Pop

NCT Dream Drop ‘DREAM()SCAPE’ Mini Album, Action-Packed Video For ‘Smoothie’

K-pop septet NCT Dream dropped a new mini album on Monday morning (March 25), DREAM()SCAPE [pronounced “Dream Escape”], the follow-up to their 2022 EP, Candy. According to a release announcing the six-song project — featuring writing and production from several of the members — it “highlights more mature and intensified musical color from the K-pop phenoms… organically empathiz[ing] with the universal concerns and struggles of young people, while simultaneously presenting the hopeful message of overcoming adversities and growing together.”

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The project is fronted by the hip-hip-flavored single “Smoothie,” whose action-packed video finds members Jaemin, Park Ji-sung, Jeno, Renjun, Haechan, Mark Lee and Chenle playing an IRL game of “Fruit Ninja.” Wielding swords, long guns their fists and feet, the men smash fruit and battle baddies as they sing the hooky chorus, “Smoothie Smoothie Smoothie, shake it all out and blend it / Smoothie Smoothie Smoothie, Smoothie Smoothie Smoothie / Dirty taste, drink it.”

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The album opens with the dreamy, bubbling “icantfeelanything,” and includes the hip-hop-inflected Mark co-write “Box,” the low-key flexfest “Carat Cake,” mid-tempo burner “UNKNOWN” and the EP-ending ballad “Breathing,” with lyrics co-written by Mark, Jeno, Jaemin and Jisung. The group will also hit the road for their The Dream Show 3 world tour later this year, which will kick off in Seoul in May, with U.S., Latin American and European dates to be announced on May 8.

DREAM()SCAPE’s release comes eight months after the group dropped their third full-length studio album, ISTJ.

Listen to DREAM()SCAPE and watch the “Smoothie” video below.



Selena Gomez Shares Makeup-Free ‘Real’ Photos on Instagram

Selena Gomez gave fans a glimpse at her natural beauty on Instagram this weekend.

The pop singer, actress and Rare Beauty founder uploaded a series of photos to Instagram Stories, including what appears to be a completely makeup-free selfie.

With tousled hair and wearing a gray robe or cardigan, a bare-faced Gomez winks and gives a playful look in the snapshot.

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Gomez also posted a more professional portrait showing her natural look on her Instagram grid on Saturday (March 23). The intriguing black-and-white headshot has the star peering into the camera — in a way that caught the eye of fellow artist Camila Cabello, who voiced her reaction in the comments.

“Good god woman have mercy,” Cabello wrote, complimenting the striking shot, which Gomez had simply captioned with “Real.”

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In a sweet post on Wednesday (March 20), the singer-actress shared a sweet handmade card beau Benny Blanco sent her, noting that they have entered a long-distance phase in their relationship. “Happy first virtual date!” he wrote. Gomez captioned the photo, “#longdistancerelationship vibes.”

The couple have been public about their romance since December.

“I’d have to say overall, it’s the safest that I feel and it’s been really lovely,” said Gomez of the relationship in an interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe in February.

Check out Gomez’s makeup-free selfie on Instagram Stories, and embedded in a fan tweet below. See her new closeup portrait on her Instagram grid.

Fans Choose Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Guts (Spilled)’ as This Week’s Favorite New Music

Olivia Rodrigo‘s Guts (Spilled) has topped this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (March 22) on Billboard, choosing the deluxe edition of the 21-year-old pop star’s sophomore album as their favorite new music release of the past week.

Guts (Spilled) brought in 43% of the vote, beating out new music by Shakira (Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran), Tyla (Tyla), Future and Metro Boomin (We Don’t Trust You), Pearl Jam (“Running”), Matt Champion (Mika’s Laundry), and others.

The expanded version of the Rodrigo’s 2023 Guts collection features five more songs, including a new one, “So American,” which was recorded after the original album dropped last year. The other four tracks on the deluxe set were the “secret” tracks that appeared on a variety of Guts vinyl releases: “Obsessed,” “Scared of My Guitar,” “Stranger” and “Girl I’ve Always Been.”

The Grammy-winning star announced the news of Guts (Spilled) during the first night of her two-show stand at Chicago’s United Center on March 19, surprising the crowd by unfolding a sign that read “Guts Deluxe Out Friday.”

