Music

19 Sep 2023

Stanley Tucci Says Harry Styles Is the ‘Loveliest Man’

Stanley Tucci took some time while promoting his new cookware line on Hoda & Jenna this week to gush over his pal, Harry Styles.

“I look like his grandfather,” the beloved actor joked when a photo appeared on the screen behind him, in which he’s seen hugging the “Watermelon Sugar” singer after presenting him with best album at the 2023 BRITs. “He is the loveliest man,” Tucci added of Styles. “He’s very thoughtful, kind, soft spoken, funny, really funny and super smart. A voracious reader.”

Watch the full interview here.

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Styles recently wrapped nearly two years of his massively successful Love on Tour. Following his emotional goodbye on stage in Reggio Emilia, Italy, back in July, the pop star shared a lengthy thank-you message on Instagram to the millions of fans who attended. “It’s been the greatest experience of my entire life,” he wrote in a note on his Story. “Thank you to my band, and all the crew who made the last few years so special. It’s been an absolute pleasure.”

“To everyone who came out to see us play, thank you,” Styles continued. “I feel so incredibly full and happy, it’s all because of you. You have given memories that will last a lifetime, more than I could have ever dreamed of.”

“Thank you for your time, your energy, and your love,” the “As It Was” singer added. “It’s been an honor to play for you, I hope you had as much fun as I did.”

Deemed one of the 10 best-selling tours of all time, Love On Tour kicked off in September 2021, with more than 4.5 million fans coming out to see the show, and the trek brought in nearly $600 million as of the summer.

19 Sep 2023

RIKIMARU on the Message & Challenges of Creating His Fairytale-Like Album ‘CLOWN OR CROWN’

On Sept. 7, RIKIMARU released his first full album, CLOWN OR CROWN. After serving as a member of boy band INTO1 through the WARPs PROJECT, it’s the first release from the solo project he launched this summer which also shares the same name. In this interview, Billboard Japan spoke to RIKIMARU in depth about the artistry his fans can expect from his solo project and album.

You’ve said that your newly launched solo project would be a “mutual sharing of philosophies between you and listeners as well as an embodiment of the reasons you create as an artist and a way to pursue your goals.” What led you to attempt this?

In the past, the images associated with my music were “freshness” and “youth.” That was fun, in its own way, but looking at myself as a person, it felt like that image didn’t truly connect to the real me. I felt like an image of “craziness” would be a closer fit. That’s why I decided to make an album whose image is more along those lines. Through my songs, I wanted to examine societal issues and interpersonal relationships, not romance. I wanted to make songs whose themes would resonate with listeners, which is why I launched the project.

You’ve released your first full album, CLOWN OR CROWN. Why did you choose that name for the album?

I had this mental image of a deaf clown and a blind king. The deaf clown is a symbol of freedom and craziness. He is totally immersed in his own world, which is why he can’t hear others. The king lives in a dark castle, and he doesn’t know what kinds of lives people outside his castle are living. The album’s themes revolves around these two people, whose outlooks on life and whose perspectives on the world are so totally different from each other. Based on that foundation, I wrote songs as stories of what I myself have seen and felt, and what I’ve heard from others.

So it’s something of a social satire.

Right. But it’s not just a deep, heavy album — it has a lot that will also resonate with listeners. The stories could be interpreted differently if taken in different ways. CLOWN OR CROWN has this deaf clown and this blind king sharing information and their own sensibilities, so I want listeners to also share their own ideas and impressions.

I’m getting the feeling that album is encouraging people to broaden their perspectives.

Right. For example, I think about 80% of what I read online is fake (laughs). The majority opinion isn’t always the truth. Sometimes the minority view is correct. And not everything you see is real. It’s up to you to determine what to accept and what to reject, and if you change your perspective, you can get insights into all kinds of different worlds. That’s one of the things I want to convey through the album.

I know exactly what you mean.

And the difference between “CLOWN” and “CROWN” is just the difference between an “L” and an “R.” In China, I’m known as “Liwan,” and in Japanese my name is “RIKIMARU.” I often hear that “When you’re just chatting, you’re ‘Liwan,’ but when you dance you’re “RIKIMARU’.” Looking at the first letters of the names I go by, it’s an “L” and an “R.” I only noticed that afterwards, but it’s an interesting coincidence.

It sounds like an album that provides people with insights into various aspects of your character. You released “TALKIN’BOUT,” a single from CLOWN OR CROWN, on July 27, before the album was released. What is the meaning behind the song?

Recently there have been a lot of people struggling with bullying or violence online. It’s also common for the people making these abusive comments to be faceless. You often don’t know who they are. Even if the people around you are saying positive, uplifting things, sometimes it just doesn’t get through. The theme of this song is that you need to turn your attention to the positive. If people want to criticize, let them criticize.

