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Glen Ballard became the 2,374th recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today (July 11) with a little help from the members of Wilson Phillips, whose self-titled 1990 debut album—produced by and co-written with Ballard—went on to sell 10 million copies worldwide and cemented the friendship between the producer and the trio.
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The love the “Hold On” performers still shared with Ballard, also well known for his work with acts like Alanis Morissette and Michael Jackson, was evident and the emotional high point of Ballard’s ceremony.
Carnie Wilson who called Ballard “the most humble human being I’ve ever met” and the “fourth member” of Wilson Phillips, gave a little history lesson, taking the audience back to the trio and Ballard sitting in a his studio in Encino, Calif., “eating our chopped salads and pasta from Emilio’s five days a week for two years,” while they crafted the album. “You understood our need to sing harmony, our blend. We heard and spoke the same language.”
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Her younger sister Wendy, who was only 16 when they entered the studio in 1987, called their years together “a blissful time we will always cherish,” as she talked about feeling safe under Ballard’s wing as he helped them develop their sound.
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But it was Chynna Phillips, who made the attendees understand just how vital a role Ballard played in their lives that stretched far beyond his musical tutelage and brought herself, Ballard and many in the audience to tears.
“We were three girls who really needed a father figure,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion. Carnie and Wendy are, of course, the daughters of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, while Phillips’ father was The Mamas and the Papas’ John Phillips. All three have had, at times, complicated and fractured relationships with their fathers. “The three of us were desperate for a man in our lives who would speak into us, and who would nurture us and love us and show us that we mattered and had something to say and we had it in us… You reflected that in us and you really showed us that we could do what we wanted to do with our lives… It was a very personal, very influential, very moving time in our lives, transformative. And if it weren’t for you Glen, I don’t know where I would be today. I just love you with all my heart.”
Phillips then shared one of her most personal memories of Ballard, reflecting his own father-daughter connection with his child Bannon, who died as an infant many years ago. “When I went to your house that you had built in the ocean Malibu area, the very top of your house, you had a wind directional. You told me you had put it there for Bannon and that you just wanted her always to be able to find you. I just want you to know her spirit is here today and always with you, and I love her and know that she is so proud of you too.”
Ballard, whose two adult sons and many members of his extended family were in attendance, graciously gave credit to his many collaborators, which also include Annie Lennox, Barbra Streisand, Aerosmith and Dave Matthews Band, for his success, but shared a valuable lesson he learned from working with Wilson Phillips.
“One of my greatest joys is being involved in artists from the beginning, from the downbeat as they say in music. When I met Wilson Phillips, they hadn’t made a record, and it was up to us to create the initial sound. Luminous, three-part harmony in an era of grunge music was a bold and unusual choice,” he said, which received a laugh from the audience. “Creatively courageous. But when we won the Tokyo Music Festival in 1990 and that week our record [“Hold On”] went No. 1 across the world. We realized that the counter program worked. And it’s a lesson that I’ve taken with me from that moment. Five years later, I met a young singer-songwriter, and we wrote 20 songs and they became Jagged Little Pill that was Alanis Morissette. We weren’t chasing the marketplace, we were chasing her muse. And it turned out well. And then five years after that, Katy Perry was knocking on my studio door and after we spent a year in Paris, well, you know the rest, it worked out very well.”
Ballard has also had a number of theatrical successes, including Back to the Future, which is running on Broadway and London’s West End. Tony winner Roger Bart, who plays Doc Brown in the Broadway version, also feted Ballard, praising his collaborative spirit.
Katy Perry is back! The pop superstar made her comeback to the music scene on Thursday (July 11) with the premiere of her music video for her new single, “Woman’s World.” In the clip, Perry is the ultimate pin-up girl, taking on a construction site before she’s hit by an anvil. She then appears in […]
Simple Plan‘s pop punk take on Sir Elton John‘s The Lion King classic “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” is the first single from the upcoming Disney album A Whole New Sound. The group’s take on the soaring ballad — which drops at midnight Friday (July 12) — is the first taste of the Mouse House’s 30th anniversary celebration of the iconic animated classic.
