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Just over 24 hours after giving “I’m His, He’s Mine” a steamy live debut on the MTV Video Music Awards stage, Katy Perry and Doechii have dropped their saucy new collaboration. Featuring a heavy sample of Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy Woman” — you know, the one that goes “La da dee la dee da” — the […]
With a breakout hit across international charts this summer, KISS OF LIFE is ready to take an explosive year to the next level with their first-ever world tour.
The girl group’s forthcoming Kiss Road World Tour continues the momentum Julie, Natty, Belle and Haneul gained on the global stage with the infectious single “Sticky,” helping the K-pop act debut onto multiple Billboard charts: The Afrobeat-inspired summer single peaked at No. 7 on the South Korean Songs chart so far, entered the U.S.-based World Digital Song Sales chart at No. 10 in July, while also spending a solid six weeks on the Billboard Global 200 after hitting No. 87, and 10 weeks on the Billboard Glocal Excl. U.S. chart after a No. 47 peak.
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With promising results early just over a year into their career alongside the quartet’s international makeup and range of industry experiences, KISS OF LIFE is proving they’re more than just a rising K-pop rookie—they’re becoming a global-pop force all their own.
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“We love the song ‘Sticky,’ so it was really an honor for it to get into the charts,” says Julie, the group’s dynamic leader who was born in Hawaii, speaking to Billboard for their first-ever interview with an international outlet. “We really put a lot of effort into the choreography and also the music itself, so it’s exciting to see our hard work paying off. All of us were just hugging each other when we found out the news.”
Seattle-raised Belle, who previously worked as a songwriter for other top K-pop groups, believes their authenticity plays a massive role in why global fans connect to them: “We honestly try to be ourselves in all the music we release. By being authentic, I think our fans and listeners are able to resonate more with the excitement we feel when we sing and perform.”
Youngest member Haneul, born and raised in Korea, adds that the KIOF members’ diverse backgrounds fuel their artistry. “We just respect each other,” the 19-year-old says. “We acknowledge our differences and the path we went through to get here, so that makes us learn from each other and grow.”
The upcoming Kiss Road tour kicks off in Seoul with two concerts on Oct. 26 and 27 before coming to North America for an extensive, 18-date trek beginning in Minneapolis, Minn. on Nov. 10. “We are pretty confident in our performing ability,” teases Thailand-born Natty, whom K-pop fans have watched grow up on K-pop competition shows like Sixteen and Idol School before officially debuting onto the K-pop scene as an artist. “Fans can expect a show with high energy and we’re excited to bring our best to the stage.”
Get to know KISS OF LIFE’s Julie, Natty, Belle, and Haneul as the members share more about their process, viewpoint, world tour plans and messages to their fans affectionately known as Kissys, alongside exclusive photos below.
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I want to begin by congratulating you on earning your first Billboard chart entries with “Sticky.” What were your reactions?!
Julie: We couldn’t believe it! We love the song “Sticky” so it was really an honor for it to get into the charts. We were so happy that people were liking it as much as us and we felt so grateful! We really put a lot of effort into the choreography and also the music itself, so it’s exciting to see our hard work paying off. All of us were just hugging each other when we found out the news; as hard as we worked, we also know that we really couldn’t have done it without the support of our fans—love you, Kissys!
KISS OF LIFE
Courtesy of S2 Entertainment
KISS OF LIFE has been rising since your debut last July, but “Sticky” has been a real breakout: Top 10 in Korea, charting in the U.S., your biggest hits on Billboard‘s Global charts. What do you think are some factors that made this such a hit?
Belle: I think we honestly try to be ourselves in all the music we release. By being authentic, I think our fans and listeners are able to resonate more with the excitement we feel when we sing and perform as well. I feel like this song, in particular, really suited all the members, and you could feel that all the members were just having fun and enjoying themselves while recording and performing the song. Also, in regards to the visuals and performance, we focused on just feeling ourselves and being confident which fits well with summer. I mean, it is summer, why not have a little fun with it?!
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I also love your latest B-side, “Te Quiero,” co-written by Belle. What did you want to show with “Sticky” and “Te Quiero” that you hadn’t shown previously in KISS OF LIFE?
