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Rosé and Bruno Mars brought the MAMA Awards over to their “APT.” on Thursday night (Nov. 21), performing their new collaboration live for the first time at the Los Angeles ceremony. The duo rocked matching oversized grey suits as they sang the high-energy track, backed by a band and supporting singers. The duo later accepted […]

When director Jon M. Chu shared that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo had been cast as Galinda and Elphaba, respectively, in the long-awaited movie adaptation of Broadway’s smash musical Wicked back in Nov. 2021, reactions were mixed. No one doubted Erivo’s thespian credentials: She’d won a Tony (lead actress, musical) for The Color Purple in 2016 and been nominated for a best actress Oscar in 2019 for playing abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet. But Grande? Well, Ari’s pop career was unimpugnable – she’d released the acclaimed, Billboard 200-topping Positions a year prior to the announcement and topped the Billboard Hot 100 just months earlier on a remix of The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” – but her acting credits were a different matter entirely.

It wasn’t that her résumé was slim. Between Victorious and Sam & Cat, Grande had been a consistent presence on Nickelodeon in the first half of the ‘10s. During the second half of that decade, Grande – who by then had earned her spot on pop music’s A-list – continued to flex her acting chops in small parts, getting killed in 2015’s Scream Queens, co-starring in Hairspray Live!, hosting Saturday Night Live and making a cameo in Zoolander 2 (all 2016).

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So it wasn’t that audiences hadn’t seen her act – it was that we hadn’t seen her act too far afield of the bubbly, ditzy Cat Valentine of her Nickelodeon days. A month after the Wicked casting was revealed, Grande showed a bit more range in the love-it-or-hate-it Netflix comedy Don’t Look Up, but considering that she was playing a pop star, it didn’t exactly assuage Wicked fan fears that Grande wasn’t qualified for one of the most beloved, sought-after roles in modern musical history.

Yes, Galinda/Glinda (the “Ga” is silent by the end of the musical) is both giddy and scatterbrained – two traits Grande excels at portraying – but Kristin Chenoweth’s iconic, Tony-nominated work in Wicked established that to play the role, you needed depth, layers and razor-sharp comedic timing. No one with ears could question Grande’s pipes, but based on her acting credits, we simply didn’t know if she was capable of filling Chenoweth’s small but mighty heels.

Well, having seen Wicked: Part 1 in theaters, I can say without exaggeration that Grande isn’t just a good witch – she’s sinceriously astonishing. From her first scene – when she descends from the sky to tell the overjoyed Munchkins that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead – it’s abundantly clear that Grande has figured out how to make the role her own.

This isn’t Grande the impressionist recreating Chenoweth’s Glinda for the big screen; this is a fresh interpretation delivered with nuance and pathos. As a traditionally beautiful pop star, it’s no surprise that Grande captures Glinda’s more-perfect-than-perfection aura; and as a Nickelodeon veteran, Grande can milk the humor of the Ozian mispronunciations (“confusifying,” etc.) without batting an eyelash. But when a Munchkin confrontationally inquiries about Glinda’s past friendship with the Wicked Witch, forcing the Good Witch to literally burst her own pink bubble, Grande is a revelation.

Caught off guard by the question, Grande’s Glinda falters, struggling to deliver a PR-acceptable reply without betraying a deeply felt kinship with the so-called Wicked Witch. Forcing a smile to cover up the pain and haunted loneliness in her eyes, Grande demonstrates from the go that she knows exactly what makes the Glinda character work: It’s not just about satirizing her superficiality — it’s conveying the sense that the experience of knowing Elphaba has fundamentally changed Glinda’s unthinking faith in institutions, public opinion and people in power. Glinda is a gently tragic figure in many ways, ultimately getting exactly what she wants while simultaneously realizing how hollow it all is.

As with the stage musical, the Wicked film plays out primarily as one lengthy flashback, which takes us back to a pre-epiphany Galinda: narcissistic, ambitious, a bit cruel, self-promoting and unhindered by one iota of self-awareness. Wicked touches on weighty themes, yes, but it’s not a Shakespearean tragedy, so all of that is naturally played for laughs, and Grande eats up every syllable, hair flip and vapid smile. She soars in the vocal showcase “Popular” – nailing some hair-raising high notes toward the end while putting her own stamp on Chenoweth’s best-known song – but more importantly, she delivers the laughs. Like a Golden Era Hollywood pro, Grande is luminous onscreen while balancing choreography and comedy, alternately subtle and silly in her performance of this winking celebration of conformity. When Wicked hits streamers, expect viewers to hit rewind more than once on this scene.

