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Taylor Swift will always have Shania Twain in her corner. In a new interview, the “You’re Still the One” singer opened up about passing the country–pop torch to artists like the 14-time Grammy winner, whom Twain commended for “working her butt off.”
“She is living an exhausting existence, but she’s dedicated and committed to herself, to her art, and her work,” the Canadian singer-songwriter said in a Haute Living cover story, published Wednesday (April 17). “It isn’t even about ambition, though I’m sure that most people would call her ambitious.”
“She’s an extremely hard worker, and I’m sure she’s got giant goals,” Twain added. “But it’s not all about ambition: It’s about passion and committing yourself to your passion.”
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The “Man!…I Feel Like a Woman!” singer’s comments come in stark contrast to what another music icon recently said about Swift. Courtney Love took shots at the “Anti-Hero” artist while speaking to The Standard earlier this week, calling her “not important” and “not interesting as an artist.”
Twain, however, has long been a friend and fan of Swift’s, and vice versa. The pair performed together at the 2019 American Music Awards, and in a 2021 TikTok, the Eras Tour star commended the “That Don’t Impress Me Much” musician for disproving the notion that “country girls can’t go pop” over the course of her career.
On the subject of paving the way for genre-bending artists such as Swift, Twain said, “it wasn’t like I intended on being a trailblazer or anything.”
“I was just trying to be original, my authentic self, and to do it with conviction,” she continued. “I’m an expressive person, and I put that into my music. I was saying it with attitude and with confidence because I meant it. Yes, I see it as a great compliment when someone calls me a trailblazer, but it’s not like I set out to do so. I was just being myself, and I think that’s served me very well.”
04/17/2024
After multiple “songs ranked” instant reactions, it’s time to reflect on my biggest regrets, and champion the songs that were stronger than their initial rankings.
04/17/2024
Justin Timberlake isn’t being selfish with sneak peeks from his upcoming Forget Tomorrow World Tour. As the pop star gears up to hit the road again, he took a moment to share a carousel of photos from his recent rehearsals with followers via Instagram on Wednesday (April 17). The photos find the “Mirrors” singer standing […]
After returning to the upper echelons of popular music in 2023, Kylie Minogue is ready to bask in her achievement as one of the most influential people in the world. On Wednesday (April 17), TIME announced its annual list of the 100 most influential people of the year. Along with music peers such as Dua […]
Much like the musician herself, the Taylor Swift academic canon is only continuing to expand. As announced Monday (April 15), American University will offer an economics course studying the pop star’s financial impact this fall, following in the footsteps of schools such as Harvard, Stanford and more.
Dubbed “Swiftonomics,” the course was proposed by econ students Megan Wysocki and Mackenzie Shultz, both of whom are proud fans of Swift. Department chair Kara Reynolds will oversee the class as scholars explore the “Anti-Hero” singer’s business footprint, earnings from her near billion-dollar Eras Tour, her impact on the Ticketmaster monopoly debate and more.
Interested students can sign up online, so long as they’ve completed a Principles of Microeconomics prerequisite.
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“Many other universities are creating Taylor Swift classes, but mostly in subjects such as sociology or literature,” Wysocki said in a statement. “I figured that this was a unique topic and an opportunity to capitalize on an academic trend. My hope was to get people more interested in an economics course by focusing on someone as popular as Taylor Swift.”
“I think as faculty we get tied up with the issues that we think are important and sometimes forget that these might not be the same issues that students really care about,” added Reynolds. “Economics impacts so much of society, and the competition was designed to help the department discover what students want to know about economics.”
As referenced by Wysocki, AU joins an ever-growing number of colleges who have introduced Swiftian studies into their curriculums in recent years. New York University, UT Austin, Arizona State, UC Berkeley and the University of Florida have all unveiled courses inspired by the 14-time Grammy winner, examining everything from her songwriting prowess to her impact on world culture.
Swift is currently nearing the end of a two-month break from touring as she gears up to release her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. A follow-up to her 2022 Billboard 200-topping record Midnights, the 16-track LP features collaborations with Post Malone and Florence + the Machine.
If you’ve ever heard even one note from Fantasia Barrino‘s mouth, you know that the American Idol season three winner and The Color Purple star is a force to be reckoned with. That explains why in her essay celebrating Fantasia for TIME magazine’s 2024 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World Golden […]
Taylor Swift announced Tuesday night (April 16) that her new music video is set to drop shortly after her 11th studio album The Tortured Poets Department arrives later this week — but she didn’t stop there. The pop star also posted a cryptic video on Instagram filled with what appears to be Easter eggs about her new era, leaving Swifties scrambling to decipher them in time.