That’s a problem that’s become particularly prominent as of late. So on the album, you’re focusing on that issue.

Some of the people who criticize others online are doing it because they’re stressed. If you get in their crosshairs, it’s almost like an accident. I realize it’s easier said than done, but I think the most important thing is to not let it get to you. If you let yourself get affected by negativity, you lose sight of yourself, right? That’s what I wanted to communicate. I want listeners to make their highest priority being true to themselves.

It feels like this is a theme song for your entire solo project.

That’s true. I wanted to make it kind of a table of contents, a declaration that “I’m going to talk about things that are going on today.” That’s why I made it the first song on the album.

I heard that you’ve made numerous revisions to the song, refining it into its final form.

Until I started working on the album, my voice sounded…childish, I guess? Lacking in artistry. It felt like I was just singing. When I played it to people I knew in the music industry, they said “Your singing technique has improved, but there’s no emotion in your voice.” I didn’t feel that my voice was artistic, either, so during the recording of the song, I recorded each line, line by line, over and over again. In the past, it took me about three hours to record an entire song, including the chorus, but this time it took me five hours just to record the melody line alone.

You were really a perfectionist.

We only had ten days to record the whole album. So there were times when I’d go in to the studio a little after lunch, record all night until 10:00 the next morning, get four hours of sleep, and then go back into the studio again. I did the recording in the US, and the producer said “I’ve never had a recording session continue through the entire night before” (laughs). But everyone pulled together and contributed, making the recording a success.

You’ve also uploaded a music video for “TALKIN’BOUT” to YouTube. What are the highlights of the video?

The dancers are blindfolded, which represents the faceless people I talked about earlier. There are scenes where the dancers are approaching me from behind, or in which it looks like they’re looking at me, but they don’t truly see me. They’re just haunting me. It’s interesting seeing the reactions of people who watch the music video, reading their novel interpretations.

One of the appeals of the song is how much depth there is to explore its meaning. The choreography was done by YUMEKI, right?

YUMEKI’s been doing a lot of great work lately, and his dancing is really cool, so I asked him to choreograph the song. I want people to pay especially close attention to the dancing in the chorus and in the dance break that follows. This was a new experience for me — it was the first time I had one of my former students do my choreography. I thought it would be perfect for giving my dancing a different feel and showing a new side of me.

The lead song is “I am Riki.”

This song is in a totally different genre than my past songs. In the past, I’d danced straight through all my videos, but this music video has zero dancing. Instead, it’s like a short film of a story I created, and I did a lot of acting.

What was your story about?

When I get stressed out, I sometimes think “What am I? Who am I?” I don’t truly understand myself. When that happens, it’s like the world goes dark. I get disoriented. “Why am I here, doing what I’m doing?” My story depicted that feeling.

I’m sure that before writing the story, you’d thought about just who you were. What kind of conclusions did you arrive at?

I didn’t arrive at any conclusions (laughs). I never arrived at an understanding of who I was, or what my own ideal self would be like. But I did realize that a darker approach, like CLOWN OR CROWN, was a good fit for me. Also, I’m really fickle. Who knows, maybe when I listen to the album again later it’ll feel like a comedy (laughs). But I want to concentrate on myself as I am here and now, and I want to enjoy the moment, without thinking about the future.

All of your songs, including the two that we’ve discussed, have clearly defined themes. I’m sure there were a lot of things that you paid special attention to, and you faced a lot of challenges.

I really focused on the themes. Even if an album has an overall theme, it’s rare for each individual song to have a sense of story and to match the overall album theme. I spent about half a year thinking about that.

 As far as challenges go, the English was a challenge. With this album, I wanted for people around the world to discover me, so most of the lyrics are in English. When you sing, if your accent’s off, the emotion doesn’t come across. The nuance might change, as well. So I sang with an American, who provided input like “If you sing it this way, the singing matches the story” or “The emotion doesn’t really communicate well if you do it that way.” Making all those adjustments was difficult.

You really put your all into the album. In closing, do you have any message you’d like to share with your album listeners?

This album is like a fairytale. Each song tells a story, so I’d love it if you listened to it in the same way you’d read a storybook.

—This interview by Azusa Takahashi first appeared on Billboard Japan

19 Sep 2023

How Does Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Guts’ Debut Compare to Our Post-‘Sour’ Expectations?

The sophomore slump has officially been avoided for Olivia Rodrigo. This week, her second album Guts debuts atop the Billboard 200, while also charting all 12 of its tracks in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 — including a return to the No. 1 spot for a second week for its lead single, “Vampire.”

