Pop
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Dave Grohl may be getting himself into hot water with Swifties.
The Foo Fighters frontman poked fun at Taylor Swift‘s blockbuster The Eras Tour while onstage with his rock band at London Stadium on Saturday (June 22). The Foos’ concert happened to coincide with the pop superstar’s nearby show at Wembley Stadium.
“I tell you, man, you don’t want to suffer the wrath of Taylor Swift,” Grohl told the crowd after mentioning that Swift’s tour was also passing through London. “So we like to call our tour the ‘Errors Tour.’ We’ve had more than a few eras, and more than a few f—ing errors as well. Just a couple.”
The rocker jokingly added, “That’s because we actually play live. What?! Just saying. You guys like raw, live rock ‘n’ roll music, right? You came to the right f—ing place.”
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Saturday also marked Swift’s second of three sold-out concerts at London’s Wembley Stadium as part of her record-breaking Eras Tour. Some the “Anti-Hero” hitmaker’s fans didn’t take kindly to Grohl’s comments on social media.
“I love Foo Fighters but that was very bad out of Dave Grohl to say that and so unnecessary?” one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “I’ve seen both them are Taylor live and both do equally as good of a live show in their own genres. Completely out of character for him to act like this, disappointing to see.”
Another user added, “ngl dave grohl is the last artist i expected that from, he’s usually so kind, positive and a good force in the music industry, feeling dissapointed.”
Others online observers came to the Grohl’s defense and dismissed his words as playful onstage banter.
“I’ve loved Dave Grohl essentially my whole life. I don’t agree with what he said, however Foo Fighters and Taylor have two completely different music shows. Rock and Roll shows are very different than her incredible pop shows. I dont think he meant to be rude,” a fan wrote on X.
Another added, “After watching the video, I don’t think Dave Grohl was saying Taylor didn’t sing live. I think he was just making a joke about how when you sing live there will be errors.”
Grohl, who is known for his humor and down-to-earth personality, has been a champion of Swift in the past. In 2016, he told a story of the time the 14-time Grammy winner saved him from utter embarrassment in front of Beatles legend Paul McCartney at a party. He also previously praised her decision to re-record her entire catalog in a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone.
Watch Grohl’s onstage remarks about Swift’s Eras Tour on TikTok here.
London is a “special” place to bring The Eras Tour, Taylor Swift said during her acoustic set at Wembley Stadium Saturday night (June 22).
At the second of three shows this weekend, the pop star decided to perform a song she’d never played live before. She also welcomed Hayley Williams to the stage for a duet.
“We get to play Wembley Stadium eight times this summer. When I’m thinking about that, you think about just being grateful and being thankful,” Swift told the crowd, showing appreciation for their support. (She’s got her trio of concerts in London this weekend, and she’ll return to Wembley for five additional shows later this summer, from Aug. 15-20.)
“On the other hand,” commented Swift, who was about to deliver the first of the night’s two surprise song performances, “it really makes me think about how every time somebody talks s— it just makes me work even harder.”
“I’ve never played this one before. Wish me luck,” she said, and then on acoustic guitar launched into “thanK you aIMee,” from The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. It marked the first-ever live performance of the track that has her singing, “All that time you were throwin’ punches, I was buildin’ somethin’/ And I can’t forgive the way you made me feel/ Screamed, “F— you, Aimee” to the night sky as the blood was gushin’/ But I can’t forget the way you made me heal.”
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“I don’t think you’ve changed much/ And so I changed your name and any real defining clues/ And one day, your kid comes home singin’/ A song that only us two is gonna know is about you,” she adds in a later verse.
Swift performed “thanK you aIMee” as a mashup with Speak Now‘s “Mean,” another song about how she’s triumphed over naysayers.
“Someday I’ll be singing this song at Wembley,” she quipped, singing an improvised line to the melody of “Mean.”
