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Travis Scott continued his Cactus Jack Gardens initiative, and he’s honoring his grandmothers with their 11th garden planted.
La Flame — alongside Miss Sealie Flood (maternal grandmother), Bernice Webster (paternal grandmother) and Highland Heights Elementary School students — unveiled the Sealie Flood + Bernice Webster Corner garden on Wednesday (Feb. 19). The garden will provide food for food-insecure youth across the Houston area. Students also planted a tree to honor both of Scott’s grandmothers.
Travis Scott Grandmothers
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Travis has referenced his grandma on tracks in the past such as Rodeo hit “90210.” “My granny called, she said, ‘Travvy, you work too hard. I’m worried you forget about me’/ I’m fallin’ in and out of clouds/ Don’t worry, I’ma get it, Granny,” he raps on the 2015 track.
February’s been a month of giving back to Scott and Cactus Jack. The Cactus Jack Foundation partnered with the Fashion Scholarship Fund to launch the Cactus Jack Design Ethos 101 Program, which is an online program that will award students with $10,000 and mentorship.
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Scott also hosted his annual Cactus Jack HBCU Softball Classic at Daikin Park in Houston last week, which was a star-studded affair attended by Tyla, Swae Lee, Metro Boomin, Teyana Taylor, Mariah the Scientist, BIA and more.
On the music side, Scott notched his fifth No. 1 hit atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “4×4” to kick off February, and he’s headed to headline Coachella in April.
“When I was coming up, people always looked at me [strangely],” Scott told Billboard in his February cover story. “I don’t know. I’d always hear a little s–t of ‘Is it rap? Is it this? Is it just a vibe?’ I’m pushing hip-hop. It’s 50 years old, but still has time to stretch. I feel like, ‘OK, I’m leading the new charge of what the next 50 years of this s–t is going to be like.’”
Thirty-five years after Indigo Girls won a Grammy for best contemporary folk recording for their eponymous debut album, the duo received a lifetime achievement award at The International Folk Music Awards. The awards show took place at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel on Feb. 19, the first night of the 37th annual Folk Alliance International (FAI) Conference. YouTube livestreamed the show, which could also be viewed via NPR Music, WMOT.org and Folk Alley.
Indigo Girls, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, received a second Grammy nod 35 years ago – best new artist. They lost to a flashier duo, Milli Vanilli, whose award was later revoked on the grounds that they didn’t perform on their album, a charge never leveled against Indigo Girls.
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“It’s truly awesome to be considered among some of the people who’ve already won this prestigious award,” said Saliers in accepting the award. “We need folk music now more than ever. This Folk Alliance is a group that honors diversity, equity, inclusion and access for all. Folk music is the music of truth-telling. Amy and I are, especially in this time, particularly honored to accept this award.”
Bandmate Ray added, “Please stand up with us and make your voice be heard in these times. Gather together with other people. Raise your voice. Stand up strong. Day by day, song by song, we can make this world a better place.
Lifetime achievement awards were also granted to Lesley Riddle, the Black musician who gathered songs for the Carter Family with patriarch A.P. Carter, and Songlines, the magazine that covers global roots music and is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Crys Matthews won the 2024 artist of the year award, her second IFMA. Susan Werner won the 2024 album of the year award for Halfway to Houston. Song of the year went to “$20 Bill (for George Floyd),” written by Tom Prasada-Rao and performed by Dan Navarro and Janiva Magness.
In accepting the award, Navarro said, “Over 100 of us recorded a version of that song in 2020, but because of the impact and the challenges of the pandemic, it never really had a proper release and we decided we would do something about that.”
The Clearwater Award is presented to a festival that prioritizes environmental stewardship and demonstrates public leadership in sustainable event production. This year’s award went to the River Roads Festival in Easthampton, Mass.
The Spirit of Folk Awards are presented to people and organizations actively involved in the promotion and preservation of folk music. Spirit of Folk Awards were presented to:
* Tom Power, Canadian musician and broadcaster, best known as the host of Q on CBC Radio One and a member of the folk band, The Dardanelles.