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As for questions of how Guts‘ first week would compare to that of her smash debut album Sour, the answer is: a little bit better. Guts debuts with 302,000 units to the 295,000 of Sour, while also charting one more Hot 100 entry — though that’s mostly because the album contains 12 tracks to Sour‘s 11.

Is this the kind of performance we expected from Rodrigo’s Sour follow-up? And where might her career be headed from here? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.

1. Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts debuts atop the Billboard 200 with 302,000 units moved — a smidge higher than the 295,000 posted by her debut album Sour in its first week. On a scale from 1-10, if you’re Olivia Rodrigo, how happy are you with that number?

Katie Atkinson: A 10. Sour was such a blockbuster introduction, so to not only meet, but surpass that initial splash has to be a huge relief. Now Olivia is not just riding the momentum or the good will of the beloved songs from her debut album; she’s released a collection of newly beloved songs whose full potential remains to be seen.

Kyle Denis: A strong 8.5. Not only did Olivia surpass Sour’s first-week numbers, she also did it while leaning further into a sound that did not dominate her debut album. It was always going to be impossible to flawlessly recreate the exact conditions of a storm as perfect as Sour, but she pulled better numbers without having to do that.

Jason Lipshutz: An 8. Maybe Olivia Rodrigo and her team were hoping for an even larger debut number for one of the most anticipated pop albums of the year, but the reality is that Sour included bigger pre-release hits than Guts, with “Drivers License” and “good 4 u” — and Rodrigo’s sophomore album still scored a larger sales number. That feat speaks to the general excitement around Rodrigo, crystallized by the way that Guts dominated the pop culture discourse upon its release; she’s a superstar, and this 300k+ debut is another solid level up.

Danielle Pascual: A 9. What Olivia achieved with Sour was unheard of. Not only did it debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, it was also the biggest album of 2021 and remains the longest-running debut album on the chart this century. The fact that she didn’t have an eight-week Hot 100 chart-topping lead single (“Drivers License”) this time around, but still outpaced Sour‘s first-week, is a true testament to her popstar prowess.

Andrew Unterberger: An 8. To match and even slightly exceed Sour is no small feat, given how hard it has proven (especially in recent years) for pop stars with more-or-less fully formed debut albums to maintain that performance for LP2. But given the anticipation for Guts and just how much emphasis Rodrigo puts on her album releases — to the point where she was essentially gone from popular music for most of the two years in between the two sets — I also wouldn’t be surprised if Team Rodrigo was at least somewhat hoping to land a first-week number more in line with the very biggest releases of the year.

2. After hanging around the top 10 for most of the 10 weeks it had been on the chart, “Vampire” rebounds to No. 1 this week, while “Bad Idea Right?” zooms back from No. 26 to a new peak of No. 7 in its fifth week. Have those first two Guts songs have mostly underperformed, overperformed, or about matched your commercial expectations so far?

Katie Atkinson: I would say matched. The album’s lead single being a chart-topper makes a lot of sense, given all the curiosity around what her sophomore album would sound like. And “bad idea right?” still has room to grow, especially at pop radio, so I could see it surpassing its new No. 7 peak. If you look at the Sour twofer of eight-week No. 1 “drivers license” followed by the No. 3-peaking “Déjà Vu,” it’s a similar trajectory. And then there was “good 4 u”…

Kyle Denis: I think they’ve both just about matched my commercial expectations so far. “Vampire” has performed quite consistently – especially considering its pseudo-rock opera sound is pretty far removed from the country, Afrobeats and hip-hop that have been mainstays in the Hot 100’s upper regions this year. “Bad Idea Right” reaching a new peak is also impressive, for me, because the Guts singles had a more truncated pre-album release period than the Sour singles did. Sure, neither song really recaptured the heights of “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U,” but Olivia could’ve very well ended up flat on her face if she focused on recreating those successes to a tee.  

Jason Lipshutz: Overperformed! “Vampire” is a singular pop-radio experience these days — sprawling and theatrical in approach compared to the clipped, ultra-catchy songs in power rotation around it — while “Bad Idea Right?” slides into the “good 4 u” lane but rocks harder and shrugs off pop appeal more vociferously. The fact that both singles have logged multiple frames in the top 10, and that one of them has spent a pair of weeks at No. 1, while being notably out of step with modern pop trends illustrates Rodrigo’s current power as an A-list artist, capable of bending popular music towards her interests.

