Pop
Page: 181
Looking for some motivation to help power you through the start of another work week? We feel you, and with some stellar new pop tunes, we’ve got you covered. These tracks from artists including Jorja Smith, Amy Shark, Tiësto and more will get you energized to take on the week.
Coolest Pop Song of the Week: XG, “Something Ain’t Right”
[embedded content]
It’s been quite a few weeks for fans of Asian pop music in the U.S., with the historic Billboard 200 bows of Stray Kids and Jimin’s respective projects this week (following the No. 2 debut of ENHYPEN’s new album the prior week), YG Entertainment’s announcement that 2NE1 will reunite for a world tour, and the return of KCON L.A. boasting a mix of new and veteran stars. There’s a lot of new music to appreciate now, and more to look forward to; let’s add XG’s high-velocity new single, “Something Ain’t Right,” and the J-pop girl group’s second mini-album, which is due out Nov. 8, to that list.
XG arrived in 2022 with a healthy amount of promise, as singles like “Tippy Toes” and “Mascara” demonstrated the Japanese collective’s ability to combine hip-hop, dance, pop and R&B in ways that recalled the modern K-pop superstars but felt specifically tailored to their singular skills. Cocona, Maya, Jurin and Harvey can rap their faces off as needed, and Juria, Chisa and Hinata possess the vocal power to trade off hooks and harmonies. “Shooting Star” and “Left Right” elevated XG (short for “Xtraordinary Girls”) ahead of their first mini-album, last year’s New DNA, and after a handful of stopgap singles in 2024, “Something Ain’t Right” announces the invigoration next iteration of the group’s identity.
The single nods toward garage and house music, but “Something Ain’t Right” most viscerally harkens back to late ‘90s rhythmic pop, with a beat that artists like Mya, 3LW and Blaque would have devoured back in the day. Instead, XG revamps that workout-ready bounce for a new take on “Say My Name”-esque relationship suspicions: “Something ain’t right/ You’ve been acting funny lately/ You ain’t gotta lie/ Got mе out here looking crazy!” Chisa wails, the final word spinning upward and out of her grasp.
“Something Ain’t Right” hits the gas early and glides through rolled-eyes rap verses and pleading bridges, efficient in its synthesis of romantic betrayal. Yet the strongest aspect of the track is how much more we understand XG, and the way that its seven members are deployed individually and collectively. After ramping up their streams and followers over the past two years, the group has returned with an established sense of self and an understanding of the pop mode in which they can best operate. It’s a crowded landscape, but XG is worth seeking out and appreciating.
Here are some more new pop songs worth checking out this week…
Jorja Smith, “High”
Baby, baby, baby do the Biebers seem so excited to welcoming their first child together! As Justin Bieber and wife Hailey Bieber appear to be sharing their final moments of alone time on a babymoon before the upcoming arrival of their first born, Justin posted an adorable video of the happy couple. In the brief […]
Though it definitely made for a soggy journey down the Seine, the steady rain in Paris during Friday night’s lavish opening ceremonies for the 2024 Summer Olympics did not deter Lady Gaga from stealing the show early in the four-hour spectacle. And while Gaga’s eye-popping take on Zizi Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc en Plumes” (“My Thing With Feathers”) appeared to dodge the raindrops, that’s because it was pre-taped to avoid any potential weather-related issues according to choreographer and head of dance for the Olympics and Paralympics Maud le Pladec.
Le Pladec spoke to Variety about the intense preparations for the song-and-dance routine, explaining that Gaga filmed her performance hours before the athletes’ elaborate boat trip down Paris’ iconic river due to safety reasons. Gaga’s vocals were performed live as she made her way up and down a giant set of stairs along with dancers carrying oversized pom poms.
Trending on Billboard
Gaga’s was one of a dozen original performances created by Le Pladec and Olympics artistic director Thomas Jolly, with Le Pladec saying that the singer’s four-minute set was easily the “most artistically challenging” of the bunch. “Unfortunately, it was the only [performance] that, for safety reasons, we had to pre-record late in the afternoon, once we knew for sure that it was going to rain — we had minute-by-minute updates, we had never watched the weather forecast so closely in our lives,” Le Pladec said. “We assessed that it was going to be too dangerous for performers, even with a few drops of rain. [Gaga] wanted to do it absolutely so we preferred to pre-record it rather than cancel it.”
