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Olivia Rodrigo has a deluxe edition of her GUTS album on deck, and it’s coming sooner than you think. The singer revealed the news on stage during the first night of her two-show stand at the United Center in Chicago on Tuesday night, surprising the crowd with a special announcement during “Get Him Back!” According […]
Seven months after THE BOYZ initially introduced their three-part Phantasy album series with Christmas in August, the K-pop group completed the 15-track project with the final chapter Love Letter.
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Led by the sentimental single “Nectar,” THE BOYZ member Kevin says the final chapter in their trilogy delivers an “emotional-but-hopeful kind of vibe” for Love Letter that contrasts the summery, shimmering pop single “Lip Gloss” for Christmas in August, and their dark and experimental “Watch It” single for Pt. 2 Sixth Sense. “At this point in our career, we want to tackle what we haven’t done before.”
“I really hope through this trilogy that we got to really emphasize Phantasy and our fans were able to see a lot of different sides of THE BOYZ,” Jacob told Billboard News‘ Tetris Kelly during a visit to Los Angeles with his members Kevin, Juyeon, Hyunjae and Eric. “As we are ending it off with ‘Nectar,’ saying goodbye to our bittersweet memories and going for our happier new future, I hope you guys just come along with us and we’ll be able to show you what we have in store.”
Now that their Phantasy releases are complete, THE BOYZ say it’s time to perform these new songs live for fans.
“Our fans have been dying for us to go on a tour and I think it’s about time,” Eric says. “We are going to make it happen this year,” with Kevin making sure to add, “We may or may not be seeing you in your own city/country.”
Before they do make their way back to the States, fans can stay on top of their additional musical activities by following them on TikTok where Kevin delivers Beyoncé covers, Jacob plays guitar in his pajamas, and all 11 of THE BOYZ sing, dance, and share their lives.
We don’t really get to do a lot of musical production in our group for our own music, so I like to experiment and do things on TikTok,” Kevin says. It’s my musical outlet, and I like to do a lot of covers there.”
Jacob agrees with that sentiment, adding, “Since we’re in a group, I don’t really get to play the guitar and sing for the fans, so I use TikTok for my pajama karaoke covers.”
While Juyeon, Hyunjae, and Kevin have all attended events and linked up with different fashion brands, like Dior, Gucci, and Jeremy Scott, the guys also shared some surprising insight into their personal style during the sitdown.
“Whenever we have events where our stylist can potentially dress us in casual clothing, we opt for our own clothes instead of our stylists’ clothes,” Kevin shares. “We like to dress ourselves as much as we can.”
Watch the full Billboard News interview above for more from Kevin, Juyeon, Jacob, Hyunjae and Eric on THE BOYZ’s Phantasy album, plus find out who among them is most likely to snack at midnight, run late getting ready, know another K-pop group’s choreography and more.
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*NSYNC fans got what they’d been begging for last week, when the blockbuster boy band reunited at Justin Timberlake‘s one-night-only show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles to play snippets of four of their hits and perform their new song “Paradise” for the very first time. So now that we’ve seen the quintet back together […]
Dua Lipa is gearing up to release her upcoming album, Radical Optimism, and she sat down with Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly to discuss the inspiration behind the project. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “[Releasing the album] feels good. It feels for lack of a better word — […]
Hold the caffeine, Kelly Clarkson is wide awake. On the latest episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the three-time Grammy winner shared a breathtaking cover of Katy Perry‘s 2012 smash, “Wide Awake,” stripping it back to feature just piano and vocals.
Taking the Kellyoke stage with her pianist Tuesday (March 19), Clarkson went without her usual full band to let her unreal voice shine even more than usual. The musician also slightly slowed down Perry’s track, which allowed the “Stronger” singer to stretch out certain lines and add her own impressive high notes.
“Falling from cloud nine,” belted Clarkson, dressed in a grey skirt and black, knee-high boots. “Crashing from the high/ I’m letting go tonight.”
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Released as the final single from Perry’s Teenage Dream album cycle, “Wide Awake” appeared on the set’s 2012 deluxe reissue, Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, remaining on the chart for a total of 26 weeks.
Clarkson has previously covered Perry’s “The One That Got Away” and “Roar” on her Daytime Emmy-winning talk show. Earlier this week, she put her own spin on Maren Morris’ “The Bones.”
The Voice alum’s new performance comes just over a week after she filed a new lawsuit against her ex-husband, music executive Brandon Blackstock, alleging that he and his father’s management firm had been violating state labor rules since the beginning of their relationship. With the suit — which comes just months after she won $2.6 million from him in a previous ruling — Clarkson seeks the return of “any and all commissions, fees, profits, advances, producing fees or other monies” she paid to Blackstock’s father’s company, Starstruck Entertainment, dating back to 2007.
In June, Clarkson released her tenth studio album, Chemistry. The 14-track set, which featured collaborations from Steve Martin and Sheila E., peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200.
Watch Clarkson cover “Wide Awake” above.