* Alice Randall, a trailblazer in folk and country music, whose songs have been recorded by such artists as Johnny Cash, and founder of production company Midsummer Music.
* Longtime Folk Alliance region Midwest pillar Annie Capps.
* Quebec’s Innu Nikamu festival, which has been committed to the promotion and preservation of Indigenous culture for more than 30 years.
In accepting her award, Randall said, “In My Black Country, I tell the story of climbing out of the hell of being raped by holding on to the sound of John Prine singing ‘Angel From Montgomery.’ I write about discovering the Joan Baez Ballad Book, a double album set of English, Irish and Scottish folk songs that became my stepping stones to joy after trauma. I owe my sanity to folk music. For the past 40 years I worked writing folk songs that I hoped would help people get to joy after trauma.
“In 2024 Oh Boy Records, John Prine’s label, put out the My Black Country album featuring some of the greatest folk singers and pickers of our time including Rhiannon Giddens and Leyla McCalla,” she continued. “On the new album, country charting songs were stripped of pop productions that erased Black characters and muted political intent. My songs were restored to their folk roots. My book My Black Country is about the Black folk, including Black folk musicians, who made country country. I accept this award in honor of ‘Traditional’ and my father who long ago asked me a question I will now ask you, ‘What you bet ‘Traditional’ was a Colored Gal?’”
Fellow Spirit of Folk Award recipient Power said, “This means an awful lot to me … As someone who cares a lot about the traditions of Newfoundland and Labrador, I stand on the shoulders of the giants of the folks who preserved the music long before me … I am so unbelievably proud to work for the CBC. … At a time both in Canada and in the United States and all over the world that public broadcasting is being brought into question — questions about defunding, questions of whether or not we should exist — I could never be prouder to be part of an organization that aims to tell the stories of Canadians to other Canadians.”
The People’s Voice Award, which is presented to an individual who unabashedly embraces social and political commentary in their creative work and public careers, was awarded to Gina Chavez.
OKAN, the women-led, Afro-Cuban roots and jazz duo, were honored with The Rising Tide Award. The Rising Tide Award celebrates emergent artists of any age who inspire others by embodying the values and ideals of the folk community through their creative work, community role, and public voice.
FAI members submitted recordings in the best-of-the-year categories (song, album, and artist). New recordings released between Oct. 1, 2023 and Sept. 30, 2024 were eligible.
Here are the nominations in the three “Best of 2024” categories, with winners marked, followed by a list of this year’s special award honorees.
Artist of the Year
Flamy GrantSarah JaroszKaïa KaterNick LoweWINNER: Crys MatthewsAllison Russell
Album of the Year
Sierra Ferrell, Trail of Flowers (Rounder Records)The Heart Collectors, The Space Between (Spins the Gold Records)Kaïa Kater, Strange Medicine (Free Dirt Records)Aoife O’Donovan, All My Friends (Yep Roc Records)Ordinary Elephant – Ordinary Elephant (Berkalin Records)WINNER: Susan Werner, Halfway to Houston (self-released)
Song of the Year
“Tenzin Sings with Nightingales,” written by Tenzin Choegyal, performed by Tenzin Choegyal and Michael Askill“How I Long for Peace,” written by Peggy Seeger, performed by Rhiannon Giddens, Crys Matthews, and the Resistance Revival Chorus“Woman Who Pays,” written and performed Connie KaldorWINNER: “$20 Bill (for George Floyd),” written by Tom Prasada-Rao, performed by Dan Navarro & Janiva Magness“Ukrainian Now,” written and performed by Tom Paxton & John McCutcheon“Love Letters,” written by Julian Taylor, Tyler James Ellis, performed by Julian Taylor
Lifetime Achievement Award – Living: Indigo Girls
Lifetime Achievement Award – Legacy: Lesley Riddle
Lifetime Achievement Award – Business: Songlines Magazine
People’s Voice: Gina Chavez
Rising Tide: OKAN
Clearwater Award: River Roads Festival (Easthampton, Mass.)
