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It sounds like Travis Kelce is all for having Taylor Swift headline a future Kelce Jam festival — but there would definitely be some logistical details that would need to be handled first. At his second-ever Kelce Jam music festival at Azura Amphitheatre Saturday (May 18) in Kansas City, the Chiefs tight end spoke with […]
Katy Perry ended her seven-year American Idol run in style on Sunday night (May 19), singing, table jumping and pizza-tossing her way off the stage during the three-hour season 22 finale. While the episode was ostensibly meant to crown this year’s winner — which it did, spoiler alert, in singer Abi Carter — it was also a night to celebrate Perry, who announced earlier this year that she would be leaving the series after serving alongside Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan since the show jumped to ABC in 2018.
In a testament to Perry’s up-for-anything attitude, Idol ran a clip package mid-way through Sunday’s show featuring highlights from her often wild-and-wacky run. From Bryan jump-scaring his partner early on to Perry visiting Luke’s farm for a lesson on corn science, crying with contestants, modeling a series of increasingly outrageous outfits and getting ice cream smooshed on her face by her cohorts, Perry looked happy, and emotional, as the last hour ticked down.
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Just before the final votes were read, Perry, 39, took to the stage one last time to perform “What Makes a Woman” from her 2020 album Smile with finalist Jack Blocker. Initially seated while wearing what looked like a metallic bustier, Perry began to rise up as Blocker sang the second verse, revealing an expansive dress plastered with the faces of Idol contestants who’ve appeared on the show during her run. Soaring high above the stage as paper butterflies rained down all around her, Perry’s dress was the perfect lasting image of the singer’s sweet embrace of her Idol era.
“143, I love you,” Perry said as she held up heart hands. Later in the show, as Katy munched on a slice of pizza, the women of the top 12 performed a medley of Perry’s songs, including “Teenage Dream,” “Dark Horse” and”California Gurls.” The performance ended with Perry jumping to her feet and climbing up on the judge’s desk to flex her arms as Bryan pelted her with beach balls.
With the sand running out following Carter’s coronation, Perry let the tears flow freely as this year’s winner sang Billie Eilish’s Oscar-winning “What Was I Made For?” to cap her golden season 22 run, with Richie sharing a last, long hug with Katy as confetti rained down around them.
Idol has been renewed for a 23rd season, but at press time Perry’s replacement had not yet been announced.
Check out images from Perry’s final night below.
Taylor Swift‘s surprise song set went from celebratory to somber in Stockholm on Sunday (May 19). For the acoustic section of her third Eras show at Friends Arena, Swift was all smiles as she dedicated a medley to Sweden’s Max Martin — and then full of melancholy for the live debut of “How Did It […]
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department locks in its fourth consecutive week atop the Billboard 200 (dated May 25), as the set earned 260,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending May 16 (down 8%), according to Luminate. The effort is the first album to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 since Travis Scott’s Utopia led in its first four weeks last summer (Aug. 12-Sept. 2, 2023).
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With 260,000 units earned in Poets’ fourth week, the set scores the largest fourth-week for any album since Adele’s 25 tallied 825,000 units in its fourth frame (chart dated Jan. 2, 2016).
Plus, Swift adds her 73rd career week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, extending her record among soloists (Elvis Presley has the second-most among soloists, with 67). The total encompasses her 14 leaders. (She’s tied with Jay-Z for the most No. 1s among soloists.)
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Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Gunna lands his sixth top 10-charting effort as One of Wun bows at No. 2.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 25, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 21. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of The Tortured Poets Department’s fourth-week unit sum of 260,000, SEA units comprise 217,500 (down 5%, equaling 282.4 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), traditional album sales comprise 41,000 (down 19%) and TEA units comprise 1,500 (up 18%).
Gunna lands his sixth top 10-charting effort, all of which have reached the top five, as One of Wun enters at No. 2 with 91,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 90,000 (equaling 118.52 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), while album sales comprise 1,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Gunna previously visited the top 10 with A Gift & a Curse (No. 3, 2023), DS4Ever (No. 1, 2022), Wunna (No. 1, 2020), Drip or Drown 2 (No. 3, 2019) and Drip Harder (No. 4, 2018).
Gunna announced the new project on April 15, though he did not disclose the May 10 release date for the project until May 3. The album was released only as a streaming set and as a retail-available digital download. A CD and vinyl edition of the album are up for pre-order in Gunna’s official webstore, though no release date for those configurations has been announced, and his store only notes they will both ship “in 2024.”