Danielle Pascual: Overperformed. From the moment Olivia announced Guts, I knew it’d be nearly impossible to match the success of “Drivers’ License” for her sophomore album’s lead single. When you go on a two-year break between your debut and sophomore albums, you risk the chance of fans falling off, forgetting about you or moving on to the next big thing. However, the fact that “Vampire” returned to No. 1 upon Guts’ big Billboard 200 debut shows that her dedicated army of Livies aren’t going anywhere. Also, not many artists can say they rose nearly 20 spots in a single week — and as “Bad Idea Right?” continues to gain traction on TikTok, I don’t think it’s reached its peak just yet.  

Andrew Unterberger: Matched. Both songs came in a little softer than their accompanying Sour-era singles, but both were also slightly tougher sells commercially — the fact that “Vampire” has still racked up two weeks at No. 1 and “Idea” has now reached a No. 7 peak is pretty impressive, considering.

3. “Get Him Back!” is the highest-debuting of the set’s new tracks, bowing at No. 11 — assisted by top Spotify New Music Friday placement, an eye-catching music video and a big look at the MTV Video Music Awards this Tuesday. Does it seem to you like it will be a lasting hit off the album? If not, is there another song on the album you think could be ticketed for (or worthy of) such success?

Katie Atkinson: I 100% peg this as the “good 4 u” of Guts – and I’m betting that No. 11 is just the beginning. First of all, can we talk about the title turn-of-phrase? It’s one of those cute little wordplay moments that you hear in a song and can’t believe it isn’t already a cliché. Flipping “get him back” to mean reunite AND exact revenge is so brilliantly bratty. For me, this is the lasting hit.

Kyle Denis: Yes. I think, right now, all signs point to “Get Him Back!” becoming not just a lasting hit, but potentially the biggest hit of the entire Guts era. That chorus is undeniable, and the bratty spoken verses are simply irresistible. Outside of “Get Him Back,” I think “Making the Bed” and “The Grudge” could do a little something. It’ll be interesting to see whether the rest of this album’s singles bank on the ballads or the more overt pop-rock bangers. 

Jason Lipshutz: It depends on the concurrent runs of the Rodrigo songs around it: If “Vampire” and “Bad Idea Right?” continue rolling in the top 10 of the Hot 100, and commanding the attention of radio blocks and streaming playlists, then “Get Him Back!” — which already received a splashy music video and big awards look — will be crowded out of the spotlight. I hope that’s not the case, however, because “Get Him Back!” is the best song on Guts, and would be a truly exciting mainstream hit. Let’s hope there’s enough room in our cultural appetite for its dazzling wordplay and exploding-heart breakdown.

Danielle Pascual: I will definitely be surprised if “Get Him Back!” doesn’t hit the Hot 100 top 10 next week. With the similar Y2K pop-punk feel to it that “Bad Idea Right?” has, “Get Him Back!” is undoubtedly getting a bigger push — and not just by the label. A fan-made TikTok dance for the song is going viral, as is a trend of people recreating its iPhone-made music video. Chatter surrounding the song only seems to be growing, and I’d place my bets on it becoming the biggest hit on Guts.

Andrew Unterberger: It does definitely seem like the best pick for a Guts breakout hit, but I’m a little worried about its performance so far. Despite getting a top placement on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist and both a flashy music video and an eye-catching VMAs introductory performance last Tuesday, the song still missed a top 10 debut this week, and its streaming numbers in the days since haven’t really been trending in the right direction. Maybe it just needs a little time to take off online, but that hasn’t been the case with Rodrigo so far — both “License” and “Good” had already caught like wildfire by the end of their debut weeks — and if the stellar video and VMAs performance couldn’t further stoke those flames, I’m not sure what will. Certainly rooting for it though.



4. Guts leans even further into the alt-rock inclinations that Rodrigo had flashed on a few Sour songs — while she has given high-profile shoutouts to ’90s alternative acts like Rage Against the Machine in recent interviews, and even invited The Breeders to open some of her upcoming Guts World Tour arena dates. Do you think the success of Guts will lead to a greater prominence of guitar rock and/or ’90s influences in the mainstream, or does it mostly just work for Olivia Rodrigo because she’s Olivia Rodrigo?

Katie Atkinson: As much as I’d like this is all to lead to a riot-grrrrl-aissance, I think it just works particularly well for Olivia Rodrigo. She’s got the Empire Records fashion and the Alanis-nodding music video and, yes, even The Breeders on tour with her. It’s a little reminiscent of Bruno Mars cherry-picking the best of various genres and decades and finding a way to make the classics current. It’s savvy but it’s not the only reason fans are connecting to her music; it’s just part of the overall appeal.

Kyle Denis: I hope it does! You can never have too many different kinds of music making their presence known in the zeitgeist. I think Olivia obviously carries a level of fame that will give her a higher ceiling of commercial success, but I hesitate to say that the guitar rock is working for her just because she’s her. From Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” and Demi Lovato’s new Revamped album to Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor” and Zach Bryan new self-titled album, I think we’re see a rise in guitar rock’s mainstream prominence across the board, which makes me think a larger renaissance could be on the horizon.

