Pop
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Talent runs in the family! Lola Consuelos, the daughter of Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, took to TikTok this week to share a cover of Sabrina Carpenter’s viral hit, “Espresso,” showing off her jazzy vocal talent. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the one-minute clip, the […]
Amid Israel’s intensifying military operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah — where dozens of Palestinian civilians have reportedly been killed in the past few days — Dua Lipa is once again calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
On Tuesday (May 28), the pop star shared an Artists for Ceasefire graphic with the hashtag “#AllEyesOnRafah” on her Instagram Story and wrote, “Burning children alive can never be justified.”
“The whole world is mobilising to stop the Israeli genocide,” Lipa added. “Please show your solidarity with Gaza.”
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The “Levitating” musician’s post comes on the heels of Israel’s recent bout of shelling and airstrikes west of Rafah, which killed at least 37 people between Monday and Tuesday. Many of those civilians had already been displaced from their home territories as a result of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas, which has now killed a total of 36,000-plus Palestinians since October, according to The Associated Press.
More displaced Palestinians were also killed Sunday when strikes in the same area triggered a deadly fire that engulfed parts of a refugee camp, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since called a “tragic mishap.” Israeli leaders have reportedly argued that the violence in Rafah is crucial to ensuring Hamas’ return of the hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attacks, which marked the initial trigger of the country’s soon-to-be eight-month war against the terrorist group.
Lipa’s statement is the latest example of the pop star advocating on behalf of the Palestinian people amid the conflict. A few weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks, she was one of many stars to sign an Artists for Ceasefire open letter urging President Joe Biden to call for peace in Gaza. Three months later, she got candid about her stance on the war in her January Rolling Stone cover story.
“My existence is kind of political, the fact that I lived in London because my parents left from the war,” she told the publication at the time, referencing her Albanian heritage. “I feel for people who have to leave their home. From my experience of being in Kosovo and understanding what war does, no one really wants to leave their home. They do it for protection, to save their family, to look after the people around them, that kind of thing, for a better life. So I feel close to it.”
“My feelings on displaced people [are] very real and raw,” she added at the time. “It is a difficult subject to speak about because it’s so divisive.”
Billie Eilish crowns Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Songs charts dated June 1 with her new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, and its lead single “Lunch.”
Hit Me Hard and Soft becomes Eilish’s first No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, reigning as her first LP since the chart shifted in 2022 to include alternative-leaning titles outside the rock genre.
The set is also Eilish’s fourth leader on Top Alternative Albums, following Happier Than Ever (2021), When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019) and Dont Smile at Me (2019, after it first appeared on the list in 2017).
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In the week ending May 23, Hit Me Hard and Soft, released May 17, earned 339,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. – Eilish’s best career week by that metric – according to Luminate. The sum includes 191,000 album sales and 146,000 streaming-equivalent units.
The 10-song collection is the first release to reach six digits in units on Top Rock & Alternative Albums since Dolly Parton’s Rockstar (128,000; Dec. 2, 2023) and the first on Top Alternative Albums since blink-182’s One More Time… (125,000; Nov. 4, 2023).
The 339,000-unit total is the highest for a title on Top Rock & Alternative Albums in a decade, since the 383,000 units amassed by Coldplay’s Ghost Stories (June 7, 2014; it’s the top count since Top Rock & Alternative Albums shifted to a consumption-based methodology in 2016).
On Top Alternative Albums, Hit Me Hard and Soft has the biggest week since the all-time leader: Taylor Swift’s Folklore (846,000; Aug. 8, 2020), with Eilish’s new LP the second-biggest in a single week since the 2016 shift to a consumption-based formula.
Concurrently, Hit Me Hard and Soft debuts at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and crowns the Vinyl Albums chart, with 90,000 vinyl copies sold, as previously reported.
“Lunch,” the album’s lead single, bows at No. 1 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Alternative Songs surveys. “Lunch” is Eilish’s fourth No. 1 on the former, which became inclusive of alternative-leaning songs not categorized within the rock genre in 2020, following commands for “What Was I Made For?” in 2023, “Happier Than Ever” in 2021 and “My Future” in 2020. Of those, “Happier Than Ever” also debuted at No. 1.