Natty: We wanted to show everyone our translation of summer! The cool and refreshing side as well as the hot! We just wanted to send good vibes and make sure everyone could enjoy the summer with us. Both “Sticky” and “Te Quiero” are actually our interpretations of summer: “Sticky” would be the exciting, fun aspect of summer where you enjoy yourself to the fullest; “Te Quiero” would be the cooler, more chill and relaxing version of summer that is equally enjoyable. I don’t think we had some mastermind plan of what we wanted to show with these tracks. We just genuinely wanted everyone to enjoy the music while enjoying their summer. You work hard, you play harder!
KISS OF LIFE
Courtesy of S2 Entertainment
“Te Quiero” is also significant as another English B-side track, just like “Nobody” with “Midas Touch.” Is there a more prominent reason to include these tracks, and even the English version of “Bad News,” in your larger plans as a group?
Julie: Of course! We always want to keep our international fans a big part of our music. For the Kissys all around the world, we want to continue to make music that everyone can enjoy and listen to. We are adamant in making sure our international fans know that they play a big role in our music. Again, we don’t have a master plan on how or a larger picture that we are strategizing for. We really just want everyone to feel included with our music, wherever they are and whoever they are. We just want to make music that everyone can enjoy and listen to without overcomplicating things.
Have you begun preparations and rehearsals for your Kiss Road World Tour? What are you looking forward to the most?
Haneul: We are super excited for the tour. Absolutely, can’t wait to meet our Kissys, who have been supporting us throughout our journey. We’ve been working hard with our team in designing the show so that we are able to give all of our fans an amazing experience. There’s a little bit of pressure to show our fans the best version of ourselves but we promise we won’t let you down. I think the most exciting part about touring is really feeling everyone’s positive energy!
Natty: Well, we are actually pretty confident in our performing ability so fans can expect a show with high energy. We love what we do and we are blessed with so many people supporting us while we do what we love. In return, we want to give them the best version of us, so I hope they will all look forward to it.
Something I always respected about KISS OF LIFE is that you shared yourselves via solo songs from your debut album. Will we get to see more solo stages on tour?
Belle: Don’t want to give too many spoilers so…I think we can say, “maybe?!” We’ve prepared some new stages so make sure you stay tuned for it.
KISS OF LIFE
Courtesy of S2 Entertainment
With that, KISS OF LIFE has also become known for your covers. Your Brown Eyed Girls “Sixth Sense” cover was even officially released, and you’ve done songs by 2NE1, Ciara, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, BLACKPINK, Doja Cat, the list goes on…any special or new covers for tour?
Julie: We always sing, rap, and dance to so many different artists on a daily [basis], so hopefully, we get the opportunity to showcase it to everyone on tour. We just love all different styles and categories of music. For us right now it’s being versatile enough to explore many different types of music and to experiment with sounds so we [can] create our own specific style. There are days we focus on singing, other days we rap, and days we only dance, but we are always working to improve ourselves, so I hope we have the opportunity to showcase it for the world to see!
The four of you came from very different backgrounds and debuted as adults. Sometimes, it can be difficult for adults to pursue their dreams or even make new friends. How did you all connect and learn from each other to make KISS OF LIFE work as cohesively as it is?
Haneul: We just respect each other. We acknowledge our differences and the path we went through to get here so that makes us learn from each other and grow! A key point in any relationship is trust and respect. The respect comes from acknowledging each other’s past experiences that led them on the path for us to be here. I believe that because we are able to share our respective experiences with each other, we are able to learn from each other and grow as a group, not just individually. We all have something to learn from each other and we respect where that knowledge came from.
KISS OF LIFE
Courtesy of S2 Entertainment
Do you have any other messages for international fans waiting to meet you?
Julie: We always want to say thank you so much for sending your love and support. Although we may be far distances, our hearts are always near! We can’t wait to meet everyone in person and I hope the time comes fast. Love you guys so much and see you soon!!!