Jason Lipshutz: Probably a little bit of both, although I do think that we may be in for a upswing of louder guitars in pop music — thanks to Rodrigo, but also considering rock nods from pop superstars like Billie Eilish and Harry Styles, crossover country hits from Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs, and the fact that genre-splitting singer-songwriters like Noah Kahan and Zach Bryan are establishing themselves as radio presences. Rodrigo may be more well-versed in (often quite excellent) punk, alternative and hard rock, but the success of her sound can also be folded into a greater six-string trend that I’d bet hasn’t yet peaked.

Danielle Pascual: The trend has potential to go mainstream, and labels will undoubtedly try to replicate Olivia’s success with their emerging artists. However, I don’t think any push will generate near the same numbers she has pulled, especially only a couple years into her musical career. All-girl rock bands have been around forever, and most are lucky to see success on the charts these days. Even artists in her genre that have been in the game (like Avril Lavigne), haven’t seen near the same numbers Olivia has pulled with their new releases. For the current moment, Olivia is the reigning princess of pop-punk, and no one seems to be overthrowing her any time soon.  

Andrew Unterberger: I doubt we’ll get a bunch of soundalikes littering the Hot 100, but the more important thing is Rodrigo re-normalizing guitar rock within popular music — a trend that’s been ongoing for basically the entire decade so far, and which she certainly already helped along the way with “Good 4 U” and a couple other Sour album cuts. In the mid-to-late 2010s, it was becoming a rarity to hear six-strings anywhere on top 40 radio or on New Music Friday; now, they’re all over the place again. Doesn’t mean next year’s VMAs are gonna look like the 1995 awards, but if there were a handful of very disparate guitar-based performances featured throughout, it would hardly be shocking.

5. When Rodrigo broke out in 2021, the Taylor Swift comparisons were obvious and plentiful — not just because of the similarities they shared as prodigious young singer-songwriters, but because Rodrigo seemed to be one of the only new 2020s artists with the commercial ceiling to potentially one day match Swift in popularity. Do you think the early returns for Guts show Rodrigo still having that kind of momentum?

Katie Atkinson: The growth album-over-album can only mean positive things for Olivia and her future. And while I think the comparisons were apt when she first broke out, given the diaristic songwriting and starting as a teen, I feel like Guts shows that she isn’t following an exact Swiftian playbook. I don’t think even Taylor could have predicted how her own career would transpire, and I’m looking forward to seeing the unique way Olivia’s unfolds as well.

Kyle Denis: I’ll say yes. She’s already established a dedicated base — as evidenced by the historic streaming numbers of “Drivers License” – and she has very clearly only expanded that base and deepened her connection with them based on the first-week numbers for Guts. Given the fact that she’s already borrowed a few familiar bits of Swift’s M.O. – including various limited-edition vinyls and Easter eggs galore – she clearly knows how to keep that momentum going, and her upcoming tour will do the same, especially on a global scale. I’m not saying O3 will open with a million copies in its first week like Swift’s Speak Now did, but I do think that Olivia is already on a better track than most of her peers. 

Jason Lipshutz: No — and not because Rodrigo, who just released one of the strongest full-lengths of the year, is doing anything wrong, but because Swift is in an entirely different stratosphere than any other artist working today when it comes to modern popularity. Maybe Rodrigo gets there someday, considering her seemingly endless talent and her still-bulletproof catalog, but as she herself would likely admit, it’ll take a long, long time.

Danielle Pascual: A cautious yes. Debuting every song from your sophomore album in the Hot 100 top 40 is not a common feat. She also added 18 additional shows to her 2024 tour’s lineup, so demand is clearly there. However, I would’ve immediately answered “yes” if asked the same thing about Billie Eillish following the original success of “Bad Guy” — yet her follow-up album Happier Than Ever didn’t seem to have the same lasting impact that When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? had. In this day of TikTok as new artists go viral every day, making a decades-long impression is easier said than done. And though Guts‘ pace is great so far, will people people regard it as one of the greatest pop projects of our time? Hard to say for sure, but I personally hope so.

Andrew Unterberger: Not necessarily, but the potential is still there. When comparing their two career timelines, Swift has the (somewhat ironic) advantage of having a very flawed debut — an album that boasted some excellent singles and certainly did well, but had enough room for improvement both artistically and commercially to allow for the great leap forward of Fearless. Such a jump was near-impossible for Rodrigo here, but she’s showing her commercial growth in other ways: namely, an arena world tour that includes four dates each at MSG, the Forum and the O2 Center. The sky’s still the limit for Rodrigo, but considering Swift is barely even tethered to this planet anymore, she’ll have to continue leveling up pretty consistently — and perhaps more importantly, she’ll have to really want to keep doing so — to reach near Swift’s heights.

