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Billie Eilish will never be a bad guy in Christina Aguilera‘s eyes. A few days after the “Beautiful” vocalist and her daughter attended the 22-year-old pop star’s Los Angeles listening party, Aguilera shared a sweet video of Eilish meeting 9-year-old Summer, and thanked her for being so gracious in a Wednesday (May 22) post. In […]
The trailer for the upcoming Hulu four-part music documentary series Camden features a number of A-listers singing the praises of the influence the London neighborhood has had on their music and careers. The 1:44 trailer for the show — executive produced by Dua Lipa — features the “Houdini” singer, as well as Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Noel Gallagher, the Libertines’ Pete Doherty and Nile Rodgers describing how inspiring the Camden scene was.
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“Camden, so full of life and music,” Martin says over images of graffiti, punks hanging out and sweaty rock clubs. “It’s got a heartbeat, it’s got a vibe, it’s got an energy to it,” adds former Oasis co-founder and High Flying Birds frontman Gallagher.
Dua shows up as well, walking into a record store and doing the time honored flipping-through-vinyl-in-a-bin bit as she says, “I don’t think you’ll find a single record store in Camden that doesn’t have an Amy [Winehouse] record.” The teaser also features Doherty describing spotting Noel Gallagher’s estranged brother, former Oasis singer Liam, in the city and wanting to play him some of his band’s music.
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“There’s so much legacy here,” Dua says in the trailer of the place she says has a vibe of “radical acceptance,” as the Roots drummer Questlove adds, “It’s the place where stars are born.” Martin also tells the story of his band’s first-ever gig as Coldplay in Camden on a bill where they opened for a headliner who took their drum kit away, forcing the band to play the stage as the bass drum.
“We were celebrating women’s lib, gay lib, Black power, through our music, it all happened in Camden,” Chic leader Rodgers says.
The series that premieres on Hulu on May 29 was directed by Asif Kapadia (Amy, Senna) and also has contributions from Mark Ronson, Little Simz, Carl Cox, Madness, Boy George, the Roots’ Questlove, Yungblud, Black Eyed Peas, Public Enemy’s Chuck D and more.
In a post sharing the trailer cued to the Libertines’ “Don’t Look Back Into the Sun,” Dua wrote, “CAMDEN!! this is a big full circle moment for me and i’m so proud to be an executive producer and to have worked on a new original documentary series that celebrates the very place I started everything!!! Camden will always have a special place in my heart and I’m humbled to share that with some of my absolute musical heroes.”
Watch the Camden trailer below.
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Normani‘s fans have been waiting a long time for the former Fifth Harmony member’s debut album. And on Wednesday (May 22) the singer really gave them something to look forward to with the super sexed-up trailer for the project entitled “Dopamine (First Dose).”
The 1:52 clip kicks off with a set of massive doors opening up to reveal Normani sitting on a desk in a spare office. Wearing a second-skin leather catsuit as stock images of space 1960s space footage flashes by, she slips on a headset and purrs, “Hello, Hotline 159. Yes, here to satisfy your deepest, darkest, wildest desires. No rules, no restrictions, straight dopamine,” as a mysterious man in an old-school phone booth breathes heavily on the other side.
As the strains of her previously released collab with Gunna, “1:59,” bubbles up and she pops a red lollipop between her lips, the phone rings and footage from the pair’s video streams. Cut to ‘Mani giving an acrobatic lap dance in just a bra, underwear and tights, intercut with subtle shots of rockets taking off.
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The clip ends with the phone ringing again an a close-up of Normani’s face while the camera slowly pans out to reveals her entire naked body encased in silver paint as she teases another song from the collection, “Candy Paint.”
“Bank roll, thubmin’, baby you know how I’m comin’/ Booty on bubonic, and I move it how I want it/ Big girl s–t, baby I don’t do no runnin’/ I can make it boom-boom clap, like I’m drummin’,” she sings as the camera pans out to reveal her stride a provocatively shaped silver rocket, which she proceeds to twerk atop.
Normani’s debut album, Dopamine, is due out on June 14. Its release comes after the singer has dropped a series of singles since leaving 5H in 2018, including her Billboard Hot 100 No. 9-charting solo debut collab with Khalid, “Love Lies,” as well as the No. 7 2019 collab with Sam Smith, “Dancing With a Stranger.” That same year she unleashed the ear worm single “Motivation” and the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack song “Bad To You” with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, followed by tracks with Megan Thee Stallion (2020’s “Diamonds”), Cardi B (2021’s “Wild Side”) and Calvin Harris (2022’s “New to You” with Tinashe and Offset).