Any successful staging of Wicked needs a push-pull chemistry between the two leads, and Erivo’s Elphaba exudes a potent mixture of warmth, longing and self-loathing in the role. (It goes without saying that Erivo sings the absolute hell out of every song.) From bristling irritation to empathy and affection, her feelings toward Galinda evolve in a way that feels real and relatable — even in a musical with talking goats and Winkie princes.

When it’s time for Elphaba’s signature song, “Defying Gravity,” Erivo is stunning, overcoming disillusionment to find her self-confidence and purpose while giving the film it’s pounding, wounded heart. Grande provides deft, subtle support; these characters are on the same page morally but wired too differently to follow the same path, and that tension is magnificently acted. (Grande obviously knows “Yes, And?” as more than just a song title.)

Skeptics of Grande’s acting abilities might insist that while she soars in this role, it’s more a case of perfect casting than impressive acting. But from the opening scene to the climatic finale, Grande goes so much deeper than just playing a shallow, popular girl for laughs – she takes us on a journey that reveals the hopes, disappointments, compromises and realizations of a surprisingly three-dimensional character. Some pop stars turned actors acquit themselves competently on the big screen, but like Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born, this performance signals the arrival of a formidable cinematic talent with a lot more to show us.

Taylor Swift is perfectly fine with subtly teasing her ex-boyfriend, Joe Jonas. Swift dated Jonas between July and October of 2008, and the relationship infamously ended when he broke up with the “Anti-Hero” star through a very quick phone call — a move Swift publicly shaded during a 2008 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. A […]

Maroon 5’s “Memories” tops the second Top Movie Songs chart, powered by Tunefind (a Songtradr company), following its synch in the latest installment in the Venom film series, Venom: The Last Dance.

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Rankings for the Top Movie Songs chart are based on song and film data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of October 2024. The ranking includes newly released films from the preceding three months.

“Memories” leads a sweep of the top two spots on Top Movie Songs for Venom: The Last Dance, which was released Oct. 25 and is the first film in the series since 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The song earned 8.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams in October 2024, plus 1,000 downloads sold, according to Luminate.

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Released in 2019, “Memories” is Maroon 5’s most recent top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 2 in January 2020.

It’s followed by Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” from 1978’s Jazz, allowing Venom: The Last Dance to become the first film to occupy the top two of the chart, coming in its second month of existence. Bee Gees’ “Tragedy” from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice led the inaugural ranking, followed by Taylor Swift’s “My Tears Ricochet” from It Ends With Us.

Speaking of It Ends With Us, Post Malone’s “White Iverson” (13.3 million streams) ranks at No. 3. It’s followed by Jungle’s “Back on 74” at No. 4. “Back on 74,” with 8.1 million streams and 1,000 downloads, was featured in Netflix’s Lonely Planet, released Oct. 11. It’s the first time a movie that premiered on a streaming service reaches the chart, as the films represented on the September 2024 tally all had theatrical releases.

A pair of songs from Maren Morris released as part of Dreamworks’ The Wild Robot also make the chart, with “Kiss the Sky” (No. 6; 1.4 million streams, 1,000 downloads) and “Even When I’m Not” (No. 9; 790,000 streams, 1,000 downloads) representing the second and third chart appearances for animated films, after Transformers One made the September 2024 list with Quavo, Ty Dolla $ign and ARE WE DREAMING’s “If I Fall.”

See the full top 10 below.

