rod Stewart has once again turned down one of the most lucrative concert offers of his career to perform in Saudi Arabia. Sighting his ‘moral compass in making the decision,’ Stewart chose to refuse the offer over the kingdom’s long history of human rights abuses, including discrimination against women and LGBTQ+ people, and of silencing its critics.” Stewart also said in 2022 that he had turned down a chance to more than $1 million payday to play a show in the Gulf state of Qatar, which also has a history of human rights and labor abuses and discrimination against women and the LGBTQ community.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been trying to polish the Kingdom’s profile for many years by opening its first movie theaters and announcing an end to its ban on women driving. Those reforms have not expanded to a free and open press, however, as evidence by the savage 2018 murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents close to the crown prince in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which the Saudi government reportedly attempted to cover up by destroying evidence and denying involvement.

See Stewart’s message below.

12 Oct 2023

Mitski Claims No. 1 on TikTok Billboard Top 50

Mitski takes over as the latest No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 with “My Love Mine All Mine,” which vaults 5-1 on the Oct. 14-dated ranking.

The TikTok Billboard Top 50, which began four weeks ago, is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity Oct. 2-8. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.

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“My Love Mine All Mine” initially debuted on the Sept. 30-dated TikTok Billboard Top 50 at No. 34, followed by a leap to No. 5 Oct. 7 prior to its coronation. It becomes the first song in the chart’s five-week history to rise to No. 1 rather than debuting there.

The song was released as part of Mitski’s new album The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, which premiered Sept. 15 and debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums survey dated Sept. 30. The singer born Mitsuki Laycock has had a handful of successful songs on TikTok previously, including “Washing Machine Heart,” “Nobody” and more, preceding the runaway success of “My Love Mine All Mine” more recently.

There isn’t a specific throughline using the song just yet; rather, currently users are uploading clips featuring the tune to soundtrack their lives, emotional moments, referencing romance and more.

Concurrently, “My Love Mine All Mine” jumps to a new peak of No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Mitski’s first top 50-charting song. It earned 8.4 million official U.S. streams in the Hot 100’s Sept. 29-Oct. 5 tracking period, a 28% boost, according to Luminate.

The track is the first No. 1 since the TikTok Billboard Top 50’s inception that isn’t a hip-hop song, following previous rulers “SkeeYee” by Sexyy Red, “Wassup Gwayy” by FamousSally and YB and “Sky” by Playboi Carti.

Mitski reigns on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 over Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red,” which remains at No. 2. As noted last week, though the song – currently No. 1 on the Hot 100 – has not yet crowned the TikTok Billboard Top 50, it also hasn’t dropped below No. 3 in the tally’s five weeks.

SUICIDAL-IDOL’s “Ecstasy” reaches a new peak, jumping into the top 10 for the first time at No. 3. Billed as the “slowed” version on the chart (there are four versions in all right now, also including the original, super slowed and a remix), “Ecstasy” debuted at No. 11 on Oct. 7 and sported 3.6 million official U.S. streams toward the Billboard charts Sept. 29-Oct. 5, a jump of 14%.

The previous No. 1, Playboi Carti’s “Sky,” drops to No. 4, while Girl in Red’s “We Fell in Love in October” rounds out the top five. The latter has become a perennial riser on TikTok each October, securing gains that brought it onto Billboard’s Alternative Streaming Songs chart last October (No. 22, Oct. 15, 2022) and already this month (No. 19, Oct. 14). Many of the latest uploads using the song, which was originally released in 2018, feature users posting themselves doing various fall activities or enjoying the cooling weather.

See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here, including debuts from Summer Walker, Lukas Graham and more. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.

12 Oct 2023

Taylor Swift Praises Beyoncé’s ‘Resilience & Versatility’ After ‘Eras Tour’ Film Premiere

There’s probably very few people in the world that could leave Taylor Swift starstruck, but you best believe Beyoncé is one of them. Two of the world’s biggest pop stars — and 2023’s hugest touring artists — met up at the premiere of the “Anti-Hero” singer’s Eras Tour film premiere Wednesday (Oct. 11), after which Swift took to Instagram to rave about the 32-time Grammy winner.