On Hot Alternative Songs, which began in 2020, “Lunch” is also Eilish’s fourth leader, likewise following “What Was I Made For?,” “Happier Than Ever” and “My Future.”
“Lunch” starts with 32.8 million official U.S. streams, 20.2 million radio audience impressions and 3,000 downloads sold May 17-23.
The entirety of Hit Me Hard and Soft’s 10-song tracklist reaches Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, with eight titles debuting in the top 10 and all 10 in the top 12. Only Zach Bryan, with nine of the top 10 on the Sept. 9, 2023, tally, has claimed more in the top 10 in a single frame.
The LP’s top-charting song after “Lunch” is “Chihiro,” which bows at No. 3 with 27.2 million streams and 1,000 sold.
“Lunch” concurrently debuts at No. 17 on Pop Airplay, No. 21 on Alternative Airplay and No. 24 on Adult Pop Airplay, as well as No. 26 on the all-format Radio Songs list.
The track also arrives at No. 1 on Alternative Streaming Songs, marking Eilish’s eighth leader since the ranking began in 2020. On the all-genre Streaming Songs chart, it starts at No. 5.
All Billboard charts dated June 1 will update on Billboard.com on Wednesday, May 29, a day later than usual due to the May 26 Memorial Day holiday in the U.S.
In a new interview with Grazia published Tuesday (May 28), Victoria Beckham opened up about how paparazzi and tabloids criticized her figure in the months after she and husband David Beckham welcomed their firstborn son Brooklyn, which made her feel pressured to lose weight.
Recalling the aftermath of her oldest child’s birth in March 1999, the former Spice Girl said, “I remember after I had Brooklyn, my first outing was on the front page of the newspaper, with arrows pointing to where I needed to lose weight.”
“I’ve had so much said about me and I’m sure that has robbed me of some experiences,” she continued in the article. “I never want to look like I’m complaining, but there were times in the past that I haven’t felt confident enough to sit on a beach and watch my children play.”
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“Those things can affect how you feel and conduct yourself in public,” Posh added. “Now, if paparazzi want to take a picture and say something – too bad, it doesn’t bother me in the same way.”
The Beckhams share a total of four kids, with son Romeo coming along in September 2002 after Brooklyn. They welcomed son Cruz in 2005, followed by daughter Harper in 2011.
While speaking to the publication, Victoria also shared that her family’s collective use of social media has allowed her to show the world a different side of her. “For so long people had this opinion of me that I was this steely-faced ice queen because of the paparazzi pictures and the story that the media would paint,” she said. “I like to laugh at myself. There’s always humor in what we do … They showed the world who I really was. That is the real me.”
The interview comes about a month after the beauty and clothing mogul celebrated her 50th birthday with a grand party, which was attended by Mel B, Melanie C, Emma Bunton and Geri Halliwell — aka Victoria’s Spice Girls bandmates. At one point, the quintet danced along to their 1997 hit “Stop,” a rare reunion captured by David in an Instagram video.
“Best night ever!” Victoria wrote at the time, also sharing the clip on social media. “Happy Birthday to me! I love you all so much!”
On a recent trip to New York, I spoke on a panel discussing the state of the global music industry. During the Q&A, someone asked, “When will the day come that Taylor Swift isn’t the biggest artist in the world?”
Answer: She already isn’t.
Now, maybe it’s a matter of perspective. From a Western vantage point, it’s a valid question. Given Swift’s ubiquitous media coverage, it’s hard to imagine a day when she isn’t at the top of our industry. In the past year alone, she has broken records, won awards, and inspired fans. But her achievements are only one slice of the global picture.
The music industry is increasingly interconnected, with content moving across markets and access to that content expanding in ways many do not see. With that comes the opportunity to reach massive populations from emerging markets, whose focus rests on domestic artists and local language content. I think a future where the next big global star arises from somewhere other than the U.S. is barreling towards us, and they won’t be singing in English.