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“When Disney reached out to us to be a part of this project, it was a bit overwhelming because there are so many amazing Disney songs. But it became obvious pretty quickly that The Lion King song book, and especially ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight,’ stood out from the rest,” Simple Plan tells Billboard. “The song just has such a classic feel, and the melodies are so memorable and timeless. We also felt like it would lend itself really well to our style and would sound awesome as a pop-punk version.
“It’s also one of those songs and movies that has been such an important part of people’s lives. Lots of our fans grew up watching it and listening to the soundtrack and we also played them for our own kids,” the band continues. “So, it holds a special place in our hearts and felt like the rare song that could connect to a very wide range of listeners across many generations. Finally, the fact that the movie celebrates its 30th anniversary this year was just the icing on the cake! It’s such an honor to offer our own version of this song and to cover such an iconic artist like Sir Elton John. We’re not sure if he heard the song or not, but we hope he will enjoy this new version and feel like we did it justice.”
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The band is set to perform the song on Aug. 9 at the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.
According to a release, the collection will feature a number of alternative, rock and pop punk bands reworking popular Disney songs, as well as a fresh streetwise look for Mickey and his friends, with Goofy and Donald Duck slipping into sneakers, skinny jeans and backwards baseball caps for the celebration.
Guitarist Jeff Stinco teased out the collaboration earlier this week when the band posted a video of him taking a Disney-centric quiz in which someone asked him to choose his favorite Mouse House animated film, with the shredder repeatedly choosing The Lion King over such classics as Toy Story, Ratatouille, Lilo & Stitch and Tarzan.
“Why are you always choosing Lion King?” an off-camera voice asked Stinco as he stood in the shadow of Cinderella’s castle. Stinco silently shrugged and smiled, though the caption on the post made sense once the news was unveiled. “Jeff’s really been feeling the love for The Lion King lately,” it read. “There must be a reason [chin stroke and shifty eyes emoji].”
Then, on Wednesday (July 10), Disney Music unveiled a brief preview of the Simple Plan song, with Goofy and Donald rocking out to it along with Mickey under a banner that read “A Whole New Sound.”
The internet may have gone a little bit too far this time with a joke about Ariana Grande, but luckily, her older brother Frankie Grande is shutting it down before it goes any farther.
After an online hoax accusing the pop star of being — of all things — a cannibal began to take off on social media, the actor took to X to set the record straight Thursday (July 11). “HAHAHAHAHAHA. Wow!” Frankie wrote, retweeting a post about the conspiracy. “This might be the most creative and lowest y’all have ever gone. Reaching new depths daily!”
“Listen, I know my sister’s been eating the girls up for years but this a bit extreme!” he continued. “Besides, she’s vegan. 🌱 See you on tour! 🌈”
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The notion that Ariana is a people-eater appears to have started as a loose prank among fans who were simply following an internet trend. In recent months, people have jokingly attempted to deter others from buying tickets to their favorite artists’ concerts by posting outlandish allegations against those artists — all in jest — so that there’s plenty of seats left for them to choose from once they go on sale.
The latest iteration of the trend involving the “Yes, And?” singer spiraled out of control, however, when some people started to take the faux accusations seriously, with others even spreading false information that human remains were once found in Ariana’s home.
The chaos surrounding the vocalist’s upcoming tour — which hasn’t even been officially announced yet — comes a couple days after she confirmed on the Shut Up Evan podcast that she’s in the process of putting together a “mini little sampling” of shows in support of her Billboard 200-topping album Eternal Sunshine. “It’s something that my team and I are working on coming up with options for,” she added at the time. “It’s for a multitude of reasons not going to be a tour in the way that I used to tour.”
On the same episode, Ariana also confirmed that she’s working on a deluxe edition of Eternal Sunshine. “I’ve been inspired to write more songs and inclined to do this deluxe,” she noted. “I’m really tempted to put a creative button on this storytelling, and I have a lot of ideas.”
In the meantime, the Wicked star has a supportive big brother in her corner. Frankie has long been vocal in his support for his little sis, whom he celebrated in April on National Siblings Day.