The mysterious clip begins with an animated, first-person view of a room full of crumpled papers, colorful vinyls, photos and more items alluding to Swift’s most recent album, Midnights. It then simulates the viewer exiting the room, walking down a stark hallway and entering another wing labeled “The Tortured Poets Department,” in which a wall-hanging calendar reveals that the singer’s new visual will drop at 8 p.m. ET Friday (April 19), 20 hours after Tortured Poets arrives on streaming services.
The calendar doesn’t specify which of the 16 songs on Swift’s new record is getting the music video treatment, but it does provide a possible clue. Toward the bottom, someone jotted down 14 tally marks, potentially indicating that the song in question comes 14th on the tracklist, aka “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.”
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Or, it could be a reference to track one, “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone. (How many days are in a fortnight? That’s right, 14.)
The video comes as Swifties continue to pore over clues hidden at Spotify’s Tortured Poets library pop-up in Los Angeles, which is adorned with texts, dried flowers, figurines and more. Most enticing is a book of stationary on display in a clear case, the pages of which are turned on an unknown schedule to reveal one new lyric at a time. Recently, it bore the message, “One less temptress, one less dagger to sharpen.”
But fans may be remiss not to search for Easter eggs in Swift’s new animation, too, especially when it comes to what gets left behind in the Midnights room. Swiftie sleuths online have already begun concocting theories about the sunshine streaming in through the windows, the time displayed by a wall clock and the gel pens littered on the table (which tie back to something the pop star once said about how she mentally categorizes her songs).
See the clip, as well as a few Swiftie theories it’s inspired, below.
all the crumpled papers in the midnights room… I can’t decide if it’s the hundreds of thrown out speeches she almost said to him or the representation of her feeling like she couldn’t express herself like she wished she could pic.twitter.com/bzyufaHuQS— Fany (Taylor’s Version) 🤍✍️ (@repsgrammy) April 17, 2024
it is fascinating that we enter the TTPD room through the key hole and not the door itself…..why is it locked….why don’t we have the key….is it because the album isn’t out yet OR is there something more…..or is it just a fun little visual that means nothing pic.twitter.com/2vc2BgDkE8— hannah (tortured poet 🪶) (@hantalkstaylor) April 17, 2024
the tortured poets department room is so stark and boring because she used her best colors for his portrait & he tolerated it. I feel like the lack of color and character in this room means something🥲 #TSTTPD pic.twitter.com/XYDygHG0Xn— morgan⸆⸉ (@morgan13TV) April 17, 2024
🔍 The new “Tortured Poets Department” room also features TWO desks PLUS a second timetable on the desk that has not yet been shown up close. pic.twitter.com/8CJ7n7rXW0— SpotifySwiftie (@SpotifySwiftie) April 17, 2024
Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” leads a constellation of sun- and moon-related songs on Billboard’s charts in the wake of the solar eclipse seen across parts of North America April 8, ranking at No. 1 on the Hot Hard Rock Songs tally dated April 20.
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The track drew 4.2 million official streams earned (up 34%) and 2.5 million in radio airplay audience (up 19%) and sold 1,000 downloads (up 166%) in the U.S. April 5-11, according to Luminate.
The song becomes Soundgarden’s first No. 1 on the ranking, which began in 2020. (Older songs are eligible to appear on multimetric Billboard charts if ranking in the top half and with meaningful reasons for their resurgences; “Black Hole Sun” was released in 1994 on the band’s album Superunknown.)
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The track also appears at Nos. 13, 15 and 19 on the Hot Rock Songs, Hot Alternative Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs surveys, respectively.
It flares 20-4 on Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, marking its best rank since 2017 (following the death of frontman Chris Cornell), and 14-5 on Hard Rock Streaming Songs, its first time in the top five since the list began in 2020.
“Black Hole Sun” was Soundgarden’s first No. 1 song on any Billboard chart, ruling Mainstream Rock Airplay for seven weeks in 1994.
It’s not the only eclipse-adjacent title on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising” reaches the chart at No. 24 via 3.3 million streams, 164,000 in radio reach and 1,000 sold, with boosts of 7, 88 and 118%, respectively. The song hit No. 2 for the John Fogerty-led act on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.
Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” also rotates back onto the all-format Digital Song Sales chart at No. 5, its second week on the tally (which began in 2004); it ranked at No. 13 for a week in September 2017 – also following a solar eclipse that Aug. 21. It sold 6,000, a vault of 634%. The single, a No. 1 for four weeks on the Hot 100 in 1983, also bounded by 133% to 4.1 million streams and 47% to 3.2 million in airplay audience.
Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” a No. 3 Hot 100 hit in 1971, boasts new chart activity, too. It debuts at Nos. 136 and 151 on the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S., respectively. It earned 13.3 million streams globally, up 33%, with 5.4 million from listeners in the U.S., up 25%. On the U.S. side, it returns to R&B Digital Song Sales at No. 4 with 1,000 sold, up 45%.
