Pop
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Shonda Rhimes‘ talent knows no end, as she’s the mind behind classic TV shows including Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal and more. In the film world, she wrote many hits including 2002’s Crossroads starring Britney Spears. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The Television Hall of Famer […]
From Super Bowl touch downs to Taylor Swift, Patrick Mahomes has set up all of Travis Kelce‘s greatest catches.
On the latest episode of The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday (May 23), the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback revealed that he was the one who first encouraged his teammate to shoot his shot with the “Anti-Hero” pop star. “I have to take some of the credit,” a smiling Mahomes told McAfee. “I was the one who invited Travis to the first Taylor concert, when the friendship bracelet was… He was sitting in my suite, so I feel like I was the matchmaker.”
As revealed by Kelce on past episodes of his New Heights podcast, his and Swift’s love story dates back to the singer’s Eras Tour stops in Kansas City last summer, which the tight end attended. While there, he tried to slip the 14-time Grammy winner a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it, but was disappointed to find that his future girlfriend wasn’t meeting guests that night.
According to Mahomes, however, he was the one who insisted that Kelce to try out the bracelet idea. “I had some input in there as well,” the three-time Super Bowl champion continued on McAfee’s show. “I was like, ‘Dude, just go for it. Just go for it.’ You know Travis, man. He does and he’s a great dude.”
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Though the bracelet-giving tactic wasn’t initially successful for Kelce, his gesture eventually caught the attention of Swift. Just a couple months later, she attended her first of many Chiefs games at Arrowhead Stadium, and the Ohio native has since become a fixture at the superstar’s Eras Tour shows across the world.
Swift has also become a friend of the Mahomes family since dating Kelce, with the “Fortnight” musician getting particularly close with the quarterback’s wife, retired soccer player Brittany Mahomes, over the course of the 2023-24 season. The two women frequently sat together at games and hung out together in New York City a handful of times; plus, Swift attended the Mahomies Foundation charity gala with Kelce earlier this year and donated four Eras tickets to the cause.
See Mahomes recall his role in Swift and Kelce’s romance below.
Lizzo is feeling better as she navigates her mental health. The “Good as Hell” star shared a mirror selfie to Instagram on Wednesday (May 22), giving an update on how she’s been feeling in the caption. “I’m the happiest I’ve been in 10 months,” she wrote. “The strange thing about depression is you don’t know […]
Over the course of her career, Camila Cabello has gone from competition show contestant to girl group bandmate, then from burgeoning pop soloist to genre-shifting musical scientist. And in that process, the Cuba-born, Miami-raised artist has scored numerous hits on the charts. After getting her start on The X Factor, where Fifth Harmony was assembled, […]
“I already know that this is gonna be a top three best gig of my life,” Ed Sheeran pronounced early on Wednesday night (May 23). He had only just taken the stage at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., to fete the 10th anniversary of his 2014 album x (Multiply) with a one-night-only performance, but there was a palpable thrum in the air that seemed to promise the pop star would make good on his vow by night’s end.
It’s hardly hyperbolic to say that expectations were sky high when Sheeran released his sophomore album in the summer of 2014. After years of relentlessly playing gigs around London, his 2011 debut, + (Plus), had turned the then-20-year-old from a small-town dreamer raised in the rural east of England into a reluctant superstar known the world over for his natural songwriting prowess, heartrending lyricism and shock of bright red hair.
The result was x, an inventive tour de force that pushed Sheeran’s talents in unexpected new directions and the second step in his master plan of releasing five mathematically themed albums named after operations commonly used in elementary arithmetic.
Pronounced “Multiply,” x outperformed its predecessor in spades, becoming Sheeran’s first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, landing four top five hits at pop radio and going on to be certified 5x platinum by the Recording Industry of Association of America. (By the close of 2019, the album also landed at No. 8 on the decade-end Billboard 200 encompassing the entire 2010s.)
Ten years later, in front of an arena filled with fans, Sheeran was ready to take a trip down memory lane and share stories about smash hits such as “Thinking Out Loud,” “Don’t” and “Photograph,” as well as cherished favorites including “Tenerife Sea” and “Bloodstream.”
“When I made this record, you know, you write the songs that are so personal, you hold them in … and it belongs to all you guys when it’s released,” he told the rapt audience. “But what I found listening back to this record, I sort of felt it was like reliving all of the experiences and kind of claiming the stories back.”
In between behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the creation of the album, Sheeran treated each song on the evening’s two-and-a-half hour setlist with the care and attention it deserved — with even deep cuts such as “Nina” and “Afire Love” receiving special new arrangements he’d weaved together on his trusty loop pedal just for the occasion.
Billboard was on the scene to capture all the memories, surprises and revelations at Sheeran’s one-night-only event. Dive into the multiplicity of unforgettable moments from the special x 10th anniversary show below.
‘Sing’ to Set the Tone
There’s a reason some people refer to Celine Dion as the “queen of pop.” Her gravity-defying vocals have inspired a generation of singers on the way to selling more than 200 million albums worldwide churning out such iconic hits as “My Heart Will Go On,” “The Power of Love,” “Because You Loved Me” and “All By Myself,” among many others. But in 2022 the indomitable power vocalist shared that she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder Stiff Person Syndrome.
The rare neurological disorder that can cause uncontrolled muscle spasms that make it hard to move forced Dion to cancel her planned 2023 tour as her sister revealed that the singer had “no control” over her muscles. Her difficult journey navigating the disease is the subject of the moving documentary I Am: Celine Dion, whose first trailer was unveiled on Thursday morning (May 23).
