Pop
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She’s a real tough kid, and Taylor Swift proved it with her new music video for “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” which arrived on Tuesday (Aug. 20), shortly after she wrapped up the European leg of her Eras Tour in London. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, […]
From Florida to London! To celebrate the final night of her Eras Tour European leg at London’s Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night (Aug. 20), Taylor Swift welcomed a special guest onstage. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news For The Tortured Poets Department hit, “Florida!!!,” Swift surprised fans with […]
Actors want to sing, singers want to act, directors want to… act, too, sometimes. But not Chappell Roan. The chart-topping, drag-loving, festival conquering pop star of the year whose shows are full of dramatic looks and choreo, pulled no punches in an Interview magazine chat with SNL star Bowen Yang when the show’s break-out star asked her if she might consider dipping her toe into acting to get break from some of the insanity of pop stardom.
“I say this with peace, and love, and blessings,” the 26-year-old nearly-decade-in-the-making overnight star told Yang. “Actors are f–king crazy.” Yang agreed, though Roan noted that she, of course, didn’t mean him. “You can, I’m crazy,” he assured her.
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“I don’t know you, but I know that you’re not the vibe I’m talking about,” Roan explained. “Like, I get so freaked out by film people. I’ve been asked in the past couple of weeks, like, ‘You want the lead in XYZ?’ and I’m like, ‘No.’” While Roan didn’t specify what projects she’d been asked to join, she said she appreciated the attention, but was definitely a hard-no on taking her talents to the big screen.
On Monday (August 19), the “Red Wine Supernova” star jumped on TikTok to talk about the “harassment” she’s been getting from fans lately,” lamenting the lack of boundaries fans have when it comes to interloping on her private life. “I don’t care that this crazy type of behavior comes along with the job, the career field I’ve chosen. That doesn’t make it OK. That doesn’t make it normal,” she said. “That doesn’t mean I want it, doesn’t mean I like it. I don’t want whatever the f— you think you’re supposed to be entitled to whenever you see a celebrity.”
Even though she unequivocally told Yang she’s not interested in adding a hyphen to her professional title, Roan revealed that she’s not a total newbie when it comes to being a thespian. “I originally started doing music because I wanted to get my foot in the door for acting, and then I moved to Los Angeles, and I was like, ‘F–k that,’” said Roan, who noted that she’s had acting training, but finds the idea the “most stressful thing in the world” to her.
“The industry is legitimately so scary, and it is so out of my control. I can put out music whenever I want. I don’t have to wait for a casting director to be like, ‘It would be great if we cast you, and then we’ll decide your schedule for the next three months,’” Roan said.
She did leave a bit of daylight for the right project, adding that if she were to change her mind, the project would have to be “really specific and really silly,” in which case she might consider a cameo. That said, she added, “I would rather get arrested.” Plus, the next year is totally booked out anyway.
The 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago kicked off in style on Monday night (August 19) with rousing speeches from former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden and riveting performances from Jason Isbell and Mickey Guyton.
But on a night when Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her VP nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, made surprise appearances, one of the biggest unexpected moments came during the reveal of a new ad for the Harris/Walz campaign that is scored to Beyoncé‘s a cappella version of the bid’s theme song, “Freedom.”
The powerful Lemonade track that has quickly become the musical grace note of the 11th hour campaign that kicked off when Biden unexpectedly agreed to drop out of his second race against convicted felon and former one-term President Donald Trump soared from the speakers inside Chicago’s United Center to help hype the crowd up for what turned out to be a very long night.
Opening with images of horses running free on the prairie and trains moving through the desert West, the video was full of classic images of Americana, from desperate Dust Bowl families to American troops storming the beaches during WWII, plenty of American flags and the Statue of Liberty. “What kind of America do we want?” Oscar-nominee actor Jeffrey Wright intoned over video of regular citizens suiting up for a day’s work. “One where we’re divided, angry, depressed? C’mon! We’re Americans! Fascism? We conquered it. The Moon? Landed on it. The future? Building it. Freedom? Nobody loves it more.”
As pics of Black Lives Matter protests, the moon landing and Civil Rights, reproductive rights and gay pride marches mixed with training film of Paralympic athletes and citizens of all races and abilities filled the screen, Bey’s voice soared as she sang, “Freedom, freedom, I can’t move/ Freedom, cut me loose/ Singin’ freedom, freedom/ Where are you?”
