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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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05/22/2024
From groups like aespa, ENHYPEN and ZEROBASEONE to solo stars like MARK, Sorn, Hongseok, Ryu Sujeong and Yein, which new song gets your vote?
05/22/2024
Spoiler alert: This story contains the identity of the winner and runner-up unmasked on Wednesday night’s (May 22) season finale of The Masked Singer.
It was a fierce scramble for the golden mask on Wednesday’s (May 22) season 11 Masked Singer finale in an action-packed battle that pitted powerhouse male vocalist Gumball against season-long favorite Goldfish.
When the confetti fell at the end of the night, though, it was veteran singer/actress Vanessa Hudgens who triumphed over her former Bandslam co-star Scott Porter (aka Friday Night Lights‘ Jason Street).
To recap, former High School Musical movie star Hudgens got her perfect run off to a killer start early on in the season with a fierce take on fellow High School Musical universe alum Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire,” throwing down the gauntlet that this was a performer with killer pipes and casually cool stage moves. The singer, who released two albums on Hollywood Records early in her career, showed off her performance chops throughout by expertly ruling the stage in the peach-colored costume with a towering mohawk and diaphanous gills.
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She continued to swim upstream all season with a smooth-as-butter cover of Player’s 1977 AM radio classic “Baby Come Back” and further proved her arena-ready bona fides with a Broadway-worthy take on Queen’s “The Show Must Go On.”
The flawless march kept going with a showstopping run through Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” — which again showed off her impressive range — as well as last week’s fierce rumble through Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” that had Robin Thicke jumping on the judges’ table for a standing ovation.
On Wednesday, before her reveal, Hudgens, 27, confessed that she was never good at expressing herself as a young girl, but has lately been on a “journey of self-discovery” that allowed her to express herself “so freely” on the show. And while she said music has taken a “back seat” as she’s focused on film for the past 15-plus years — appearing in Second Act, Bad Boys for Life and Tick, Tick… Boom!, as well as the upcoming Bad Boys: Ride or Die — her victory-sealing covers of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” proved her pipes are as strong as ever.
The judges were close in their guesses but didn’t quite nail it, with Rita Ora suggesting former Glee star Lea Michele or Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev; Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg guessing Selena Gomez, Vampire Academy star Sarah Hyland or Julianne Hough; and Thicke going with Hilary Duff. Always-wrong Ken Jeong missed it by a mile once again, tossing out such wildly disparate suggestions as Carly Rae Jepsen, Kristen Stewart and former panelist Nicole Scherzinger.
Billboard spoke to Hudgens before her elimination about why this was the right time to dip back into singing, how she managed to move like such a pro in her costume, and why her “witch” powers were the key to giving the expectant first-time mom something special to share with her baby. Check out her answers below.
You’ve been a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance and RuPaul’s Drag Race, but never really a contestant on a singing show. Why now?
This opportunity came up at a really interesting time when we [actors] were on strike and this was a category I could actually work in and my fans had been asking for more music, more singing, anything of that sort. I was like, “This would be a really fun and interesting opportunity to give my fans what they want and see who the real ones are.”
People complain about the size and sweatiness of the costumes, but you seemed to be able to move with no problems. What was your secret?
Reckless abandonment? [Laughs] It definitely had its own challenges because I couldn’t see straight ahead because the eyeholes were so far apart. If I wanted to see straight ahead, I had to turn my head one way or another and I was really using a live mic and holding it up to the little opening in my mask. So I had to split my vision and look sideways out of one eye and then look down with the other in the mic hole to see the ground. I just went for it and left it all out there. They would be like, “You’re kind of here and then walk over there and if you want to maybe do a verse there and move over here.” I just really let it fly and they gave me the freedom to play, and play I did.
Which performance meant the most to you and why?
I feel so lucky in that I got to work really closely with my producer and pick songs that meant something to me, from the cheeky nod to High School Musical singing “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo to “Baby Come Back,” which I sang at 16 as a cover song for my first single [2006’s “Come Back to Me”]. “The Show Must Go On” for a vulnerable, special performance to “Unforgettable,” which I’d wanted to sing from jump because I just want to sing jazz all the time, to a female empowerment moment with Alanis Morissette.