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The two-minute teaser opens with Dion, 56, in her prime, belting out one of her patented power ballad notes in the studio as she playfully worries if the sound man survived the vocal onslaught. “My voice is the conductor of my life,” Dion says in voice-over over footage of her on stage throughout the years. “When your voice brings you joy, you’re the best of yourself… I need my instrument.”
Then, the Canadian singer — who has been wowing audiences around the world since she was a teenager — delves into being diagnosed with SPS as an unseen voice is heard calling 9-1-1 to report a medical emergency. “I wasn’t ready to say anything before… but I’m ready now,” Dion says exhaling deeply with a pained look on her face in one of the first prolonged glimpses of her since the diagnosis took her out of the public eye.
Walking through her costume archive, Dion says, “I see my life, and I love every piece of it. When a girl loves her shoes, she’ll always make them fit,” as she stands in front of racks of her stage gear. The rest of the trailer jumps between live footage of a vibrant, electric Dion on stage at various times in her career as she describes the “magic” she’s created in concert over four decades in the spotlight.
“It’s not hard to do a show, you know?,” she says over footage of her taking her daily regimen of pills, doctor’s appointments and a catch in the backyard with one of her three sons. “It’s hard to cancel a show.” Dion says she’s working hard every day to get better, as evidenced by film of her practicing ballet moves in a studio. “But I have to admit,” she says tearily, “it’s been a struggle. I miss it so much, the people. I miss them. If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl.”
The trailer ends with Dion in the studio belting an unheard song as she promises, “I won’t stop” over the strains of one of her most beloved power ballads, 1996’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.” The Amazon MGM Studios film was directed by Irene Taylor (Beware the Slenderman) and will debut on Prime Video on June 25.
Watch the I Am: Celine Dion trailer below.
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For Noah Kahan, describing the past year as a whirlwind is an understatement. “It’s really been two years now,” Kahan tells Billboard of grinding out various tour legs in support of his breakthrough 2022 album, Stick Season, and watching his audiences balloon month after month.
“I’ll have a two-month run, and then three or four days off, and then I’m back,” he continues. “It’s not enough time for me to find myself again, and I think it’s been hard to have these little tastes of a normal life. Don’t get me wrong — this is my dream job, I love touring and playing every show. I’m just trying to find ways to make it a healthier experience for myself.”
With that in mind, Kahan has announced the details of how his mental health initiative, The Busyhead Project, will be present on his latest tour, as he kicks off a North American leg of arena shows this weekend and also commemorates Mental Health Awareness Month. The ascendant singer-songwriter’s We’ll All Be Here Forever tour will resume in Nashville this weekend and run across North America through early August before returning to Europe for another month.
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Kahan’s tour will feature multiple activations and partnerships coordinated by the Busyhead Project, which launched last year: Each tour stop will include a Busyhead Project Action Village that amplifies local mental health organizations and features a community wall that allows fans to share positive messages. In addition, HeadCount will be on site in the Action Village to encourage voter registration.
For Kahan — who has been vocal about his struggles with anxiety and depression throughout his career, and has advocated for greater mental-health understanding during his time in the spotlight — the goal is for his charitable actions to scale up with his profile.
“In my own life and career, I feel like things have continued to build for me in small ways, and I want to make sure that my passion for talking about mental health and raising money for it is following the growth of like, my venue capacity, and my staff,” he says. “I’m a big believer in striking while the iron is hot — if you see my tour schedule, you understand that — but along with that is taking moments where there is momentum and visibility, and doing as much good as possible.”
In addition, The Busyhead Project has announced a new partnership with Backline, a national non-profit that connects music industry professionals with mental health and wellness resources, and is offering therapy for his touring crew while on the road. “I’ve always wondered why there isn’t more support in this industry — not just for the artists, or the band, but for the crew, the people working their asses off from 7 in the morning to 2 in the morning,” Kahan explains. “Touring isn’t nine-to-five, and if you’re struggling on the road, it’s really hard to find time to step away and take care of yourself. … It’s been really special working with Backline, and knowing that that [resource] is going to be on my tour makes me feel really good.”
The success of Stick Season, Kahan’s third studio album, has included its title track becoming the Vermont singer-songwriter’s first top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100; high-profile collaborations with artists such as Post Malone, Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves; a Grammy nod for best new artist; and graduating from low-capacity venues to multiple headlining gigs at Madison Square Garden next month. Kahan says that he’s “always working” on new material in the midst of that extended breakthrough, although finding time to craft the Stick Season follow-up has been difficult amidst all the travel and performances.
“It’s been really tough for me to find a moment of grounding in all of this,” Kahan admits. “It’s just this feeling of not being able to access this thing I love so much, which is songwriting, and understanding myself. And it’s been really, really hard, and tiring for me to try to find time to be creative. With the way music is released now, I’m like, ‘Man, I should have a new record by the fall!’ And I just don’t! I can’t make something that doesn’t feel joyful for me.”
That doesn’t mean that the creative well is totally empty, though. “I’ve written some songs that I really love,” Kahan says, “and I have an idea for my next album that I really feel is important to me. It feels like it works in the world of Stick Season in a way, but isn’t just doing the same thing. It just feels like that same feeling of, conceptually, something really deep. I think that’s there.”
Above all, Kahan wants to practice what he preaches when it comes to his self-perception, in the middle of the biggest performances of his career to date and ahead of the Stick Season follow-up. “I’m trying to be kind to myself, and get some time to be creative soon,” he says. “Sometimes it’s hard to feel like I’m out there doing good work for mental health awareness, and then not taking care of my own as well. It’s been a struggle, but I’m finding ways to make it work.”
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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