Music News
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Ariana Grande‘s dress definitely didn’t defy gravity at the Tokyo premiere of Wicked Thursday (Feb. 20), with the singer getting tripped up as she made her way to stage — and sending Cynthia Erivo and Jon M. Chu into immediate crisis-management mode in the process.
In a clip from the screening shared by the “Yes, And?” singer on Instagram Stories, her fellow Wicked leading lady and the director go ahead of her onto the stage while she hangs back, appearing to have caught her white ballgown on part of the steps. Erivo and Chu make it several yards away from her before they turn back to see that Grande is stuck, at which point both jog straight back to her to help, arms outstretched.
“the unison panic !!!” the Victorious alum wrote, tagging both the Pinocchio actress and filmmaker. “i love you both so much.”
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Grande also shared a fan-made meme with a blurry zoomed-in photo of Erivo and Chu running to her rescue, captioned, “NO WITCH LEFT BEHIND.” “this is tickling me soooo,” the R.E.M. Beauty founder wrote.
Luckily, Grande was eventually able to free her dress from the staircase’s grasp, taking both Erivo and Chu’s hands and letting them guide her to the center of the stage.
Tokyo is just the latest city the actresses and director have taken the Wicked experience to since its worldwide premiere in November, a months-long promotional cycle during which all three members of the film’s core team have picked up multiple prestigious award nominations. That includes Oscar nods for Erivo and Grande — best actress and best supporting actress, respectively — ahead of the March 2 ceremony.
The film’s rollout — which precedes the November-slated Wicked Part 2 — has also given fans a front-row seat to Erivo and Grande’s close bond, though some people have taken it and run with their own theories about the duo’s relationship. “People think we’re secretly married,” the “We Can’t Be Friends” singer said a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“I wish I could unsee some things,” she said of the sometimes explicit fan fiction and art she’s seen. “I mean, wow, I had a feeling, but I didn’t know it would be on this scale or this graphic.”
Exactly three years after the death of Jane “Nightbirde” Marczewski, her music and legacy live on, with her family issuing the posthumous album Still Got Dreams on Thursday (Feb. 20).
Marczewski, who died of cancer at age 31 in 2022, rose to widespread fame in June of the previous year when she performed her original song “It’s OK” as part of the 16th season auditions for America’s Got Talent. The singer revealed during the audition that she had a 2% chance of survival from cancer that had spread to her lungs, spine and liver. The video garnered millions of views on YouTube and her performance warranted a standing ovation from all four judges.
She would exit the show just weeks later to focus on her ongoing cancer battle, with a virtual update in August seeing Judge Howie Mandel labeling her the “poster human for courage in the face of adversity.”
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Following her death in 2022, Marczewski’s family have continued to share her work, with a handful of singles arriving in recent months ahead of the release of her posthumous album, Still Got Dreams. The Geoff Duncan-produced release comprises tracks written by Marczewski, and interwoven with “nuggets of wisdom” from the late singer.
Singles such as “Gold,” the Konata Small-featuring “Empire,” and the record’s title track (which features uplifting vocals from the Mzansi Youth Choir) showcase the songwriting talent of Marczewski, while the lyrics offer a powerful insight into the singer’s enduring wisdom.
Notably, the songs featured on the album were unable to be recorded before Marczewski’s untimely death. Determined to bring her musical vision to life, the Nightbirde Estate, Nashville Unsigned and Duncan turned to the use of “ethical AI” vocal production to complete the project.
Per a press release, the team trained an AI voice model on her tone, style and emotional delivery to craft a 360-degree mapping of her voice, resulting in the late artist being given a chance to realize the music she was unable to record herself. The release also notes that only “specific pieces of AI vocal production” were utilized for the record, with the remainder of the project being “built entirely from the ground up” by Duncan.
The album also sees Marczewski’s estate positioned as the only artist estate to have used AI vocal production in a way that is legal, ethical and undertaken with full authorization.
All proceeds from the record (alongside Nightbirde’s art, books, merchandise and licensing) benefit the Nightbirde Foundation, which aims to uplift and support women battling breast cancer.
Imagine Dragons scored their fifth billion-view YouTube video this week when their 2017 single “Whatever It Takes” crossed the 10-digit rubicon. The beat-inflected rock anthem that topped-out at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of that year is spotlighted in the water-logged visual co-directed by the band’s frequent collaborator, Matt Eastin (“On Top Of the World,” “Believer,” “Roots”).