Now, though, it is her time. As she recently told ELLE magazine about the LP that she thinks is the truest “representation of my resilience,” she promised myself, ‘If God gives me another opportunity to do things in my own way, I’m not going to take that for granted,’” she said of the collection that mixes uptempo dance songs with others that dig into her struggles during and after 5H’s split. “I think that there’s a false narrative that because of how long this process has taken, that means I don’t care, or that means I’m more interested in doing other things than putting this body of work out. Nobody wants this project to come out more than me. I think that at the end of the day, if I stand behind this wholeheartedly, it doesn’t matter what the world thinks.”
Watch the “Dopamine (First Dose)” teaser below.
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05/22/2024
From groups like aespa, ENHYPEN and ZEROBASEONE to solo stars like MARK, Sorn, Hongseok, Ryu Sujeong and Yein, which new song gets your vote?
05/22/2024
Spoiler alert: This story contains the identity of the winner and runner-up unmasked on Wednesday night’s (May 22) season finale of The Masked Singer.
It was a fierce scramble for the golden mask on Wednesday’s (May 22) season 11 Masked Singer finale in an action-packed battle that pitted powerhouse male vocalist Gumball against season-long favorite Goldfish.
When the confetti fell at the end of the night, though, it was veteran singer/actress Vanessa Hudgens who triumphed over her former Bandslam co-star Scott Porter (aka Friday Night Lights‘ Jason Street).
To recap, former High School Musical movie star Hudgens got her perfect run off to a killer start early on in the season with a fierce take on fellow High School Musical universe alum Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire,” throwing down the gauntlet that this was a performer with killer pipes and casually cool stage moves. The singer, who released two albums on Hollywood Records early in her career, showed off her performance chops throughout by expertly ruling the stage in the peach-colored costume with a towering mohawk and diaphanous gills.
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She continued to swim upstream all season with a smooth-as-butter cover of Player’s 1977 AM radio classic “Baby Come Back” and further proved her arena-ready bona fides with a Broadway-worthy take on Queen’s “The Show Must Go On.”
The flawless march kept going with a showstopping run through Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” — which again showed off her impressive range — as well as last week’s fierce rumble through Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” that had Robin Thicke jumping on the judges’ table for a standing ovation.
On Wednesday, before her reveal, Hudgens, 27, confessed that she was never good at expressing herself as a young girl, but has lately been on a “journey of self-discovery” that allowed her to express herself “so freely” on the show. And while she said music has taken a “back seat” as she’s focused on film for the past 15-plus years — appearing in Second Act, Bad Boys for Life and Tick, Tick… Boom!, as well as the upcoming Bad Boys: Ride or Die — her victory-sealing covers of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” proved her pipes are as strong as ever.
The judges were close in their guesses but didn’t quite nail it, with Rita Ora suggesting former Glee star Lea Michele or Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev; Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg guessing Selena Gomez, Vampire Academy star Sarah Hyland or Julianne Hough; and Thicke going with Hilary Duff. Always-wrong Ken Jeong missed it by a mile once again, tossing out such wildly disparate suggestions as Carly Rae Jepsen, Kristen Stewart and former panelist Nicole Scherzinger.
Billboard spoke to Hudgens before her elimination about why this was the right time to dip back into singing, how she managed to move like such a pro in her costume, and why her “witch” powers were the key to giving the expectant first-time mom something special to share with her baby. Check out her answers below.
You’ve been a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance and RuPaul’s Drag Race, but never really a contestant on a singing show. Why now?
This opportunity came up at a really interesting time when we [actors] were on strike and this was a category I could actually work in and my fans had been asking for more music, more singing, anything of that sort. I was like, “This would be a really fun and interesting opportunity to give my fans what they want and see who the real ones are.”
People complain about the size and sweatiness of the costumes, but you seemed to be able to move with no problems. What was your secret?
Reckless abandonment? [Laughs] It definitely had its own challenges because I couldn’t see straight ahead because the eyeholes were so far apart. If I wanted to see straight ahead, I had to turn my head one way or another and I was really using a live mic and holding it up to the little opening in my mask. So I had to split my vision and look sideways out of one eye and then look down with the other in the mic hole to see the ground. I just went for it and left it all out there. They would be like, “You’re kind of here and then walk over there and if you want to maybe do a verse there and move over here.” I just really let it fly and they gave me the freedom to play, and play I did.
Which performance meant the most to you and why?
I feel so lucky in that I got to work really closely with my producer and pick songs that meant something to me, from the cheeky nod to High School Musical singing “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo to “Baby Come Back,” which I sang at 16 as a cover song for my first single [2006’s “Come Back to Me”]. “The Show Must Go On” for a vulnerable, special performance to “Unforgettable,” which I’d wanted to sing from jump because I just want to sing jazz all the time, to a female empowerment moment with Alanis Morissette.