To top off that moment Saturday night, she brought out Hayley Williams (who had opened the show with Paramore earlier) for a live duet of “Castles Crumbling,” their collaboration from the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault. Swift and Williams sat side-by-side at the piano as they sang.
Swift recalled the last time they’d played live together: on The Speak Now Tour, when she welcomed Williams to the stage to perform Paramore’s “That’s What You Get” with her at a 2011 Nashville date.
Below, watch clips of Swift’s surprise song set from night two at Wembley. Stay up-to-date with the complete list of surprise songs she’s played on The Eras tour here.
Taylor Swift delivered the live debut of “The Black Dog” on night one of her Eras Tour in London.
The 34-year-old pop superstar’s first-time performance of the emotional ballad arrived during the surprise songs portion of her concert at London’s Wembley Stadium on Friday (June 21).
“I’ve never played this one live before,” Swift told the crowd, as seen in a fan-captured clip on X (formerly Twitter).
Wearing a long orange dress and seated at a piano, the singer beautifully performed “The Black Dog,” which appears on her double album, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. The song reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May.
The TTPD track was mashed with “Come Back…Be Here,” from her 2012 Red album and “Maroon,” off 2022’s Midnights. Friday’s surprise songs set also featured a mashup of “Hits Different” and “Death By a Thousand Cuts.”
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Some have speculated that “The Black Dog” is about the 1975 frontman Matty Healy, who Swift was rumored to have briefly dated in 2023. The song name-checks pop-punk band The Starting Line, which Healy’s group has covered live in recent years.
“I just don’t understand/ How you don’t miss me in The Black Dog/ When someone plays The Starting Line/ And you jump up, but she’s too young/ To know this song that was intertwined/ In the magic fabric of our dreaming,” Swift sings on the chorus of “The Black Dog.” “Old habits die screaming.”
The songstress’ hurt turns to anger as her words shift to, “And I hope it’s shitty in The Black Dog/ When someone plays The Starting Line/ And you jump up, but she’s too young/ To know this song that was intertwined/ In the tragic fabric of our dreaming/ ‘Cause tail between your legs, you’re leavin’.”
During the opening night of her London stint, Swift also took some backstage selfies with Prince William, who was celebrating his 42nd birthday. “Happy Bday M8! London shows are off to a splendid start,” she wrote on Instagram alongside the photo, which included the prince’s kids and her boyfriend Travis Kelce.
Swift’s Eras Tour is set for three shows at Wembley Stadium from June 21-23. Paramore is the special guest for all three shows, with METTE opening the kickoff concert, Griff the second show and Benson Boone the third.
Justin Timberlake is speaking out for the first time following his arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated.
On Friday (June 21), the 43-year-old singer and actor broke his silence about the incident during his concert at Chicago’s United Center amid his Forget Tomorrow world tour.
“It’s been a tough week,” Timberlake told the cheering crowd in fan-captured clip posted on X (formerly Twitter). “I know I’m hard to love sometimes but you keep loving me right back.”
He added in the short speech, “We’ve been together through ups and downs and lefts and rights … but you’re here and I’m here, and nothing can change this moment right now.”
With an acoustic guitar strapped around his shoulder, the former *NSYNC member then bowed to the roaring audience before before performing “Selfish.”
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Timberlake was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in Sag Harbor, N.Y. on June 17. He was arraigned on one count of “driving while intoxicated” the following day.
According to a statement released by the Sag Harbor Police Department, a traffic stop was initiated after the “SexyBack” singer “was observed operating a 2025 BMW southbound on Madison Street, failing to stop at a duly posted stop sign and failing to maintain his lane of travel.”
“It was ascertained that the defendant was operating said vehicle in an intoxicated condition in that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests,” according to the police report filed by officer Michael Arkinson.
“I had one martini and I followed my friends home,” Arkinson also quoted the 10-time Grammy winner as saying in his report.
Earlier in the week, JT’s lawyer Edward Burke Jr. spoke out about the incident. “[We] look forward to vigorously defending Mr. Timberlake against these allegations. He will have a lot to say at the appropriate time. He is currently awaiting full discovery from the DA’s office,” Burke said in the statement, shared with TMZ.