Spirit of Folk: Tom Power, Alice Randall, Annie Capps, Innu Nikamu festival
Folk Radio DJ Hall of Fame Inductees: Archie Fisher (BBC Scotland), Mary Sue Twohy (SIRIUS XM), Taylor Caffery (WRKF-FM, Baton Rouge, La.), Matthew Finch (posthumous, KUNM-FM, Albuquerque, N.M.), Chuck Wentworth (posthumous, WRIU-FM, Rhode Island)
LE SSERAFIM are artists, but also, in the new trailer for their upcoming fifth mini album, HOT, they are also quite literally pieces of art. The intriguing two-minute teaser for the EP that is due out on March 14 dropped on Thursday (Feb. 20) and it finds a gallery full of art lovers perusing an exhibition entitled “HOT, We’re hot on our own, 2025,” in which the quintet are frozen in a variety of poses while seated or standing on metallic platforms.
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Singers KIM CHAEWON, SAKURA, HUH YUNJIN, KAZUHA, and HONG EUNCHAE manage to hold their icy postures as a somber violin plays in the background, until their statue-like reverie is unexpectedly broken by an adorable grey cat with tiny wings. The sound of the kitty’s meowing sets off a handclap beat and a dilation of the women’s eyes, sneezing them to life as they appear to melt into the ground while a temperature gauge rises from cold to warm.
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A ghostly track bubbles up and the members come to life, interacting with a Marcel Duchamp-like off-the-shelf kitchen faucet titled “Purity is the Hottest,” which, when turned on and allowed to flow onto the floor, electrocutes the feline, transforming the sterile space into a throbbing nightclub.
From crawling through fur-lined tunnels to walking on a giant hamster wheel, the women are awakened as a voiceover intones “a single flame was born” in Korean while they and the gallery patrons expertly catwalk their way through the space. “The flame engulfed the silence, splitting apart the dark” a voice reveals in English, further advancing the fiery narrative with the cryptic phrase: “Drawn to the wavering beauty, the flame believed that the reason for its existence was to burn ever brighter.”
With the temperature quickly rising to “hot,” the liquid from the sink turns into a fiery flame and the once-again-frozen women are blown away like dust by an unseen wind, only to rise again from the ashes like phoenixes.
HOT is the follow-up to the group’s 2024 fourth mini-album, CRAZY.
Watch the HOT trailer below.
Pioneering jazz pianist-singer Nat King Cole is best known for classics such as “Mona Lisa” and “The Christmas Song” as well as for hosting his own television show on NBC in 1956. However, it was a Black woman who initially broke that barrier in 1950 on the DuMont Television Network: jazz and classical pianist-singer Hazel Scott.
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That’s just one of the Black history lessons comprising the revelatory PBS documentary American Masters – The Disappearance of Miss Scott, which premieres Feb. 21 (9 p.m. ET, check local listings). Produced and directed by Nicole London, the documentary marks the first in-depth film about the early 20th century star whose fierce and fearless advocacy of civil rights during Jim Crow prompted the stipulation in her contracts that Scott wouldn’t play before segregated audiences. In fact, the documentary notes that Rev. Martin Luther King said the first desegregated audience he sat in was at one of Scott’s shows. And her film contracts stated that she would only perform as herself or as a patron — never a servant — in the movie roles she was offered. She even organized an actors strike during the production of a film because of unfair treatment.
Her impactful career in the aftermath of that strike, however, was further derailed in the U.S. when she was blacklisted during the ‘50s Red Scare by the House Un-American Committee. But that didn’t faze the intrepid Scott. Relocating to Paris in 1957, she added another successful chapter to her legacy before returning to the U.S. in 1967. As she’s quoted in the documentary: “They say I’m impossible. I won’t conform.”
