State Champ Radio Pop
Page: 31
Dove Cameron is back with “French Girls,” an espresso shot of electro-pop that finds her continuing to explore moody, campy dance-pop that won’t quit.
“There’s a huge intersection between pain, heartbreak, joy and camp and levity. And that’s where we found ourselves in ‘French Girls,’” Cameron tells Billboard. “The melodrama of being a muse for a sculptor or a painter. There’s something so painfully romantic and also constricting about that. In ‘French Girls,’ the thing that I was really obsessed with was this self-sacrificing mania about being a muse that is not healthy.”
Aside from the song being inspired by her love for Paris and Parisian museums, she confirms that the chorus is a reference to Titanic, specifically the scene where Rose asks Jack to sketch her. And yes, she knows she’s technically misquoting the movie. “The public remembers it differently than what it was: in the movie, it’s ‘draw me like one of your French girls.’ But ‘draw me’ just didn’t sing as well as ‘paint me’.” Given that a lot of people “collectively remember it” as “paint me like one of your French girls” anyway, she took the creative license to tweak the line for her song.
Trending on Billboard
“I’m definitely not talking entirely about myself,” she explains of the song. “I’m talking about all of the women in the industry that are considered these great, larger-than-life personalities, these Helen of Troy people that we remember in history as these icons of beauty and art who can also be the most tragic figures. In ‘French Girls,’ it was just that (question of), ‘How far do we go to sacrifice ourselves for our art and for our love of what we do and for the people who love what we do?’ Are we interconnected? What is this amalgamation of things that we’re creating together as the audience and the person on the stage?”
Speaking of the stage, it was just announced that Dove Cameron will serve as the opening act on several dates of Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism Tour in the U.K. and Ireland. You can find those dates below.
June 20, 2025 – Wembley Stadium – London, EnglandJune 21, 2025 – Wembley Stadium – London, EnglandJune 24, 2025 – Anfield Stadium – Liverpool, UKJune 25, 2025 – Anfield Stadium – Liverpool, UKJune 27, 2025 – Aviva Stadium – Dublin, Ireland
Ed Sheeran is bringing it all back home to celebrate his upcoming Play album. On Friday (May 2), the singer announced the run of shows in Ipswich this summer, which will have the Ed joined by an all-star roster of support acts as she sets up shop at Suffolk town’s Portman Road stadium, home of his beloved Ipswich Town FC football club.
The shows on July 11, 12 and 13 will find Sheeran joined by, respectively, Myles Smith and Tori Kelly on night one, Busted and Dylan on night two and James Blunt and Maisie Peters on the final evening. Sheeran, who last year bought a minority stake in the football club, posted a promo video on Friday morning cued to his new single, “Old Phone,” in which he toiled at drawing the lines on the venue’s pitch alongside a lengthy essay about what the venue means to him.
“Something incredibly exciting to announce. One of the first ever concerts I went to as a kid was at Ipswich Town Portman Road to see Elton John,” he wrote. “James Blunt opened for him, and I got so obsessed with James’ music, it really shaped me as a singer songwriter from then on. I started doing shows around ipswich as a young teenager, in pubs and bars, then moved to London to ‘make it’ because that’s what you did back then. Then things took off for me and I toured the world, but never ended up playing ipswich really, for whatever reason, but mostly because I lived there and thought if I’m gonna do it, it has to be special.”
Trending on Billboard
The singer said he first wanted to play Portman Road in 2019 when we wrapped up the Divide tour, but because football season was still in full swing he ended up playing elsewhere. “It’s always been such a dream to play Portman Road that I kept badgering the @ipswichtown team, but because I tour so much and football is very rigid in their schedule I always missed the opportunity to play it,” Sheeran added. “Fast forward to now, having become an investor in Ipswich Town, I got a bit more sway and asked if I could launch my new record there, as a one off weekend of shows, and they agreed. I play all around the world, in such amazing stadiums, but nothing means as much as this one here. This really is a true home coming, and is 3 nights only. It’ll be such a special weekend of shows, with a killer line up (shout out @jamesblunt for coming back and completing the circle).”