Timberlake’s next court hearing is scheduled for July 26, the same day he is scheduled to perform at Tauron Arena Krakow in Poland.
Taylor Swift had a brush with royalty on the opening night of her Eras Tour stop in London.
The pop superstar, 34, snapped a couple of backstage selfies with Prince William and his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, at Wembley Stadium on Friday (June 21).
The Prince of Wales also happened to be celebrating his 42nd birthday on Friday. His wife Kate Middleton, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, and son Prince Louis, did not appear in the snapshots.
“Happy Bday M8! London shows are off to a splendid start,” Swift wrote on Instagram alongside the photo, which included her boyfriend Travis Kelce.
Prince William shared another photo of the group on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official Instagram account. In the image, Swift poses alongside the three royals while extending her arm to take the picture.
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“Thank you @taylorswift for a great evening! #LondonTSTheErastour,” the caption reads.
Swift’s Eras Tour is set for three shows at Wembley Stadium from June 21-23. Paramore is the special guest for all three shows, with METTE opening the kickoff concert, Griff the second show and Benson Boone the third.
The pop superstar recently wrapped a show June 18 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, her first time performing in Wales. “That was truly out of control in the best way – looking out into that massive, bouncing, dancing sea of people… I’ll never forget it,” she captioned a carousel of photos on Instagram after the concert. “I’m absolutely living for these UK crowds.”
Swift, who launched the global Eras Tour in March 2023, recently shared with her fans that the long-running trek would be ending. During her June 13 performance in Liverpool, England, she told the crowd at Anfield Stadium, “The celebration of the 100th show means this is the very first time I’ve ever acknowledged to myself and admitted that this tour is going to end in December,” she said. “Like, that’s it.”
See Swift’s selfies with the Prince of Wales and his family on Instagram below.
A longtime symbol of love, beauty and longevity, the camellia has made its mark on pop culture as Coco Chanel’s signature flower, teaching an important lesson about prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird and, for MIN and her grandmother, the floral represents the K-pop star herself.
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“Whenever it blooms, she always gets so excited,” MIN says of the sometimes-fickle flowers her grandma grows. “She says, ‘Min-young, you’re going to be like the flower that has bloomed! You’re going to do so well.’ She always tells me that.”
As July marks 14 years since she and her girl group miss A debuted with the instant K-pop chart-topper “Bad Girl Good Girl,” MIN might seem past the point of needing such encouragement (no matter how adorable). But on her 33rd birthday today, June 21, the Seoul native is releasing her first-ever full project with Prime Time. The four-track EP doesn’t just take its name from the genre-shifting title track but acts as a layered mantra.
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“On the surface level, it’s saying this is my ‘Prime Time’ and you don’t get to choose when my prime time is — no one gets to tell me when my prime time is,” she explains in her longest-ranging interview in years. “Internally, I’ve felt like I was very repressed in a way that I didn’t really know I was repressed: I didn’t speak my mind, give an opinion or say my truth. I always felt like I had to listen to my elders and industry higher-up people who got to pick my time or choose what I do.”
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Dressed today in cozy, oversized sweats inside the comfort of I LOVE DANCE‘s Manhattan studio where she frequently rehearses, guest-teaches classes, and, eventually, found a music and production team in the newly formed Monstar Entertainment, MIN (born Lee Minyoung) has a subtle, humble quietness to her despite spending most of her life entertaining. After working on South Korean children’s television and joining K-pop agency JYP Entertainment in middle school, a teenage MIN moved to New York for an intended international solo career that included mentorship from Lil Jon. After years of prep, internal plans at the company changed and she was introduced to her future band mates Fei, Jia and Suzy months before they’d debut as miss A, the first girl group to come from JYP after its Wonder Girls became the first K-pop act to break into the Hot 100.
