Pop
Page: 242
As Taylor Swift once said, this is why we can’t have nice things. Weeks after Emma Stone went viral for lovingly joking that the pop star was an “a–hole” for giving her a standing ovation at the 2024 Golden Globes, the actress has now said that she’s done teasing her longtime friend in public.
“I definitely won’t make a joke like that again,” she told Variety for her Wednesday (Feb. 21) cover story with Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos. “I saw headlines that really pulled it out of context.”
Trending on Billboard
Pointing at herself, Stone added, “What a dope.”
The interview follows the La La Land star’s best actress win at this year’s Globes for her portrayal of Bella Baxter in Poor Things. At the Jan. 7 ceremony, Swift stood up and excitedly cheered for Stone as she accepted the honors.
While speaking to press later that night, Stone was asked about the “Anti-Hero” singer’s applause. “What an a–hole, am I right?” she responded, earning laughs from Lanthimos and her costars, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe and Ramy Youssef.
“I’ve known her for almost 20 years, so I was very happy she was there,” Stone added at the time. “She was also nominated tonight, which was wonderful, and, um, yes, what an a–hole!”
The “Karma” musician was in the running for best cinematic and box office achievement that night, thanks to her blockbuster Eras Tour concert film; however, Swift lost out to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. The pop superstar’s three-hour production is one that Stone saw live three times last year, a favor the 14-time Grammy winner returned by attending the New York City premiere of Poor Things in December.
Over the summer, Stone became a central figure in Swiftian lore after the singer-songwriter released a “From the Vault” track titled “When Emma Falls in Love” as part of her July LP Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). Fans were quick to speculate that the “Emma” in question was the Amazing Spider-Man actress, something Stone neither confirmed nor denied when asked about the rumors at the Poor Things premiere.
At the time, she simply said, “You would have to ask her.”
PinkPantheress is only one night in to her Capable of Love Tour, but the trek is already a memorable one thanks to a fan with a prosthetic leg and a dream at the star’s kickoff show in Ireland Tuesday (Feb. 20). While the “Boy’s a Liar” singer was onstage at Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre, one of […]
The Spicy Pisces is officially 21. And after celebrating her milestone birthday Tuesday (Feb. 20) with a huge birthday cake and a party with friends, Olivia Rodrigo shared her gratitude on Instagram. ‘21!!!” the pop star wrote, sharing a photo in which she poses next to a five-tier “spill ur guts” cake frosted with her signature […]
If imitation if the greatest form of flattery, Kylie Minogue should feel mighty chuffed indeed following the release of Boy George’s new single, “Religion.”
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The former Culture Club frontman this week shared the standalone single “Religion,” one of two songs included in the audiobook of his 2023 memoir Karma: My Autobiography (the other, “Suddenly I’m Wiser,” is not widely available on streaming platforms).
When “Religion” dropped on DSPs, X (formerly known as Twitter) had words. Eagle-eyed social media users spotted the cover art’s close resemblance to that of Minogue’s Tension album, which led the U.K. and Australian albums charts following its release in 2023.
Trending on Billboard
George batted away the critics left and right.
“I’m recycling everything. It’s all the rage. Even fashion is catching on?,” he wrote in one post. In response to one particularly agitated comment, he assured the copycat image was “utter genius.” He returned serve on one poster who described the artwork as “pathetic,” and quipped that he “broke wind,” a retort to a Daily Mail headline which reads, “Boy George breaks silence after ‘copying’ Kylie’s album cover.
Both artists launched their careers in the 1980s. George (real name George O’Dowd), the flamboyant singer with Culture Club, was, for a time in the early-to-mid ‘80s, one of the most recognizable artists on the planet.
Culture Club captured six top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including a No. 1 with 1983’s “Karma Chameleon.” Its parent album Colour By Numbers peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
When the band was dissolved in 1986, George embarked on a solo career, which was briefly derailed by substance abuse, controversy and legal problems, before the singer reinvented himself as a club DJ, returned to the stage and studio, and found regular work on reality TV. In 2015, he snagged the Ivor Novello Award for outstanding contribution to British Music, one of the U.K. industry’s highest honors.