Courtesy of S2 Entertainment

If there’s anyone who knows about a showstopping kiss on the MTV VMAs stage, it’s Britney Spears — and she had some thoughts on Sabrina Carpenter‘s own viral VMA lip-lock with an alien at Wednesday night’s show.
Spears posted a selfie video to her Instagram account, where she brought up a few Carpenter moments from the awards show.
“Did you guys watch the VMAs?” she asked her 42 million followers. “I didn’t watch the VMAs, but I did see stuff on my phone from YouTube of Sabrina Carpenter. Why is she kissing an alien onstage? I adore her. I love her to death. I didn’t understand that part. Why didn’t she kiss a girl? Like, that was weird. But I also thought that, like, the whole thing was kind of, like, weird.”
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The pop star then went on a tangent about taking a “really long bath” on VMA night and doing some coloring — “I’m into coloring right now. I like to color and I like to trace.” — before circling back to Carpenter.
“This Sabrina girl, she said my name on the red carpet and I thought that was kind of cool,” Spears said. “Because I forget I’m famous sometimes. Because I’m a mom, I’m kind of old, blah-blah-blah, but that was kind of cool. … She made me cool. OK, maybe not,” she laughed.
Spears has had a lot of memorable moments on the VMA stage over the years, including her notorious kiss with Madonna at the 2003 show, when Brit and sometime rival Christina Aguilera joined the Queen of Pop onstage to perform “Like a Virgin” and share a three-way kiss.
Britney’s presence was felt throughout Wednesday’s show, like when host Megan Thee Stallion wore a re-creation of Spears’ 2001 “I’m a Slave 4 U” performance costume — complete with a yellow snake wrapped around her arms — or when Tate McRae paid tribute to the sheer, lacy Dolce & Gabbana minidress Spears wore on the red carpet that same year.
Carpenter herself even had an onstage reference to Spears, when she played an audio snippet from Britney’s “Oops!…I Did It Again” music video during the transition between “Please Please Please” and new single “Taste” for her debut VMA performance.
Watch Spears’ reaction to the 2024 VMAs below:
Shaboozey‘s already sang about how he and Jack Daniels got a history, and now the country superstar is ready to link up with another famous name: Taylor Swift.
Speaking to The Associated Press on the red carpet of the 2024 MTV VMAs on Wednesday night, Shaboozey revealed that he identifies as a “big Swiftie” and praised his fellow nominee. “Love T. Swift, love Taylor,” he told the outlet. “Big one.”
The reporter then asked Shaboozey if he thought Swift’s high-profile endorsement of Kamala Harris gave “permission” to other artists to get more political. “I think you just do you, you know?” the singer responded. “Do what you feel in your heart, just be honest with yourself and authentic to you, to your person … and just walk in your truth.”
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Later in the evening, Shaboozey was spotted chatting with Swift, as the pair posed for a series of photos together during the ceremony.
The country phenomenon was nominated at Wednesday’s awards for song of the summer for his nine-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 breakout hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” but he was ultimately beat out by none other than Swift herself, who took home the trophy alongside Post Malone for “Fortnight.” Swift went on to score seven wins at the annual show, including video of the year and best collaboration for “Fortnight,” as well as artist of the year.
Elsewhere on the red carpet, Shaboozey spoke about the surprising news that Beyoncé had not been nominated for any trophies at the 2024 CMA Awards, where he’s up for his first two awards. “It’s definitely unfortunate, if that’s something that she was looking to receive and that’s something that she worked for,” he told E! News. “I know as an artist, you put a lot of time and a lot of work, and a lot of things, and a lot of energy into music, you know? But you know awards aren’t really, you know, they’re not everything.”
Check out a clip of Shaboozey’s interview below, plus a carousel of his VMA night with some “friends,” including Swift and Chappell Roan:
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Of all the pop stars in the world, who could rule the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards without being nominated for any awards or even setting foot on the premises? That would be Britney Spears, b—h.
This year’s awards on Wednesday (Sept. 11) were chock full of small and large tributes to the 43-year-old pop icon, from references to Spears’ most legendary performances to subtle nods to her music videos and fashion. The most direct example was when host Megan Thee Stallion came out dressed in a recreation of the famous green bra and blue skirt the superstar wore at the same ceremony 23 years prior while performing “I’m a Slave 4 U,” complete with a yellow snake around her shoulders.
