Pop

Forget about that old joke about how Fred Astaire was great but that his dance partner Ginger Rogers did everything he did, but “backwards and in high heels.” And, if you can, put those recent videos of 60-year-old Lenny Kravitz working out in Jeans and boots out of your head too, because Miley Cyrus just revealed that she’s got them both beat.

“My mantra is, like any athlete, ‘Practice how you perform,’” Cyrus told W Magazine in its current cover story. “So that’s why I practice in my heels. The gym looks really tough, but then I’ve got my ivory Gucci slingbacks because they remind me of Marilyn ­Monroe. I train in heels, mostly.”

In addition to squatting in slingbacks, Cyrus said she also works out in her more glamorous stage attire because she wants to bring some feminine energy to the typically grimy, bro-ish gym experience. The singer — who said her sobriety is a big part of her “extremely clean” lifestyle — further explained, “I’m interested in feminizing the workout space, because so much of the workout equipment is ugly.”

In addition to revealing how she ended up on old friend Beyoncé’s “II Most Wanted” Cowboy Carter track earlier this year, Miley also dove into how the two women have been had mothers who’ve been involved in their careers over the years.

“Like her mom, Ms. Tina, my mom is also an M.T.: Mama Tish,” Cyrus said. “A lot of people call her Mom, in the way that Ms. Tina is almost not just a mother to Beyoncé, but to Beyoncé’s fans as well. Both of us grew up, in our own way, with moms who were everything. My mom was my makeup, hair, seamstress, styling, tour manager — like, the actual manager. The word ‘mother’ is the most all-encompassing word. The mother can be RuPaul; the mother can be Beyoncé. Our fans call us ‘mother.’”

Cyndi Lauper is baring her soul in her new documentary, Let the Canary Sing, and in a clip shared exclusively with Billboard, the beloved icon opens up about the backstory behind a popular lyric in her 1983 classic, “Time After Time.”

In the first pre-chorus, Lauper sings, “I fall behind/ The second hand unwinds,” which she recalls was sparked from overhearing a conversation with the song’s producer, Rick Chertoff. “I actually was listening to a conversation,” the star shared. “Rick was just standing there and his watch — he kept looking at his watch going, ‘Hm, my watch is going backwards. I’m not kidding. Look at this. The second hand’s unwinding. The second hand unwinds!’ And I’m thinking, ‘The second hand unwinds,’ what a great lyric.” 

“Time After Time” ultimately topped the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart for two weeks in 1984, marking her first leader on the tally.

The feature-length Let the Canary Sing film that debuted at last year’s Tribeca Festival in New York was directed by Emmy-winning documentarian Alison Ellwood (Laurel Canyon) and will debut on Paramount+ on Tuesday (June 4). “Over the years I’ve been asked to do a documentary about my life and work, but it never felt like the right time,” Lauper, 70, said in a statement about the film. “Until now. When I first met Alison Ellwood, I knew right away I could trust her to tell my story honestly, which was incredibly important to me, and she succeeded in that. I’d like to thank Alison, the producers, and all of the amazing documentary participants who agreed to be interviewed!”

Lauper is also gearing up to embark on her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, a 23-city North American trek that kicks off on Oct. 18 at the Bell Centre in Montreal and wrap Dec. 5 at the United Center in Chicago. 

Watch Lauper discuss the backstory of her “Time After Time” lyric in the clip below.

SZA is loving Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft.

The “Kill Bill” singer took to X on Monday (June 3) to gush over Eilish’s third studio album, which arrived on May 17. “Billie went f—ing crazy. This album is gorgeous,” SZA wrote.

Produced as usual by the pop star’s brother and longtime collaborator, Finneas, the 10-track set marks Eilish’s third studio LP, following 2019’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and 2021’s Happier Than Ever, both of which spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. No singles preceded the project, with the 22-year-old singer telling fans from the moment she announced it, “i wanna give it to you all at once.”

On the Billboard 200 chart dated June 1, Hit Me Hard and Soft debuted at No. 2.

“Every time you put anything out, it feels like your nudes leaked a little bit,” the nine-time Grammy winner previously told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe of the album. “I think this one specifically is like that. Something that Finneas and I said to a couple of people when we started to play it for people is we kind of made the album that if somebody had said, ‘I want you to make an album and no one is going to hear it. You don’t have to worry about anyone’s ears or opinions or anything at all. It’s in your contract to make an album but no one can hear it.’ We pretty much made that album. We made that album without much thought of other people.”

Sabrina Carpenter is pouring up another shot of “Espresso” into 2024, when she revealed on Monday (June 3) that her sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet, will be arriving on August 23.

“This project is quite special to me and i hope it’ll be something special to you too,” she wrote on social media, alongside a photo of the star looking over her shoulder with a red kiss mark on her arm. She also posted the pre-save link.

To wrap up her announcement, Carpenter added that she has “a surprise coming for you on Thursday night so keep an eye out!!”

Carpenter released her viral hit “Espresso” right before she took the stage at Coachella back in April. The track currently sits at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.

In February, the 25-year-old pop star confirmed in an  Interview conversation with Maya Hawke that she was working on the follow-up to her 2022 fifth studio album, Emails I Can’t Send. “I feel a lot freer and more excited about what I’m making now because I’ve realized that genre isn’t necessarily the most important thing,” she revealed. “It’s about honesty and authenticity and whatever you gravitate towards. There were a lot of genres in my last album, and I like to think I’ll continue that throughout writing music.”

The singer’s Emails I Can’t Send, which features hits like “Nonsense,” “Feather” and “Because I Liked a Boy” peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, marking Carpenter’s highest-charting effort on the tally.