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Rodrigo’s Guts, the follow-up to her 2021 debut album Sour, was released in September 2023 and featured her Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping lead single “Vampire.” The album also topped the Billboard 200 albums chart dated September 23, 2023.

In February, she launched her global Guts World Tour, which will find her making stops across North America and Europe for the next five months before she closes out with four shows at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif.

Trailing behind Guts (Spilled) on the poll is Shakira’s Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, her first new album since the 2017 Grammy-winning set El Dorado. The Latin star’s latest album — which includes “Última,” “Cómo Dónde y Cuándo” and “La Fuerte,” another team up with Bizarrap — brought in nearly 28% of the vote.

See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.

Ariana Grande’s ‘Eternal Sunshine’ Spends Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated March 30), after debuting atop the tally a week ago. The set earned 100,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the tracking week ending March 21 (down 56%), according to Luminate. It’s the third Grande album to have logged a personal-best two weeks at No. 1. Her last two full-length studio sets, Positions (in 2020) and Thank U, Next (2019), both spent their first two weeks at No. 1.

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Eternal Sunshine debuted at No. 1 on the March 23-dated list with 227,000 units earned.

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Plus, Kacey MusgravesDeeper Well starts at No. 2 with her biggest week ever by both equivalent album units and traditional album sales, while Justin Timberlake’s Everything I Thought It Was launches at No. 4.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new March 30, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (March 26). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of Eternal Sunshine’s 100,000 units earned in the tracking week ending March 21, SEA units comprise 87,000 (down 41%, equaling 115.05 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 13,000 (down 56%) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 84%).

Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well makes a splash, as it debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 97,000 equivalent album units earned — her biggest week, by units, since the chart began ranking by that measurement in December 2014. Further, of the album’s first-week units, traditional album sales comprise 66,000 — Musgraves’ biggest sales week ever.

Of Deeper Well’s first-week unit sum of 97,000, traditional album sales comprise 66,000 (it’s the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 30,000 (equaling 38.06 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 1,000.

Deeper Well is Musgraves’ highest-charting album since her debut effort, Same Trailer Different Park, debuted and peaked at No. 2 in 2013.

Deeper Well is the fifth top 10-charting effort for Musgraves, and all of them have started in the top four of the ranking. She previously visited the region with Star-Crossed (No. 3, 2021), Golden Hour (No. 4, 2018), Pageant Material (No. 3, 2015) and Same Trailer Different Park (No. 2, 2013).

Deeper Well’s first-week unit sum surpasses Musgraves’ previous high, by units earned, when Star-Crossed debuted with 77,000 units. And, Deeper Well’s first-week sales figure is her best sales frame ever, beating the 55,000 that Pageant Material sold in its first week.

The new album was led by a pair of charting tracks on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart: the title track (reaching No. 26 in February) and “Too Good To Be True” (No. 41 earlier in March). Deeper is Musgraves’ first album since 2021, while in 2023 she scored her biggest chart hit ever on the Hot Country Songs and all-genre Billboard Hot 100 charts, when Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything,” on which she’s featured, topped both tallies. The song, her first leader on both lists, was released on Bryan’s self-titled 2023 album, but is not on Deeper.

Musgraves supported the album launch with appearances on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (March 14), NBC’s Today (March 15) and SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show (March 18). Prior to the album’s release on March 15, Musgraves was the musical guest on the March 2 episode of NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

Deeper Well’s first-week sales were supported by its availability across nine vinyl variants, including eight different-colored versions and exclusive editions for Amazon, Spotify and Target. In total, the album sold 37,000 copies on vinyl — the top-selling vinyl set of the week, Musgraves’ biggest sales week ever on vinyl, the largest vinyl week of 2024, and the fourth-largest week for a country album on vinyl since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. (The only bigger sales weeks on vinyl for country sets were all registered by Taylor Swift’s re-recordings.)

Deeper Well was also issued in four different CD versions, three different digital editions (two were exclusive to her webstore — one with a bonus track, and another with the same bonus track an alternate cover art) and as a cassette tape.

Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time slips 2-3 on the new Billboard 200, pushed down with a 3% gain to 70,000 equivalent album units earned.