Le Pladec said the performance surface, including that giant set of stairs, would have been too slippery for Gaga — who was wearing high heels — to perform on. “We had to be extremely cautious,” Le Pladec said, noting that while she didn’t play live, Gaga was on site during the opening ceremonies and watched her bit on screen from her dressing room before returning to her hotel.
Not long after, Gaga wrote on X, “I am also humbled to be asked by the Olympics organizing committee to sing such a special French song—a song to honor the French people and their tremendous history of art, music, and theatre… Although I am not a French artist, I have always felt a very special connection with French people and singing French music—I wanted nothing more than to create a performance that would warm the heart of France, celebrate French art and music, and on such a momentous occasion remind everyone of one of the most magical cities on earth—Paris.”
Gaga noted that her team rented the pom poms from a “real French cabaret” theater’s archive, collaborated with Dior to create the custom costumes using naturally molted feathers and that she studied French choreography to put her “modern twist” on a French classic. “I rehearsed tirelessly to study a joyful French dance, brushing up on some old skills—I bet you didn’t know I used to dance at a 60’s French party on the lower east side when I was first starting out! I hope you love this performance as much as I do,” she added. “And to everyone in France, thank you so much for welcoming me to your country to sing in honor of you—it’s a gift I’ll never forget! Congratulations to all the athletes who are competing in this year’s Olympic Games! It is my supreme honor to sing for you and cheer you on!! Watching the Olympic Games always makes me cry! Your talent is unimaginable. Let the games begin!”
In keeping with her perfectionist streak, Le Pladec said that the singer was adamant about delivering a spectacle that would feel “authentic” and pay tribute to the French performance tradition. That explains her decision to do a cabaret-style act featuring singing and dancing with a mix of humor and glamour. The choreographer said Gaga — a “workhorse and a perfectionist” — was working until the final moments on her vocals and steps after training for weeks in Los Angeles with a number of dancers who flew in from Paris.
“She wanted to make a show à la Française,” Le Pladec said. “She puts so much effort and thought into everything she does and she has a very developed creative process.”
The party didn’t end after the performance, either. Over the weekend, Gaga also surprised French Little Monsters when she blasted what she said were two new songs from her as yet untitled seventh studio album from a laptop while dancing through the roof of her limo. At press time no additional information was available on those songs.
Rita Ora was forced to cancel her planned appearance at the Campus Fesztivál in Hungary over the weekend due to a doctor’s order to rest. The “Praising You” singer revealed to fans on Saturday (July 27) that she would be unable to perform at the event that night due to an unspecified illness. In a […]
Surely you didn’t think Lady Gaga would fly all the way over to Paris for just one Summer Olympics performance? After the singer lit up the Sienne on Friday night when she wowed the rain-drenched crowd along the banks of the river and all those watching from the dry comfort of their homes around the […]
Lady Gaga called Michael Polansky her fiancé, seemingly revealing the couple is engaged, while introducing him to French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
“My fiancé, Michael,” Gaga is heard casually saying in a clip the prime minister posted on TikTok Sunday night (July 28). The short video shows Attal briefly hugging the singer and shaking hands with Polansky, Lady Gaga’s partner of more than four years, at an Olympic event.
Billboard reached out to a representative for Lady Gaga for comment.
Trending on Billboard
Gaga and Polansky have been publicly dating since early 2020; she made their relationship Instagram official with a post that February. In an interview a couple months later, she referred to Polansky as “the love of my life.”
Prime Minister Attal didn’t mention the pair’s apparent engagement on TikTok, instead focusing on the pop star’s show-stopping Friday night performance in Paris: “Thank you Lady Gaga for your stunning performance at the opening ceremony,” he wrote in a caption. “It was breathtaking.”