But while Brit was able to look totally cool and collected while singing with the 7-foot albino Burmese python on her shoulders in 2001, the Houston rapper was a lot less calm. “I don’t know this snake, this snake don’t know me,” Meg said nervously, instructing her crew to promptly get the reptile off of her. “Oh my god! I tried to hold it down for Britney.”
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The “WAP” musician’s discomfort with the snake was even funnier considering the reptilian theme of her latest album Megan — which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 — and its hit singles “Hiss,” “Boa” and “Cobra.” It might make her feel better to know that secretly, Spears was also terrified of her nonhuman performance partner back in 2001, with the “Toxic” singer tweeting in 2023, “I still remember how scared I felt when I was handed this snake and took the stage !!!”
At the same VMAs where Brit sang “I’m a Slave 4 U,” she also wore a sheer, lacy Dolce & Gabbana minidress on the red carpet. Twenty-three years later, another pop star wore almost the exact same look to the 2024 event: Tate McRae, who also addressed having fans compare her to Spears.
“I honestly take it as a compliment,” she told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet before the show. “I think she’s one of the most incredible performers of the 2000s. I remember watching her as a kid all the time.”
Spears’ impact was also evident in Sabrina Carpenter‘s performance later that night, with the latter playing an audio snippet of the former’s spacey “Oops!…I Did It Again” music video during the transition between her Billboard Hot 100-topping hit “Please Please Please” and new single “Taste.” Plus, Carpenter at one point pulled in a female dancer dressed like an alien for a sensual kiss, carrying on a tradition set by Spears’ culture-shocking smooch with Madonna on the VMAs stage in 2003.
See the ways Britney Spears was honored at the 2024 VMAs below.
Sure, summer is over, but Brat season is here to stay. On Thursday (Sept. 12), Charli XCX unveiled her new “Talk Talk” remix featuring her Sweat Tour co-star Troye Sivan. On the amped-up new remix, Charli and Sivan take the original lyrics depicting the early stages of romance and imbue them with new, sexed-up verve. […]
Dua Lipa will spread her sunny perspective across the globe next year. The “Houdini” singer announced the dates for the 43-date world tour in support of her Radical Optimism album on Thursday (Sept. 12). Following a run of previously announced Asian shows in November and December of this year that are slated to kick off […]

Suffice it to say that Wednesday night’s (Sept. 11) 2024 MTV VMAs was a lot. The 40th anniversary celebration of the former music video channel’s signature awards ceremony handed out around two Moonpersons per hour during its 190-minute run time, but you might have not noticed since it also packed in 16 star-studded performances that […]
With the first quarter of the 21st century coming to a close, Billboard is spending the next few months counting down our staff picks for the 25 greatest pop stars of the last 25 years. We’ve already named our Honorable Mentions and our No. 25, No. 24, No. 23, No. 22, No. 21, No. 20 and No. 19 stars, and now we remember the century in The Weeknd — who emerged in the shadows as an early-’10s mixtape sensation, before making a more successful pivot to pop stardom than anyone could have guessed.
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About a dozen years ago, nobody would’ve believed the hedonistic, alt-R&B, then-cult figure known as The Weeknd would become one of the 21st century’s most decorated and durable pop artists, dominating both the Billboard charts the and world’s biggest stadiums. Global superstardom might not have seemed immediately on the horizon upon his 2011 mixtape arrival, but his ability to carve his own path in R&B before successfully switching lanes to pop has made his journey one of the most fascinating ones to follow this century.
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Born Abel Tesfaye to Ethiopian immigrant parents in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, The Weeknd dropped out of high school at 17 with his best friend and now creative director La Mar Taylor and moved out of his family’s home one weekend (wink wink). Homelessness, substance abuse and run-ins with the law forced him to get his act together, so he translated the ill-advised lifestyle of his youth to his music.