You can get early access to tickets by pre-ordering Play from Sheeran’s official store by 3 p.m. BST on Tuesday (May 6). A pre-sale will begin at 10 a.m. BST on Wednesday (May 7), followed by a general on-sale at 10 a.m. BST on Friday (May 9); click here for more information on ticketing.
Sheeran recently announced the details about his upcoming eighth studio album, Play, which is due out on Sept. 12 from Gingerbread Man Records/Atlantic Records. His first full-length LP since 2023’s Autumn Variations will feature the Persian-influenced first single, “Azizam” and nostalgic new song, “Old Phone.”
Check out the poster and video pitch for Sheeran’s Ipswich Town shows below.
We are delighted to announce that @edsheeran will be playing three live shows at Portman Road this summer! 🏟️🎶— Ipswich Town (@IpswichTown) May 2, 2025
Maroon 5 has returned with a major pop crossover moment. On Friday (May 2), the Adam Levine-fronted band unveiled their new single “PRICELESS” featuring BLACKPINK’s LISA, released via 222/Interscope Records.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The track marks Maroon 5’s first-ever collaboration with a K-pop artist and offers a guitar-driven sound that nods to the group’s early 2000s roots, paired with LISA’s confident rap feature. The accompanying music video, shot on 35mm film and directed by Aerin Moreno, draws inspiration from Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
“It’s just a guitar-based song which we haven’t really done in so long. It happened first for us while we were recording the album. I think it’s just the purest and we are so happy to have LISA on it,” frontman Adam Levine said in a statement.
Trending on Billboard
He added, “The guitar intro is literally me playing into an audio message on my iPhone with an unplugged guitar. I actually got a little emotional recording ‘cause it was sort of reconnecting to our roots, which a lot of our fans have been saying ‘hey we want to hear that sound again.’ It’s been like over 20 years so I think it’s time for that to return.”
Teasers of the track, which Maroon 5 previewed on Instagram in late April, included Levine’s falsetto vocals alongside a rap verse from LISA: “Yeah, talk is cheap boy stop it/ Got my love that’s a real big profit.”
In the days leading up to the confirmation of “Priceless,” Maroon 5 also teased the collab by posting an Instagram photo from behind of the lead singer and a mystery woman standing side by side, gazing out of a floor-to-ceiling window at a cityscapeLISA’s IG Story also featured a clip with audio, showing the K-pop star lying back while seemingly filming a music video.
The single also serves as the first preview of Maroon 5’s upcoming 2025 album, which the band first teased during Levine’s recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (April 8).
“PRICELESS” follows Maroon 5’s 2021 album Jordi, which peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. For LISA, the track adds to her growing list of international collaborations as a solo artist, following the success of her 2021 debut single “LALISA” and her ongoing work with BLACKPINK.
Watch the “PRICELESS” video and stream the single now.
Lorde opened up in a new interview published Thursday (May 1) about the struggles she experienced with body image while making her 2021 album Solar Power. “I had made my body very small, because I thought that that was what you did as a woman and a woman on display,” she told filmmaker and close […]
This April, the Billboard charts have been largely static — with a couple big exceptions, for which we are thankful — but pop music keeps moving. This was a month for big festivals, with two weekends of Coachella and one of Stagecoach all back to back out in Indio, Calif., and of just-as-big tour kickoffs, […]
Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco are not done saying I love you. The couple announced on Wednesday (April 30) that their debut collaborative album will get a deluxe edition on Friday (May 2) when they drop I Said I Love You First… And You Said It Back. “The deluxe version of my album with @itsbennyblanco is called […]
If the party was over and our time on Earth was through… could you say you’ve watched Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars‘ “Die With a Smile” video? Since its release more than eight months ago, the music video has officially racked up 1 billion views on YouTube — so yes, a few people can say […]
Following before-and-after photos of Olly Murs‘ fitness journey going viral this week, the British pop star is reacting to what he calls “very disappointing” coverage of his body transformation.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
It seemingly started when a poll on X (formerly Twitter) asked users if they preferred the “before” or “after” version of Murs’ body, and whether they were male or female. The results showed that the majority of women voters thought the “before” looked better, while men voters chose the “after.”