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My confidence here is informed by my home, the United Arab Emirates, which sits at the intersection of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and has a population representing over 200 nationalities. I am deeply embedded in this region and its music industry, and I have firsthand exposure to music’s evolution in these markets, watching the increasing dominance of local language music and recognizing how it is reshaping pop culture. That change is happening quickly across listenership, subscription growth, access to music and more.
Evaluating a superstar from the West against a superstar from the East is not an apples-to-apples comparison. There is important context missing from the raw numbers, particularly in available streaming metrics, which fail to fully represent the consumption in the East or the potential for monetization in the years to come.
The multinational streaming platforms have thoroughly established themselves as the leaders in monetization. For example, Spotify has carved out a reputation as the market leader with over 602 million monthly active users globally, 236 million of which are paying. However, those multinational platforms are relatively new to the MENA region and other emerging markets and are still building a user base. In contrast, domestic streaming platforms in the wider region have had longer to build a strong user base (e.g., India’s Gaana boasts 200 million monthly active users), but their monetization hasn’t caught up yet.
However, if we look at the sheer market size, the opportunity in emerging markets is undeniable. The populations of the U.S. (330 million) and the U.K. (67 million) are dwarfed when compared to India (1.4 billion), MENA (489 million people), Pakistan (243 million), or Nigeria (227 million). Music consumption in some of these markets is already outpacing the West (in rate of growth) and will soon surpass the West (in volume).
The data is there. Emerging markets have been the major driver of global subscription growth since 2021, and Goldman Sachs’s 2024 Music in the Air reports their contribution is expected to reach 70% by 2030. In Luminate’s 2023 report they highlighted that India’s streaming volume increased by nearly half a trillion streams year-over-year vs. 184 billion for the U.S. At that rate, particularly as the U.S. reaches a point of saturation, we could see India surpass the U.S. in consumption this year.
You might think that the increased availability and monetization of streaming platforms in emerging markets would translate to the Taylor Swifts of the West reaching even more listeners. The truth is those listeners increasingly care more about their own domestic stars and regional music culture than what the West exports to them.
YouTube launched globally in 2005 and has long been the established service for streaming and discovering music, thereby more adequately reflecting music listening preferences in the region. If we look specifically at Swift, there is no denying she is massively popular on the platform. On YouTube’s Global Music Charts for April 19-25 (the week her latest album dropped), she sat squarely at #1. However, eight of the Top 10 songs that week were actually non-English releases by artists from around the world. How many of you know the Bhojpuri hit “Maroon Color Sadiya” (which was #3 that same week)? Expand that to the Top 40, and only eight songs are in English. This is only on YouTube; consider the impact of additional domestic streaming platforms, which are even more skewed toward local language artists in each market.
Local language matters; the era of pop music being defined as “Anglo-American” is over. Looking at streams per day in India in 2023, Statista found Hindi represented over 40% versus English’s 25% share. What’s more, vernacular language and regional music, which made up the remaining 34%, was notably the fastest-growing genre from 2020 to 2023. In its 2023 report, Luminate highlighted how the share of English language music declined by 12% globally since 2021, while the share of Hindi music has essentially doubled. Even in the U.S., the share of English language content is down 3.8% since 2021.
The global diaspora which is consuming Arabic, Hindi, and other global languages is in the West too, augmenting the shift I’m describing. The meteoric transformation of K-pop into a global phenomenon is a particularly strong example of this expansion, thanks to groups like BTS, BLACKPINK and Stray Kids. In addition to its huge following in Korea, the genre has swept the West, with Korean being the 3rd biggest language by consumption in the U.S. in 2023, according to Luminate.
So, is Taylor Swift really the biggest artist in the world? Given the change I’ve described in streaming adoption across emerging markets, the importance of domestic platforms, and the sheer fact that on a country-by-country level domestic acts reign, the answer is no. Last time I checked, India, Pakistan, the Middle East, China and most of Africa have their own superstars — and they represent most of the populated world. There’s no telling how high those local artists will climb before their stars eclipse the likes of Swift in ways that become much more obvious to the rest of us.