“I met Jia and Fei once when I came to Korea from America, but that was it,” MIN recalls. “After three months, we were together 24-7. It was hard, very hard…I was under a lot of pressure to be successful and be on the same level when it comes to music and exposure as your rivals; I had to hit the top spot every time.”
While “Bad Girl Good Girl” kicked off the quartet’s five-year string of consecutive Top 10 singles in Korea (including five Top 10s on Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart), miss A released less frequently by its third year as the members’ careers took off down non-musical roads like acting, television, hosting and modeling, while Chinese members Jia and Fei balanced opportunities in Korea and their home country. MIN booked variety television and movie roles, but her original intentions for solo music seemed incompatible with the fast-paced K-pop scene and a rapidly growing JYP Entertainment.
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“I have such a big respect for JYP and we still talk,” she says of the company’s founder and namesake who also produces music for his acts. “There are a lot of people working for one group and I’m one of the artists. It isn’t that my opinion doesn’t matter — we listened to everyone’s opinion to decide anything — but it also depends maybe how much money you make for the company and then people might listen to you and your opinion would matter more. It’s a big business with a lot of people needing to be paid…and maybe for some people, it is just a job. But for artists, it’s their life. It’s my life — giving 14, 15 years of my life. I have wanted to release solo [music], but it didn’t fit and didn’t happen.”
To encourage more miss A music and group activities, MIN found herself in the “peacemaker” role among her band mates around the band’s fifth year. “I believe that I tried my best at that time,” she reflects. “But I think that was already too late to take that role on or to make everyone happy.”
Indeed, before its fifth anniversary, miss A released what would be its final album, Colors, in March 2015. While the EP became the quartet’s highest- and longest-charting entry on World Albums, gossip regarding discord between the members began affecting its fanbase, and excessive media speculation led a young MIN to wish she had been more image-conscious.
Lauren Nakao Winn
Lauren Nakao Winn
“I didn’t understand the fans’ desire for us to be best friends,” MIN admits. “I think everyone wants that to be true, but I think it’s just very unfair. If I understood that, I think I would’ve acted differently. I was just young and feel like I should’ve thought ahead. It’s scary to be in front of people and on camera, and I would have acted smarter.”
Despite being characterized as miss A’s spunky main dancer, typically rocking a jagged bob and showing heel-over-head flexibility in music videos, MIN says she began battling high levels of self-doubt and anxiety near the act’s third or fourth year. At the time, mental health resources and using social media for direct fan communication were far from where they stand today in K-pop, allowing for rumors and anonymous trolls to run amok regarding the group.
“Just because I could dance and look strong doesn’t mean I can take or handle all the bad sides of the industry,” she says matter-of-factly. “Everything that we were and we did was fully under control, so I feel like a lot of people see me in a certain way. Things were more based on ‘the image,’ but I wasn’t a strong person, so I would get hurt by comments and online bullying — it just haunted me every day.
“I don’t really look at my stuff online. I always ask my friends if there are good [comments] that would cheer me up for my mental health and they would screenshot the good ones. But back then, naturally, I would maybe scroll down and see a bad comment, and I just couldn’t go to sleep. Wherever I was in public, I started to feel like, ‘Oh, maybe that person was thinking that.’ I felt my personality become very small and guarded…I still struggle with certain things and certain comments. In a way, I feel like I’m villainized, you know? It’s very unfair and sad, but I don’t want to dwell in the past and I don’t want to drag anyone down; that’s not me.”
By the end of 2017, MIN’s contract with JYP ended, and the company announced Miss A’s disbandment. While considering offers from new agencies, she “blocked every communication” and hid in her grandmother’s home as a safe space. She nearly signed on to join a K-pop survival show for idols rebooting their careers, but her grandma advised against it.
“I think I would’ve burnt out,” she recalls. “I just was not ready to face the world after my contract ended with JYP. I was in a really dark place; I was just scared to be outside or even be seen in public. I just had so much anxiety, so if I wasn’t seen then I could avoid all of that tension.”