In contrast to the often dark, dire message from Republicans during the RNC several weeks ago, the “Freedom” video offered a message of hope and unity, save for a bit that spotlighted the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by Trump’s followers. “I’mma keep on running cuz a winner don’t quit on themselves,” Beyoncé’s bellowed as footage of Harris promised, “extremists want to take us back, but we are not going back!”
The convention that runs through Thursday (August 22) will nominate the nation’s first Black and Asian American woman to the precipice of the highest office in the land. It is expected to be a star-studded affair that will contrast with the RNCs roster of septuagenarian professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Fighting CEO Dana White, model Amber Rose, country singers Lee Greenwood, Jason Aldean and Chris Janson and rapper-turned-far-right country singer Kid Rock. Instead, the DNC will have nightly celeb hosts including Kerry Washington, Mindy Kaling, Ana Navarro and Tony Goldwyn as well as guest Julia Louis-Dreyfus, along with Jason Isbell and Mickey Guyton (who performed on night one) and James Taylor, who was cut for time on the first night.
After jumping into the race at the end of last month, Harris’ campaign rolled out “Freedom” during the veep’s walk-out at her inaugural visit to campaign headquarters; the rousing, full-band album version of the song was also featured in an early campaign video. Unlike Trump, who has been sued, issued cease & desist orders and strongly-worded requests to stop using the music of popular acts during his campaign stops by musicians who do not agree with his divisive, name-calling rhetoric, Queen Bey gave the Harris campaign full approval to use “Freedom” during the run for the White House.
And while Trump re-posted fake AI-generated images of what appeared to be Taylor Swift fans, and the singer herself, endorsing his third presidential bid over the weekend, the Harris campaign has been flooded with full-throated, A-list endorsements from a galaxy of contemporary and classic stars, from Olivia Rodrigo and Barbra Streisand to Megan Thee Stallion, John Legend, Spike Lee, Katy Perry, Charli XCX, P!nk, Cardi B, Kesha, Jane Fonda, Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and George Clooney, among many others.
Watch the new “Freedom” campaign video below.
Billie Eilish is officially Spotify‘s most streamed monthly artist, the streaming platform announced on Monday (Aug. 19), replacing The Weeknd at the summit. The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye) showed his support for Eilish last week, when she was nearing his record. “Let’s go !” he wrote alongside a series of heart, prayer and line […]
If you think Chappell Roan will let you cross her boundaries, good luck babe.
The “Red Wine Supernova” singer took to TikTok on Monday (Aug. 19) to open up about “harassment” she’s been receiving from fans recently. “Just answer my questions for a second,” she says in the two-part clip. “If you saw a random woman on the street, would you yell at her from the car window? Would you harass her in public? Would you go up to a random lady and say, ‘Can I get a photo you with you?’ And she’s like, ‘No, what the f—?’ And then you get mad at this random lady? Would you be offended if she says no to your time because she has her own time? Would you stalk her family? Would you follow her around? Would you try to dissect her life and bully her online? This is a lady you don’t know, and she doesn’t know you at all.”
Calling herself a “random b—-,” Roan continued, “I don’t care that abuse and harassment, stalking, whatever, is a normal thing to do to people who are famous or a little famous. […] I don’t care that this crazy type of behavior comes along with the job, the career field I’ve chosen. That doesn’t make it OK. That doesn’t make it normal. That doesn’t mean I want it, doesn’t mean I like it. I don’t want whatever the f— you think you’re supposed to be entitled to whenever you see a celebrity.”
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She concluded that she doesn’t “give a fuck” if it’s “selfish” to decline photos or hugs. “That’s not normal. That’s weird. That’s f—ing weird.”
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Watch both videos here and here.
Roan has skyrocketed to fame in the months since she dropped her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess last year. After a series of headline-making performances — including at Coachella and Gov Ball 2024 — the 14-track project earned a new peak of No. 5 on the Billboard 200 last month.
The singer previously shared her thoughts on the ups and downs of fame with Drew Afualo on the latter’s The Comment Section podcast last month. “People have started to be freaks — like, [they] follow me and know where my parents live, and where my sister works. All this weird s–t,” she explained.