Did singing “Vampire” make you long for the good old days?
I just think [Rodrigo]’s really great and I really vibe with her. It’s always great to support a fellow Filipina, and it was just a cute, cheeky nod to how things always end up being connected.
It looked like you came to play from jump. How badly did you want to win the golden mask?
You know, it wasn’t really about winning, honestly. I am my own worst critic and I will always be my hardest critic in the room at all times. I just wanted to have fun, and it was a really freeing experience for me to be anonymous and have nothing to do with my name or fame or celebrity. It was a really special experience.
You said your run surprised you and allowed people to really see you for who you are and what you do. Might you go back to music after this?
No. I always say life is about priorities, and that is not a priority right now. I feel like it’s something I will always have in my back pocket.
You said winning would be the “ultimate pat on the back” and really mean a lot to you because you always thought of yourself as an actor first and singer second. Did you give people the “music moment” you hope for?
I think I got to give myself the music moment I was hoping for and in turn my supportive fans got to enjoy it as well. I got to show up every day and put my best foot forward, and I was so uplifted and supported by such an amazing team over there and I got to work on my voice every day with someone who helped me expand my horizons.
On tonight’s show, you said you couldn’t wait to have kids so you could tell them, “Look at mommy go!” Did you know when you taped the show that you were expecting? [Hudgens revealed in March on the Oscars red carpet that she’s expecting her first child.]
No! I’m just a witch! [Laughs] I’ve always worked in a way that kept people guessing and gave me something to show my kids at every stage of my life. That’s always been important to me.
He looks so cute, wrapped around Sabrina Carpenter‘s finger. A fan named Emmyn Calleiro — who makes music under the moniker Games We Play — is going viral for cleverly assisting his brother in wooing the “Espresso” singer, thanks to his hilarious reimagining of her biggest hit. In a recent TikTok, Calleiro begins by standing […]
Camila Cabello and Lil Nas X are fighting for love. The pop star enlisted Nas X for “He Knows” and the mannequin-filled clip arrived on Wednesday (May 22).
Onda helms the grungy visual, which centers around a dance battle at Los Angeles hot spot gay club Heart Weho. Cabello makes the first move wooing a love interest on the dance floor in a sparkling bra top and skirt.
The “Panini” artist doesn’t even pay any attention to Camila, locking eyes with the man in the barren nightclub, making for a fluid situation as he attempts to snatch him from the Fifth Harmony alum’s grasp.
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Cabello isn’t thrilled with Lil Nas X’s drive-by robbery, and she jumps on his back as they get into a tussle only to realize that the guy they were drooling over happens to be a mannequin.
“Oh my God, he’s plastic,” Cabello says in shock.
“But he’s also bald,” Nas X replies, taking the tension out of the room.
They pinky-promise to never fight over a boy again, but that quickly goes awry when another man steals their attention outside the club.
“I just loved the idea of us fighting over this fluid guy, who we don’t know which way he’s leaning,” Cabello told Rolling Stone of the video. “We both would have so much fun with this and have so much fun with the video, so we got to make it a reality.”
“He Knows” arrived on May 10 and serves as the second single from Camila Cabello’s C, XOXO album, which will be released on June 28. The bop follows the Playboi Carti-assisted “I Luv It,” which entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 81.
“This is the best project I’ve ever made, and I have never been so proud of a body of work,” she gushed of her upcoming LP to RS. “It’s just such a world. My favorite albums are when I really get to live in a lyric or live in an aesthetic of an album. She is really a complicated, exciting girl, C,XOXO. She really is.”
Watch the “He Knows” video below.
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Sexyy Red and Lana Del Rey are the duo we didn’t know we needed. The two artists hung out together at Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, Ala., over the weekend, and Sexyy has the moment on camera. The “Get It Sexyy” MC posted an Instagram video Tuesday (May 21) of her and Lana twerking to […]