“I want to take a moment to thank the BEST sister in the world for being there for me through thick and thin,” he wrote at the time, sharing a selfie with Ari. “From helping me with my sobriety journey to showing up for me at big moments in my life and career. You are the best sister anyone could ask for and I’m eternally proud of you and all the sunshine you continue to spread in this world.”
KCON is once again coming to Los Angeles, but fans won’t necessarily have to be anywhere near the City of Angels to experience performances from ZICO, NCT 127 and more K-pop stars. On Thursday (July 11), the music festival announced that its main stage showcases will air live on The CW Network July 18, starting […]
Sabrina Carpenter is no stranger to spiciness in her lyrics, but in her chicken wings? She doesn’t fare quite as well.
On the latest episode of First We Feast’s Hot Ones Thursday (July 11), the 25-year-old pop star answered questions about her skyrocketing career while eating hot chicken wings with host Sean Evans, and trying not to succumb to spice overload. Before the Scoville levels got too overwhelming, Carpenter addressed complaints about her Billboard Hot 100 top five hit “Espresso,” the main hook of which earned a barrage of memes when the track first dropped in April thanks to its slightly clunky syntax: “That’s that me espresso.”
“So much of what I like is the punchline,” the singer told Evans. “If people don’t know the punchline, it’s like, waste. That’s how I feel about ‘me espresso.’ I’ve heard a lot of people that were like, ‘She should’ve said, That’s that blonde espresso, duh.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, yes. That is another song as well that deserves its spot in the world, but this one for me … ‘me espresso’ just felt like the right thing to say, and it rhymes with the line before it.”
“I just think it’s so funny,” she continued, shrugging. “Maybe everyone’s right.”
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The “Please Please Please” artist also opened up about how the success of her Emails I Can’t Send single “Nonsense” — which she almost always performs with an NSFW improvised outro tacked on at the end — has given her confidence before putting her love of The Beatles to work in a round of trivia. It was shortly after Evans asked Carpenter about her affinity for covering other artists’ songs during her live shows, however, that things started getting a little dicey.
“That was so crazy … You just want to scream,” she exclaimed, exhaling heavy sighs while trying not to yell. She tried to hold it in, but just a few seconds later, she let out a loud, pained, “Oh my god!”
“It’s really, really hot,” she added with tears in her eyes. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Has anyone ever sued you?”
The episode comes about a month and a half ahead of Carpenter’s sixth studio album, Short N’ Sweet, which drops Aug. 23. “Notice I didn’t call it Short N’ Spicy because I like sweet things better,” she quipped through tears at the very end of the interview.
Watch Carpenter on Hot Ones above.
Katy Perry promised her own Hot Girl Summer in a live social media preview of her upcoming 143 album on Wednesday night (July 10). And while the upcoming collection is not due out until September 20, Perry told her KatyCats that they will have plenty to dance about when fall rolls around.
Earlier in the day, Perry, 39, revealed the LP’s cover art, which features an intergalactic snap of an almost naked Katy floating in space. The title of her follow-up to 2020’s Smile is a commonly used shorthand for “I love you,” and in a statement the pop star raised expectations for a high-energy party.
“I set out to create a bold, exuberant, celebratory dance-pop album with the symbolic 143 numerical expression of love as a throughline message,” Perry said of the collection that will be advanced by first single, “Woman’s World,” the Dr. Luke-produced song due out on Thursday (July 11).
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During the live preview on TikTok and Instagram, Perry played snippets of a few songs and explained her motivation. “I’ve been talking about [doing] two albums the past eight years and that’s a dance album and an acoustic album,” she said on IG Live, according to Variety. “I haven’t yet made the acoustic album. Well, we never stop writing. But I finally made the dance album, the album I always wanted to make.”
Dressed in jean shorts and a red bra top, Perry signed vinyl inserts for the album and climbed up on a table to previewed a banger titled “Nirvana,” while also debuting the slinky “I’m His He’s Mine,” which features Doechii and is built around a sample of Crystal Waters’ beloved 1991 hit “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless).” The singer also gave a sneak at “Gimme Gimme,” which features rapper 21 Savage.