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“That resilience during the era’s McCarthyism was the kind of element that I wanted to highlight,” says London, whose credits include the Emmy-winning American Masters film Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool. “I wanted people to know that Scott was a towering figure of her time — and to also understand the reasons why we don’t know her. At a time when there was so little available, she stood up against the odds and it cost her. But it shouldn’t cost us the pleasure and the gift of getting to know her story and learning from it, especially today.”
Born in Trinidad in 1920 and raised in Harlem, New York, Scott was a child prodigy. Taught by her classically trained pianist/saxophonist-music teacher mother Alma, Scott began playing piano at two years old, performed in public at three and by eight was a pupil at the Juilliard School of Music. A member of her mother’s all-female band at 14, Scott landed her first professional gig at 15 with the Count Basie Orchestra. By 19 she was headlining Café Society, the first integrated club in Manhattan. She would later marry and divorce Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a pioneer and civil rights activist in his own right as the first Black congressman from the state of New York.
An engrossing compilation of archival footage and stills, performance clips and animation illuminate Scott’s career journey, which included appearances in films (Something to Shout About, I Dood It, and Rhapsody in Blue), followed by the aforementioned nationally syndicated TV program The Hazel Scott Show, featuring herself and jazz legends Charles Mingus and Max Roach. Providing further context are excerpts from Scott’s unpublished autobiography voiced by Emmy-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph plus interviews with country artist Mickey Guyton, actresses Amanda Seales and Tracie Thoms and jazz musicians Camille Thurman and Jason Moran.
“I wanted people who weren’t necessarily obvious because [Scott] didn’t just influence jazz. Her reach and influence are so much bigger in terms of the possibilities for women in film, television and elsewhere. Here I am, a Black female director who wouldn’t be in this position if I hadn’t had these footsteps to follow. I also wanted to touch on the importance of friendship between women and women in support systems for each other, especially Black women.”
Influenced and mentored by jazz icons/family friends like Billie Holiday, Fats Waller and Art Tatum, Scott became known for the speed with which she could play and the top-notch improvisational skills she applied in “jazzing” up classic songs. Then there was her dexterous ability at playing two pianos at once. Alicia Keys paid tribute to Scott’s influence and inspiration while hosting the 2019 Grammy Awards during which she played two pianos.
His mother’s high level of musicianship, in addition to her personal crusade for what’s right, is one thing that Scott’s only child, Adam Clayton Powell III, wants viewers to witness. He shared with Billboard that Grammy-winning pianist Michelle Cann and other musicians have recreated his mother’s improvisations from her records for project that will be released in late summer. He adds that Cann told him the project was “like the Olympics, almost impossible to do physically. She said the musicians working on this were staring at the sheet music. But in looking at clips of my mother playing, she’s smiling at the audience — not even looking at the keyboard.”
As the documentary was being developed, Powell learned just how valuable dollar-wise his mother’s talent was after her biographer Karen Chilton (2010’s Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, from Café Society to Hollywood to HUAC) found some of Scott’s old film contracts. “The idea that my mother was making, in today’s dollars, more than $2 million a year at MGM is like whoa,” he says. “And her hands were insured by Lloyds of London for $1 million in 1940s dollars, which is over $18 million today.”
In The Disappearance of Hazel Scott, viewers will learn as well about her insistence to appear before the House UnAmerican Committee, the end of her troubled marriage, a suicide attempt and the dream job that materialized after her return to the U.S. Throughout it all, Powell says his mother often quoted the French song “Non, je ne regrette rien,” covered by Edith Piaf. Its title translates to “No, I Regret Nothing.”
This Valentine’s Day, Drake released his first new album since before his 2024 feud with Kendrick Lamar changed everything about his career outlook and overall narrative — the PartyNextDoor full-length team-up $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. While the final verdict on the album and what it might (or might not) do for Drake’s overall trajectory […]
What were some of the most notable trends on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart during 2024? Hit Songs Deconstructed, which provides compositional analytics for top 10 Hot 100 hits, has released its year-end 2024 State of the Hot 100 Top 10 report.