Kylie is in a purple patch. The Aussie “princess of pop” recently signed with UTA for live representation in the U.S. and Canada, as well as “acting endeavors” worldwide. Her Vegas residency has been extended, she recently won her second Grammy, for best pop dance recording with “Padam Padam,” the U.K. top 10 hit from Tension; she’s nominated for international artist of the year at the 2024 Brit Awards, where she’ll receive its Global Icon Award; and next month, she’ll scoop Billboard’s Women in Music Icon Award.
Tension is the ninth No. 1 album for Kylie in the U.K., where she is the first ever female artist — and second artist overall — to bag a No. 1 album in five consecutive decades.
Just weeks after making an unlikely U.S. chart debut, Sophie Ellis-Bextor is taking her show on the road for a first-ever headline tour of North America.
The British pop star sets a seven-date stretch, starting March 30 at San Francisco’s August Hall, followed by dates in San Diego, CA; Washington, DC, Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PA; New York, NY; and wrapping June 8 at Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, ON.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The New York show at Webster Hall “sold out in a day,” she writes on social media. “My band and I are coming for you! Super excited. Come and dance with me.”
Ellis-Bextor is, of course, flying high with her 2001 hit “Murder on the Dancefloor,” which is synced to the final sequence in the hit dark drama Saltburn.
Trending on Billboard
The scene, in which the film’s lead Barry Keoghan dances nude to the song, kicked off a dance trend on TikTok – and saw the song power into charts around the world.
Last month, “Murder” cracked the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time, at No. 98, then lifted to No. 51, its new peak.
[embedded content]
In her homeland, “Murder” recently returned to its all-time peak position of No. 2 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, and is one of her six top 10 hits there. She also boasts a No. 1 hit as the uncredited singer on Spiller’s 2000’s release “Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)”. The track has also reentered the top 10 on Australia’s ARIA Chart.
“It actually feels really magical, and if I’m honest, I don’t think I’ve completely processed it really,” Ellis-Bextor told the BBC following the revival for “Murder”. “It’s a song I’ve been singing for over 20 years. I still love singing it. I love the way people react when I do it live. But for new people to be discovering it, for it to be making new memories with people, is kind of beautiful.”
[embedded content]
Ahead of her North America jaunt, Ellis-Bextor has strutted her stuff on national TV, performing the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and for the BBC’s coverage of the BAFTAs.
The English artist kicks off a tour of Continental Europe next month, starting in Groningen, Netherlands on March 1. More concerts are locked in across the U.K. and Europe later in the year.
With her dreamy pop songs and sky-high whistle tones, Ariana Grande has drawn comparisons to Mariah Carey since her music debut back in 2013. Of course, in the decade-plus since, Grande has made a massive, marquee name for herself — so it’s a bit of a full-circle moment that the two chart-topping divas have joined […]
It’s been five years since Lady Gaga made her viral “What’s fortnight” tweet, but now she’s figured it out. In fact, it was revealed on Tuesday (Feb. 20) that the superstar is joining Fortnite Festival. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Gaga took to X (formerly known […]
It’s been exactly two years since Adele‘s viral NBA meme was born, and at her residency show in Las Vegas over the weekend, the 35-year-old vocalist finally shared the story behind it.
In a video taken Saturday night (Feb. 17) at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Adele asks her audience, “Do you remember that viral meme of me looking like I don’t give a flying f–k?”
She then recreated the famous video onstage, looking left and right as if to avoid eye contact with her audience — just like she did when faced with a camera Feb. 20, 2022 at that year’s NBA All-Star game, which she attended with her boyfriend, sports agent Rich Paul.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I really don’t like being famous,” the “Easy On Me” singer explained, telling the crowd she felt the need to provide “context” for the video. “Obviously I’m sitting courtside at a basketball game, you’re asking for it, whatever. Rich is working the room, talking to players. And I was fine. I was just there on my own looking for Michael Jordan, if I’m honest.”