“This record is super high energy, it’s super summer, it’s very high BPM,” Perry said. “We just had a family dance party to one of the songs, and it’s just full of so much joy, so much love, so much light.” On TikTok, she added, “143 is honestly a dance party. All fandoms, invited. And it’s high energy, lots of love, mostly lots of love and BPM, summer, sexy. And it’s for y’all.”
Though no tour dates have been announced yet, according to Variety Perry — who left her seat at the table on American Idol earlier this year — told her TikTok followers that she’s wiped her schedule so she can hit the road for her first major tour in more than six years; following the 2017-2018 Witness tour, Perry set up shop at the Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas for an 80-show run of her Play residency from December 2021 through November 2023.
143 will feature Perry’s studio reunion with producer Dr. Luke, who settled a bitter, nine-year legal battle with Kesha in 2023 before their case was slated to go to trial. The producer had claimed Kesha defamed him in 2014 when she made the “false and shocking” allegation that he drugged and raped her after a 2005 party. Perry had been dragged into the yearslong battle at one point when in a July 2021 deposition she denied allegations that Luke raped her. She also said the producer had never given her a roofie, that she was never in a sexual or romantic relationship with Luke and never told anyone — even jokingly — that he’d raped her as part of her testimony in Luke’s defamation suit against Kesha.
The team-up with Luke led to a number of fans expressing their disappointment that she was working with the producer again, as well as a statement from actress Abigail Breslin, who wrote, “I’m just saying… working with known abusers in any industry just contributes to the narrative that men can do abhorrent s–t and get away with it.” At press time the full extent of Dr. Luke’s (born Lukasz Gottwald) involvement in the album was not known.
Check out snippets of Perry’s preview below.
You’ve heard him over your speakers, and soon you’ll be able to see him on big screens near you. On Thursday (July 11), BTS‘ Jung Kook announced that he has a project titled I Am Still coming to theaters, leaving ARMY speechless as they try to figure out what it might be.
The band’s label BigHit kept the announcement simple, sharing a minimalistic graphic of the movie’s title on social media and writing: “Coming Soon to Cinemas!”
The post didn’t specify what is captured in I Am Still, causing confusion among some fans. “WHAT IS THIS,” one person commented on X, while another person replied with disbelief, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN JUNGKOOK ON CINEMAS!?!?!?!?!?!?”
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Others, however, are certain that the project is a documentary, citing a November episode of Suchwita, the YouTube talk show hosted by Jung Kook’s bandmate SUGA. While appearing as a guest on the web series, the former confirmed that he was in the middle of shooting a film that would capture his growth as a soloist, starting with his Billboard Hot 100-topping single “Seven” featuring Latto, and ending with his 2023 LP Golden, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
“It follows the process from ‘Seven’ to my album,” he told SUGA at the time, according to the show’s English translation. “When you film with other members, the cameras aren’t all focused on you. But I always feel kind of pressured talking in front of a camera alone.”
“OMGGG IS THIS JUNGKOOK’S DOCUMENTARY ????????” one fan tweeted of Jung Kook’s announcement.
“so is jungkook’s documentary titled ‘i am still’ ??? and we’re gonna watch it on big screens ??? OH MY GOD,” added another ARMY member, while a third person wrote, “I CANNOT BELIEVE ITS FINALLY HAPPENING !!!”
Billboard has reached out to Jung Kook’s reps for comment.
The news comes on the heels of an announcement that the 26-year-old singer will star in another docuseries, Are You Sure?!, alongside fellow BTS star Jimin. The eight-part Disney+ show, which was filmed in 2023 before the duo enlisted in the South Korean military, will follow the two K-pop icons as they travel to three iconic global destinations: New York; Jeju Island, South Korea; and Sapporo, Japan.
See Jung Kook’s announcement — plus ARMY’s reactions to the news — below.