19 Sep 2023

Ariana Grande, Phoebe Bridgers & More Stars Sign Open Letter Against Book Bans

Ariana Grande, Guillermo del Toro, Phoebe Bridgers and Gabrielle Union are among nearly 200 entertainers who have signed an open letter calling on creatives in Hollywood and beyond to use their platform to challenge book bans, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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Idina Menzel, Ava Max, Natasha Lyonne, Judd Apatow, Zooey Deschanel, Mark Ruffalo, Padma Lakshmi, Billy Porter, Roxane Gay, Sandra Cisneros, Amanda Gorman, Margaret Cho, Sharon Stone and Ron Perlman are also among the list of signees on the letter launched by Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton published on advocacy organization MoveOn Political Action’s website.

The letter reads that the “restrictive behavior” of banning certain books in U.S. school districts “is not just antithetical to free speech and expression but has a chilling effect on the broader creative field. The government cannot and should not create any interference or dictate what people can produce, write, generate, read, listen to or consume.”

Book bans have become a hot political topic in recent years as various state and local governments seek to censor books that deal with marginalized identities and histories. “We cannot stress enough how these censorious efforts will not end with book bans,” the letter continues. “It’s only a matter of time before regressive, suppressive ideologues will shift their focus toward other forms of art and entertainment, to further their attacks and efforts to scapegoat marginalized communities, particularly BIPOC and LGBTQ+ folks.”

“We are calling on everyone to join us in raising their voices to uphold artistic freedom, embrace multicultural history and put a stop once and for all to book bans,” the message concludes.

See the full open letter, which you can also sign, here.

19 Sep 2023

Here’s Why Fans Think Taylor Swift & Nicki Minaj Are Teasing A Collaboration

As 1989 (Taylor’s Version) draws nearer, Taylor Swift is ramping up her teases and Easter eggs. On Tuesday (Sept. 19), Google launched a new pop-up animation in honor of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) — and based on some of the puzzles, fans think a Nicki Minaj collaboration could be imminent.

If you search “Taylor Swift” on the search engine, a new pop-up will offer one of 89 puzzles that fans are tasked with solving to “unlock Taylor’s vault.” Each puzzle asks the user to unscramble a word and then type it into the Google search bar to solve the exercise. Sharing the new feature on her Instagram page, Swift wrote, “You can tell me when the *search* is over… if the high was worth the pain ?,” a reference to “Blank Space,” one of three Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles from the original 1989.

One puzzle’s answer, in particular, has captivated the attention of both Swifties and Barbz; “Sagittarius.” Not only is it the ninth astrological sign, but some fans are taking the answer asa hint for a collaboration between the two music powerhouses.

First, Swift and Minaj are both Sagittariuses given their Dec. 13 and Dec. 8 birthdays, respectively. At the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards (Sept. 12), after accepting her third trophy from Minaj — who served as the night’s emcee — Swift said, “That’s my favorite Sagittarius over there,” eliciting a giant smile and an enthusiastically affirmative response from the “Last Time I Saw You” rapper. Minaj has been a devoted champion of her star sign for years, so this came as no surprise to her biggest fans.

Last month (Aug. 24), Minaj tweeted, “Fighting the urge to say Sagittarius tingz right now so bad,” when she quoted a tweeted commemorating her and Swift as the only female artists in Billboard chart history to place over 100 entries on the Hot 100. Earlier this year (Mar. 24), the “Super Freaky Girl” rapper tweeted, “Dear Barbz, it must be exhausting always rooting for the Anti-hero,” a reference to both her controversial public persona and Swift’s Hot 100-topping Midnights single.

A collaboration between Swift and Minaj would not be completely out of left field. Swift was an early champion of Minaj’s “Super Bass,” and the two performed a medley of their songs together (Minaj’s “Trini Dem Girls” and “The Night Is Still Young” and Swift’s “Bad Blood”) at the 2015 VMAs after ironing out an argument regarding that year’s nominees for video of the year.

See what the Swifties and Barbz are theorizing about a potential Taylor Swift-Nicki Minaj collaboration:

19 Sep 2023

Fun.’s ‘We Are Young (Feat. Janelle Monae)’ Joins Spotify’s Billion Streams Club

More than a decade following its release, Fun.‘s 2011 single “We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monáe)” has hit one billion streams on Spotify, the platform confirmed on Monday (Sept. 18).

