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*NSYNC fans got what they’d been begging for last week, when the blockbuster boy band reunited at Justin Timberlake‘s one-night-only show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles to play snippets of four of their hits and perform their new song “Paradise” for the very first time. So now that we’ve seen the quintet back together […]
Dua Lipa is gearing up to release her upcoming album, Radical Optimism, and she sat down with Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly to discuss the inspiration behind the project. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “[Releasing the album] feels good. It feels for lack of a better word — […]
Hold the caffeine, Kelly Clarkson is wide awake. On the latest episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the three-time Grammy winner shared a breathtaking cover of Katy Perry‘s 2012 smash, “Wide Awake,” stripping it back to feature just piano and vocals.
Taking the Kellyoke stage with her pianist Tuesday (March 19), Clarkson went without her usual full band to let her unreal voice shine even more than usual. The musician also slightly slowed down Perry’s track, which allowed the “Stronger” singer to stretch out certain lines and add her own impressive high notes.
“Falling from cloud nine,” belted Clarkson, dressed in a grey skirt and black, knee-high boots. “Crashing from the high/ I’m letting go tonight.”
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Released as the final single from Perry’s Teenage Dream album cycle, “Wide Awake” appeared on the set’s 2012 deluxe reissue, Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, remaining on the chart for a total of 26 weeks.
Clarkson has previously covered Perry’s “The One That Got Away” and “Roar” on her Daytime Emmy-winning talk show. Earlier this week, she put her own spin on Maren Morris’ “The Bones.”
The Voice alum’s new performance comes just over a week after she filed a new lawsuit against her ex-husband, music executive Brandon Blackstock, alleging that he and his father’s management firm had been violating state labor rules since the beginning of their relationship. With the suit — which comes just months after she won $2.6 million from him in a previous ruling — Clarkson seeks the return of “any and all commissions, fees, profits, advances, producing fees or other monies” she paid to Blackstock’s father’s company, Starstruck Entertainment, dating back to 2007.
In June, Clarkson released her tenth studio album, Chemistry. The 14-track set, which featured collaborations from Steve Martin and Sheila E., peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200.
Watch Clarkson cover “Wide Awake” above.
Taylor Swift continues to have the Kansas City Chiefs‘ stamp of approval! The Super Bowl LVIII winning team’s kicker, Harrison Butker, recently recalled meeting the superstar during an EWTN News In Depth interview. “She was just so humble and so gracious,” he shared. “I don’t think she grew up a football fan, so everything for her is […]
Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour is still breaking records, five months after its initial release. The blockbuster concert film has already become Disney+’s most-streamed music special of all time, breaking the record just three days after premiering on the platform March 14. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the three-hour-plus project was viewed for a collective 16.2 […]
Lady Gaga is headed back to Las Vegas for a summer run of more Jazz & Piano shows. The singer announced the news on Tuesday morning (March 19), revealing that she will be back on the stage at the Dolby Live theater at Park MGM for eight shows between June 19 and July 6. Explore […]
“Ever since Rent, I have made it a priority to originate roles and shine a light on new work,” Idina Menzel tells Billboard. “It takes lots of patience and fortitude, but there is truly nothing as rewarding as seeing your kernel of an idea fully realized with a group of people you love and admire so deeply.”
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The Broadway icon’s latest project in that vein is the new musical Redwood, currently playing at La Jolla Playhouse in California. For Menzel — who plays Jesse, a successful businesswoman, mother and wife who finds herself as a personal crossroads and finds unexpected answers in the forests of Northern California — the show is an especially personal creative endeavor. “The story of a woman at a turning point in her life paralleled with the resilience, wisdom and strength of the redwood tree was one that spoke to me deep in my soul,” Menzel says. “Nature’s power to heal and connect us as human beings is essential in this turbulent world we are living in.”
Idina Menzel backstage during REDWOOD at La Jolla Playhouse.
Courtesy of Idina Menzel
Menzel, who released her latest album Drama Queen in August of last year, isn’t just the star of the production. She co-conceived Redwood with director, writer and co-lyricist Tina Landau (recently of Broadway’s inventive SpongeBob SquarePants musical) over the course of many years, delving deeply into the development of Jesse as a character.
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Menzel and Landau also “knew we wanted to find a new young composer who could bring a fresh take to musical theater” for the show, bringing in Kate Diaz for a score that Menzel describes as having “a beautiful, earthy and soulful quality as well as expansive and cinematic. When I perform Kate’s music, I am able to use all the different colors in my voice. I’m not just shooting for the rafters. I’m expressing myself similarly to how I express myself in my own songwriting.” (Diaz also co-wrote the lyrics with Landau).
While the La Jolla run of Redwood ends March 31, the show has its sights set on Broadway — which certainly seems more likely than not with Menzel and her creative collaborators on board. “We knew we wanted the production to be cutting edge and unconventional,” Menzel says. “We have encouraged one another to dream big, break rules, and not compromise our creative ideas. There’s a deep sense of creative freedom and trust in how we work.”
Here, Menzel exclusively shares with Billboard a live recording of her performing “Great Escape,” recorded during a performance of Redwood.