Years later, MIN slowly returned to the spotlight with a new, noticeably un-idol-like attitude heard on singles like 2021’s “Onion” (with lyrics like, “I smoke, I drink, I get nasty with me/ Dirty, different and messy/ Patient, confident, weary/ Baby, there are layers to me”) and returned to New York (to co-star in the musical KPOP on Broadway in late 2022) settling in with her pet pomeranian Dan-chu. She credits the city in part to her music comeback.
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“It’s a hustle; everyone’s hustling,” she muses of NYC. “I just get that vibe and energy in the city and of the people. No one cares if you’re a f-cking K-pop idol. No one cares if you’re whatever.”
Liberating herself of outside expectations and reconnecting with her love of music and dance in New York translated into the Prime Time album where MIN says she has the freedom to return to, as well as break away from, her image in miss A.
MIN’s comeback single “PRIME TIME,” featuring rapper Lil Cherry (who enlisted MIN on an experimental album cut in 2022), purposely opens with a knocking, harder hip-hop opening as a callback to her miss A days. Her soaring belt hops into a Jersey club beat before it all gets mashed into a glitchy, glittery, gutsy chorus.
“Nobody’s telling me that I have to put out my album by a certain time or be a certain weight by a certain date,” she says that doubles as an anthem against stereotypes and pretenses in the K-pop industry.
“I felt like I’m an old person, but I am not an old person!” she laughs. “The average age is so young, especially in the idol world, so you breathe in that air and perceive it like that…but I’m just doing this because I want to and I think now is a time that I can fully [use] my potential to the fullest without caring too much of anyone’s demands — it’s on my terms.”
Lauren Nakao Winn
Listening through the EP, “SHIMMY (Skip)” shrewdly uses a Korean playground song as a basis for setting boundaries (“I can be anything, you can’t tell me what to sing”) while the breezy, easy-listening pop of “M.A.W” (standing for “Might as Well”) is a personal motto for both her and her grandmother — who closes the EP with a surprise, uplifting voice recording on “HAPPY PLANT (A Call From Grandma).”
“She’s my role model,” MIN is sure to add. “Whenever I had to make a big decision, I always go to her and ask her opinion. She would say, ‘Might as well just do it.’” While Grandma is excited about her granddaughter’s music (“She’s just so happy for me”), MIN also wants to make sure listeners understand that the confidence in Prime Time results from not letting the outside world crush what and who she loves on the inside.
“I want to give people who are in the hardest moment of their life a message of hope and encouragement,” she says. “I feel like I could relate to them because there have been so many ups and downs in my life as well. I want people to know that it’s okay and you don’t have to give up on your life. Don’t. Because there is someone that loves you.”
The final seconds of the EP echo just that: MIN’s sunny laugh and her grandmother’s warm rasp ending “Call From Grandma,” telling each other that they love one another.
RIIZE rightfully has been recognized as a potential next-generation leader in K-pop‘s ongoing international crossover, in large part thanks to its refreshing embrace of approachability. But the way its label, K-pop giant SM Entertainment, has handled a controversy involving one of the group’s original members has provided a high-stakes window into the ongoing tension between South Korean artists balancing the demands of international careers with the country’s more traditional, accepted social norms.
When SM introduced RIIZE’s lineup in July 2023 via 27 casual Instagram photos that wouldn’t look out of place on any influencer’s page, it set a bar for how its seven members – Shotaro, Eunseok, Sungchan, Wonbin, Seunghan, Sohee and Anton – intended to connect with fans online in a relatable way; as Eunseok explained it during RIIZE’s interview in Los Angeles for Billboard’s recent digital cover story, the group wanted to share “a lot of pictures of our daily life and intimate [moments] on social media.”