It opens with singer Dan Reynolds swimming through a flooded room past curios from the Overlook Hotel, the infamous site of the murderous action in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. It then smash-cuts to Reynolds launching into the song’s rapid-fire first verse in the same, now bone-dry, room, singing, “Falling too fast to prepare for this/ Tripping in the world could be dangerous/ Everybody circling, it’s vulturous/ Negative, nepotist.”
As the rest of the band joins him and the lights come up, things appear to be progressing toward a typical performance-style video. Then, all hell breaks loose. The ceiling begins to cave in and debris rains down all around, even as the group soldiers on and Reynolds leans into the chorus: “Whatever it takes/ ‘Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins/ I do whatever it takes/ ‘Cause I love how it feels when I break the chains.”
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Cue the rain. As a downpour drenches the men mid-song, the gentle shower turns into a torrent, with the water slowly rising to their knees, then their chests, as a pair of spooky sirens dive into the now chin-high flood. Struggling to hold their instruments high enough to avoid the deluge, the men finally submit, slipping under the waves, with Reynolds continuing to sing, fully submerged while the women pull at his sleeves.
After a silent scene of the rockers floating listlessly in the water, Eastin (and co-director Aaron Hymes) switch up the elements and transport the guys to a desert scene in which the contents of the room are aflame, including Reynolds’ mic stand, as well as the drum kit and Dan Sermon’s guitar. The clip from the group’s third album, Evolve, went on to win the best rock video award at the 2018 MTV VMAs.
Watch the “Whatever It Takes” video below.
Billboard Unfiltered returned with a new episode on Wednesday (Feb. 19), and instead of the traditional Friday taped release, the crew elected to go with a raw, live version of this week’s show.
Deputy director of R&B/hip-hop Carl Lamarre was back in the saddle after a few weeks off, and he was flanked by staff writer Kyle Denis and senior charts analyst Trevor Anderson.
A$AP Rocky was found not guilty on both counts in the 2021 felony shooting case involving his former friend A$AP Relli (born Terrell Ephron). When the verdict was read, Rocky exhaled and jumped over the railing into the gallery to embrace Rihanna, a moment that quickly went viral on social media.
“Only Rocky and God know the truth here. The way that man was breathing heavy, the way he crowd-surfed over to Ri, he was shaking his boots a little bit,” Denis said. “He got off. I love seeing a brother beat the system.”
Anderson harkened back to right before the trial began, when Rocky shrewdly declined a final plea deal offer, which would have seen him spend 180 days behind bars. “They gambling in that situation and came up big,” he said. “The system played out how it does … Glad they could put this behind them.”
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U arrived on Valentine’s Day, and Denis believes the Drake and PartyNextDoor album didn’t live up to the hype. “I think my biggest issue with the album is it’s really not sexy at all,” he suggested. “Drake using women, love, sex, relationships to get back in the good graces of men whose approval he really wants the most. There’s not much warmth in these songs. Nothing about this makes me want to link with my special somebody and have a night to this album.”
Denis continued: “As a fan, I’ve wanted a Drake-Party album for such a long time, but none of these songs live up to ‘Come and See Me’ or ‘Wednesday Night Interlude.’ … But I don’t think it’s a disaster either.”
Lamarre, a noted OVO fan, thought the album “OK.” “I do wish there was more Party involved,” he said. “Overall, it was OK. There’s probably a good seven or eight songs I will go back. Does this put Drake back in the driver’s seat, culturally speaking? No, it’s still Kendrick.”
Watch the full episode above.
Puerto Rican salsa singer Christian Alicea has signed a record deal with Rimas Entertainment, Billboard can announce. The announcement comes ahead of the release of Alicea’s upcoming single “Hello, What’s Up?,” which is set to drop Thursday (Feb. 20) at 7 p.m. ET. “I’m feeling a lot of emotions but mainly I feel proud,” Alicea […]
Over its 50-plus years in existence, hip-hop has long been underestimated. And in a new interview, Doechii calls it for exactly what it is: racism.
In her new cover story with The Cut published Wednesday (Feb. 19), the Florida native was introspective about her place in a long lineage of rap legends, noting that the ingenuity of her predecessors — shouting out Lauryn Hill, specifically — has historically gone unappreciated. “Old-school hip-hop is vulnerability,” Doechii began.