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Fans went wild at Justin Timberlake‘s Los Angeles concert last week when the singer brought out his *NSYNC bandmates for a surprise live reunion, debuting the group’s new song “Paradise” onstage. And in a new interview, Joey Fatone revealed the lengths he went to in order to keep it a secret leading up to the show.
“I didn’t even tell my parents,” the boy bander said on The Jennifer Hudson Show on Tuesday morning (March 19). “My father has a very large mouth. He’s very proud, so he likes to tell people… I didn’t tell my publicist, I didn’t tell nobody. Surprise!”
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In addition to “Paradise,” which appears on Timberlake’s new album Everything I Thought It Was, the “Mirrors” singer, Fatone, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass performed their smash ’90s hits “Bye Bye Bye” and “It’s Gonna Be Me” at The Wiltern in L.A. The performance came more than 20 years after *NSYNC went on hiatus in 2002, after which they wouldn’t officially reunite until 2023 to collaborate on “Better Place” for Timberlake’s Trolls Band Together animated threequel.
“It was really exciting, it was kind of just fun,” Fatone added of the show. “We have not been around for a long time, obviously… When we came out, it was just like, ‘What?’ Justin asked us to do the show and we were like ‘Yeah, why not.’ People went crazy.”
“When they all walked out … the screams were unbelievable,” chimed in the Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean, who joined Fatone on the Hudson Show couch. “They didn’t miss a beat.”
McLean and Fatone kicked off their joint A Legendary Night Tour last week. The two stars have plans to play select dates across the United States through the end of March, with the shows promising live music, comedy and storytelling.
While chatting with J-Hud, the guys also reminisced on the time their respective bands faced off against each other for a charity basketball game in Europe back in the day. To spice things up, Bass had switched over to the Backstreet Boys team, while McLean played alongside the guys of *NSYNC.
“I think we won,” McLean said. “Whoops, sorry guys!”
Watch Fatone and McLean on The Jennifer Hudson Show above.
Sufjan Stevens is bringing the noise to Broadway. The acclaimed singer/songwriter’s new musical, Illinoise, is slated to graduate to the Great White Way after sold-out productions at New York’s Park Avenue Armory and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater when it opens at New York’s St. James Theatre on April 24.
The show is set to the songs from Stevens’ fifth studio LP, 2005’s concept album Illinoise (also known as Sufjan Stevens Invites You to: Come on Feel the Illinoise) which features songs and characters based on the Prairie state as the follow-up to his previous “state” album, 2003’s Michigan.
The show will be directed and choreographed by Tony-winner Justin Peck (Carousel, West Side Story), with an original story by Peck and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jackie Sibbles Drury (Fairview, Marys Seacole).
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The cast of Illinoise includes: Yesenia Ayala (West Side Story film), Kara Chan (Twyla Tharp Dance), Ben Cook (West Side Story film), Gaby Diaz (So You Think You Can Dance? winner, Maestro), Jeanete Delgado (Miami City Ballet), Carlos Falu (West Side Story film), Christine Flores (Dance Heginbotham), Jada German (Twyla Tharp Dance) and Zachary Gonder (Carmen at Lyric Opera), among others. The vocalists and band for the show will be announced soon.
According to an announcement, the show “brings the original story to life, set to the entirety of Stevens’ album with new arrangements by composer, pianist, and frequent Stevens collaborator Timo Andres, ranging in style from DIY folk and indie rock to marching band and ambient electronics, performed live by an 11-member band and three vocalists.”
“We’re absolutely thrilled to bring Illinoise to the St. James Theatre on Broadway. This project has been ruminating in my mind for nearly 20 years, which makes this moment even more sublime,” said Peck in a statement. “The audience response throughout our engagement at Fisher Center at Bard, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Park Avenue Armory has been extraordinary, and we feel lucky that we get to continue sharing this unique show with future audiences on Broadway.”
Peck described the show as a coming-of-age story that “takes the audience on a journey through the American heartland — from campfire storytelling to the edges of the cosmos — all told in through a unique blend of music, dance, and theater. On behalf of my team, we welcome this rare opportunity with full hearts.”
Playwright Sibblies Drury added, “Supporting the craft of each of the artists involved in making up this show has been a joy and an inspiration. For me, the thing that makes Illinoise so special is how it allows incredible performers to come together with an audience and welcome emotion and connection with open arms. It is rare to have an experience, in a public space, that is moving on an elemental level, so we are all incredibly gratified to bring Illinoise to the St. James on Broadway.”
The musical’s limited engagement will run through August 10, with tickets on sale now here. The show is produced for Broadway by Orin Wolf, John Styles and David Binder in association with Seaview and executive produced by Nate Koch and co-produced by Thomas O. Kriegsmann and the Fisher Center at Bard.
K-pop boy band TOMORROW X TOGETHER announced the dates for their upcoming 2024 U.S. tour, which will hit eight cities across 11 shows. The outing is slated to kick off in Tacoma, WA at the Tacoma Dome on May 15, followed by gigs in Oakland, two nights at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and shows […]