“I’m so glad I’ll never know what my life would’ve been like without @beyonce‘s influence,” she wrote, sharing a gif of her and Bey posing in movie theater seats, playfully tossing pop corn at the cameras. “The way she’s taught me and every artist out here to break rules and defy industry norms.”

“Her generosity of spirit,” Swift continued. “Her resilience and versatility. She’s been a guiding light throughout my career and the fact that she showed up tonight was like an actual fairytale. ???”

Fans in person and online were stunned when Queen Bey appeared at the Los Angeles premiere of Swift’s film, which compiled footage from the “Karma” musician’s three-hour Eras shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., earlier this year. The two posed for photos on the red carpet as well as inside the theater, where Swift watched the film surrounded by a handpicked group of superfans.

Before the viewing, she stopped by each Swiftie-filled theater at L.A.’s The Grove theater to give a speech. “I’ve always had fun doing this,” Swift said. “I can’t believe I get to do music as a career. That’s crazy. I’ve always had so much fun doing it. I’ve never had this much fun in my life as I have had on The Eras Tour. It is far and away just the most electric experience of my life.”

The 33-year-old singer-songwriter wrapped up the first legs U.S. and Mexico legs of her bestselling trek in August, and is now taking a short break from touring before she picks back up in November with dates in Argentina and Brazil. Beyoncé also recently tied a bow on her blockbuster Renaissance Tour, playing a finale show in Kansas City on Oct. 1 after five months of shows in Europe and North America.

And while their public appearances together are rare, Swift and Sasha Fierce go way back. Perhaps their most famous crossover was in 2009, when Bey stood up for Swift at the VMAs after Kanye West famously interrupted the “Maroon” singer’s acceptance speech. Since then, they’ve remained in touch and have been guests at each other‘s birthday parties.

Check out Swift’s post singing Beyoncé’s praises below:

12 Oct 2023

Drake Ends Grammy Hold Out, Submits ‘Her Loss’ for Album of the Year, Best Rap Album Consideration

Drake has been absent from the Grammy Awards mix lately, but that drought appears to be over as the 6 God has offered up his joint album with 21 Savage, Her Loss, for consideration in several categories.

Billboard has confirmed that Her Loss was submitted for album of the year and best rap album for the 2024 awards show — news first reported by The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday (Oct. 11) — while the songs “Rich Flex” and “Spin Bout U” were offered up in categories including record of the year, song of the year for both, best rap performance (“Rich Flex”), best rap song (“Rich Flex”) and best melodic rap performance (“Spin Bout U”). Drake also could earn further nominations for his collaborations on Travis Scott’s “Meltdown” and Young Thug’s “Oh U Want,” which are both entered for both rap song and best rap performance.

Her Loss was released in November 2022 and qualifies for the Feb. 4, 2024, Grammys because it falls into an eligibility period that opened on Oct. 1, 2022, and ran through Sept. 15, 2023; balloting for first-round voting for those awards opened on Wednesday, with nominations slated for announcement on Nov. 10.

Billboard has reached out to Drake and 21 Savage’s reps for comment.

Drake has criticized the Grammys in the past and withdrew his rap noms for the 2022 awards, with his management asking the Recording Academy to remove him from nominee consideration on the final-found balloting for 2022’s 64th annual awards in April 2022, a request the Academy honored. He also did not submit his 2022 Honestly, Nevermind album or any of its singles for consideration at this year’s Grammys in February. He did, however, share a best melodic rap performance trophy for his guest spot on Future’s “Wait For U” from the latter’s I Never Liked You album.

In 2020, Drake criticized the Grammys after The Weeknd (who now goes by his birth name, Abel Tesfaye) received no nominations for his After Hours album. “I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artist that exist now and the ones that come after,” Drake said in an Insta story at the time. “It’s like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just won’t change their ways.”

Drake’s latest album, For All the Dogs, was released Oct. 6 and would be eligible for the 2025 Grammys.