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time is steady at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 75,000 equivalent album units (up 7%); Future and Metro Boomin’s former No. 1 We Don’t Trust You is also a non-mover at No. 4 (53,000; down 13%); and Wallen’s earlier leader Dangerous: The Double Album climbs 7-5 (44,000; up 6%). Both Wallen albums likely post increases due to the publicity and promotion around the May 10 release of Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Wallen — even though the song is not on either of the Wallen albums. (The track is expected to be on Post Malone’s upcoming album.) Wallen last had two titles in the top five at the same time on the July 29, 2023-dated chart, when One Thing at a Time and Dangerous were Nos. 2 and 5, respectively.
Noah Kahan’s Stick Season rises 9-6 on the new Billboard 200 with 41,000 equivalent album units (up 2%); SZA’s chart-topping SOS climbs 10-7 (38,000; down 1%); Zach Bryan’s self-titled former No. 1 bumps 12-8 (38,000; up 5%); Benson Boone’s Fireworks & Rollerblades glides 11-9 (just over 35,000; down 4%); and Beyoncé’s chart-topping Cowboy Carter dips 8-10 (35,000; down 14%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Sabrina Carpenter brought the heat to Studio 8H. The 25-year-old pop star made her musical guest debut on Saturday Night Live, performing her Billboard Hot 100 chart top 10 song “Espresso,” along with a medley of “Feather” and “Nonsense.” The season 49 finale on May 18 was hosted by Jake Gyllenhaal, who returned in the […]
Taylor Swift induced some Tortured Poets-level hysteria when she performed “Guilty as Sin?” live for the first time at her Eras Tour stop in Stockholm, Sweden, on Saturday (May 18).
Swift, who brought her Eras spectacular to Stockholm’s Friends Arena for a trio of dates this weekend, complimented Saturday’s “absolutely wild” crowd at the start of the show’s acoustic section, during which she performs surprise songs on each tour date.
“You just fuel us the entire night,” Swift said of the crowd’s energy.
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“It makes me want to play one of my favorite songs from Tortured Poets that I’ve never played live before,” she teased. Swift gave her guitar a few strums leading up to an opening line that’s become instantly familiar to fans in the few weeks since she released her latest album: “Drowning in the Blue Nile/ He sent me ‘Downtown Lights’/ I hadn’t heard it in a while.”
The Friends Arena audience screamed. People on the internet shared the same sentiment, but through memes of Post Malone dancing to “Guilty as Sin?” and dry remarks about the tragedy of not being in the room with Swift for the track’s live debut.
“What if he’s written ‘mine’ on my upper thigh/ Only in my mind?” Swift sings on the track from The Tortured Poets Department. “One slip and falling back into the hedge maze/ Oh, what a way to die/ I keep recalling things we never did/ Messy top lip kiss/ How I long for our trysts/ Without ever touching his skin/ How can I be guilty as sin?”
“the way she sang guilty as sin as the first surprise song at her 89th show and opened with the lines ‘he sent me downtown lights’ which was released in 1989,” one fan pointed out on X, formerly Twitter, referring to the band The Blue Nile and Swift’s reference to their song “Downtown Lights.” (Saturday night marked the 89th Eras Tour date since the trek launched in March 2023).
“i’m taking the loss of Guilty As Sin really well,” another remarked, sharing evidence (via screenshots) of blocking both IKEA and ABBA’s accounts in response Sweden’s surprise song win.
“Guilty as Sin?” — which was followed by a 1989 piano medley of “Say Don’t Go,” “Welcome to New York” and “Clean” — continued to trend on X in the hours following Swift’s performance. See a clip of the full song played live below, plus fan reactions to missing out on “Guilty as Sin?” live.
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the way she sang guilty as sin as the first surprise song at her 89th show and opened with the lines “he sent me downtown lights” which was released in 1989, she’s sooooooo. https://t.co/xILM0aRvr7— maroon ᡣ𐭩 (@balladofmaroon) May 18, 2024
Billie Eilish was spotted vibing to Kendrick Lamar‘s “Not Like Us.” In a video that began circulating on social media Saturday (May 18), the 22-year-old pop star is seen dancing and singing along to K. Dot’s infectious Drake diss, which recently debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It’s unclear when and […]
Britney Spears is giving fans an update on her injured foot and sharing details about an extravagant trip to Mexico. In a social media post on Friday (May 17), the 42-year-old pop star wrote that her bruised and swollen foot has officially healed following an accident at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont earlier in the month. […]
05/18/2024
Celebrating a larger-than-life classic.
