Pop
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Four years have passed since Lady Gaga released her 2020 dance-pop symphony, Chromatica, although that gap may feel like a yawning void to some. Between the seismic social shift caused by a global pandemic and a steady, mind-boggling stream of historic events in the intervening months since, the last four years have felt more like […]
With a new version of their hit single, Sam Smith literally will not be the only one. In a post to their social media on Wednesday (July 31), Smith announced that they would be releasing a new version of their In the Lonely Hour single “I’m Not the Only One” featuring R&B icon Alicia Keys. […]
“For us, this is the launch of a signature artist,” then-RCA Records marketing vp Nick Cucci mused in the July 24, 1999, Billboard issue of Christina Aguilera, whose eponymous debut album arrived a month later. “She’s not a quick-burn teen artist. We’re planning on her being around for a long time. We’re pursuing performance opportunities to present her as an artist of extraordinary depth.”
The following week, Aguilera, then 18, was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the LP’s lead single, “Genie in a Bottle.” Beginning with the July 31-dated chart, it reigned for five weeks.
Aguilera’s debut album subsequently launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 253,000 copies sold in the United States in its first week, according to Luminate.
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Per Billboard’s story, written by Larry Flick, in the July 24, 1999, issue, RCA had showcased Aguilera that June in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Las Vegas and Minneapolis, as she performed the album with only piano backing. “It was a highly effective way of presenting her,” George Harrison, then-assistant music director at KSNE Las Vegas, shared. “She has the voice of a young Whitney Houston. Midway through the first song, it was clear that she’s going to be a big, big star.”
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With “Genie in a Bottle,” Aguilera unleashed her first of five Hot 100 No. 1s and 11 top 10s. Her introductory set also yielded the leaders “What a Girl Wants” and “Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You).”
On the Billboard 200, Aguilera boasts two No. 1s among seven top 10s, through the No. 6-peaking Liberation in 2018. Her chart history also includes her second LP, the Spanish-language Mi Reflejo, which ruled Top Latin Albums for 19 weeks in 2000-01.
Aguilera’s breakthrough sparked her best new artist Grammy Award win in 2000. Among others, she triumphed in the category over Britney Spears, with whom she starred in The All-New Mickey Mouse Club in the early ‘90s (and whose own debut album, …Baby One More Time, had soared in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in January 1999). Aguilera’s experience on the show also led to her recording “Reflections,” the theme to the 1998 hit Disney film Mulan.
“It was a great way to grow up,” Aguilera told Billboard in 1999 about being a Mouseketeer. “I got the most incredible education, both in terms of who I wanted to be as an artist and in terms of how the business works. It gave me the focus I needed to make this album.”
To date, Aguilera, who served as a coach on NBC’s The Voice in 2011-16, has sold 17.6 million albums in the U.S. Her songs have drawn 28.5 billion in radio audience and 3.1 billion official on-demand streams. Her upcoming tour dates include shows in Las Vegas and Japan, with her eight-month Christina Aguilera at Voltaire residency at The Venetian in Las Vegas running through Aug. 31.
Of “Genie in a Bottle” — which David Frank, Steve Kipner and Pamela Sheyne co-wrote — Aguilera told Billboard in 1999, “At first, I was a little afraid that some people might not completely get where I’m coming from,” referring to the song’s “occasionally seductive lyrical tone,” per Flick. (“Fueled by a chugging groove and richly layered vocals, the tune is punctuated by a breathy command to ‘rub me the right way’,” he wrote.)
“The song is not about sex,” Aguilera said. “It’s about self-respect. It’s about not giving in to temptation until you’re respected. It’s time for something different. It’s time that music make[s] kids feel confident and secure.”
What’s the best way to relax after screaming your lungs out for nearly three hours to a sold-out baseball stadium full of fans? How about doing the viral dance to Charli XCX‘s Brat song “Apple?” Joining the likes of Joe Jonas, Late Show host Stephen Colbert and Glen Powell, Foo Fighters singer/guitarist Dave Grohl hopped […]
Sure, Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for his portrayal of Arthur Fleck (aka the Joker) in 2020. But even an award-winning actor gets nervous on set when he has to sing in front of one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. Luckily for Phoenix, when it came to giving the greasepaint goon a voice voice, his partner in crime, Lady Gaga, was totally there for him.
“I do seem to remember her spitting up coffee the first time I sang, so that felt good, that was exciting, and made me feel confident,” Phoenix told Empire magazine about the Grammy-winning singer’s reaction on the set of the upcoming Joker sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux. “Gaga was always very encouraging of just, ‘Go with what you feel, it’s fine.’ For somebody who’s not a performer in that way, it can be… uncomfortable to do that, but also very exciting.”
It was important that they bond that way because director Todd Phillips wanted to bring the music out of the Joker, who at his core is a mercurial, failed comedian whose violent acts land him in Arkham Asylum, where he strikes up a lyrical love story with Gaga’s Harley “Lee” Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn.
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“Arthur has become this symbol to people,” Phillips told the magazine. “This unwilling, unwitting symbol now paying for the crimes of the first film, but at the same time finding the only thing he ever wanted, which was love. That’s always what he’s been about, even though he’s been pushed and pulled in all these directions. So we tried to just make the most pure version of that.”
That expression of love comes through in musical numbers in the film, because, as Phillips said, Fleck has “music in him,” which explains why the latest trailer has Gaga singing the classic tune “Get Happy” and Phoenix tackling “When You’re Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You)” in Fleck’s raspy croon.
“It was important to protect that with poor phrasing and occasional bum notes,” Phoenix said in an echo of a recent interview with Gaga where she admitted to purposely tanking her award-winning voice to get into character. “Arthur grew up hearing his mother play these songs on the radio. He’s not a singer, and he shouldn’t sound like a professional singer. He should sound like somebody that’s taking a shower and just bursts out into song.”