12 Oct 2023

‘Good’ News: Usher Earns 29th Top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart, His First Since 2016

Usher lands in the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for the first time in seven years as “Good Good” with Summer Walker and 21 Savage advances 11-7 on the list dated Oct. 14. The ascent comes from the song’s sales gains and increased radio reach as it captures or nears the summit of multiple airplay charts.

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In the latest tracking week (Sept. 29 – Oct. 5), “Good Good” generated 5.4 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate, a 1% increase from the prior week, and 2,000 sales downloads (up 45%) that spark a 5-3 push for a new peak on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart. For radio airplay, “Good Good” registered 38.7 million total audience impressions, a 9% improvement from the previous frame.

Diving further into the radio ranks, “Good Good” wins a second week at No. 1 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart as the most heard song on U.S. monitored R&B/hip-hop radio stations, despite a 2% drop for the week in plays. It also cracks the top 10 on Adult R&B Airplay (11-9) through a 16% surge in weekly plays and repeats at its No. 2 high on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, which ranks songs by combined audience listenership on the adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop formats. There, “Good Good” climbed 2% in weekly impressions to 20.3 million at the format.

With “Good Good,” Usher achieves his 29th career top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and first since “No Limit” featuring Young Thug in 2016. Here’s a full rundown of his top 10 collection:

Song Title, Artist (if other than Usher), Peak Position, Peak Date

  • “Think of You,” No. 8, April 29, 1995
  • “You Make Me Wanna…,” No. 1 (11 weeks), Sept. 6, 1997
  • “Nice & Slow,” No. 1 (eight), Jan. 24, 1998
  • “My Way,” No. 4, July 4, 1998
  • “U Remind Me,” No. 1 (four), July 7, 2001
  • “U Got It Bad,” No. 1 (seven), Nov. 17, 2001
  • “U Don’t Have to Call,” No. 2, March 23, 2002
  • “I Need a Girl (Part One),” No. 2, May 25, 2002
  • “Yeah!,” featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris, No. 1 (eight), March 6, 2004
  • “Burn,” No. 1 (four), June 5, 2004
  • “Confessions Part II,” No. 1 (two), July 10, 2004
  • “My Boo,” with Alicia Keys, No. 1 (three), Oct. 23, 2004
  • “Lovers & Friends,” Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz featuring Usher & Ludacris, No. 2, Jan. 22, 2005
  • “Same Girl,” with R. Kelly, No. 4, July 28, 2007
  • “Love in This Club,” featuring Young Jeezy, No. 1 (four), April 12, 2008
  • “Love in This Club Part II,” featuring Beyoncé & Lil Wayne, No. 7, June 21, 2008
  • “Trading Places,” No. 4, Jan. 3, 2009
  • “Papers,” No. 1 (two), Dec. 12, 2009
  • “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home),” featuring Plies, No. 2, April 10, 2010
  • “Lil Freak,” featuring Nicki Minaj, No. 8, May 1, 2010
  • “There Goes My Baby,” No. 1 (four), Aug. 14, 2010
  • “OMG,” featuring will.i.am, No. 3, June 26, 2010
  • “Hot Tottie,” featuring Jay-Z, No. 9, Oct. 23, 2010
  • “Climax,” No. 1 (11), April 28, 2012
  • “Lemme See,” featuring Rick Ross, No. 2, Aug. 4, 2012
  • “New Flame,” Chris Brown featuring Usher & Rick Ross, No. 6, Oct. 4, 2014
  • “I Don’t Mind,” featuring Juicy J, No. 1 (one), Feb. 14, 2015
  • “No Limit,” featuring Young Thug, No. 9, Oct. 8, 2016
  • “Good Good,” with Summer Walker & 21 Savage, No. 7, Oct. 14, 2023

Summer Walker nabs her fourth Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs top 10, after 2019’s “Playing Games” (No. 9) and 2021’s “No Love” with SZA (No. 5) and “Bitter” with Cardi B (No. 9). 21 Savage, meanwhile, secures his 30th top 10, and fourth this year.

Elsewhere, “Good Good” rises 4-3 on the Hot R&B Songs chart and jumps 36-28 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. The single will appear on Usher’s next album, Coming Home, which will be released on Feb. 11, the same day that the superstar will headline the halftime show of Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.

