Pop
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Miley Cyrus‘ new collaboration with Pharrell has a release date. One day after she first teased the single on social media, the 31-year-old pop star confirmed when exactly “Doctor (Work It Out)” is set to arrive, and treated fans to a snippet of the track Wednesday (Feb. 28). In a 20-second clip shared to Cyrus’ […]
John Legend is a fierce competitor. The “All of Me” singer proved it on Tuesday’s (Feb. 27) second night of the blind audition round on The Voice when he dangled one of his wife Chrissy Teigen’s signature dishes as enticement to win over an impressive singer.
The delicious moment came when season 25 contestant Nathan Chester busted out an impressive, high-energy cover of Al Green’s soul-pop classic “Take Me to the River,” which elicited chair turns from Legend and new coaching due Dan + Shay. “I’m always waiting for someone to inspire me, excite me, and Nathan, when I heard you singing, I turned very quickly, because I was like, this man’s got it!” Legend gushed about the performance that added a rocking edge to the 1974 classic.
Chicago native Chester got Legend out of his seat, clapping along and shaking his hands in the air, even as Chance the Rapper admitted he didn’t turn around after he assumed that Chester’s vocals would be a perfect fit for Team Legend. Chester also noted that he sings on cruise ships and, not for nothing, he loves cheesecake.
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While the latter tidbit seemed kind of random — though coach Reba McEntire said that made him a “man after my own heart” — Legend put on the full-court press after emerging so far with only one artist on his team. “I’ve been very selective. I’m always just waiting for somebody to inspire me, excite me and Nathan, when I heard you singing, I turned very quickly because I was like, ‘This man’s got it!,’” Legend said.
After Dan + Shay playfully noted that “there’s a reason John’s only got one guy on his team,” they also laid it on thick in praising Chester’s vocals, with Shay Mooney adding, “Also, I love cruise ships and I love cheesecake a lot!”
Legend had the closer, though. “My wife makes a mean cheesecake,” he said of spouse Chrissy Teigen, author of the 2018 cookbook Cravings: Hungry For More and its 2021 sequel, Cravings: All Together. “And you can just come to the house and have cheesecake. Homemade cheesecake,” Legend piled on, eliciting groans of “unbelievable” from his fellow panelist.
In the end, the singer’s cheesy pitch did the trick and Chester picked Team Legend.
Watch Chester’s performance below.
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Alicia Keys and Billie Eilish’s friendship dates back to when Alicia beautifully covered the 22-year-old’s “Ocean Eyes.” Keys recently gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at her preparation while getting ready for her Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show appearance with Usher earlier this month. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and […]
Over the last year, Reneé Rapp quickly became one of the internet’s favorite celebrities thanks to her phenomenal singing voice and her trenchant humor. Now, the Mean Girls star would like to get real for a second.
In an interview for the cover of The Hollywood Reporter, Rapp spoke candidly about her song “Snow Angel,” the lead single off her 2023 album of the same name, and how it was inspired by an “incredibly traumatic” event involving sexual assault. “I still feel like I’m sorting through those feelings … and it feels weird to talk about because I don’t remember it,” she said. “I recently was like, ‘I actually don’t want to follow this person on Instagram anymore because they left me at a club to get drugged’ … I woke up on a bathroom stall, face up in The Beverly Hilton with blood on my pants. And had been left alone at that point for, like, seven hours.”
That specific scenario not only inspired the lyrics of the song, but also Rapp’s viral performance of the track on Saturday Night Live. “I was like, ‘OK, well, when we do SNL, if I’m doing this [song], I am doing this,’” she said. “I will be on a red floor and I need to start laying down because that’s how I woke up. And there should be red underneath me and I should be in all white.”
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Since releasing the song, fans have praised Rapp’s candor and celebrated the track for its depiction of trauma, which is a discussion the singer says she had hoped to spark. “Ultimately, I’m not making music to just make music. I’m making music to start conversations. My idols make culture, my idols start conversation,” she said, adding that plenty of fans have brought their own perceptions of the song to the table. “I wanted to have ‘Snow Angel’ come out and it be confusing and left up to interpretation. And I still see so many funny takes now that are like, ‘Well, this song is clearly about when she was doing heroin.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re amazing, and I love your creativity.’”