“I’m gravitating towards the pure skill that was incorporated,” she continued. “Anyone who doesn’t think that hip-hop is an intellectual genre, I think that assumption is rooted in racism.”
Now that she’s taken the baton from the “Ex-Factor” hitmaker, Lil’ Kim, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott and more game-changing women in rap, the “Denial Is a River” artist says she strives to inspire the next generation of young Back girls who love the genre. “The first album I ever purchased and ever remember listening to in full length was The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” she told the publication. “The feeling that I have when I listen to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the same feeling I want some other Black little girl to have when she listens to me. And in order for her to have that feeling, I have to talk about my feelings.”
The interview arrives just a few weeks after Doechii made history as the third woman to ever win best rap album at the Grammys with Alligator Bites Never Heal, following none other than Ms. Hill and Cardi B. During her acceptance speech, she echoed, “I know there is some Black girl out there [watching], and I want to tell you that you can do it … you are exactly who you need to be.”
Elsewhere in her Cut feature, Doechii recalled her own struggles as a young girl with dreams of being an artist someday. Before she had a spiritual experience in the sixth grade during which her stage name suddenly came to her as if through divine intervention, pulling her out of a dark place. The musician says she “was getting bullied so bad,” she considered suicide.
“[Then] I realized, ‘Oh, f–k, I’m gonna kill myself and then I’m gonna be the only one dead,’” she added. “The bullies aren’t gonna be with me, and everything they said is not coming with me either. I would just be gone. And then I was like, ‘F–k that!’”
If you or anyone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts and/or distress, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255 for confidential help and support. You can also call or text 988 to get connected to a trained counselor.
See Doechii on the cover of The Cut below.
02/20/2025
At long last, ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Club’ has a top 10 hit on its track list. Here’s how it happened.
02/20/2025
Three 6 Mafia had been hit with Satanism allegations in the past and DJ Paul hopped on Bunnie XO‘s Dumb Blonde Podcast earlier this week to clear the air.
Paul explained that the satanic imagery was essentially “just an image” for the Memphis crew, and it started with DJ Infamous referring to the group as Triple 6 Mafia.
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“Basically Lord Infamous said ‘Triple 6 Mafia’ in a song, that wasn’t even our group name,” he told Bunnie, who is married to country star Jelly Roll. “I liked that and I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s dope.’ And I started sampling ‘Triple 6 Mafia, Mafia.’ And that became really popular with us, but that still wasn’t our name.”
He continued: “I was just sampling that, and then it was time to form a group, I was like, ‘We should call ourselves Triple 6 Mafia.’ And everybody liked it … Next thing I know, white fans came like that [snaps fingers]. They flocked to us.”
DJ Paul downplayed the late Lord Infamous being involved with Satanism in any fashion when asked by Bunnie. “He was just high,” he quipped. “That n—a grew up singing ‘Amazing Grace’ in a church, and I was playing the organ … It was just an image. It was just something that was cool. We never studied Satan or nothing like that.”
Formed in the early ’90s by DJ Paul, Juicy J and Lord Infamous in Memphis, Three 6 Mafia went on to become one of the most influential rap groups in the genre’s history. The horrorcore crew saw stints from the late Gangsta Boo, Koopsta Knicca as well as Crunchy Black.
Best known for hits such as Billboard Hot 100 top 15 anthem “Stay Fly,” “Poppin’ My Collar,” “Slob on My Knob” and many more, Three 6 Mafia became the first rap group to win an Oscar Award in 2006 for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” in Hustle + Flow, which took home best original song. The group’s last album arrived in 2008 with Last 2 Walk.
Watch the full interview below.
Being an innovator can often mean traveling a lonely road. Singer/songwriter Laufey knows that better than most. The 25-year-old Berklee College of Music grad who has spent the past four-plus years plumbing the tricky confluence of jazz, classical and pop is lauded as a Gen Z innovator in TIME magazine’s Women of the Year feature.
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Taking her place on this year’s list alongside the indefatigable Nicole Kidman, trans-rights activist Raquel Willis, Emmy-winning Shogun star Anna Sawai and abortion rights activist Amanda Zurawski, among others, the Reykjavík-born performer is hailed as the “only singer in the world who has their jazz scat solos sung back to them note-for-note by arenas filled with adoring fans.”