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But only six members of RIIZE participated in the cover. Interviews for the piece occurred almost exactly six months after SM announced that Seunghan would “halt activities” with RIIZE following an August 2023 leak of private, pre-RIIZE photos and videos that showed him kissing an unidentified woman in a bed and smoking a cigarette. Though tame by Western standards, the content went viral in South Korea, a country which has undergone rapid modernization but remains socially conservative — values that extend to the parasocial relationships fans have with South Korean music stars. Some fans condemned Seunghan’s actions – which they deemed inappropriate for a K-pop idol – and protested for his removal even before the highly anticipated boy band’s debut.
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Ahead of releasing RIIZE’s critically acclaimed single “Get a Guitar” at the top of September, Seunghan, then 19, took to the group’s Instagram account on Aug. 30 to “sincerely apologize to the fans who are supporting RIIZE,” saying that he “caused damage to our team through personal matters…all out of my carelessness.” Adding that he hadn’t addressed the situation sooner out of fear and nervousness, Seunghan said he “reflected a lot” and vowed to “put the team first” by being more careful both on and off the stage.
But across the influential Korean websites and forums dedicated to discussing – and, more often than not, tearing down – K-pop celebrities, criticisms of Seunghan continued even after “Get a Guitar” and October’s follow-up “Talk Saxy” began to earn them accolades.
On Nov. 22, 2023, SM Entertainment uploaded a notice that Seunghan was “feeling severely apologetic and is reflecting on himself for causing disappointment and commotion to not only the team and members but also to fans due to issues regarding his personal life that are leaked and circulated.”
While SM did note the content leaks were maliciously edited — calling it “severe defamation” and promising legal action — the label still settled on “the indefinite suspension of [Seunghan’s] activities.” According to its statement at the time, Seunghan also “relayed his intention to halt activities”; the label “judged that it is too difficult for him to continue activities through this situation.” On the same day, through RIIZE’s Weverse account, Seunghan shared in a handwritten letter that he was “deeply reflecting” on his “careless actions from the past” and apologized to the group’s fans (known as BRIIZE), RIIZE members and label staff.
RIIZE’s members did not mention Seunghan when speaking with Billboard or at their concert in Los Angeles, and a non-SM representative made multiple requests that Billboard not mention Seunghan in the interview for the digital cover story. SM Entertainment did respond to questions about Seunghan’s status with the band, and the company has not provided an update about the legal actions it is taking on Seunghan’s behalf. SM’s company website still lists Seunghan as an artist and a member of RIIZE. Upon the publication of Billboard’s digital cover about RIIZE, popular English-language websites covering Korean entertainment reported on Seunghan’s mention in the story. Koreaboo noted that it “accurately mentioned Seunghan as a current member, something some media sources have not done since his indefinite hiatus began,” which TheUBJ.com echoed, saying Seunghan is “often omitted by other media.” The sites hint at how, in South Korea, K-pop media coverage tends to be heavily screened by management teams, requiring questions before interviews and text approval before publication. (Billboard‘s editorial policy does not allow subjects to review questions or exercise editorial input.)
Now, as they attempt to reach RIIZE’s burgeoning international fanbase, the various parties involved in the group — SM Entertainment, SM’s new majority shareholder Kakao and RIIZE’s U.S. label partner RCA Records — are facing a different group of fans: those demanding an explanation for Seunghan’s situation and an update on his future with RIIZE.At press time, nearly 19,000 had signed a petition titled “Upholding Artists’ Dignity: A Call to SM Entertainment” calling for legal action regarding the “privacy breach” as well as an “immediate end to Seunghan’s ‘indefinite hiatus.’” During RIIZE’s May 20 fan-concert at L.A.’s Peacock Theater, a small but mighty crew began to chant “RIIZE is seven” and “Seunghan” before the band returned for its encore; similar chants erupted during RIIZE’s fan-concert days earlier in Mexico City. In late May, a behind-the-scenes video from an interview with RIIZE at the Tecate Emblema festival went viral, showing a member of the group’s team requesting that a host modify a question that mentioned “six in the group.” Some fans are even calling for a boycott of RIIZE’s music until a clarification.