Taylor Swift continues to have the Kansas City Chiefs‘ stamp of approval! The Super Bowl LVIII winning team’s kicker, Harrison Butker, recently recalled meeting the superstar during an EWTN News In Depth interview. “She was just so humble and so gracious,” he shared. “I don’t think she grew up a football fan, so everything for her is […]
Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour is still breaking records, five months after its initial release. The blockbuster concert film has already become Disney+’s most-streamed music special of all time, breaking the record just three days after premiering on the platform March 14. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the three-hour-plus project was viewed for a collective 16.2 […]
Lady Gaga is headed back to Las Vegas for a summer run of more Jazz & Piano shows. The singer announced the news on Tuesday morning (March 19), revealing that she will be back on the stage at the Dolby Live theater at Park MGM for eight shows between June 19 and July 6. Explore […]
“Ever since Rent, I have made it a priority to originate roles and shine a light on new work,” Idina Menzel tells Billboard. “It takes lots of patience and fortitude, but there is truly nothing as rewarding as seeing your kernel of an idea fully realized with a group of people you love and admire so deeply.”
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The Broadway icon’s latest project in that vein is the new musical Redwood, currently playing at La Jolla Playhouse in California. For Menzel — who plays Jesse, a successful businesswoman, mother and wife who finds herself as a personal crossroads and finds unexpected answers in the forests of Northern California — the show is an especially personal creative endeavor. “The story of a woman at a turning point in her life paralleled with the resilience, wisdom and strength of the redwood tree was one that spoke to me deep in my soul,” Menzel says. “Nature’s power to heal and connect us as human beings is essential in this turbulent world we are living in.”
Idina Menzel backstage during REDWOOD at La Jolla Playhouse.
Courtesy of Idina Menzel
Menzel, who released her latest album Drama Queen in August of last year, isn’t just the star of the production. She co-conceived Redwood with director, writer and co-lyricist Tina Landau (recently of Broadway’s inventive SpongeBob SquarePants musical) over the course of many years, delving deeply into the development of Jesse as a character.
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Menzel and Landau also “knew we wanted to find a new young composer who could bring a fresh take to musical theater” for the show, bringing in Kate Diaz for a score that Menzel describes as having “a beautiful, earthy and soulful quality as well as expansive and cinematic. When I perform Kate’s music, I am able to use all the different colors in my voice. I’m not just shooting for the rafters. I’m expressing myself similarly to how I express myself in my own songwriting.” (Diaz also co-wrote the lyrics with Landau).
While the La Jolla run of Redwood ends March 31, the show has its sights set on Broadway — which certainly seems more likely than not with Menzel and her creative collaborators on board. “We knew we wanted the production to be cutting edge and unconventional,” Menzel says. “We have encouraged one another to dream big, break rules, and not compromise our creative ideas. There’s a deep sense of creative freedom and trust in how we work.”
Here, Menzel exclusively shares with Billboard a live recording of her performing “Great Escape,” recorded during a performance of Redwood.
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Fans went wild at Justin Timberlake‘s Los Angeles concert last week when the singer brought out his *NSYNC bandmates for a surprise live reunion, debuting the group’s new song “Paradise” onstage. And in a new interview, Joey Fatone revealed the lengths he went to in order to keep it a secret leading up to the show.
“I didn’t even tell my parents,” the boy bander said on The Jennifer Hudson Show on Tuesday morning (March 19). “My father has a very large mouth. He’s very proud, so he likes to tell people… I didn’t tell my publicist, I didn’t tell nobody. Surprise!”
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In addition to “Paradise,” which appears on Timberlake’s new album Everything I Thought It Was, the “Mirrors” singer, Fatone, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass performed their smash ’90s hits “Bye Bye Bye” and “It’s Gonna Be Me” at The Wiltern in L.A. The performance came more than 20 years after *NSYNC went on hiatus in 2002, after which they wouldn’t officially reunite until 2023 to collaborate on “Better Place” for Timberlake’s Trolls Band Together animated threequel.
“It was really exciting, it was kind of just fun,” Fatone added of the show. “We have not been around for a long time, obviously… When we came out, it was just like, ‘What?’ Justin asked us to do the show and we were like ‘Yeah, why not.’ People went crazy.”
“When they all walked out … the screams were unbelievable,” chimed in the Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean, who joined Fatone on the Hudson Show couch. “They didn’t miss a beat.”
McLean and Fatone kicked off their joint A Legendary Night Tour last week. The two stars have plans to play select dates across the United States through the end of March, with the shows promising live music, comedy and storytelling.
While chatting with J-Hud, the guys also reminisced on the time their respective bands faced off against each other for a charity basketball game in Europe back in the day. To spice things up, Bass had switched over to the Backstreet Boys team, while McLean played alongside the guys of *NSYNC.
“I think we won,” McLean said. “Whoops, sorry guys!”
Watch Fatone and McLean on The Jennifer Hudson Show above.