“[Forever] We Are Young. @OurNameIsFun and @janellemonae’s youth anthem is the newest entry in the #BillionsClub canon,” the music streaming platform tweeted.

The achievement is the latest for the track. In August 2022, YouTube confirmed that the dramatic, slow-motion music video for “We Are Young” hit the one billion views mark on its platform.

“We Are Young” was released as the first single from Fun.’s sophomore studio album, Some Nights, on Sept. 20, 2011. The track made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 on Dec. 24 that year, and hit No. 1 o the following year on March 17-dated chart. The track spent a total of 42 weeks on the all-genre tally, with six weeks at the summit. “We Are Young” is Fun.’s only No. 1 hit on the Hot 100, though the group got fairly close with follow-up single “Some Nights” (No. 3, 56 weeks).

In addition to being Fun.’s signature and most well known track, the song earned Monáe her first chart entry on the Hot 100 chart. The track remains her only No. 1 track on the tally, as well as her only top 10 and top 40 hit.

Stream “We Are Young” below on Spotify:

19 Sep 2023

CRAVITY Crowns Hot Trending Songs Chart With ‘Ready or Not’

CRAVITY reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart, powered by X, for the first time, as “Ready or Not” tops the Sept. 23-dated list.

Billboard’s Hot Trending charts, powered by X (formerly known as Twitter), track global music-related trends and conversations in real-time across X, viewable over either the last 24 hours or past seven days. A weekly, 20-position version of the chart, covering activity from Friday through Thursday of each week, posts alongside Billboard’s other weekly charts on Billboard.com each Tuesday, with the latest tracking period running Sept. 8-14.

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See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

“Ready or Not” was released alongside the rest of CRAVITY’s six-song EP SUN SEEKER on Sept. 11. The song’s music video, however, was teased on the StarshipTV YouTube account beginning Sept. 8.

SUN SEEKER is the K-pop group’s second EP in 2023, following Master: Piece, which premiered in March.

Multiple songs by MohBad follow, led by “Peace” at No. 2, following the Nigerian singer and rapper’s Sept. 12 death. The songs “Feel Good” and “Ask About Me” also appear in the top 10 at Nos. 5 and 8, respectively. A cause of death has not yet been released.

“Big Difference,” a track from Nicki Minaj’s upcoming album Pink Friday 2 that was premiered during the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 12, bows at No. 3, and Shakira’s 2002 hit “Objection (Tango)” (No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100 that September) starts at No. 4 after it was featured in a medley of tunes she performed at the VMAs when she received the Video Vanguard Award.

Keep visiting Billboard.com for the constantly evolving Hot Trending Songs rankings, and check in each Tuesday for the latest weekly chart.

19 Sep 2023

Ice Spice Clowns Her Own ‘Really Nasty’ Scrambled Eggs After Fans Roast Her Cooking Attempt

This Barbie can’t cook! “Barbie World” rapper Ice Spice is no stranger to going viral, but she’s never taken over the internet because of her cooking — until now.

On Sunday (Sept. 17), Ice posted a now-deleted TikTok of her making some scrambled eggs, and things were rocky from the start. “Uh, I don’t know girl,” she said as she whisked together eggs, raw onion, tomatoes, spinach and a bit of water before scrambling them in an oiled pan. In all fairness, Ice did warn viewers that the eggs might be “really nasty because [she’s] not a cook and it’s [her] first time.”

Naturally, the Internet had to poke some fun at their “Princess Diana,” with one user calling noting that the dish “looks tragic,” according to Us Weekly.

Later that day, a user uploaded Ice’s TikTok to X (formerly Twitter) to the tune of 65.2 million views. “Ice Spice making breakfast and it looks… interesting,” captioned the user. “Well at least she’s eating her spinach ??.” The “In Ha Mood” rapper then quoted the posted, cheekily writing, “pls delete” alongside of slew of queasy emojis.

Ice Spice’s culinary struggles are particularly hilarious considering how connections to food have followed her throughout her young career. She had her breakout moment with a song called “Munch” — although that song is about eating something a bit different from food — and her most recent single bears the title “Deli.”

Of course, all of this pales in comparison to her new Ice Spice Munchkin Drink at Dunkin’, which launched on Sept. 13. The coffee drink — which includes blended up pumpkin spice munchkins — gifted the world a hilarious commercial starring Ice and Oscar-winning actor Ben Affleck. The official spot debuted during the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards (Sept. 12), where Ice was crowd best new artist. In the commercial, the two stars brainstorm the name and concept for the new drink. A hilarious new scene featuring a creepy Munchkin doll was released on Sept. 14.