The multi-talented superstar — who will take over the big screen as Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux alongside Joaquin Phoenix when the movie hits theaters Oct. 4 — was the first artist to take the stage during the opening ceremony of the Olympics, providing her version of Parisian cabaret-style entertainment ahead of this summer’s games. Lady Gaga performed the French-language “Mon Truc en Plume” (“My Thing With Feathers”) in a highly choreographed, but playful, routine that led her from a long staircase to a piano.
While in France, Lady Gaga surprised Parisian fans on Sunday with the smallest teaser of music from her forthcoming, much-anticipated seventh studio album.
A thumping, dance-ready snippet off of LG7, and another teaser leaning more rock — both heard in the clip below — was played on the street from a vehicle’s rooftop while Gaga pumped her fist and spectators screamed.
“I’m so deeply touched by my French fans this week outside the hotel,” she wrote in an Instagram Story just before coming outside to play the song. “I’m gonna come out and say goodbye tonight with a few seconds of #LG7.”
The as-yet-untitled LG7 will be the follow-up to 2020’s Billboard 200 chart-topping album Chromatica, which was Gaga’s sixth set to debut at No. 1.
Taylor Swift‘s live version of “…Ready for It?” from The Eras Tour is the soundtrack to a new NBC commercial promoting the network’s coverage of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Swift shared the ad Saturday night (July 27) on Instagram, following her concert at Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany, where she’s performing twice this weekend.
“So ready to scream at my tv cheering for these athletes,” she wrote in an Instagram Story, adding a gold medal emoji to her comment while sharing a reel of the “…Ready for It?” promo.
“Baby Let The Games Begin. #WeAreReadyForIt, @taylorswift. Primetime in Paris: 8/7c on NBC and Peacock #ParisOlympics,” the official NBC Olympics account wrote about the ad themed to Swift’s bold Reputation album opener.
Trending on Billboard
The spot features U.S. Olympic stars including Noah Lyles, LeBron James, Carissa Moore, Jagger Eaton and more, with Simone Biles appearing at the end of the ad for the 2024 Olympics on NBC.
“Are you guys ready for it?” the famed gymnast asks with a big grin.
The 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony featured performances from Lady Gaga and Celine Dion, as well as a pre-recorded cameo from Beyoncé, who introduced Team USA in Friday’s primetime coverage.
“We’ve got superstars and we’ve got legends. We’ve got big dreamers who fought their whole lives to get here. Who gave up everything for one shot, and made it. That pride and that joy? That’s what gets me about this team. And that’s what makes me believe in this team,” Beyonce, in a red, white and blue leotard, announced in the clip, which featured a patriotic rendition of Cowboy Carter track “YA YA.”
Find all the details about how to stream the 2024 Olympics here.
Check out NBC’s “…Ready for It?” Olympics commercial, and Swift’s Instagram Story reaction.
Nick Jonas remembers the “Disney Games” in a very specific way: “like Love Island on crack.”
Jonas, who tells Jimmy Fallon he skipped the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony to visit The Tonight Show, appeared on NBC’s late-night show Friday, July 26. (The singer mentioned plans to head to Paris for the games later on, with friend/designer Ralph Lauren, who dressed him for his wedding with Priyanka Chopra in 2018.)
“You never competed in the Olympics,” Fallon pointed out. “You did, however, compete in the Disney Games.”
“What do you remember about this time of your life?” the host asked the Jonas Brother.
“So much hair,” joked Jonas, looking at a photo circa his youthful Disney star days.
“For those that don’t know,” Jonas explained, “the Disney Channel Games were basically the Olympics, but they would bring in 100ish Disney Channel stars from all over the world and make us compete in silly games.”Then he revealed where the real fun came in: “What it really was, was like Love Island on crack. They would put a bunch of teenagers in the Disney park after hours and just say, ‘Let’s see what happens.’”
Friday’s episode of The Tonight Show, with musical guest Ice Spice performing “Did It First/Think U The Shit (Fart),” also had a bonus: a pre-taped segment starring Will Ferrell, Nick Jonas and Jimmy Fallon performing a song about jorts, a sweet summer staple for the trio.
In the musical sketch about jorts, Fallon and Ferrell bring the basics — “I’m in my jorts/ I’m in my jort shorts/ I’m in in my jorts/ Jean shorts/ That means jorts” — and Jonas jumps in to jazz things up.