Did singing “Vampire” make you long for the good old days?
I just think [Rodrigo]’s really great and I really vibe with her. It’s always great to support a fellow Filipina, and it was just a cute, cheeky nod to how things always end up being connected.
It looked like you came to play from jump. How badly did you want to win the golden mask?
You know, it wasn’t really about winning, honestly. I am my own worst critic and I will always be my hardest critic in the room at all times. I just wanted to have fun, and it was a really freeing experience for me to be anonymous and have nothing to do with my name or fame or celebrity. It was a really special experience.
You said your run surprised you and allowed people to really see you for who you are and what you do. Might you go back to music after this?
No. I always say life is about priorities, and that is not a priority right now. I feel like it’s something I will always have in my back pocket.
You said winning would be the “ultimate pat on the back” and really mean a lot to you because you always thought of yourself as an actor first and singer second. Did you give people the “music moment” you hope for?
I think I got to give myself the music moment I was hoping for and in turn my supportive fans got to enjoy it as well. I got to show up every day and put my best foot forward, and I was so uplifted and supported by such an amazing team over there and I got to work on my voice every day with someone who helped me expand my horizons.
On tonight’s show, you said you couldn’t wait to have kids so you could tell them, “Look at mommy go!” Did you know when you taped the show that you were expecting? [Hudgens revealed in March on the Oscars red carpet that she’s expecting her first child.]
No! I’m just a witch! [Laughs] I’ve always worked in a way that kept people guessing and gave me something to show my kids at every stage of my life. That’s always been important to me.
He looks so cute, wrapped around Sabrina Carpenter‘s finger. A fan named Emmyn Calleiro — who makes music under the moniker Games We Play — is going viral for cleverly assisting his brother in wooing the “Espresso” singer, thanks to his hilarious reimagining of her biggest hit. In a recent TikTok, Calleiro begins by standing […]
Camila Cabello and Lil Nas X are fighting for love. The pop star enlisted Nas X for “He Knows” and the mannequin-filled clip arrived on Wednesday (May 22).
Onda helms the grungy visual, which centers around a dance battle at Los Angeles hot spot gay club Heart Weho. Cabello makes the first move wooing a love interest on the dance floor in a sparkling bra top and skirt.
The “Panini” artist doesn’t even pay any attention to Camila, locking eyes with the man in the barren nightclub, making for a fluid situation as he attempts to snatch him from the Fifth Harmony alum’s grasp.
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Cabello isn’t thrilled with Lil Nas X’s drive-by robbery, and she jumps on his back as they get into a tussle only to realize that the guy they were drooling over happens to be a mannequin.
“Oh my God, he’s plastic,” Cabello says in shock.
“But he’s also bald,” Nas X replies, taking the tension out of the room.
They pinky-promise to never fight over a boy again, but that quickly goes awry when another man steals their attention outside the club.
“I just loved the idea of us fighting over this fluid guy, who we don’t know which way he’s leaning,” Cabello told Rolling Stone of the video. “We both would have so much fun with this and have so much fun with the video, so we got to make it a reality.”
“He Knows” arrived on May 10 and serves as the second single from Camila Cabello’s C, XOXO album, which will be released on June 28. The bop follows the Playboi Carti-assisted “I Luv It,” which entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 81.
“This is the best project I’ve ever made, and I have never been so proud of a body of work,” she gushed of her upcoming LP to RS. “It’s just such a world. My favorite albums are when I really get to live in a lyric or live in an aesthetic of an album. She is really a complicated, exciting girl, C,XOXO. She really is.”
Watch the “He Knows” video below.
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Sexyy Red and Lana Del Rey are the duo we didn’t know we needed. The two artists hung out together at Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, Ala., over the weekend, and Sexyy has the moment on camera. The “Get It Sexyy” MC posted an Instagram video Tuesday (May 21) of her and Lana twerking to […]
Billie Eilish is giving the people exactly what they want. Following the release of her new album Hit Me Hard and Soft, the 22-year-old pop star dropped an extended cut of the second half of standout track “L’Amour de Ma Vie” Wednesday (May 22), and it’s perfect for nights out on the town. Between the […]
Earlier this year, fans speculated that Taylor Swift‘s The Tortured Poets Department got its title inspiration from ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn‘s group chat with fellow actors Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, aka “The Tortured Man Club.” And while the jury is still out on whether or not that’s true, Scott did recently set the record straight […]