Here are three takeaways from Hit Songs Deconstructed’s latest in-depth research.
Hip-Hop Topped Pop, Country
Hip-hop/rap reigned as the most common primary genre in the Hot 100’s top 10 throughout 2024, contributing to 38% of all top 10 hits, and bounding from a 23% take in 2023.
Pop placed second with a 29% share in 2024, the same total as 2023, when it finished first.
“Hip-hop/rap was the only primary genre that increased in prominence when compared to 2023,” Hit Songs Deconstructed notes. “This is largely due to the success of artists who appeared on three or more of the year’s hip-hop/rap top 10s: Kendrick Lamar (eight), Future and Metro Boomin (five each) and Tyler, the Creator (three).”
Hip-hop/rap and pop have traded annual titles as the leading primary genre in the Hot 100’s top 10 since the former led in both 2017 and 2018:
2024: Hip-hop/rap, 38% — Pop, 29%
2023: Pop, 29% — Hip-hop/rap, 23%
2022: Hip-hop/rap, 38% — Pop, 35%
2021: Pop, 39% — Hip-hop/rap, 34%
2020: Hip-hop/rap, 41% — Pop, 40%
2019: Pop, 47% — Hip-hop/rap, 34%
2018: Hip-hop/rap, 59% — Pop, 24%
2017: Hip-hop/rap, 32% — Pop, 31%
Country has been the third-biggest primary genre the past two years, with a 15% share of Hot 100 top 10s in both 2023 and 2024. From 2017 to 2022, R&B/soul placed third each year, ranging from 8% to 17% takes of the top 10.
Women Vocals Vaulted
The gap nearly closed between male- and female-sung Hot 100 top 10s in 2024.
“Male-led songs continued to be most common in 2024, but have been in decline,” Hit Songs Deconstructed reports. “Conversely, female-led songs have been on the rise and reached their highest level in over a decade. This was largely thanks to Taylor Swift and her 10 top 10s, along with Sabrina Carpenter and Beyoncé, each scoring three.”
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Meanwhile, Hot 100 top 10s with a solo lead vocalist claimed their highest share in a decade: 70%, up from wins of 66% in 2023 and 62% in 2022. (In 2021, multiple lead vocalists edged out soloists, 51% to 49%, thanks to collaborations by the likes of Coldplay and BTS, Elton John and Dua Lipa, and The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber.)
Drumming Up New Interest
Looking at (or, listening to) instruments in Hot 100 top 10s, acoustic drums continued to surge in 2024.
“The use of primarily acoustic drums/percussion nearly quintupled since 2022, rising to 37% of songs in 2024, its highest level since 2014,” Hit Songs Deconstructed finds. “Representatives spanned an array of genres,” including country (Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen), hip-hop/rap (Tyler, the Creator’s “Noid”), pop (Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please”) and rock (Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things”).
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Plus, electric bass rose to 32% of Hot 100 top 10s in 2024, up from 17% in 2020, and electric piano rose to 18%, tying its highest level in over a decade, mostly via hip-hop/rap- and R&B/soul-influenced hits.
Conversely, and while still central in Hot 100 top 10s, synth usage dropped to a 71% share in 2024, its lowest since 2014. Similarly, electronic drums/percussion declined to a 42% take – down from 45% in 2023 and 64% in 2022 and likewise their lowest since 2014.
It was a beautiful ride in 2024 for Benson Boone, as the breakthrough artist scored the biggest hit on the planet.
Boone’s “Beautiful Things” is crowned the IFPI Global Single Award for 2024, effectively the world’s best-performing single across all digital formats.
Boone earns bragging rights as his signature song planted itself at or near the top of sales charts, everywhere.
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Released in January 2024, “Beautiful Things” nabbed top spot in this year’s IFPI Global Single Chart, his first appearance in an IFPI Global Chart Top 10, and won silverware at the Billboard Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and MTV Europe Music Awards.