The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” gets in on the action via the Rock Digital Song Sales survey, returning at No. 11 with 1,000 sold, up 114%. King Harvest’s “Dancing in the Moonlight” holds at No. 10 (2,000, up 23%) and Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse” re-enters at No. 14 (1,000, up 512%).
The Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart features a different version of “Total Eclipse of the Heart”: Nicki French’s, from 1995, new at No. 8 (1,000, up 830%).
Interest in the lyrics of eclipse-themed music drives Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse” onto Billboard’s LyricFind U.S. chart, at No. 18. It joins Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which appeared on the previous ranking at No. 22 and jumps to No. 16.
According to LyricFind, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” snagged a 3,712% increase in lyric usages and searches, while “Eclipse” earned a corresponding 3,153% bump.
Zendaya might have two Emmys to her name, but she may have received her highest honor at the Challengers premiere in Los Angeles Tuesday (April 16) — and it came from Ms. Tina Knowles.
During a conversation with Variety on the red carpet, Knowles — who recently appeared in an Essence cover shoot in support of Beyoncé‘s Cécred haircare line — gushed over the Euphoria actress and her evolution from child star to leading lady.
“I love Zendaya!” she said. “The first time I saw her, I used to watch her in the Disney series with my grandson [Solange‘s son Julez Smith] and she just reeked of stardom. She is just the most gracious, beautiful girl, and she reminds me of my daughter — she’s a Virgo like my daughter [Beyoncé]!”
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Zendaya, of course, is a card-carrying member of the Beyhive. She appeared in Queen Bey’s 2016 Lemonade film, paid tribute to her iconic “Crazy In Love” Versace look at the 2021 BET Awards and attended her blockbuster 2023 Renaissance World Tour alongside boyfriend Tom Holland.
Challengers, helmed by Academy Award nominee Luca Guadagnino, finds Zendaya starring as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach who must balance both a love triangle and the quest to break her husband’s losing streak as he prepares to play against his former best friend (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend). Co-starring award-winning actors Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, Challengers opens in theaters April 26 with a score crafted by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
The film’s tennis themes also offer another bridge between Beyoncé and Zendaya. In 2022, the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer earned her first Oscar nomination for “Be Alive,” an original song she co-wrote with DIXSON for King Richard, the Will Smith-starring biopic of Venus and Serena Williams‘ father and coach, Richard Williams.
No stranger to the music world, Zendaya has landed several entries across the Billboard charts. On the Billboard Hot 100, the thespian has logged six entries including 2013’s “Replay” (No. 40), 2016’s Chris Brown-assisted “Something New” (No. 93) and 2022’s “I’m Tired” (No. 53, with Labrinth). Over on the Billboard 200, Zendaya’s 2013 self-titled debut album debut and peaked No. 51.
Watch a clip of Ms. Tina Knowles praising Zendaya below.
Tina Knowles on watching Zendaya’s evolution: “She is just the most gracious, beautiful girl, and she reminds me of my daughter — she’s a Virgo like my daughter [Beyoncé].” pic.twitter.com/MMB1hrSVlO— Variety (@Variety) April 17, 2024
They took you back to “1999” and flung you forward to “2099.” Now, Charli XCX and Troye Sivan want to make you sweat in the present tense.
On Wednesday (April 17), the pop star duo announced their co-headlining arena tour, Charli XCX & Troye Sivan Present: Sweat, set to kick off this fall. The 21-date excursion will start at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich., on Sept. 14, with the pair heading through Toronto, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Dallas and plenty more stops, before wrapping up with a final show at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Oct. 23.
Sharing the stage with special guest Shygirl, Charli and Sivan will transform arenas into raves throughout the Sweat tour, with a press release adding that the show will be “not only a celebration of their individual successes, but it is also a testament to their commitment to inclusivity and diversity within the music industry.” Fans can sign up for the advance presale until April 25 at the tour’s official website.
The news comes on the heels of Charli announcing the official dates for her own international arena tour in support of her forthcoming album Brat (due out June 7 via Atlantic), with shows set to start on June 1 in Barcelona. Sivan, meanwhile, will embark on his long-awaited European tour supporting his 2023 LP Something to Give Each Other starting in May.
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In an interview with Billboard in March, Charli teased that fans can expect her new album to sound “aggresive and confrontational,” while also remaining “conversational and personal.” Speaking about the writing, she said, “I’m over the idea of metaphor and flowery lyricism and not saying exactly what I think, the way I would say it to a friend in a text message. This record is all the things I would talk about with my friends, said exactly how I would say them.”
Artist presale for Charli XCX & Troye Sivan Present: Sweat begins Thursday, April 25, at 10 a.m. local time, with the general on-sale beginning Friday, April 26, at 10 a.m local time on Live Nation’s website. Check out the official dates for the tour below:
Troye Sivan and Charli XCX
Courtesy Photo