She continued, “I’m just kind of in this battle … I’ve pumped the brakes on, honestly, anything to make me more known. It’s kind of a forest fire right now. I’m not trying to go do a bunch of s–t.”
However, Roan also shared the positives of her newfound fame, including recognition from her idols. “People who I’ve looked up to my entire life are like peers, which is sick,” she told Afualo, noting, “Miley [Cyrus] invited me to a party, and I was like, ‘You don’t know that you were my first concert when the Jonas Brothers were opening for you.’”
A new Lorde musical era seems to be on the horizon. Producer Jim-E Stack — who has worked with artists including Gracie Abrams, Bon Iver, Dominic Fike, Joji, The Kid LAROI and more — took to Instagram to share a photo of the “Green Light” singer sitting in the studio, working on her laptop. The […]
Wanna guess which song is Olivia Rodrigo‘s favorite this summer? Hint: It’s a remix of the cheekiest track on Charli XCX‘s Brat featuring another A-list pop star. In a new interview with Complex, the “Drivers License” musician revealed her personal song of the summer: “I mean, I love the Charli XCX and Billie [Eilish] song […]
The trailer for the six-part Apple TV+ documentary series K-Pop Idols has arrived, and it’s premiering exclusively on Billboard below.
Set for its global unveiling at the end of the month, the first-of-its-kind series offers an unprecedented and refreshing glimpse into the high-stakes, high-pressure world of K-pop while following the lives of Korean-American rapper-singer Jessi, chart-topping boy band CRAVITY, and global girl group BLACKSWAN navigating the intense realities of the industry.
With raw storytelling reminiscent of the honesty felt in 2012’s illuminating K-pop doc 9 Muses of Star Empire, the upcoming series follows the idols as they confront their careers’ euphoric highs and harsh lows. The K-Pop Idols trailer shows Jessi tearfully recounting her experience of being stranded outside during her European tour, while Allen of CRAVITY discusses the grueling schedules that leave K-pop idols sleep-deprived. BLACKSWAN’s Fatou shares the difficulty of not seeing her family for years and her bandmate Gabi tearfully questions her place in her girl group.
Filming took place across multiple countries, including the United States, South Korea, France, Belgium, Germany and Cambodia, capturing the global scope of the K-pop phenomenon and helping to resonate with both dedicated fans and a broader audience for a narrative that reveals the too rarely seen vulnerable sides of the stars that remain at the heart of the rapidly rising music scene.
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“With K-Pop Idols, our goal was to pull back the curtain on the highly competitive world of K-pop and reveal the human stories behind the stars,” said executive producer Elise Chung, who executive produced Bling Empire. “This series is a tribute to the relentless passion and perseverance of artists like Jessi, CRAVITY and BLACKSWAN who are shaping the future of music on a global scale. We’re excited for viewers to experience the challenges, victories and everything in between that comes with chasing a dream as big as becoming a K-pop idol.”
K-Pop Idols was produced for Apple TV+ by Matador Content, a subsidiary of Boat Rocker whose work includes shows like ABC’s Boy Band, Paramount’s Lip Sync Battle (Paramount Network) and Vice’s What Would Diplo Do? An Emmy Award-winning team contributed to the project including Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry executive producers Todd Lubin and Jay Peterson, as well as Chung, Jack Turner (Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields producer), Sue Kim (The Speed Cubers director), Bradley Cramp (Lord of War) and Eric Yujin Kim (Undoing). Fans can also look forward to famous friends of the different artists making cameos in the series too.
Apple TV+ will exclusively stream K-Pop Idols, set to premiere globally on Aug. 30. Take a look at the trailer and new photos until then.
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BLACKSWAN in rehearsal in “K-Pop Idols”
Courtesy of AppleTV+
Jessi with her family in “K-Pop Idols”
Courtesy of AppleTV+
BLACKSWAN in “K-Pop Idols”
Courtesy of AppleTV+
Kesha fans were sent for a loop on Sunday (Aug. 18) after claims that the “Eat the Acid” singer’s name was removed from the video credits of Pitbull‘s 2013 hit “Timber.” According to screenshots posted on Reddit of what appeared to be the altered credentials for the visual for the single from Mr. Worldwide’s Meltdown […]