Elsewhere in her wide-ranging interview, Rapp spoke about pitching herself to her label as “the bisexual Justin Bieber.” (Rapp now identifies as a lesbian.) “That boy is still cute to me, sorry. And he also, I think, has a similar [love] of R&B,” she explained. “He reminds me of a really sexy lesbian. Just the way he walks around and moves onstage and always has this demeanor that’s chill, sings his a– off, dresses really cool.”
The singer added that her role as Leighton on the hit Max series The Sex Lives of College Girls profoundly impacted the way she came out publicly. “Being celebrated for being out because of a TV show or celebrity or success or something was really interesting because I think it forced a lot of people in my life and my family to have to accept me in a weird way,” she explained. “That [show] was the most parallel experience in my life, and I remember doing that specific coming-out scene and not acting at all. At all. I was just sobbing.”
Rapp is currently closing out the final dates of her Snow Hard Feelings world tour in the U.K. During a recent show in Paris, Rapp performed a cover of Beyoncé’s 2016 country track “Daddy Lessons” in celebration of the superstar’s return to the genre — which prompted Queen Bey to send the “Poison Poison” singer a bouquet of flowers as a thank you gift.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can reach out to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). The organization provides free, confidential support to sexual assault victims. Call RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE) or visit the anti-sexual violence organization’s website for more information.
Jack Antonoff knows exactly where he stands. In a Wednesday (Feb. 28) interview with the Los Angeles Times, the 39-year-old producer reflected on the moments he’s called out artists such as Damon Albarn – who in 2022 came under fire for questioning Taylor Swift’s songwriting credentials – and Kanye West.
“I’m a little b—h sometimes,” he told the publication. “But you come after my friend Taylor, you’re toast to me.”
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The interview comes more than two years after Albarn ruffled feathers by saying Swift “doesn’t write her own songs” in an interview. The “Anti-Hero” singer – who’s a frequent collaborator of Antonoff’s — quickly shut down the claims with a heated post on X, writing, “I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this … Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging.”
Albarn later apologized and said that his remarks had been “reduced to clickbait,” but not before Antonoff slammed the Blur frontman in a tweet of his own. “i’ve never met damon albarn and he’s never been to my studio but apparently he knows more than the rest of us about all those songs taylor writes and brings in. Herb,” the former Fun band member wrote at the time.
In the new interview, Antonoff said that questioning Swift’s songwriting prowess “is like challenging someone’s faith in God,” adding, “You just don’t go there.”
The Bleachers founder is fresh off his third producer of the year Grammy win in a row. He and Swift also won album of the year at the 2024 awards thanks to their work on the “Karma” musician’s Midnights LP.
And while accepting the prize for best pop vocal earlier in the ceremony, Swift announced the duo’s latest project together: The Tortured Poets Department, which arrives April 19.
As for West – who’s notably an adversary of Swift’s — Antonoff has long been critical. In 2022, he called the “Donda” rapper a “little b—h” in response to Ye’s many antisemitic comments that year, and in late January, he tweeted, “kanye on bleachers release date is hilarious little cry baby b-tch.” (The rapper’s Vultures 2 and Bleachers’ self-titled album are both scheduled to arrive March 8.)
To the L.A. Times, Antonoff reiterated that West “just needs his diaper changed so badly.”
“It’s been a long time since I would’ve taken Kanye’s call,” he added when asked about whether he’d want to work with Ye in the future. “I’m so incredibly bored when someone doesn’t have the sauce anymore, so they go elsewhere to shock. It’s just a remarkable waste of space.”
Reneé Rapp is on a roll. After earning the biggest U.S. sales debut in 2023 for a debut pop album by a female artist with Snow Angel, the multi-hyphenate has translated that success to film with the box office-topping Mean Girls as she preps new music. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter (Feb. 28), the “Tummy Hurts” singer gushes over getting literal flowers from Beyoncé, her special friendship with Megan Thee Stallion and her dreams of making an R&B album.