05/18/2024
Only two months ago, Stray Kids told Billboard the band’s 2024 would be “very different from what we’ve done so far,” with the four-time Billboard 200 chart-toppers’ latest New York trip already proving that to be the truth.
Sitting inside a recording studio owned by their U.S. label, Republic Records, the K-pop sensations’ charisma, candidness and slight trepidation shone through in a laid-back, honest chat to recount their Met Gala debut, just-released collaboration with Charlie Puth, and the anticipation surrounding their upcoming projects.
Reflecting on their Met Gala experience, the members expressed how their initial worries eventually turned into pure excitement. “We didn’t know anything about Met Gala,” Stray Kids leader Bang Chan shares in his affable Australian accent, before adding, “It was a really good experience.” Felix shares that “it was an honor and pleasure for us to show what our team color is like” with their appearance, thanks to Tommy Hilfiger, marking a significant milestone in attending one of fashion’s most prestigious nights out, as they mingled with celebrities like Chris Hemsworth, Baz Luhrmann and Jennie from BLACKPINK.
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Shifting to their first original English single, their collaboration with Charlie Puth in “Lose My Breath” is highlighted as an experience for their team to learn but also share their years of experience in blending musical styles. “We had a lot of freedom to express our opinions,” notes Han, emphasizing the collaborative nature of the project that included Bang Chan, Changbin and himself writing and composing alongside Puth. For the pure-pop affair, Hyunjin says his aspiration is “to show that Stray Kids can do this kind of song” as a testament to their versatility and willingness to explore different musical landscapes.
While SKZ spoke with nervous excitement to Billboard just hours before the release of “Lose My Breath,” the band’s anticipation for their potential new future projects was also palpable.
While details remain under wraps, Bang Chan hinted at the exciting prospects: “If there was a new album, it’s definitely very new, very different yet very genuine and authentic.” The tour — that may or may not have been spoiled by Tommy Hilfiger himself — is also important, and when Lee Know mentions how “there are countries we haven’t been to yet,” he seems to hint toward a truly expansive global trek.
As Stray Kids continue to break barriers and captivate audiences worldwide, the Kids themselves remain grounded and committed to continually improving and leveling up artistry. Like “Lose My Breath,” their upcoming projects all show promise in showcasing an evolving and maturing sound to affirm their status as boundary-breakers in the global music scene. Read the full conversation from Billboard‘s chat with Stray Kids below.
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Welcome back to New York, Stray Kids. It’s great to have you back, and we have to give you a big congratulations on your Met Gala debut. Overall, how was the experience?
Bang Chan: There was a lot happening, but I mean, it was a really good experience. We had fun.
Felix: It was such a huge honor because it was our first time as a team, and to go with Tommy Hilfiger to the Met Gala. Like what Chris [Bang Chan’s birth name] said, it’s such an honor but also a pleasure for us to show what our team color is like. It was incredible.
Bang Chan: Because we didn’t know anything about Met Gala! So, we went in, and then as soon as we got in, we walked up the stairs, and then there was Anna Wintour, Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Chris Hemsworth. So we said “Hi,” and then Chris was like, “Oh, I know you guys! You guys are two Australians — aww, come here, boys!” He took really great care of us. Baz was there too.
Felix: Baz Luhrmann was there as well. So, we had a nice chat with him. It was very nice, very nice.
Bang Chan: Ben Simmons, the basketball player, who is actually from and born in Australia, he was there. There were a lot.
It was amazing to see all eight of you there, but I’m curious how you got eight invitations for the Met Gala and how you coordinated on the red carpet with your reveal as eight?
Bang Chan: Big thanks to Tommy.
Felix: Yeah, big thanks to him.
Bang Chan: But at the Met, Tommy had a little bit of an idea. Because we have to unveil what was underneath, right? So, we kind of rehearsed how we should show what our outfits were. We did exactly what we had to do and were told to do; it was all right.
I think it was more important than you might realize. But let’s jump to the present with “Lose My Breath.” What’s the significance of this being Stray Kids’ first original English single?
Bang Chan: It is kind of exhilarating if you think about it. But one thing I wanted to point out is, I’m very, very thankful to the members because everyone recorded their parts on point and very good. The English has improved, I don’t know why, but yeah. [Laughs] So, I’m very very thankful to the members but we worked on the song here [in this New York studio], I think it was like the room across. But we had fun because, you know, Charlie Puth is very musically talented so we learnt a lot from him; it was a great experience.