Across its three decades as a leader in K-pop, SM Entertainment has acquired plenty of experience negotiating such situations. At two different times in his career, Super Junior’s Kangin was charged with DUIs. He initially took a two-and-a-half-year break from the boy band and went on another hiatus before ultimately withdrawing from Super Junior after his second offense; he remains signed to SM today as a solo act and actor.
More recently, in 2018, SM introduced Lucas as a member of NCT by way of the boy band’s China-based splinter unit WayV; Lucas was also a part of SM supergroup SuperM. In August 2021, multiple women claiming to have had relationships with the star alleged he had cheated on them and/or subjected them to alleged “gaslighting.” Lucas quickly stepped out of the public eye before officially leaving NCT and WayV in 2023 — although he remained signed to SM and made his solo debut with the EP Renegade in April.
On the other side of the spectrum, SM also stood by Chen of EXO when “scores of protesters” took to the streets to demand he leave the group after the singer announced in January 2020 his plans to marry his girlfriend as well as the fiancée’s pregnancy.Like Lucas, artists who exit groups and their labels after behavior deemed unsavory by K-pop standards do often successfully return as soloists, though they rarely achieve the same commercial success as their prior groups. While no official news has been shared yet regarding Seunghan’s future, rumors of the 20-year-old attending a Korean “cram school,” possibly in preparation for college exams, have surfaced. While some K-pop stars pursue both music and their studies (all seven members of BTS have university degrees), some wonder if this hints at his exit from entertainment altogether.
For now — even as Seunghan’s future with RIIZE hangs in the balance and fans protest his minimally-explained absence — RIIZE still seems to still be living up to its name. The group’s latest single, “Boom Boom Bass,” released on June 17, has already racked more than 12 million views for its official music video, and RIIZING – The 1st Mini Album (released June 18) has already sold more than one million physical copies globally, according to South Korea’s real-time album sales website Hanteo Chart. Make of it what you will: on album track “Talk Saxy,” Seunghan’s vocals are still there.
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From Beyoncé‘s Cowboy Carter to Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Song,” 2024 has been a watershed year for Black artists excelling critically and commercially in genres that have traditionally tried to box Black artists out despite having a storied history of Black innovators. Conversations about the blurring of genre lines have dominated the music industry for years, and it’s a sentiment that Grammy-nominated singer-producer Chlöe Bailey is incredibly intimate with.
“Any music I do will easily and quickly be categorized as R&B because I’m a Black woman,” she told Nylon in her cover story. “If someone who didn’t have my skin tone made the same music, it would be in the pop categories. That’s just the way it’s always been in life.”
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As a part of the Chloe x Halle duo — which includes her Little Mermaid-starring younger sister Halle Bailey — Chlöe regularly traversed genres. On the duo’s two Billboard 200-charting Grammy-nominated studio LPs, 2018’s The Kids Are Alright (No. 139) and 2020’s Ungodly Hour (No. 16), the sisters dabbled in soul, electronica, house, hip-hop, alternative rock, contemporary pop, R&B and more. Chloe’s debut solo LP, In Pieces, featured a similar amalgamation of sounds, which helped her reach No. 119 on the all-genre albums chart. Despite releasing several pop-facing tunes, including April’s “Boy Bye,” Chlöe’s awards and chart success have primarily come in the R&B field. Of her five career Grammy nods, just one came from outside of the R&B categories — her 2018 best new artist nod as one-half of Chloe x Halle.
In her Nylon interview, the “Have Mercy” singer named Whitney Houston and Beyoncé as two artists she looks to for inspiration regarding standing firm in genre experimentation, specifically lauding the latter artist’s latest smash album. “That’s why I was really proud of Beyoncé doing Cowboy Carter,” she said, “because Black people originated country music. It’s just showing that possibilities are endless.”
The “Treat Me” singer also finds solace in knowing that her work is often ahead of the curve. “What I kind of love about my art is that it sneaks up on you,” she explained. “When In Pieces came out, not many people really got it. But now a year later, people are like, ‘Oh, it’s genius! It’s beautiful! It’s amazing!’ And if you think about it, that’s how it has been with me and my sister’s previous work as well. No one ever gets it when it first comes out.”