On Feb. 13, just two days after Beyoncé surprise-dropped her new country songs “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” during the 2024 Super Bowl — Rapp performed a cover of Queen Bey’s first proper foray into country music: “Daddy Lessons” from 2016’s Grammy-winning Lemonade. Just four days later (Feb. 17), Rapp took to her Instagram page to share a photo of herself with her hand over her mouth as she took in the gorgeous bouquet of flowers sent to her by none other than Beyoncé herself.
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“I’ve never been speechless in my life. It’s literally going to make me cry,” Rapp told The Hollywood Reporter. “She is everything — and the reason that I know how to sing. I would sit down and listen to her different tonalities and phonics and phrasing styles and be like, ‘Please, Jesus, let me be able to do this.’”
Beyoncé has been a fixture in Rapp’s life long before she took the world by storm with Mean Girls, The Sex Lives of College Girls and her Snow Angel LP. Back when she was trying to break into the industry, Rapp used to upload covers of Beyoncé songs on YouTube. Queen Bey also provided a bit more than just musical inspiration for a young Rapp. “I had body dysmorphia and feeling like I had too much of an a–. If I felt badly about my body, my mother would make me sing ‘Bootylicious,’ and it was everything to me,” Rapp recalled, referencing Destiny’s Child‘s 2001 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit.
Rapp may have gotten flowers for her quick embrace of Beyoncé’s country era — “Let’s be clear, Beyoncé doing country is the best thing that’s ever happened to country music” — but she’s been taking inspiration from all of Queen Bey’s era, especially her R&B ones. The “Poison Poison” singer notes Beyoncé, SZA, Frank Ocean and Jazmine Sullivan as formative musical influences who “have made the biggest impact in [her] life.”
“I wanted so badly to do something that was slightly R&B-leaning, but in a way that wasn’t making something my own that is not at all my own, and something that feels authentic,” she explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “I would love to do a project like that, but it needs to be done well … because I think if a white girl does anything that slightly emulates R&B, it’s praised 10 times more than when Black people do it … just because of the way the f—king world works, and it’s s–ty in that regard. But yeah, it is something that I want to do so badly, and I will do.”
In the interim, Rapp is still pursuing her pop-star dreams, which she recently funneled into “Not My Fault,” a Megan Thee Stallion collaboration that served as the lead single for the Mean Girls movie musical soundtrack. Gushing over having been a fan of the H-Town Hottie “since she was doing music videos and mixtapes on the f–king top of the parking garage, in that little tan top,” Renée describes Megan as caring friend to whom she can open up about anxiety.
“It’s comforting to talk to her too about having anxiety,” she said. “I’ll text her, I’ll be like, ‘I’m petrified.’ And she’ll be like, ‘It’s cool, I’m here. I’m scared too, but look, I’m going to be at the same thing. And so, at least we’ll have each other.’”
Reneé Rapp has landed one title on the Billboard 200; her debut LP, Snow Angel, peaked at No. 44. “Not My Fault” has proven to be her most successful single to date, peaking at No. 18 on Pop Airplay and at No. 2 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100.
The Australian leg of the Eras Tour was just as memorable for Taylor Swift as it was for fans.
A couple days after closing out her final show in Sydney, the 34-year-old pop star showered the hundreds of thousands of Swifties she performed for at Accor Stadium with gratitude in a heartfelt Instagram post Wednesday (Feb. 28). “Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney…,” the star began, sharing a carousel of photos of her and her dancers performing onstage. “What a whirlwind of endless magical moments with you.”
“I’m so grateful that we got to be the first tour to play Accor Stadium 4 times,” she continued. “I’ll never forget singing with Sabrina, the chaotic acoustic mashups, and the crowds that were louder (singing AND screaming) than I thought humanly possible.”