Rank, Song, Artist, Film1. “Memories,” Maroon 5, Venom: The Last Dance2. “Don’t Stop Me Now,” Queen, Venom: The Last Dance3. “White Iverson,” Post Malone, It Ends With Us4. “Back on 74,” Jungle, Lonely Planet5. “Tragedy,” Bee Gees, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice6. “Kiss the Sky,” Maren Morris, The Wild Robot7. “Right Here Waiting,” Richard Marx, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice8. “Margaritaville,” Jimmy Buffett, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice9. “Even When I’m Not,” Maren Morris, The Wild Robot10. “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby,” Cigarettes After Sex, It Ends With Us

November is coming to an end, but things are just starting to heat up in the music world with the slew of new drops this week. To kick things off, Kendrick Lamar unveiled his sixth studio album, GNX, without any warning on Friday (Nov. 22). The 12-track project features contributions from SZA — who appears on […]

Ariana Grande is at the top of the mountain for Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 debuts, but she isn’t there alone.
In a new TikTok video shared by MTV UK Friday (Nov. 22), the 31-year-old pop star had a sweet reaction to finding out that she and Taylor Swift are tied for most songs to enter at the top of the U.S. chart among female artists, with seven each. “Really? I didn’t know that,” she said of the number with surprise while sitting next to Wicked costar Cynthia Erivo.

“That can’t be true,” Grande added.

When the interviewer mentioned that the “Cruel Summer” singer is the only other female artist with seven Hot 100 No. 1 debuts, the R.E.M. Beauty founder and Pinocchio actress started tapping their nails with reverent applause. “Good company!” Grande said of Swift, smiling as Erivo nodded in agreement.

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The 14-time Grammy winner tied the Victorious alum’s record this spring, when “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone entered at the apex of the Hot 100. Swift has previously debuted in the top spot with “Is It Over Now?,” “Anti-Hero,” “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” “Willow,” “Cardigan” and “Shake It Off.”

Grande earned her seventh No. 1 debut in March, when Eternal Sunshine‘s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” claimed the reigning placement in its first week on the chart. Her past No. 1 debuts include “Yes, And?,” “Positions,” “Rain on Me” with Lady Gaga, “Stuck With U” with Justin Bieber, “7 Rings” and “Thank U, Next.”

The only other artist with more No. 1 debuts is Drake, with nine. In total, Grande has topped the Hot 100 nine times, while Swift has done so 12 times.

The MTV UK interview comes amid colossal career moments for both women. On Friday, Wicked starring Grande and Erivo premiered in theaters after three years in the making — and months of promotional build-up — while Swift is on the precipice of closing out her two-year Eras Tour in December.

Interactions between the two artists have been few and far between over the years, but they’ve maintained an outward respect for one another. In 2014, they co-headlined the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and snapped a photo together backstage — “Oh my God she couldn’t be cuter,” Swift wrote of Grande on Instagram at the time — and when the former included a drag performer channeling Ari in her “You Need to Calm Down” music video, the latter applauded the project on Instagram Stories in 2019.

“Ty for having me in your video I was amazing @taylorwift,” Grande joked at the time. “Taylor, Congrats on YNTCD. I f–king love it and the message soooooo much.”

Watch Grande react to her chart tie with Swift below.

TWICE has officially conquered the Amazon Music Live stage, with the nine-piece K-pop girl group performing “I Got You” after Thursday Night Football on Prime Video Thursday (Nov. 21). Divided up across three platforms on stage, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu stood spread out in front of standing microphones, modeling […]

Redman couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the first six-figure publishing check for hopping on Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty” in 2002. The New Jersey rapper was blown away by the astonishing sum and revealed to Red Bull Spiral earlier this week that it was actually for more than $250,000, and it ended up being one […]

More than 100 million people around the world tuned in to the ultra-hyped boxing match between former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson and YouTuber Jake Paul on Nov. 15. Well, that many people reportedly tried to watch it, but due to the crush of interest and tune-ins, many reported experiencing buffering problems and glitches that interrupted what turned out to be a surprisingly banal slugfest.
That got some pundits wondering if Netflix is fully ready to provide reliable streams during its upcoming Christmas Day NFL double-header over the internet’s point-to-point communication system, which at the moment is not always as reliable as traditional broadcast TV’s multipoint infrastructure when millions, or tens of millions of people try to stream an event at the same time.

In particular, the Beyhive is buzzing about whether Beyoncé‘s planned halftime show during the streamer’s first-ever Christmas Day NFL two-fer might fall prey to similar buffering issues as the at-times pokey prizefight. But when TMZ caught up this week with Bey’s mom, Tina Knowles, to ask if she’s sweating the streamer’s technique in advance of her daughter’s performance during the game between the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens, Ms. Knowles said she’s confident the good lord will provide a strong, steady connection.