In 2010, The Weeknd anonymously uploaded three moody, atmospheric R&B tracks – “What You Need,” “Loft Music” and “The Morning” – onto his YouTube. Fellow Torontonian (and then rap’s brightest budding star) Drake noticed the songs and featured them on his OVO Blog – a key co-sign that projected The Weeknd’s name (and still not his face) in the media before he dropped his debut mixtape House of Balloons for free on his website in March 2011. The songs stretched for five, six, even seven minutes, with The Weeknd’s wailing falsetto and supple tenor from the Michael Jackson vocal academy reliving his pill-popping and bed-hopping escapades and other foggy morning-after memories, through the perspective of someone who’s perpetually attempting to replace his pain with pleasure in a numbing rinse-and-repeat cycle.
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Meanwhile, his sampling of indie and post-punk rock bands like Siouxsie & the Banshees, Cocteau Twins and Beach House, along with other hip-hop and electronic influences, forever shifted the R&B landscape — and helped usher the genre’s alternative shift, alongside other enigmatic artists like Frank Ocean. And when it was finally time to reveal himself at his now-iconic debut concert at Toronto’s 600-capacity Mod Club in July 2011, it was the must-see show of the city: The promotional flyer indicated there was “no guestlist,” but that didn’t stop major U.S. label executives from catching last-minute flights up north to see what the hell The Weeknd was even about and if he lived up to the internet hype. (A former MuchMusic employee tells me she remembers one even offering her $1300 CAD for her ticket that she bought for $20.)
Later that same year, he released two more mixtapes –Thursday and Echoes of Silence – that invited us to venture deeper into The Weeknd’s world of debauchery and self-destruction. With his cult-classic trilogy, The Weeknd firmly established himself as lord of the R&B underworld. In the four-month period between the latter two tapes, he was also all over Drake’s emo magnum opus Take Care, co-writing five songs and being featured on the chant-along banger “Crew Love.” The kinship between the two Canadian phenoms generated a lot of speculation that Drake would sign The Weeknd to OVO, but he continued carving out his own lane, and founded his XO label (fans have debated on Reddit threads whether it stands for “hugs and kisses” or “ecstasy and oxycontin”), signing to Republic Records the following year. Given The Weeknd’s “I thank God that I never signed my life away” line from Future and Metro Boomin’s “All to Myself” during 2024’s Great Rap Beef™, it’s safe to say he believes he made the right decision there.
The Weeknd
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The Weeknd
Chelsea Lauren/WireImage
Tesfaye had steadily built up momentum for his major label debut studio album Kiss Land in 2013, but takeoff there was a bit turbulent. It sounded like he had exhausted his nihilistic, narcotic-fueled aesthetic – and having already consumed what felt like three albums in under one calendar year, we were kind of exhausted, too. Maybe why Kiss Land fell a bit flat was because the air of mystery behind The Weeknd was also fading, especially with his face and Jean-Michel Basquiat-esque dreads front and center on the album cover. Even though Kiss Land entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2, it wasn’t the optimal introduction for an artist who had been cranked out of the internet hype machine – and it received mixed reviews, while failing to produce a hit single.
But the false start didn’t stop Tesfaye from building a bigger breakout moment. Ariana Grande, the Nickelodeon-bred pop princess who signed to Republic the year before The Weeknd, recruited him for her My Everything single “Love Me Harder.” The lip-biting ruminations about rough sex gave Grande more edge, while the song’s throbbing synthwave-R&B production – courtesy of 21st century-defining producer Max Martin (who would go on to play a crucial role in Tesfaye’s career) – softened The Weeknd’s. It’s the first song to affirm his mainstream ambitions, as Tesfaye earned his first Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit. Grande would go on to become one of his most reliable hit collaborators a decade later, hopping on the remixes of “Save Your Tears” from his 2020 album After Hours, which they performed together at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards, and “Die For You” – which experienced a TikTok resurgence six-plus years after it first appeared on his Starboy album – both of whichwould then shoot to No. 1.