The 21-year-old Monroe, WA native was nominated for best new artist at the 2025 Grammys, where he performed the song, and it peaked at No. 1 in the U.K. and Australia. “Beautiful Things” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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During the calendar year, “Beautiful Things” racked up 2.11 billion equivalent global subscription streams, according to data published today (Feb. 20) by the IFPI, and including paid subscription streaming, ad-supported platforms, and single-track downloads.
“We are delighted to present the IFPI Global Single Award to Benson Boone,” comments Victoria Oakley, CEO, IFPI. “As a global breakout artist, this is an amazing achievement to produce a truly worldwide hit. Congratulations to Benson, his team and Warner Records for this incredible accomplishment.”
Boone discovered his love for music when his friend asked him to join their group for a Battle of the Bands competition. He went on to audition for American Idol, where he received a standing ovation from the judges. Ultimately, he dropped out of the talent quest and took a different road, signing to Imagine Dragons’ lead singer Dan Reynolds’ label, Night Street Records/Warner Records. Now he’s on top of the world.
Boone leads a fresh-faced top three, ahead of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” respectively. U.S. artists dominate the tally with nine of the top 10. Irishman Hozier prevents a clean sweep with “Too Sweet,” dropping in at No. 6. IFPI’s recently-anointed Global Recording Artist of the Year, Taylor Swift, appears at No. 9 with “Cruel Summer.” The cut, lifted from her 2019 album Lover, enjoyed a resurgence thanks to her record-breaking The Eras Tour.
Top 20 IFPI Global Singles Chart 2024
The Osheaga Festival in Parc Jean-Dreapeau in Montreal (Aug. 1-3) announced its 2025 lineup on Wednesday (Feb. 19), which will feature headlining sets from The Killers, Tyler, the Creator and Olivia Rodrigo.
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The stacked-and-packed roster also includes: Glass Animals, Doechii, Dominic Fike, Lucy Dacus, Finneas, Gracie Abrams, The Chainsmokers, The Struts, Future Island, Smino, Tommy Richman, Shaboozey, Kaleo, TV on the Radio, Cage the Elephant, Jamie XX, Royel Otis, The Beaches, Chet Faker, Gigi Perez, Bossman Dlow and Bigxthaplug, among many others.
Tickets for this year’s event will go on sale on Friday (Feb. 21) here; $1 from every ticket will be donated to the Evenko Foundation, which provides musical instruments to schools in Quebec and encourages young people to pursue a life in the performing arts.
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Among the other acts on this year’s roster are: Barry Can’t Swim, Jorja Smith, Artemas, James Hype, Nico Moreno, Måneskin singer Damiano David, Omah Lay, La Femme, Joey Valence & Brae, Wunderhorse, BBNO$, Sammy Virji, Alex Warren, Claude Vonstroke, Good Neighbours, Naomi Sharon, Adam Ten, Whitney, Matt Champion, Isoxo, Marina, Mark Ambor, Amaarae, Loco Dice, The Dare, Jersey, Oden & Fatzo, Ruby Water, Inji and Kenny Mason.
Last year’s Osheaga hosted nearly 150,000 fans at the city’s largest outdoor concert venue, where they took in sets by Noah Kahan, Green Day, SZA, Melanie Martinez, Lil Tjay, Smashing Pumpkins, Martin Garrix, Reneé Rapp, Hozier, Teddy Swims, Teezo Touchdown, Rancid, Chappell Roan, Raye, Tyla, Kevin Abstract, Justice, Jungle and T-Pain.
Check out the 2025 Osheaga Festival poster below.
Lady Gaga has made a career of wearing the most outrageous, impractical and confounding costumes in pop history. But one outfit in particular has continued to top the list of her most cuckoo couture: the Franc Fernandez-designed meat dress she wore to the 2010 MTV VMAs.
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The cow costume accessorized with steak shoes and a shank chapeau blew minds at the time and continues to be one of her most iconic looks. But in a new lie detector test with Vanity Fair, Gaga was asked if she would ever wear the raw chuck couture — which was later preserved and turned into beef jerky — again.