After days of social-media debate (which seemed to dismiss the fact that only Murs needs to be happy with his own physique), the singer/songwriter and TV host weighed in on the chatter, sharing a photo on Instagram of a Daily Mail headline that read: “Bad luck, Olly! Women prefer your ‘huggable dad bod’ to the muscles you got in the gym.”
Trending on Billboard
“I wouldn’t normally comment on stuff like this but from what I’ve seen I just want to say that this journey at the start of the year was for many personal reasons and not one of them was to spark a debate and divide opinions,” Murs wrote in the caption. “So it’s very disappointing to see this kind of reporting!”
He ended with a message to his supporters and anyone else on their own fitness journey: “Big Love to everyone who’s been kind and to anyone out there improving themselves and making adjustments to their wellbeing. Love to you all, keep it up! ignore the noise!”
One of Murs’ fans decided to flip the narrative by providing her own “before & after” moment on X. “Thought I’d do my own Olly Murs comparison post since that’s all that’s on my feed right now… 15 years in the game..5 albums out of 7 went to number 1 and STILL selling out arenas ! you deserve every single bit of success @ollymurs.”
The “before” moment she shared was Murs’ audition on season 6 of the U.K.’s X Factor in 2009 — where the then-25-year-old declared his dream of becoming a “pop star” and finished as the runner-up — and the “after” is his Official Charts Company stats, which include five U.K. No. 1 albums and four U.K. No. 1 singles. In the U.S., Murs has scored two Billboard Hot 100 hits, including the top 40 hit “Troublemaker,” featuring Flo Rida, which peaked at No. 25 in 2013 and hit the Pop Airplay top 10.
In addition to his music career, Murs has found success as a TV personality, appearing as a coach on The Voice UK from 2018 to 2023.
Find Murs’ response to the online debate below.
thought I’d do my own Olly Murs comparison post since that’s all that’s on my feed right now…15 years in the game..5 albums out of 7 went to number 1 and STILL selling out arenas ! you deserve every single bit of success @ollymurs 👏❤️ pic.twitter.com/ALaAgpoAj6— antonia✨ (@antonia_704) April 29, 2025
Sheryl Crow knows a great song when she hears it, or writes it. And lately she’s been hearing so many good ones from the younger generation of female singers and songwriters that she’s got serious FOMO.
“The caliber of writing is just so good with Chappell Roan, Olivia and Phoebe Bridgers, and these women are not just in the studio throwing in a lyric — they play,” she told Variety magazine. “If you want to take a course in great songwriting, go study at the college of Taylor Swift. There’s Brandi [Carlile] and Courtney Barnett. For a long time, there was a dearth of women who were playing and singing and rocking, and now I’m tickled.”
Some she got to see work their magic up close at the recent session at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to tape an all-star network special honoring Ringo Starr’s country album, Look Up. Crow said she was dumbstruck “being onstage with Molly Tuttle, Sarah Jarosz and Larkin Poe. I remember having a conversation with people on the Grammys board 15 years ago, saying, ’What are you guys going to do to get instruments into young women’s hands?’ Lo and behold, some of the greatest musicianship right now is young and female.”
Trending on Billboard
More than three decades into a career that was kicked into overdrive by her 1994 Tuesday Night Music Club hit “All I Wanna Do,” Crow is also sanguine about her place in the music business these days. “I feel happy. I feel at peace. There isn’t that ’Oh my God, I gotta write a hit song.’ Even if I wrote a hit song, it wouldn’t get played!” she said. “So now I just wanna write music that feels like I’m glad I wrote it.”
The mother of two teenage boys hasn’t toured much lately — she did open some dates for P!nk last year — and while she’ll hit the road for a limited run of shows with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan for their Outlaw Music Festival this summer, she would have “done every single one” if her kids wanted to join her on the road. “I’m too selfish to want to miss any time with them; I feel like my 18-year-old was just born, and he’s gonna be leaving for college in a year,” she said, promising that once both boys are out of the house she’ll “go back to work full time, because I have an acute connection to joy when I’m playing.”