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Four months after “Love Me Harder,” Tesfaye was tapped to record “Earned It” from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. The most sexually explicit R&B singer of the time making a song for the year’s most pornographic film? It felt so wrong, but oooh was it so right. The orchestral pop ballad introduced The Weeknd’s slow-burning seductive vocals to a much wider audience. “Earned It” became The Weeknd’s first solo Hot 100 top 10 hit (No. 3), won a Grammy Award for best R&B performance and scored an Oscar nomination for best original song.
The Weeknd’s mid-2010s pop pivot was well underway, but now he wanted to prove he could pull it off without the assist of an A-list artist or buzzy movie franchise with “Can’t Feel My Face.” The certified smash earned him more MJ comparisons than when Tesfaye put his skeletal cover of “Dirty Diana” on Echoes of Silence, especially his screeching ad-libs that felt plucked straight from Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and his slick footwork and signature spin in the music video. With his dependable hitmaking team from “Love Me Harder” – Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Ali Payami and Peter Svensson – Tesfaye had successfully broken though pop’s ceiling after initially cracking it with “Love Me Harder” and “Earned It.” “Face” eventually became The Weeknd’s first solo Hot 100 chart-topper, and a runaway radio smash that had us just as hooked as Tesfaye was on blow (or so he semi-subtly sang). It also earned a favorite song of the year nomination at the 2016 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, which he hilariously referenced in the Starboy cut “Reminder”: “I just won a new award for a kids show/ Talkin’ ‘bout a face numbin’ off a bag of blow.” The Weeknd’s lyrical knack for disguising his NSFW fixations in PG-rated, radio-friendly hooks would give him a clever edge.
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Surprisingly, follow-up “The Hills” would be even bigger. Horrifying shrieks, sparse trap beats and Tesfaye’s hoarse verses about life in the fast lane felt like a return to form to his mixtapes’ murkier R&B – with its outro sung in his native Amharic, the primary language of Ethiopia, to further ground himself in his roots – and without compromising “the real me,” it became the fundamental crossover smash of his career. The Weeknd replaced himself at No. 1 on the Hot 100, with “The Hills” dethroning “Can’t Feel My Face” after its three-week run and remaining on top for six weeks.
His chart reign gave him the confidence to make his mainstream bid with Beauty Behind the Madness. The album, which completed his transition from reputable R&B singer-songwriter to perennial pop star, was marked by even more irresistible MJ-inspired bangers (“In The Night”) and lovelorn, instrumental-driven ballads (“Angel” and “Shameless”). On the Ye-produced, soul-sampling “Tell Your Friends,” The Weeknd sums up just exactly who he is: “I’m that n—a with the hair/ Singin’ ‘bout popping’ pills, f—kin’ b—-es, livin’ life so trill.” Beauty became The Weeknd’s first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and planted him firmly in the spotlight he had shied away from just a few short years ago.
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And as he started sounding more like a pop star, he also started looking like one, too, with a headline-making haircut. He kills his former self and smashes his accolades to the beat of the title track’s snare in the music video for his third Hot 100 No. 1 “Starboy,” featuring Daft Punk. Starboy became his second Billboard 200-topping album and earned him his second best urban contemporary album Grammy win, proving that lightning can strike twice.
His high-profile relationships with model Bella Hadid and fellow singer Selena Gomez inspired his 2018 EP My Dear Melancholy,. Revealing he volunteered to donate his kidney to Gomez (who got a transplant in 2017 amid her battle with lupus) on the desolate opener “Call Out My Name” set the tone for the heart-wrenching six-song set, which represented a sobering sonic departure from the resplendent pop of Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy. But the vulnerability – which was on full display at his first Coachella headlining gig the following month – recaptured the dark magic of his early mixtapes. And it was a winning formula: My Dear Melancholy, earned Tesfaye his third consecutive Billboard 200 No. 1.
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The album rollout for 2020’s After Hours era unfolded like a masterclass in world-building, with The Weeknd playing a red suit jacket-, black leather glove-, black sunglasses-wearing character, his face further concealed by bloodied facial bandages, that would bring mischief and mayhem to music videos and late-night TV and award show performances. We would first meet him in the visual for “Heartless,” a hedonistic trap-tinged R&B record where The Weeknd boasts in the first line, “Never need a b—h, I’m what a b—h need” and licks a psychedelic-laced frog.