Ice Spice has earned four top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “Karma” (No. 2, with Taylor Swift), “Princess Diana” (No. 4, with Nicki Minaj), “Barbie World” (No. 7, with Minaj & AQUA), and PinkPantheress duet “Boy’s A Liar, Pt. 2” (No. 3). On the Billboard 200, Like..? — her debut EP — peaked at No. 15.

Check out Ice’s response to her viral cooking video here:

19 Sep 2023

These 16 Artists (And One Soundtrack) Could Make History When the 2024 Grammy Nods Are Announced

Taylor Swift, SZA and Olivia Rodrigo could be headed for nods in each of the top three categories.

Luke Combs, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, SZA & Taylor Swift

Luke Combs, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, SZA & Taylor Swift

Illustration by Nate Kitch; Jason Kempin/Getty Images; Mike Coppola/Getty Images; Arturo Holmes/Getty Images; Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images; John Shearer/TAS23/Getty Images

The Grammy eligibility period ended on Friday Sept. 15, two weeks earlier than usual. That means if a record isn’t out by now it can’t be considered for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, which will be presented on Feb. 4, 2024 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

The next public-facing step will be the announcement of the nominations on Nov. 10. We don’t know for sure who’s going to be nominated, but we have a pretty good idea of some artists who are likely to be nominated in the so-called Big Four categories (album, record and song of the year plus best new artist) – and what those nominations would mean in terms of Grammy history.

A few reminders first: It will be a little harder to crack the Big Four categories than it was the last two years: The Recording Academy is cutting the number of nominees in each of those categories from a bloated 10 to eight, which was the magic number from 2020-22. (Before that, it was generally five.)

This year’s eligibility period runs from Oct. 1, 2022 through Sept. 15. First-round voting extends from Oct. 11 – Oct. 20. Final-round voting extends from Dec. 14 to Jan. 4, 2024.

In a welcome change, the Academy reinstated a baseline of involvement needed to receive an album of the year nod. Credited and featured artists, songwriters, producers, engineers, mixers and mastering engineers must have worked on at least 20% of an album’s playing time to receive a nod. This is up from no baseline the last two years, when the Academy handed out nominations in this category like they were Halloween candy.

Here are 17 artists (and a soundtrack) who have a chance to make history when the nominations are announced. We also indicate how likely it is that this will happen.

19 Sep 2023

Christina Milian Assures You She Has No Beef With Jennifer Lopez Over ‘Play’ Credits: ‘Hands Down, She Killed It’

For the final time: Christina Milian has no beef with Jennifer Lopez over “Play.” The 41-year-old singer who co-wrote the 2001 JLo hit in 15 minutes when she was just 19-years-old told New York Post gossip site Page Six that the persistent rumors that she has a problem with how she was credited on the song that appeared on the singer/actress’ sophomore album, J.Lo.

Milian said she originally recorded the dance pop track that hit No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 for her own album during the same week she penned her debut single “AM to PM” at a songwriting camp in Sweden with Bloodshy & Avant, Anders Bagge and some other early 2000s songwriting aces.

“Hands down, she killed it. She’s so good. I love that song,” Milian said of Lopez’s version. “And I couldn’t believe at 19 years old I wrote a song for J.Lo.” In fact, Milian said she wrote the track in around 15 minutes after a late night of partying. “I went to bed late that night, woke up the next morning and had to go to the studio. I had the track and I didn’t write anything [to it],” she said. “So I sat down in the bed, I had this track, I was really tired and I played the track and I was like… ‘This sounds too easy.’”

Milian said she really liked both “Play” and “AM to PM,” but thought her then-label, Def Soul, wouldn’t want two party songs on her 2002 self-titled debut. The decision was made for her, though, she said, when former Sony Music Entertainment chairman/CEO Tommy Mottola heard “Play” and claimed it for Lopez, who was signed to his label Epic Records at the time.

“The guy comes in and he hears ‘Play,’ loves it and is like, ‘I want this as her single,’” Milian said. “And the next thing I know, she’s in New York, she’s recording the song and I came in to help rewrite some of the stuff.”

The Post claimed that there are still rumblings today from Milian fans who call out Lopez for including Milian’s sultry backing vocals on the track but not giving her a feature credit. Milian, though, said she doesn’t sweat it. “It’s funny when people talk about this being kind of a thing about me singing on the song with Jennifer. I mean, I have background singers on some of my songs,” she said. “It’s no different than Michael Jackson having background singers on songs or Britney Spears. This is what music is made of. You want a blend of voices. It makes songs better, to me.”

Milian said she doesn’t need the feature credit on top of the songwriting and backing vocal credits because, frankly, she’s just happy that Lopez recorded the song, “because she’s an icon, she’s amazing.”

Lopez is slated to release her ninth studio album, and first as a solo artist in nine years, This Is Me… Now, later this year.