12 Oct 2023

Latto and Christina Aguilera Tease a Collab: ‘Did Somebody Say Just Eat?’

Christina Aguilera and Latto are cooking something up. And according to a series of teases over the past few days it sounds delicious. “Y’all ready for something new?” Latto asks in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday in which Aguilera can be heard hitting one of her signature sky-high notes in the background.

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“Did somebody say just eat?” Latto adds over operatic trills and images of the two women modeling billowing Victorian-era ball gowns while sitting on the white steps of a mansion. The words “just eat” are then repeated in dramatic fashion over a logo comprised of a knife and fork inside a white house. The post promises a release today (Oct. 12) along with the hashtag @JustEatUK.

Xtina reposted the tease tagging the Uk food delivery service JustEat, which added, “Y’all ready for our latest track featuring our two new queens @xtina @Latto? [crown, heart eyes emoji].

On Tuesday the pair began setting the stage for the project, with Latto tweeting “Should we tell them? [eyes and mouth covered emoji] @xtina, with the “Genie in a Bottle” singer responding “I think it’s time babe…” At press time no additional information was available on the project.

Earlier this week, Aguilera announced that she has a new series of “seductively cozy” shows set for Voltaire Belle de Nuit at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas beginning New Year’s Eve weekend. Latto, meanwhile, is slated to appear on the song “Fine As Can Be” on Offset’s Set It Off solo album, which is due out on Friday (Oct. 13).

Check out the tease below.

12 Oct 2023

Madonna’s Celebration Tour Will Feature More Than 40 Songs Comprising a ‘Documentary Through Her Vast Career’

After pushing back the launch of her eagerly anticipated career-spanning Celebration Tour due to a health scare earlier this year, Madonna is set to kick off the outing at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday (Oct. 14).

And according to the tour‘s musical director, Stuart Price, fans can expect more than 40 songs from across her four-decade career, plus some special surprises that will nod to the pop icon’s legendary impact on pop culture. “A greatest hit doesn’t have to be a song,” Price told BBC News. “It can be a wardrobe, it can be a video, or a statement.”

So whether your jam is “Material Girl,” “La Isla Bonita,” “Ray of Light,” “Frozen,” “Live To Tell” or “Into the Groove,” Price said there will be something for everyone, including archival footage and studio recordings that will help tell the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s story in what he described as “a documentary through her vast career.”

The O2 launch will be the first of six shows at the venue, where Price noted fans will not see a band on stage for the first time since the beginning of Madonna’s career. “There are live musicians that perform at different parts of the show,” he explained. “But what we realized is that the original recordings are our stars. Those things can’t be replicated and can’t be recreated, so we decided just to embrace that.”

Price said honing the set list was a “big” challenge given Madonna’s decades of hits — including 50 No. 1s on Billboard‘s Dance Club Songs chart — so many of the big ones will be played in full, while others will be interpolated into other songs and some will be used as “bridges” between acts. Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 Confessions On a Dance Floor album and has been music director on three of her previous world tours, added that there will be around 25 songs performed in full, with elements of 20 others appearing in “some form.”

The show will also employ Madonna’s original multi-track recordings, including a vocal take Price said includes the sound of a “car going by in the background,” and, cryptically, a “solo from a guitarist who’s no longer with us.”

The long-awaited beginning of the tour comes nearly five months after Madonna was rushed to the hospital in June after being found unconscious in her New York apartment due to a “serious bacterial infection.” The hospitalization resulted in the tour being pushed back from July to October, with the North American dates — which were originally slated to kick off the run on July 15 in Vancouver — delayed until later this year. The North American dates are now slated to kick off on Dec. 13 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and run through an April 24 gig at Palacio De Los Deportes in Mexico City.

“The person that is going to take the stage looks incredible, sounds incredible, performs incredible,” said Price of the 65-year-old singer he noted has “fully” recovered. In fact, he said the legendarily detail-oriented star used the three-month delay to further tweak and dial-in the show.