And though she’s lived in Nashville for more than two decades, proud progressive Crow said she’s well aware that her habit of tweaking conservatives doesn’t always make her popular in the city that’s a blue dot in an otherwise deep red state that overwhelmingly went for Donald Trump in all three of the presidential elections he’s participated in.
So the singer who famously announced in February — long before the current spate of protests, sell-backs and arson attacks — that she was selling her Tesla and donating the proceeds to NPR is finding her own way to quiet the red noise around her. “Tennessee is a hard place for me. I mean, I struggle,” she said. “I call my representatives [in Congress] every single morning — Andy Ogles and Marsha Blackburn hear from me every day — because we have to stand up and be vocal and fight for the future for our kids.”
Asked what she imagines her reps think when they get a fresh voicemail from the Grammy-winner every single work day, Crow said, “I do think, ’Are they laughing?’ But it’s like what Jimmy Carter said: ‘As long as there’s legal bribery, we won’t ever have fair elections.’ So we have to keep raising our voices and showing up to these organized rallies.”
She also noted that unlike the flak she got back in 1996 when Walmart banned her self-titled album because of the lyric “Watch out sister/ Watch out brother/ Watch our children as they kill each other/ With a gun they bought at the Walmart discount stores” on the song “Love Is a Good Thing,” back then she didn’t live in Tennessee, “where everybody is armed.”
So, yes, “there was a moment where I actually really felt very afraid,” she said of a scary incident that occurred after she announced her Tesla sell-off. “A man got on my property, in my barn, who was armed. It doesn’t feel safe when you’re dealing with people who are so committed,” she revealed.
Given what she knows now, would Crow post that kind of video again? “I can’t help it,” she told the magazine. “I feel like I’m fighting for my kids. Also, that’s the way I was raised. There have been times when it hasn’t really been fun, but I follow my [To Kill a Mockingbird lead character] Atticus Finch dad [attorney Wendell Wyatt Crow]; I’m very similar to him if I see something that seems unfair, you know?”
Donald Trump hosted the 2025 Super Bowl LIX champs the Philadelphia Eagles at the White House on Monday (April 28), where he took the opportunity to once again lash out at Taylor Swift. The President took his latest swipe at the pop star during the visit when he lauded the Eagles for their commanding 40-22 win in February over the Kansas City Chiefs.
“It was an incredible game. A little surprising, but right from the beginning of the first quarter of the big game, which I was there I watched in person,” said Trump before adding a diss aimed at the billionaire pop superstar who is, of course, dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. “I was there along with Taylor Swift, how did that work out? How did that one work out?”
Trump, the first sitting President to attend the NFL championship game, has made a habit of lashing out at world-beating pop star, including on the night of the Super Bowl, when he wrote, “The only one who had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving.”
Trending on Billboard
While Swift was met with some audible boos from the crowd when she was shown on the jumbotron that night, Trump’s latest comments come on the eve of the 100-day mark of his second term in office at a time when, according to a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll 45% of those polled gave him an “F” for how he’s handled things so far, compared to just 23% giving him an “A.”
Trump’s overall approval rating is 42%, which stands as the second-worst approval rating for any president at the 100-day mark in the past 80 years, bested only by the 41% lodged by Trump during his first term; in a different Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll, his approval rating was ahistoricallylow 39%. And while Trump promised to fix the economy on day one and lower the nation’s debt by slashing government agencies, his onerous across-the-board tariffs and DOGE-led mass firings have resulted in a 39% approval rating to date on his handling of the economy, a new low for Trump.
As is his wont, Trump lashed out in all-caps at the dismal poll numbers, decrying them as “FAKE POLLS FROM FAKE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS” and saying that they should be “investigated for ELECTION FRAUD!”
The White House visit is a tradition for some championship teams, but a number of prominent players skipped Monday’s event, including QB Jalen Hurts, as well as star players A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Brandon Graham and six others; the Eagles turned down a visit to the White House after winning their first Super Bowl in 2018 during Trump’s first term.