OMGGG IS THIS JUNGKOOK’S DOCUMENTARY ????????— Daily jk praise (@dailyjkpraise) July 11, 2024
Coming Soon to Cinemas!WE’RE GETTING THAT DOCUMENTARY IN CINEMAS Y’ALL pic.twitter.com/HQrQeDe0Vu— StarryTae⁷ ʳᵖʷᵖ | ᴴᵒᵗˢ🌟(ꪜ)🥢🪐🪞🦋💙🧑🚀 (@StarrywithBTS) July 11, 2024
The long and winding road to the opening of the eagerly anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine movie is nearing its end. The superhero team-up between Ryan Reynolds’ foul-mouthed face-puncher and Hugh Jackman’s razor-clawed X-Man hits theaters on July 26. But before we see them in action, the pair sat down with director Shawn Levy to talk about the most important spoiler of all: what is Reynolds’ favorite Taylor Swift song?
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In a video interview for Variety in which the three men reveal how much they know about each other, the question came up and both men seemed stumped at first as Reynolds sighed, “I mean, you know… I mean, c’mon,” smiling a knowing smile.
“I know the answer to this,” Jackman said confidently as he scribbled his reply on a white board. “He sang it to me on the very last day of the shoot.” Reynolds, covering his face with his white board, just laughed as his compatriots revealed their totally wrong responses. Jackman went with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” while Levy blanked and wrote “the one that starts with ‘gorgeous,’” aka the Reputation song “Gorgeous,” which features Reynolds and Blake Lively’s daughter James saying the title.
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Cute answers, but Reynolds could only say, “wow… no.”
Jackman was surprised. “You sang that to me in my face… angrily,” he insisted as Reynolds replied that he’d actually “hummed it.” The answer, naturally, is the Folklore ballad “Betty,” with Reynolds explaining, “c’mon man, I’m in my Folklore and Evermore era.” You might recall that the song is named for the couple’s four-year-old daughter, and also shouts out daughter James (9) and their seven-year-old daughter, Inez.
Reynolds and Lively have been pals with Swift for years and there continue to be rumors that the singer may make a cameo in the upcoming film after Ryan recreated the Evermore cover in a post earlier this month in which Deadpool made a visit to the album cover’s misty forest, followed by an IMAX poster in which the heroes were seen holding hands and wearing Eras Tour-like friendship bracelets. Last week, however, EW reported that Swift is definitely not in the film.
During a May 29 show in Madrid, Swift shouted out the couple’s three daughters — their fourth child’s name has not yet been publicly revealed, with Reynolds joking earlier this year that they’re waiting for the singer to tell them what it is — telling the crowd, “I have to say on Folklore some of my favorite characters are named James, Inez and Betty.”
Watch the Taylor talk below.
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Kylie Minogue’s brilliant year keeps sparkling with “My Oh My”, her new collaboration with Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo.
Produced by Steve Mac (Calvin Harris, Little Mix, Ed Sheeran, One Direction, P!nk), “My Oh My” dropped in the small hours of Thursday morning via BMG, following teases earlier in the week.
A sophisticated and polished shot of pop, “My Oh My” lifts a few notches with its slappy, ready-for-the-club beat. On it, the Aussie pop princess flirts: “When you asked / What’s your name? / What’s your sign? / I’m Kylie, it’s Gemini / What’s your drink? Let me buy / You had me when you said hi.”
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The Melbourne-raised pop legend enjoyed an outstanding 2023, with the release of Tension, which hit No. 1 in the U.K. and Australia, and yielded the global hit “Padam Padam,” which cracked the U.K. top 10 and won an ARIA for best pop release.
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The good times carried well into 2024, with Kylie collecting the Global Icon Award at the BRIT Awards, becoming just the second woman to claim the accolade, following Taylor Swift in 2021. Also, she won a Grammy Award (best pop dance recording) for “Padam Padam,” and completed her inaugural Las Vegas Residency.
Also, Kylie signed with United Talent Agency (UTA) for live representation in the U.S. and Canada and acting roles worldwide, an alliance that should help the singer and actor to build on the success of her More Than Just a Residency show in Las Vegas, which was extended through May.
She’s all set to perform her first live show this year in the U.K., where she’s adopted as a national treasure, when she headlines BST Hyde Park in London this Saturday, July 13.