Spek is the founder/CEO of PopArabia & ESMAA and the executive vp of international & emerging markets at Reservoir. He was recently named to Billboard’s International Power Players 2024 list, having previously appeared on the list in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Ed Sheeran has basically been waiting his whole life for a moment like this. During the Offspring‘s set at this weekend’s BottleRock Festival in Napa Valley, Calif. on Sunday night Sheeran came out on stage to join the veteran Cali punks for blitz through “Million Miles Away” from their 2000 Conspiracy of One album. In […]
Beyoncé may run the world now, but Tina Knowles has revealed that her daughter experienced her fair share of bullies back when the superstar was young.
In a video interview with Vogue posted Sunday (May 26), the businesswoman opened up about raising her daughters to embrace their individuality — no matter who tried to break their souls. “Beyoncé, she was very shy,” she shared. “She got bullied a bit.”
“The day that she stood up for someone … she didn’t stand up for herself, she stood up for them,” Knowles added. “I’m getting emotional talking about it. I couldn’t have been more proud of her.”
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She went on to share that her youngest daughter, Grammy-winning musician Solange, has “always been an activist” and often went around asking people to sign petitions. As for Bey’s best friend and former Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland, Knowles remembers the Mea Culpa star as being a “little peacemaker” when she was young.
“Kelly was always this kid that tried to protect everybody,” she continued.
Sharing the clip on her personal account, Knowles wrote, “Each child is different!”
“But all so special,” she added. “I believe kids are born with their personalities. My three girls All handled things very differently. Learn their personalities and respect the individuality.”
Bey is now a mom herself, with Ms. Tina taking on the role of grandmother to 12-year-old Blue Ivy and 6-year-old twins Rumi and Sir, whom the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer shares with Jay-Z. That means the vocalist is imparting onto her own children the same lessons she previously learned from Knowles, including the importance of blocking out the haters and focusing on one’s craft.
For instance, Knowles recently revealed that Bey had some wise words for Blue after her dancing at the Renaissance Tour received negative comments. “It was a great life lesson because her mom basically said, ‘Listen, if you let this get you down, then they won,” she recalled. “So you should go and work harder. And, you know, just work harder and get your skills together and go out there and blast it.’”
Watch the clip below.
Coldplay had a special surprise in store for fans on Sunday (May 26) during their headlining set closing out BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend Festival. While preparing to perform the Ghost Stories favorite “Magic,” singer Chris Martin alluded to the fact that his band has been a staple of the event for the past decade.
“We’ve been playing this, one Big Weekend since we were basically children,” Martin said. “And the reason we play one Big Weekend is because without Radio 1, we would never have kept our jobs.” Then, the singer self-deprecatingly introduced one of the festival’s other performers, Sabrina Carpenter, telling the crowd, “What we’d like to do, to say thank you to you for being so wonderful for the whole three days is bring on a singer who’s much younger, more beautiful, more successful, better in every way, and sing a song of ours that is okay but make it really good.”
With the crowd properly hyped, Martin added, “Welcome, from America, U.S.A., Sabrina Carpenter, let’s go!” Carpenter seemed as jazzed as the audience, responding, “Give it up for Coldplay! What the hell?”
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The band — who have frequently invited guest stars up to join them during the epic two-year Music of the Spheres road trip — leaned into the song’s spare intro, as Martin and Carpenter harmonized, “Call it magic/ Call it true/ I call it magic/ When I’m with you,” while a graphic of a man trapped inside a top hat struggling to hold on to a woman blowing away from him screened behind them.
It wasn’t the only time during the Coldplay set that the 25-year-old singer/actress made her way into their repertoire. While playing their beloved ballad “Fix You,” a few songs earlier, Martin playfully slipped in a shot of Carpenter’s hit “Espresso” into the song to the crowd’s delight, as he sang, “That’s that me, espresso.”
Watch Carpenter join Coldplay for “Magic” below.
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For most of his career, Adam Lambert has been playing characters. Whether in his musical theater roots, his touring role as the frontman of Queen or even on American Idol, the 42-year-old singer says much of his career has been about performance.