The song became The Weeknd’s fourth No. 1, but it would be the LP’s second single that would alter pop music history. As Billboard’s top Hot 100 song of all time, “Blinding Lights” is an adrenaline-pumping, synth-pop juggernaut that beamed brighter than the marquee lights of its Las Vegas Strip backdrop and entered the cultural zeitgeist. Only The Weeknd could turn a song about drunk driving to a hookup (that premiered in a Mercedes Benz commercial, no less) into the longest-running Radio Songs No. 1 (26 weeks) and the most-streamed song on Spotify while also soundtracking over a million TikTok dance videos featuring frontline healthcare workers and quarantined families alike.
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With its parent album After Hours, he nailed one of pop music’s tenets – making personal themes universal – and with the pandemic, The Weeknd’s motifs of loneliness and escapism felt even more relatable. That’s why After Hours and Dua Lipa’s ‘70s disco-inspired album Future Nostalgia came at the right time, because they cranked up the BPMs of top 40 and helped usher in pop’s retro dance-driven renaissance (years before Beyoncé’s Renaissance) during one of the world’s darkest years in recent history.
After Hours debuted atop the Billboard 200, but when it and “Blinding Lights” shockingly received zero nominations at the 2021 Grammys, critics and his peers like Drake and Kid Cudi sneered at the snub. “The Grammys remain corrupt,” The Weeknd retaliated on X (formerly known as Twitter), adding in a statement to The New York Times that he “will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.” (He still took home a statue in 2022 for his feature on Ye’s “Hurricane” with Lil Baby.) While The Weeknd was missing from Music’s Biggest Night, he was front and center on the world’s biggest stage a month earlier: the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show. And the penultimate performance of his House of Balloons title track, backed by a marching army of bandaged lookalikes, that eventually revved up to the exhilarating speed of “Blinding Lights,” made for a true career-spanning victory lap moment.
The Weeknd
Rich Fury/Getty Images for dcp
The Weeknd
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TW
As he continued riding the highs of his blockbuster After Hours era, fans wondered where The Weeknd could possibly go next. On his highly anticipated follow-up, Dawn FM, he showed us exactly where he was taking us: With the help of Jim Carrey, who was posing as purgatory’s radio DJ, we were headed toward the light at the end of the tunnel. The Weeknd soundtracked the ominous journey by zeroing in on After Hours’ synth-pop infatuation to create levity on tracks like the spellbinding dancefloor number “Take My Breath,” which peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100, and “Sacrifice,” where Tesfaye gets as close as he ever has to sounding like the King of Pop. But unlike its blockbuster predecessor, Dawn FM failed to produce a surefire hit. Dawn FM entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2, a slight misstep for someone who’s notched four consecutive No. 1 albums, but an inconsequential one for someone who had already been crowned pop royalty.
The Weeknd didn’t put out any new solo studio releases in 2023, but his status as a no-doubt superstar allowed him to rest on his laurels and enjoy the fruits of his labor. With the Grande-assisted “Die for You” going No. 1, The Weeknd joined Michael Jackson as the only male soloists with multiple leaders on the chart from three different albums. Not bad for a guy who’s spent his entire career emulating the King of Pop. Guinness World Records also named him the world’s most popular artist after he became the first artist to reach 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify. He was Spotify’s most streamed monthly artist for over a year, until Billie Eilish recently took the title – and his premature supportive response suggested a heavyweight like him wasn’t threatened by someone else holding the championship belt. The Weeknd also headlined Coachella again alongside Swedish House Mafia, entering an elite group of acts who’ve headlined the festival twice (and being the first non-alternative/rock act to do so). His set served as a warm-up for his After Hours Til Dawn Tour, with its first leg and second leg earning spots on 2022 and 2023’s top 10 grossing tours list.