You are so involved in your music, and Charlie Puth is also so involved in his music. How did you find the balance behind the scenes to collaborate?
Han: Since it’s a collaboration, the way we work might be different and there could have been clashes. But in the end, we were very open and Charlie was very open with ideas too. We had a lot of freedom to express our opinions and tried a lot of things So, we balanced it out from the get-go; it was very smooth. And with all these ideas we get from each other, we developed the parts that we wanted to show each other and the parts that we wanted to get closer aligned and eventually finished off the project.
Changbin: I was just really thrilled. There’s the Charlie that I know on social media, on videos or YouTube or whatever, and I think it was he even more than what I’ve seen on YouTube or social media so it was really cool. It was cool. He’s so musically talented, and it’s something that I, myself, want to learn from and want to have in being so versatile when you’re making music.
What are your goals or hopes for this song?
Hyunjin: Since it’s a pop genre-type of song that we haven’t done before, I want to show that Stray Kids can do this kind of song — I want to show the world, STAYs, everyone that we can do music like this. We also have a performance as well, and I want everyone out there to see what kind of performance we’ve prepared this time.
Since it might be a sound people don’t expect from Stray Kids, how do you think about or hope to introduce something new to fans?
Felix: This whole pop genre is very different to us, but like what Chris hyung said, we’re able to record the song and the lyrics perfectly through our own feelings and our emotions, which means we’re really able to express what the song is. And because we’re all experienced in making music and just showing fans what our style is, I think fans will really enjoy “Lose My Breath” as it is.
Bang Chan: It might not seem like a Stray Kids song, but in the end, it is our voices, we did write the lyrics, the melodies and everything as well. But I don’t know what people will think! I hope they can get a hint of Stray Kids in the whole platter.
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I have a theory that “Lose My Breath” is the first taste or connection to the “special album” you teased at the top of the year…
Bang Chan: Um…I think of it as a side quest. “Lose My Breath” might just be a side quest…
I.N is smiling, though!
All: [Laugh]
Bang Chan: What I can say is: If there was a new album, um, it’s definitely, very new, very different yet very genuine and authentic. Because the messages that we want to say through music are all packed inside.
What’s the message you want to share when it comes to “Lose My Breath”?
Seungmin: We just want to appeal that we can, all of our members can sing the pop genre. From the moment we first began recording, everyone has been used to singing [in] like a really strong tone, but this time we try to, what the word in English? We tried to power down and compress — compressed into our natural voices. We tried to tone it down and record with a sound that naturally fit to the pop genre. I think that’s a big difference compared to the last album — I think that it will appeal to STAYs.
Bang Chan: It’s funny because I don’t usually get opportunities now to talk about what we did and everything, but definitely, with “Lose My Breath,” we did try a lot of different vocal techniques while we recorded the song. I hear that especially with Seungmin. Changbin as well. Everyone did their part so good.
Mr. Hilfger did share that you’re preparing a 40-date world tour. Can you share or confirm anything about the tour or preparations?
Bang Chan: He spoiled it on TV…and he spoiled it for us as well. [Laughs] I guess there would be a tour? But we’re still in the preparation process so we don’t know what’s what or don’t know how it’s gonna set out…
Seungmin: Lee Know wants to say something!
Lee Know: There are countries we haven’t been to yet and foods we want to eat while on the tour; touring means we can see a lot of STAYs. I think that’s what I’m looking forward to the most. It’s the chance to meet different STAYs in different parts of the world that is really important. But we haven’t started choreographing or developing the blueprints for the stage yet.
You’re in the moment with this single, but what’s coming up for Stray Kids in the immediate future? Or what message do you have for fans as you start this new chapter?
Bang Chan: [To their team member in the room] How much can we say?
Stray Kids team member: The less you talk, the better!
Stray Kids: [Laugh]
Bang Chan: Well, we don’t want to raise your expectations too much but when we head back [to Korea], it’s going to be late May. We’ve got some preparations for, well, let’s say, I guess a tour. If there’s an album, probably the album. Probably festivals. That’s is, you know, if. I don’t know if it’s true or not,
Han: There is nothing 100% real. We don’t know what’s happening.
Bang Chan: Lollapalooza is something that we’re really looking forward to. The one in Paris was amazing, there were a lot of people in the audience, and now we’re off to Chicago.
I.N: We want everyone to look forward to “Lose My Breath,” but there are a lot of things that are gonna come up and I hope you don’t get too surprised about the things that are going to come.