Trending on Billboard
According to Adele, the camera crew at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse had approached her twice while she was sitting by herself to ask whether she was comfortable being filmed, which she politely declined both times. Even so, her image was blasted on the jumbotron at the game — and on national television.
“I was sulking,” she said, adding that she felt extra shy at the time due to the cancellation of her original Vegas residency. “I was like, ‘These motherf–kers have come back and are filming me against my will.”
“Also, my face is just very memeable,” she added. “I can’t help it.”
The Grammy winner has been performing for fans in Vegas on and off since the end of 2022 for her Weekends With Adele” residency, with dates scheduled through June this year. To her point, her shows often spawn funny viral moments — one of the most recent being when the “Rolling in the Deep” musician hilariously slammed critics of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance.
“I think I want the Chiefs to win,” she said at the time, the night before the Kansas City team triumphed at the 2024 Super Bowl. “And all of you that are complaining about Taylor being at the game, get a f—ing life. It’s her f—ing boyfriend!”
Watch Adele reflect on her viral NBA meme below.
From his 2009 chart debut with “Best I Ever Had” to his 2023 No. 1 smash “First Person Shooter,” Drake has notched a great many hits on the Billboard Hot 100. In fact, the artist — born Aubrey Graham — has scored the most entries on the 60-plus-year-old tally of any artist in history, with […]
After a four-year hiatus from music marked by persistent speculation surrounding her personal life, the stage was perfectly set for Ariana Grande to make an epic comeback earlier this year. She did just that by releasing “Yes, And?” in January, with the song debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
And now, the 30-year-old star is giving fans a peek into all of the planning that made her comeback possible. In a newly shared behind-the-scenes video, which was filmed prior to the release of “Yes, And?,” Grande meets with her team and explains to them why she believes the house-inspired dance track should be the lead single off her upcoming album Eternal Sunshine, which, at that point, hadn’t been announced yet.
Trending on Billboard
“The reason why I liked it, it’s an all-encompassing, like, ‘What the f–k?’” the pop star says in the clip, which she shared to Instagram Reels. “Why aren’t we all thinking with the cap of, ‘Everyone’s tired, everyone is healing from someone or something you can’t see on the surface.’ That’s why I kind of liked [‘Yes, And?’] as a, ‘We’re coming back.’”
Then, before playing the track for her team, Grande sets the scene. “Pretend you don’t know the rest,” she said, laughing. “Pretend it’s been three years since Positions. Pretend this is, you’ve been seeing me in a f–king blonde wig on the Daily Mail for the past year.”
For context, the “POV” singer spent much of 2023 playing Glinda in Jon M. Chu’s upcoming live-action Wicked movies, a character for which she went blonde. While she was shooting the films over the summer, her personal life became fodder for celebrity gossip, with fans and tabloids alike meticulously dissecting the timeline of her divorce from Dalton Gomez and the beginning of her rumored relationship with Ethan Slater, one of her Wicked castmates.
Things reached a fever pitch when Slater’s estranged wife, Lilly Jay, told Page Six that their marriage had ended because of Grande. “[Ariana’s] the story, really. Not a girl’s girl,” she said in July. “My family is just collateral damage.”
Both TMZ and People, however, reported that Slater and the Victorious alum started dating after both of their previous relationships had ended.
Months later, Grande seemed to address the controversy with “Yes, And?” “Your business is yours and mine is mine,” she sings during the bridge. “Why do you care so much whose d— I ride?”
The “7 Rings” artist’s new video comes on the heels of her new “Yes, And?” remix, which co-stars Mariah Carey. Eternal Sunshine is set to arrive March 8.
Watch Grande meet with her team about “Yes, And?” below.