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But he’s ready to change that. “I’ve watched other artists express this very real, authentic part of themselves over the last few years,” he tells Billboard. “Now, it’s my turn.”
Lambert’s new solo EP Afters (due out July 19) sees the singer embracing a new, dance-focused sound to talk about sex, desire and romance in a more honest way than he ever has before. The first pair of singles off the project, “Lube” and “Wet Dream” (both due out Friday, May 31), give audiences a glimpse of what the singer has in store for them, with Lambert’s rock-inspired sound swapped out for pounding club beats and uncensored lyrics.
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“I wanted to make a project that felt like the kind of music I listened to with my friends, talking about the things I talk about with my friends,” Lambert explains. “Sometimes, things get a little naughty, and I wanted to capture that energy.”
Below, Lambert breaks down the inspirations behind his new project, what it means to be rediscovering himself 15 years into his career, and how advancements for LGBTQ artists in the music industry have fundamentally changed the way he approaches music.
Let’s talk about your new project, Afters. This is a very different direction that you’re taking — can you tell me a little bit about where the idea for this project came from?
I’ve experimented with so many different sorts of directions and genres and sounds over the years. I’ve done a lot and for this, I was like, “Okay, what have I not really done?” I wanted whatever I did next to feel as authentic as possible — I wanted it to feel real to my life. I started my career on stage playing different characters and then stepping onto American Idol, and then stepping in with Queen. I get to sing the most amazing music and tour the world with them. But it’s all serving specific audiences, you know what I mean? And I wanted to do something that sounded like my social life.
Here in West Hollywood, I love going out, I love having after parties at my house, I love nightlife. I love dressing up and and interacting with people and and getting that charged up and flirty feeling with people. So I just was like, “I want to capture that energy of sexuality and desire for connection and liberation.” And that’s the after party.
That’s an interesting point about you playing “roles” in your past music career — was there any trepidation in making this project about fan or industry reactions to this very raw sound?
Yeah, there might be some fans out there that might go, “Whoa, what is all this” and not understand it. But it’s the most honest that I’ve gotten to be in a really long time because there’s no filter. When I first came onto the scene in 2009, the scene was very different. The music industry was very different, and being a gay man in the music industry was uncharted territory in some ways. We had other greats before us in other genres, but doing contemporary pop, I felt like I didn’t have anybody else to sort of see as an example in that world.
It was a trial and error experience; I had that first single that was kind of sexy, and then the performance where I kissed a guy and I got a big slap on the wrist for it. I had so much support from the industry coming off of Idol, and I think there was this collective sort of gasp and clutching of the pearls at that performance. They didn’t turn their back on me, but it felt like the audience took a collective step back.
I had to play the game at that point, because I wasn’t going to lose my opportunity. So I just kept moving forward and doing my thing. And obviously there’s a lot more to me than just my sexuality, but that is a big part of who I am. Romance and sex and heartbreak, we see all of our favorite hetero artists sing about all that stuff all the time. So I was always a little frustrated with the double standard early on, because I was like, “Well, why can’t I?” The game, for a while, became me asking how I could push things.
I feel like [now] we’re in 2024, and the rules have completely been tossed out the window. It’s a totally different playing field. Now, the way people get music and find music is completely different. I think the fact that we can go straight to the listener as an artist changes the politics of all of it. Back in the day, radio was this gatekeeper — and it was like, and if you really wanted to be successful, you had to play the game on the radio. Now that’s completely different, too. So there are less hurdles you have to jump over.
When it comes to “playing the game” and the rules changing, do you think the industry has reached a point where the old playbook when it comes to artist authenticity is entirely outdated, or are we still in a transition phase?
I mean, it’s still a bit of a game — you still have to strategize, and you still have to figure out what people like and how they’ll respond to things and marketing and all that. But I think that identity politics has become such an important part of an artist’s whole package. People are not stupid: They know when someone’s being who they are, and when they’re not. If anything, with this next project, the people that know me will go, “Oh, yeah.” The other thing is that in today’s world, where we’re showing so much more of ourselves with social media, the audience want in on our lives. So in a way, this is a glimpse. This is my experience.