Joker: Folie à Deux will open in theaters on Oct. 4.
The 2024 Summer Olympics only kicked off on Friday, and already we’ve seen huge moments from Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Beyoncé and more music A-listers. It all started with the Opening Ceremony, which included all-French performances from Lady Gaga and Celine Dion, set in scenic landmarks across Paris, as well as a Team USA introduction […]
Halsey is more vulnerable than ever with her art, as seen in her most recent single “Lucky,” but the superstar is struggling with the backlash she’s receiving from people claiming to be their fans. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The singer took to Tumblr this week […]
Mariah Carey and Dem Babies absolutely can’t get enough of Olivia Rodrigo — if only there was a word to describe how they’re feeling.
About a week after attending the Guts World Tour stop in Atlanta, Mimi posted a photo she snapped with her 13-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe backstage alongside the 21-year-old pop star, with whom she says her family is “obsessed” — a nod to both of the singers’ songs of the same name. Carey also shared a picture of just her and Rodrigo, as well as one of her daughter posing alone with the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series alum, both girls wearing matching sparkly star tights.
“We are OBSESSED with @oliviarodrigo 🔥❤️,” the vocalist wrote in her caption on Instagram Monday (July 29).
“ur the absolute greatest!!!” Rodrigo commented. “thank u sm for coming❤️❤️❤️”
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Monroe — whose dad is Nick Cannon, Carey’s ex-husband — also shared the photos on her personal account, including a snap of the “Drivers License” singer’s personal autograph on a T-shirt. “Roe, all my love!” Rodrigo signed, adding a heart doodle.
“last tuesday was the best night of my life WHATT like @oliviarodrigo i love u so much i had the time of my life it was a dream fr,” Monroe captioned the post.
Since performing in Atlanta, Rodrigo has brought her Guts trek to Lexington, Ky.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Oklahoma City, Okla. She has just 14 shows left on the final U.S. leg of her tour — including four nights at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles — after which she’ll close out with runs in Asia and Australia ending in October.
One of the highlights of her show every night is when she rocks out to her envy-indulging single “Obsessed,” which Rodrigo added to the setlist after dropping the deluxe version of her Billboard 200-topping album Guts in March. The track debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Fifteen years prior, Carey’s enduring smash of the same name reached No. 7 on the chart. Last week, the Songbird Supreme kicked off a new run of her Las Vegas residency, The Celebration of Mimi Live, which has dates scheduled through Aug. 10.
For just the second time since Billboard launched the Billboard Artist 100 ranking in 2014, the top two musical acts in the U.S. are K-pop artists.
On the Aug. 3, 2024-dated Artist 100, Stray Kids and Jimin each re-enter, at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. The only other week in which Korean pop acts took the top two positions was on the chart dated Oct. 17, 2020, when BLACKPINK and BTS – the latter of which Jimin is a member – ranked at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. (That week, BLACKPINK also became the first all-female group to lead the list.)
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
Stray Kids rule as the top musical act in the U.S. for a fourth total week thanks to their new release, Ate: Mini Album. The set, released via JYP/Imperial/Republic Records, debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 231,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States July 19-25, according to Luminate. It’s Stray Kids’ fifth total and consecutive No. 1 – as the ensemble becomes the first group, and second act overall, joining DMX, ever to debut five initial entries on the Billboard 200 at No. 1.
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With four total weeks spent at No. 1, Stray Kids have logged the second-most time atop the Artist 100 among K-pop acts, after BTS (21).
Jimin re-enters the Artist 100 at No. 2, powered by his new album Muse, which likewise opens at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 96,000 units. Outside of BTS, Jimin has spent one week at No. 1 on the Artist 100 as a solo act, in April 2023.
Rounding out the top five spots of the latest Artist 100, Taylor Swift ranks at No. 3 – following a record 117 weeks at No. 1 – Morgan Wallen rises 5-4 and Zach Bryan dips 4-5.
King of darkness Ozzy Osbourne has shown his light side once again. The metal legend offered up a mea culpa to Britney Spears on the latest episode of The Osbournes podcast after daughter Kelly Osbourne asked her dad if their family owed Spears an apology.
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After first replaying Ozzy’s offensive comments, Ozzy offered up a less appeasing peace offer than offspring Jack and Kelly. “Britney, I really owe you an apology,” Ozzy said. “I’m so sorry for making that comment. However, it would be better if you didn’t do the same f–king dance every day! Change a few movements… I love Britney Spears, but it’s the same dance every day!”
That comment drew a loud guffaw from Jack, while Kelly noted that she is a fan of Britney’s dancing — “Britney, never stop dancing, I love your dancing it makes you happy” — while apologizing on behalf of the family if she felt offense, with wife Sharon adding “I like Britney a lot.” The family also objected to Ozzy’s claim that it was, literally, the same dance every day, with Kelly and Jack noting that sometimes “there’s knives.”
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Ozzy then leaned into a less strings-attached amends, adding, “I really do apologize. I love you and I think you’re beautiful.”
The spat originally began two weeks ago when Ozzy criticized Spears’ dancing videos, saying on his family’s podcast that he was, “fed up of seeing poor old Britney Spears [dancing] on YouTube every f–kin’ day. It’s sad, very, very sad,” with Sharon adding, “poor little thing.” At the time, Spears shot back with a terse Instagram post that has since been deleted, in which she said, “I’m gonna… tell the Osbourne family who is the most boring family known to mankind to kindly f–k off!”
Spears has long made a habit of posting dance videos from her home in which she does interpretive moves to her favorite songs.
See Ozzy’s apology below.