“I don’t think so. No,” Gaga, 38, told the examiner, who informed the singer that her answer was “inconclusive.” Gaga seemed taken aback, responding, “Oh, well, that was a surprise.” She was also reminded that she asked Cher to hold her meat purse while accepting the video of the year award for “Bad Romance.”
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When the interviewer asked if that moment brought her closer to the fellow pop icon, Gaga said, “I think so. In the moment.”
Dressed in a lacy white outfit with peaked shoulders and a corset top, a serious-looking Gaga seemed nervous to take the test, admitting that she does not “have a good poker face,” which the examiner said caused the machine to detect “some deception.”
“So I do have a good poker face? Thank you,” she replied with a contented smile. In a timely query, Gaga was reminded that the video for her 2009 collab with Beyoncé, “Telephone,” says “to be continued” at the end, prompting a question about whether there will be a second part some day. “Yes,” Gaga said, though she admitted she didn’t know when it would be released, and, when presented with a picture of Beyoncé and asked if her fellow pop icon would be involved the second time, slyly saying “maybe.”
As for whether she’s ever answered the phone and said, “sorry, I can’t hear you, I’m kind of busy,” as she sings in the song, Mother Monster said, “I feel like I might have done that before, but maybe not,” fretting that she was saying both yes and no; the interviewer said either way she was being truthful.
Also, for the record, she still has that giant egg she arrived in at the 2011 Grammy Awards, which is stashed in her 40,000-square foot archive with her other famous costumes.
At press time it wasn’t clear if the second “Telephone” would be including on Gaga’s upcoming seventh studio album, Mayhem, which is slated to drop on March 7. Earlier this week, the singer revealed the full track list for the 14-track LP, which will feature the previously released singles “Die With a Smile,” “Abracadabra” and “Disease,” as well as “Garden of Eden,” “Perfect Celebrity,” “Zombieboy,” “Vanish Into You,” “LoveDrug,” “How Bad Do U Want Me,” “Don’t Call Tonight,” the Gesaffelstein-collab “Killah,” “Shadow of a Man,” “The Beast,” “Blade of Grass” and two bonus tracks, “Kill For Love” and “Can’t Stop the High.”
Watch Gaga take the VF lie detector test below (beef talk begins at 11:30 mark).
Ozzy Osbourne was once invited to audition for a role in Pirates of the Caribbean—but the opportunity was shut down by his longtime manager and wife, Sharon Osbourne.
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During a recent appearance on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast, Sharon revealed what she considers the “biggest mistake” she ever made on the legendary Black Sabbath frontman’s behalf. “He got offered to go and read for Pirates of the Caribbean, and I’ve never said this to anyone,” she admitted to the Smashing Pumpkins frontman. “And I said no. Now wouldn’t he have been perfect?”
Corgan immediately agreed, responding, “He would have been perfect! Maybe it’s not too late, but God bless.”
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While it remains unclear which character Ozzy was being considered for, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has a history of casting rock legends. The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards famously played Captain Teague, the father of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow, in At World’s End (2007) and On Stranger Tides (2011).
Paul McCartney also made an appearance in Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) as Jack Sparrow’s uncle, Uncle Jack. Given Ozzy’s unmistakable persona and theatrical stage presence, it’s easy to imagine him fitting right into the swashbuckling world of the blockbuster franchise.
Beyond his near brush with Hollywood, Ozzy has remained active in music despite ongoing health struggles. In recent years, he released Patient Number 9 (2022), which earned a Grammy for Best Rock Album, and announced his retirement from touring due to health concerns. Meanwhile, Black Sabbath’s final reunion show is set to take place on July 5 in Birmingham, featuring appearances from Guns N’ Roses, Tool, and even actor Jason Momoa.
While Ozzy never got his shot at the high seas, his legacy as the Prince of Darkness remains untouchable—onstage and, perhaps, in an alternate timeline, on the big screen.