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“Everything’s going to be good. God is going to be there,” Knowles said of her expectations for the 4:30 p.m. ET game that will stream live on Netflix from NRG Stadium in Beyoncé’s hometown of Houston. The spot will be Bey’s first live performance of tracks from her lauded country-inspired Cowboy Carter album, which gave the singer her eighth consecutive No. 1 LP on the Billboard 200, as well as topping the Top Country Albums tally.

Earlier this week, Netflix dropped a dramatic preview video of the special event featuring Beyoncé in which the singer was draped in red, white and blue Western gear and a white cowboy hat while standing on top of a tricked out vintage car covered in red roses. With an a cappella version of the Cowboy Carter song “AMERICAN REQUIEM” playing the background, Bey casually catches a football in the brief clip hyping the game.

NPR reported that a spokesperson said that Netflix is confident it has the infrastructure needed to prepare for the two games and is working to “optimize its systems and add more capacity” to make improvements based on lessons learned from the Tyson-Paul fight, including working with internet service providers to grows its “interconnection capabilities.”

According to The Wrap, Nexflix was sued this week in a class action complaint over the “streaming glitches” in the Tyson-Paul fight. “Sixty million Americans were hyped to see ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ versus YouTuber-turned-prizefighter Jake Paul. What they saw was ‘The Baddest Streaming on the Planet,’” read the lawsuit filed on Monday in the 13th Judicial Circuit Court in Hillsborough County, Florida.

Though the massive tune-in was deemed a success by Netflix, in a statement the streamer said there was room to do better, according to Bloomberg. “This unprecedented scale created many technical challenges, which the launch team tackled brilliantly by prioritizing stability of the stream for the majority of viewers,” Netflix CFO Elizabeth Stone reportedly wrote in a note to employees about the event that the streamer said racked up 65 million live concurrent streams and 108 million total live viewers around the globe.

“I’m sure many of you have seen the chatter in the press and on social media about the quality issues,” she continued. “We don’t want to dismiss the poor experience of some members, and know we have room for improvement, but still consider this event a huge success.”

It isn’t easy being a number one girl — just ask ROSÉ.
In a candid interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe arriving Friday (Nov. 22), the BLACKPINK star got real about the inspiration behind her new solo single, “Number One Girl,” which dropped the same day: reading hate comments about herself. “We wrote that song the day after I went to this event,” ROSÉ explained. “I felt so grateful that I’m at these events, but I didn’t feel fulfilled. I felt like I was chasing after something that I’m like, ‘What am I chasing after?’”

“I felt so empty, and I remember feeling so miserable,” she continued. “And then that night, I ended up finding myself on social media, and then I end up looking for all these comments that are just going to obviously shatter me … I’m so disappointed in myself. Because I think I’ve grown up being like, ‘Be confident in yourself. When people say things to you, don’t let it get to you.’”

Noting that “Number One Girl” overall represents “toxic” relationships, the New Zealand native added, “I was so obsessed with these people who were not nice to me and who really didn’t know me.”

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The new track is just one of many things ROSÉ and the radio host broached during their conversation, which arrives just two weeks ahead of the K-pop star’s debut solo album, rosie. Of the 12-track LP, she opened up about feeling “pressure” to complete the project during her time off from BLACKPINK obligations — especially with the clock ticking down to a band reunion in 2025.

“And us as BLACKPINK, as mature as we are, we got together and decided, ‘Let’s promise ourselves a good year to be inspired,’” ROSÉ told Lowe of bandmates JENNIE, LISA and JISOO. “The first thing that happened was anxiety, because I was privileged to have this one year in my hands to do whatever I wanted with it, but I wanted it to be the right decision and it had to feel right … What if I don’t believe in my thing? And what if I’m in a place where I’m having to do things that I don’t feel like it’s me?”

ROSÉ also touched on a past relationship that inspired some of the other songs on rosie, including “Game Boy,” which she says was the last track she wrote for her album. “I’d never like the person to know about it, but I would talk about [them] so much,” she told Lowe. “I needed to get it off my chest.”