Chlöe is currently gearing up for the release of Trouble In Paradise, her sophomore solo studio album, which is slated to drop “later this summer.” The “Surprise” singer has released a pair of singles this year — “Boy Bye” and the moody R&B banger “FYS” — and she also used her Nylon interview to confirm some of the album’s collaborators, including Halle, Jeremih and Anderson .Paak. In Pieces — which she supported with 25-date North American and European tour — featured collaborations with Chris Brown, Missy Elliott and Future.
Chlöe made her official solo debut with 2021’s “Have Mercy,” a booty-praising hit that reached No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. To date, Chlöe has wracked up four Hot 100 hits, including “Treat Me” (No. 81), “You & Me” (No. 72, with Gunna) and the 2023 Amazon Music exclusive “Winter Wonderland” (No. 63).
See her cover and photos for Nylon below:
Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams pulled on our collective heartstrings when they worked together on “Us,” featured on the latter’s 13-track sophomore studio album The Secret of Us that was released on Friday (June 21). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Upon the release of the project, Abrams took […]
The boy is theirs! As fans across generations delight in Ariana Grande‘s new “The Boy Is Mine” remix with Brandy and Monica, the Grammy-winning “So Gone” star is opening up about how the star-studded collaboration sparked true healing for her and Brandy.
“The process of the new collaboration did a lot of closing the gaps,” Monica told Entertainment Tonight. “When you properly communicate, something — you can find not only the resolutions and solutions to problems — but sometimes you find that there weren’t ever problems, just consistent miscommunications.”
Brandy and Monica teamed up for the original “The Boy Is Mine” back in 1998, spending 13 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and winning a Grammy together in the process. During the song’s reign and in the years that followed, the two R&B icons were long-rumored to be beefing, with their rocky relationship becoming a key part of the song’s lore. Now, more than 25 years after “The Boy Is Mine” first entered the contemporary American pop canon, the two singers have found a way to move forward and preserve their friendship.
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“We recognized that the key was to keep other people out of our relationship, both business and personal, and let it be between she and I, and that has changed everything. It’s changed the trajectory of it in its totality,” the “Angel of Mine” singer said. “My son was in the hospital the other day and she was who I was speaking to while he was there, so I think that is what Ariana has done that she may not even realize.”
Grande originally released “The Boy Is Mine” from her Billboard 200-topping Eternal Sunshine LP earlier this year, with the track instantly becoming a fan-favorite. Upon the album’s debut, “The Boy Is Mine” entered the Hot 100 at No. 16. This week (chart dated June 22), the song re-entered the Hot 100 at No. 64, following the release of its Catwoman-inspired Penn Badgley-starring music video. The cinematic clip also featured cameos from Brandy and Monica, giving fans a little Easter egg for the new remix. Grande’s track is inspired by Brandy and Monica’s original duet — which Billboard named the greatest karaoke duet of all time — but the remix does interpolate elements from the hook of the 1998 chart-topper.
“I’ve always said that the song should not be touched, right? And I said that because I felt that it did not need to be redone in the idea of, let’s say, actually doing it the exact way that it was,” Monica explained. “But Ariana and [producer] Max Martin — as soon as I heard this version, I fell in love with it.”
According to Monica — who recently headlined the inaugural Blavity House Party in Nashville — Grande sent her flowers and a note. The “We Can’t Be Friends” singer also hopped on FaceTime with Monica, Brandy and their respective families. “What I am so amazed by is her humility, her compassion,” Monica gushed. “Everything has been directly from her chest and, for me, authenticity, humility, all of those things are key.”
The new remix marks the Grande’s second re-imagining of an Eternal Sunshine track. Earlier this year, the Grammy-winner linked up with Mariah Carey for a new version of her house-steeped Hot 100 chart-topper “Yes, And?”