“Madonna has very high expectations of how much hard work people will put into something,” Stuart said. “It’s very uncompromising – but she’s equally as hard on herself. So when she took a break, that pause created an opportunity to further enhance the show. And I’m sure the opportunity [for her] to focus on being 100% well was greatly received as well.”

He described the story line as reflecting the arc of Madonna’s career, “from being a young woman in New York and learning the scene, all the way through to motherhood, spiritual awakenings, and all the ups and downs. The storyline was just really, really compelling.” If that sounds similar to a since-shelved biopic that was to star Julia Garner, Price said that’s no coincidence since Madonna is expert at cross-pollinating ideas from different projects.

“In this case there’d been consideration about doing a biopic [which gave] this tour the potential for having a documentary aspect to it as well,” he said, which explains why the show will incorporate news footage, classic costumes and videos.

Check out Madonna’s tease of the tour launch below.

12 Oct 2023

Cardi B Blown Away By Offset’s Over-the-Top Birthday Surprise: ‘You Always Go Beyond For Me’

If there are any rose petals, balloons or candles left in Atlanta it’s not for Offset‘s lack of trying. The Migos rapper went way above and beyond to celebrate wife Cardi B‘s 31st birthday on Wednesday (Oct. 11) by flooding the zone at the couple’s house with a lavish display.

“Thank you soo much babe @offsetyrn …you always go beyond for me,” Cardi wrote on Instagram alongside a video of her freaking out over the surprise, which included rose petal-strewn steps, an entire room covered in petals, giant “Happy Birthday” balloons, an enormous flower heart with the “Bongos” MC’s name on it and a ceiling covered in pink balloons.

“I love your skin,I love your face,I love your body , your ankles,I love your soul,I love your heart,I love your fart ,I love your faith,I love your talent ,I will BITE anybody for you lmaaooooo ❤️❤️❤️❤️,” Cardi added.

In the audio of the clip, Cardi can’t believe the lengths ‘Set went to to honor her, saying, “Ahhh… So this is why you was rushing me to go downstairs and eat?… Wow, oh my God. This n—a, I swear to God! Wow. I love you, thank you. Seems like it’s gonna be his birthday the way i’m gonna [mouth noises]. I love you, I love you, thank you so much. I’ll bite you b–ches for this man!”

Cardi and Offset married in 2017 and they share two children, 5-year-old Kulture Kiari and 2-year-old Wave Set. Bold displays are clearly his thing, as last month Offset celebrated their sixth anniversary by, you guessed it, filling up the foyer of their house with an avalanche of pink and red flowers and white candles. “Thank you for the flowers, the empowerment, the protection and for being a great father to our children… I love so many things about you,” Cardi wrote at the time.

Check out Offset’s lavish gift below.

12 Oct 2023

Taylor Swift’s Theater-by-Theater Speech, A Beyoncé Cameo & More From Inside the ‘Eras Tour’ Film Premiere

Just like The Eras Tour itself, Taylor Swift is making her Eras Tour film all about the fans.

At Wednesday’s (Oct. 11) premiere of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour at The Grove in Los Angeles, a host of VIPs were on hand — from Beyoncé (more on her below) to Adam Sandler, Maren Morris and Julia Garner. But when it came time for Swift to rub elbows ahead of the movie, the pop superstar chose to spend her time on the other side of the red carpet, where fans invited to the film’s debut were lined up along a barricade waiting for a glimpse of their idol.

They ended up getting more than just a glimpse, as Swift took selfies with dozens of fans and personally thanked them for supporting her most ambitious tour yet, which now has its own ambitious movie to match.

And the gratitude train was just getting started, because Swift also made her way to each AMC theater at The Grove that was screening her movie on Wednesday night to gave a three-minute speech about why the tour meant so much to her.

“We did this show rain or shine, in sickness and in health, no matter what was going on in our lives,” she said from the stage of each theater. “And we did it with a grin on our face because of what greeted us on the other side.”

Before Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour hits theaters early on Thursday night, see some of the best moments from the film’s Hollywood premiere — and also what was left on the cutting-room floor from the first three nights of Swift’s six-night stint at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.