Swift’s Feb. 23-26 string of shows was certainly full of surprises, from her announcing “The Albatross” version of The Tortured Poets Department to the “Anti-Hero” singer’s sweet “White Horse” duet with opener Sabrina Carpenter. And, as she pointed out, the musician’s batch of surprise songs at Accor was truly chaotic, with the 14-time Grammy winner melding tracks from her early albums with deep cuts from her more recent works almost every night.
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For instance, Swift mixed her Fearless fan-favorite “Forever & Always” with Midnights track “Maroon” on Feb. 26. (Some fans are convinced that her seemingly random selections are actually hints that the many bonus versions of Tortured Poets will represent the five stages of grief, a theory that emerged on social media during the musician’s time Down Under.)
“I want to thank all of the Aussie fans for being so positive and passionate, so funny and wild and FUN,” Swift added in her post. “Love you forever.”
Outside of her performances, Swift also took time to enjoy the city. She went to the Sydney Zoo twice, and was joined on her second visit by Travis Kelce, who later watched one of his superstar girlfriend’s shows alongside Katy Perry and Rita Ora. The tight end also accepted friendship bracelets from fans and passed out guitar picks to the crowd.
Swift’s four-night stint in Sydney followed the Eras Tour’s three shows in Melbourne. Next, the “Karma” artist will set up shop in Singapore for six shows beginning March 2 at National Stadium, where Carpenter will again serve as opener.
Charli XCX is prepping her next musical era. The singer and pop hit songwriter announced on Instagram on Wednesday morning (Feb. 28) that her sixth full-length studio album, Brat, is coming this summer. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Brat — this summer. 15 songs. 41:23 minutes […]
Beyoncé is already making history with her swerve into the country lane. But after scoring a surprise No. 1 hit with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” some of Queen Bey’s Canadian fans think her new two-step has a familiar ring to it.
A week after TikTok videos pointed out that the tune’s bouncy finger-picked intro bears a striking resemblance to the theme song from the late 1990s/early 2000s children’s cartoon Franklin, the musician behind that show’s iconic opening track, “Hey, It’s Franklin,” says he’s just fine with the comparisons.
According to TMZ, veteran Canadian rocker Bruce Cockburn, 78 — best known for his 1984 hit “If I Had a Rocket Launcher” — told the outlet that he is honored by the many side-by-side videos. “I think Beyoncé’s ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ is a good record. Unfortunately, I can’t claim to have any part in writing it,” he said.
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“The rhythmic feel is similar to my theme song for the Franklin TV series, but to my ears, that’s where the similarity stops. ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ is her song, and I wish her success with it!” Cockburn added.
It appears the resemblance was first pointed out by TikTok user Ashleigh Aedan on Feb. 18, when she played a bit of the Bey song and captioned her video, “Now go listen to the Franklin theme song and tell me these are the same”; that clip ha since racked up more than 3.5 million views. The post began making news in Canada soon after, with a radio DJ doing a mash-up that boosted the notion that the songs share a similar git-up.
A music expert told CBC News that the comparisons make sense since both use fingerstyle plucking, instead of strumming, with Beyoncé’s opening with a banjo played in the Clawhammer style. Musicologist Claire McLeish said the Franklin theme opens with a style called Travis picking, with a “strong Clawhammer influence.” McLeish also pointed out that both are played in the key of D, with the instruments tuned in a similar style, which is what McLeish said people are picking up on.
And while they sound similar, McLeish said “they don’t sound alike in a way that would cause any legal problems” because you cannot copyright an “idea,” and the Travis picking style is a common idea used in country and folk music all the time. In fact, McLeish compiled a playlist of songs in a similar style, including ones by Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin and Cockburn, noting that since Beyoncé isn’t using the same melody or lyrics that are close to the Franklin theme it’s probably safe from any legal issues.
Last week, Bey became the first Black woman to top the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, followed by the track topping the Billboard Hot 100, giving the singer her ninth leader on the list.
Listen below and see if you hear the similarities.
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As the five members of NewJeans file gracefully down the stairs at their Billboard photo shoot in Seoul, they greet me with bright smiles and genuine greetings of “Nice to meet you.” Just a few days prior, the exploding K-pop girl group won artist of the year and song of the year at both the […]