I was listening to “Lube” right before we started, and even as a queer person who’s been following you for a long time, I was like, “Whoa, okay, we’re going there!”
Yeah, I really did sing the words “gonna make you nut.” [Laughs.] I actually wrote this song with Vincint and Parson James, and we had a different chorus originally. I walked away with the song, and I was like, “That chorus is not really doing it for me.” So I had the producer take the chorus vocal off of it, leaving it as an instrumental, and I just kept listening to it. I opened the program up and I just started running the track and recording ideas. When I thought of the rhyme and I was like, “Oh, that’s crazy, I can’t say that.” And then I was like “…maybe I should just say it? Just f–king say it! Why am I editing myself?”
I recognize that this is literally a dance song about lubrication; it’s ridiculous, I’m aware. But there was a part of me that was like, “I want to make music that sounds like the way I dress.” Sonically, like the aesthetic, I want it to sound like how I like to look. Because I’ve been very inspired by fashion lately, and I keep finding things that are just really weird. And I get inspired by that, as well.
I also love that you let fans get an early listen of “Wet Dream.” How closely were you watching the fan reaction to it? How much were you letting that dictate the rest of your release strategy?
I was definitely taking note, and I think the overall impression was really strong. People were surprised by it, because it’s different. It’s a different sound for me, and it really goes off in a way the audience seemed to like. It was so fun to perform live down in Australia — and that’s sort of why we put it out. I really wanted to perform it on stage, especially for Pride Month. So that was why I was like, “Let’s kind of put it out. If you want to check it out, you can on SoundCloud, let’s just have it around.”
Part of what I love about the songs is that you are really leaning into the gay club aesthetic — because oftentimes, this house, dance-pop sound has a tendency, especially when coming from queer artists, to be written off as “gay music” and taken less seriously. It feels like that has changed a lot in recent years where that brand of music has become much more high profile — why do you think that is?
That’s a really good point, and I actually hadn’t thought a lot about that. Even before American Idol, the music that I was listening to in my 20s was a lot of electronic music. It was all dance-y electronic stuff. To be honest, I don’t really listen to classic rock in my free time, but when I auditioned for Idol, it was a lane that I saw opened up for me. And I was like, “I can do that. I like classic rock.”
I think when I first started wearing makeup and heels and all of that, the “rock star version” of all that was like a way to justify looking that way and wanting to express myself that way. It got me past certain people. I think even artists of those genres — like Freddie Mercury, first and foremost, and Bowie — gave me permission to express myself that way. It made sense for me to go and sing glam rock and classic rock, because that era was such a beautiful expression of men being able to be feminine and messing with gender. It made it feel safer for me to go there.
As you get older, you get way more comfortable in your own skin and you accept everything about yourself. Now I’m just like, ”This is just who I am — I’m basically a blouse, a feminine top.” It’s amazing the way that society has shifted, because you go online and you see tons of boys doing makeup tutorials. The idea of of expressing yourself in any way shape or form — whether it’s your feminine side, your masculine side, the queer umbrella — [has] gone through this prism and expanded. There’s so much more visibility on all corners of it right now than there has ever been. That’s one reason why I feel like it’s just completely blown open, especially when it comes to music.
These songs are going to be coming out right at the same time that you’re going to be doing your headlining performance for WeHo Pride. What does that mean for you to be getting to headlining this event, and what can fans expect to see?
The lineup over the weekend is crazy. When I saw that I’m on the bill with Kesha, it made me smile so hard, because we go so far back — when I first got signed to RCA, she was on RCA, right after “TiK ToK” had come out. We were at a lot of these industry events together and we just totally clicked, and so it’s it’s a pretty full circle moment. I mean, the fact that Kylie’s playing on Saturday, I just … it’s gonna be a really amazing weekend.
Lady Gaga‘s Gaga Chormatica Ball concert film debuted on Max over the long holiday weekend and while it features all the outrageously outré costumes, staging and musical highlights a Little Monster could want, it also ends with the most delightfully perfect flash forward. While Gaga has been teasing her next musical era on her socials […]