With a wide range of inspirations stretching from Schubert’s series of eight solo piano Impromptus to Ella Fitzgerald’s signature scatting and Taylor Swift-like pop bridges, the piece notes that Laufey is as comfortable playing heady pieces alongside symphony orchestras as she is making one of her signature lighthearted TikTok videos.
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“I used to think that was such a scary thing: that nobody had walked that trail before me,” she told the magazine during a break from recording her third album in New York. “But I now realize that when you’re the one determining which steps to take next and which branches to pull to the side, that’s when you know you have something good on your hands.”
The songs on her romantic 2022 debut, Everything I Know About Love, and it’s 2023 follow-up, Bewitched, are comprised of mostly original lovesick ballads inspired by what she calls her “bible,” the Great American Songbook. “I want people to enjoy the music without feeling like they have to be super educated on its history,” said the singer who learned to play classical piano and cello as a child. “Like any other kind of music, it can be something that lifts you up or accompanies you on a sad day.”
And though she rose to prominence in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic by posting videos of herself singing some of those midcentury standards, Laufey decided to take a right turn from honing her chops on the jazz circuit performing already-established favorites in favor of writing original songs TIME described as “in the style of those old standards, but imbued with modern slang and conveying big, relatable feelings.”
That unique mix of beloved old reliables and TikTok videos in which she models outfits and lip synchs to Sabrina Carpenter songs — as well as having her dance moves ported into Fortnite — has led to fast friendships with fellow twentysomething pop starlets such as Olivia Rodrigo and Beabadoobee. “There are a lot of young women who connect with each other — and me — through this feeling of being the outcast,” she said.
The one-of-a-kind mash-up has already paid off in a major way, with Laufey taking home her first Grammy last year for best traditional pop vocal album for Bewitched. Not willing to be a media-appointed “savior of jazz,” though, Laufey said her upcoming as-yet-untitled album will be more “daring” and feature a more diverse mixing of genres.
“I want to see if I can keep the integrity of my music but also allow myself to try out a bit of what modern technology allows,” she said, seemingly unbothered by critics, and fans, who are sometimes eager to ding her for wanting to stray from her perceived lane. “The fact that the jazz and classical worlds seem to struggle with the idea of an artist being both commercially successful and musically interesting — it breaks my heart a little. Why can’t I be both?”
Kim Kardashian was in protective mother-lion mode after North West‘s performance in the Hollywood Bowl’s Lion King production received backlash.
On the latest episode of Hulu’s The Kardashians Thursday (Feb. 20), the reality star clapped back at critics of her eldest daughter’s stage presence and vocal chops, which North showcased as Simba in the May 2024 production. “She’s so proud of herself,” Kim said. “She did such a great job. And anyone that is hating on a kid is just a hater — she’s not there to be Mariah Carey.”
“And if anyone wants to hate on a child that is having the time of their lives, ‘F–k you,’” the Skims founder added.
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Clips of the 11-year-old — whom Kim shares with ex-husband Ye (formerly Kanye West), along with three other kids — singing “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” at the Bowl were quick to go viral last spring. Many critics theorized that North had snagged the role only because of her famous parents, while others went as far as accusing the former couple of “buying” the experience for North.
But on The Kardashians, Kim countered those claims. “North is the moment,” she told cameras. “They want to see North West on a TikTok, on a this, on an anything. Because she’s a personality, a performer.”
And while some people on social media weren’t so kind to North, the aspiring performer had plenty of support in the moment. As shown on the new episode, both Kim and Ye were in the audience to cheer on their firstborn, with the mogul and rapper — who finalized their divorced in 2022 — taking a moment to gush over North after the show.
“Man, she did so good,” Ye told Kim, who replied, “I was just crying from the side.”
North has also continued nurturing her artistic side, collaborating with FKA Twigs — and rapping in Japanese — on a song titled “Childlike Things” off the English singer-songwriter’s latest album Eusexua. And shortly before facing more backlash for his latest flurry of antisemitic hate speech, Ye revealed that he was personally “training” North in the art of music-making.
“This little girl made me love music again,” the rapper gushed on Instagram in January. “She asked me to make beats for her I got back on the ASR Chopped up beats for her album.”