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And for a split second, his stadium stint doubled as the set for his HBO series The Idol, which follows troubled pop star Jocelyn (played by Lily-Rose Depp) who develops a complicated relationship with Tesfaye’s character Tedros, a sleazy nightclub owner/cult leader who yearns to pilot her career comeback. Despite critics and viewers largely rebuking the controversial series, which received a 19% score on Rotten Tomatoes and was swiftly canceled after five episodes, The Idol managed to win an Emmy this year and win back some credibility with its soundtrack. The Weeknd formed an unusual, yet effective alliance with the Queen of Pop Madonna and the King Vamp Playboi Carti on the platinum-certified “Popular” that harkened back to the slinky 2000s pop&B that The Neptunes dominated, and entered into a musical threesome with BLACKPINK’s Jennie and Depp on the erotic, down-tempo “One of the Girls,” which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Global 200.
Earlier this September, he announced the third and final installment of his After Hours/Dawn FM trilogy, Hurry Up Tomorrow, a bittersweet way of sunsetting this chapter of his career: He told W Magazine last year that this album “is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd.” Its lead single, “Dancing in the Flames,” is out Friday (Sept. 13), and the shimmering snippet suggests he’s delivering yet another slice of retro-pop brilliance. But even when The Weeknd as we’ve come and known to love him ceases to exist, his transition from subterranean R&B auteur to ubiquitous genre-bending superstar – and the countless alt-R&B neophytes and would-be eletro-pop stars he’s fathered in the years between – he will forever go down as one of the most remarkable artists, with one of the most remarkable career arcs, in modern pop music history.
Read more about the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century here — and be sure to check back on Tuesday when our No. 17 artist is revealed!
In decades past, the BBC Proms were considered an austere, sometimes stuffy showcase of classical music at London’s Royal Albert Hall. But in recent years, pop and rock acts have risen to the challenge to be a part of the programming, with Sam Smith taking on a performance backed by the BBC Orchestra earlier this summer.
Last night (Sep 11), Florence + The Machine played their 2009 debut Lungs in full for their first – and only – live performance in 2024, backed by conductor Jules Buckley and his orchestra. The Proms were first held in 1895, and have been organised by the BBC since 1927. The events take place over an 8-week stretch in the summer each year.
The show – dubbed “Symphony of Lungs” – saw many classic tracks be performed live for the first time in decades. “Bird Song” had not been played by the band for 15 years, while fan favorites “Drumming Song” and “My Boy Builds Coffins” were brought back into the setlist after lengthy absence.
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Speaking to the crowd, Florence Welch said that the album captured her “messy and chaotic” teenage years and spoke of the challenge revisiting the songs. “I really had a time re-learning these songs ‘cause these [vocal] ranges are crazy,” she said from the stage. “Because you’re young and you’re drunk and you only think you’ll ever sing them one time.”
Watch footage from the show below.
The event was one of the season’s most in-demand events with tickets selling out instantly upon announcement earlier this year. A limited batch of tickets released on the day of the event, with prices as low as £8 ($10), saw a queue form online that reached over 20,000 hopeful attendees.
Lead singer Florence Welch and the band worked extensively with conductor Jules Buckley to adapt the songs for his orchestra. Speaking to Vogue, the singer said it was an offer she couldn’t refuse. “When [the invitation] came in, they were like, ‘We know you’re off, but would you…?’ and I was like, ‘Yes!’”
Fan favorites including “Dog Days Are Over”, “Kiss With A Fist” and “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” were all performed, fusing elements of the string section and her own band expertly. Lungs was a instant-hit upon release, landing at No.1 on the U.K. Albums Chart and No.14 on the Billboard 200.
Florence + The Machine released their most recent album Dance Fever in 2022, which was another chart topper in the U.K. and reached No.14 on the Billboard 200. Earlier this year, Welch collaborated with Taylor Swift on The Tortured Poets Department cut “Florida!!!”, which peaked at No.8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
See the show’s full setlist below.
“Drumming Song”“My Boy Builds Coffins”“You Got the Love” (Candi Staton cover)“Bird Song Intro”“Bird Song”“Swimming”“I’m Not Calling You a Liar”“Kiss With a Fist”“Howl”“Girl With One Eye”“Hardest of Hearts”“Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)”“Blinding”“Hurricane Drunk”“Cosmic Love”“Between Two Lungs”“Dog Days Are Over”“Falling”