“I wear my jorts every day of the week/ They start at my hips and they end at my knees/ And if you see me you’ll know that I’m in ‘em/ They’re jorts and they’re short and they’re totally denim,” he sings on the spot, vying to join the jorts troupe.
Watch Jimmy Fallon’s latest interview with Nick Jonas, plus their “Jorts” sketch with Will Ferrell, below.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
Justin Bieber is counting down the days to fatherhood.
On Friday (July 26), the 30-year-old pop superstar shared a gallery of new photos on Instagram featuring himself cuddling up with his pregnant wife, Hailey, 27. The “Love Yourself” singer’s carousel begins with a snapshot of the married couple flipping the bird, followed by a sweet image of Justin snuggling up to Hailey’s bare baby bump. Other pictures show the Biebers flashing smiles as they enjoy what looks to be a tropical location.
Justin’s adorable post garnered comments from numerous celebrities, Quavo, Big Sean and Diplo. “The Biebs,” Quavo wrote, adding a fire emoji. “Love u bro,” Big Sean added with a red heart emoji. And Diplo commented, “yes papi.”
Hailey opened up about her pregnancy journey for a W Magazine cover story in late July.
Trending on Billboard
“I probably could have hid it until the end, but I didn’t enjoy the stress of not being able to enjoy my pregnancy outwardly,” the model explained of announcing her pregnancy at the six-month mark. “I felt like I was hiding this big secret, and it didn’t feel good. I wanted the freedom to go out and live my life.”
Hailey added, “In the beginning [of pregnancy], it was super emotional for me. Like, ‘I love this human so much. How can I possibly bring someone else into this?’ I’m trying to soak in these days of it being Justin and me, just the two of us.”
The pop star and Rhode founder announced that they are expecting their first child together in May, when they took to Instagram to share a series of photos and videos from a film shoot they did among a vast meadow, in which Hailey is seen wearing a skin-tight lace gown, cradling her growing baby bump as Justin snaps photos of her. In one of the clips, the couple also renewed their vows.
The couple officially wed in September 2018 at a New York City courthouse. A year later, they flew down to the Montage Palmetto Bluff hotel in South Carolina with their friends and family for a more traditional wedding ceremony and star-studded party.
See Bieber’s photos of his wife Hailey’s growing baby bump on Instagram here.
Kelly Clarkson was fighting back tears following Celine Dion‘s magical performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
During the games’ opening ceremony on Friday (July 26), the iconic chanteuse, 56, delivered an emotional rendition of Édith Piaf’s “Hymne A L’Amour” from the Eiffel Tower.
Dion’s jaw-dropping performance of the 1950s track, which translates to “The Hymn of Love,” marked her first live appearance since canceling North American concerts before revealing her battle with Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes severe muscle spasms.
The moving delivery was emotionally overwhelming for Clarkson, who was covering the event as part of an NBC broadcasting team consisting of Mike Tirico and Peyton Manning.
Trending on Billboard
“I’ve been inspired, I’ve been dancing, I was not ready for that ending,” Clarkson said, beginning to get choked up. “If you know anything about Celine right now, she feels this is her purpose … and if you know anything about what she’s going through right now — I’m so sorry, I’m trying to hold it together right now. But then she got through that. That was incredible. In my field, she is the gold winner for vocal athletes.”
Dion previously seeded hope for her return to the stage in her recent Prime Video doc I Am: Celine Dion, in which she said of her determination to perform again: “If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl… I won’t stop.” She was also spotted earlier this week greeting fans in Paris outside Royal Monceau hotel near the Champs-Élysées.
Elsewhere in Friday’s ceremony, the Olympic cauldron was lit following a months-long torch relay, in which Snoop Dogg, BTS’ Jin and Pharrell Williams participated. Earlier in the day, Lady Gaga took the stage to perform a cabaret-style rendition of the French-language “Mon Truc en Plume” (“My Thing With Feathers”) in a minutes-long, highly choreographed routine.
Watch Clarkson’s emotional reaction to Dion’s Olympics performance via TMZ here.