Justin Timberlake returns to the Billboard 200 with his first album in over six years, as Everything I Thought It Was starts at No. 4. The set opens with 67,000 equivalent album units earned and marks Timberlake’s sixth consecutive top five-charting effort — the entirety of his solo releases, which includes four No. 1s.

Of Everything’s first-week unit sum of 67,000, traditional album sales comprise 41,000, SEA units comprise 24,000 (equaling 31.13 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 2,000.

The new album was led off by the single “Selfish,” which peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Feb. 10. The track has also reached the top 20 of the Radio Songs, Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay, Adult Contemporary and Rhythmic Airplay charts.

Everything’s release was ushered in by a much-buzzed-about one-off concert at The Wiltern in Los Angeles (March 13). The show featured a surprise reunion with his *NSYNC bandmates, with the group playing a medley of hits and the new Everything track “Paradise.” Timberlake also turned up on NPR’s Tiny Desk series on March 15 for a half-hour-long concert. Earlier in the week, on March 11, he performed the album’s “No Angels” on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Everything’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across four different vinyl variants (including exclusives for Amazon, Target and his webstore), four different deluxe CD boxed sets (each with a piece of branded clothing and a CD) and a standard CD.

Noah Kahan’s Stick Season falls 3-5 on the new Billboard 200 with 46,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%). Five former No. 1s round out the rest of the top 10, as SZA’s SOS dips 5-6 (43,000; down 4%), Swift’s Lover climbs 9-7 (41,000; up 6%), Bryan’s self-titled album falls 6-8 (40,000; down 2%), Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) descends 8-9 (nearly 40,000; up 3%) and Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1 drops 4-10 (39,000; down 13%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

Rihanna Is All Smiles Rocking New Blonde Pixie Cut

Rihanna is living the blonde life.

The 36-year-old superstar singer debuted a brand new pixie cut during an outing in Santa Monica, Calif., on Friday (March 22). RiRi, who has worn short hair in the past, was seen sporting an oversized black jersey and baggy jeans while rocking her edgy new hairdo.

The Fenty Beauty founder’s looks also arrives about three weeks after she was seen flaunting long dark locks while performing her first full concert in almost eight years at private wedding party in India.

In early March, Rihanna returned to the stage at a pre-wedding gig for Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant in Jamnagar. The Grammy-winner performed at a lavish party that was part of a multi-day celebration for the soon-to-be newlyweds, who will officially tie the knot July 12 in Mumbai. The nearly 1,200-person guest list included Rihanna as well as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Sunder Picha, Ivanka Trump and Bollywood celebrity Shah Rukh Khan, according to the Associated Press.

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“The show was the best,” Rihanna said on camera post-concert, while being approached by paparazzi. “I haven’t done a real show in eight years.”

Although Rihanna performed for the Super Bowl halftime show and at the Oscars last year, she hasn’t put on a full concert since her Anti World Tour in 2016. During her India set, Rihanna performed hits like “Bitch Better Have My Money,” “Work,” “Umbrella,” “Stay,” “All of the Lights,” “We Found Love” and “Diamonds.”

Rihanna recently announced that she was expanding her business into Sephora stores in China. “China fenty fam!! i’m so excited to announce that we are expanding in sephora stores april 1 – y’all ready?!” she wrote on Instagram.

See Rihanna’s new blonde pixie cut here via TMZ.

Katy Perry Reacts to Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Wide Awake’ Kellyoke Cover

Kelly Clarkson‘s “Wide Awake” cover made quite the impression on Katy Perry.

The Kelly Clarkson Show host performed Perry‘s 2012 hit, stripping it down to just piano and vocals, for a segment of Kellyoke on Tuesday (March 19). She slowed down the track, letting her strong voice shine throughout the ballad.

Fans were smitten by Clarkson’s arrangement — including Perry herself.

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“ok dang I can never sing that again,” Perry commented on a video posted by the official Kelly Clarkson Show account on Instagram.

“I was in the dark/ I was falling hard/ With an open heart/ How did I read the stars so wrong?” Clarkson sings as the clip starts. “And now it’s clear to me/ That everything you see/ Ain’t always what it seems/ Yeah, I was dreaming for so long.”

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“Wide Awake,” the final single from Perry’s Teenage Dream album cycle, was included on the set’s 2012 deluxe reissue, Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed on the chart for 26 weeks in total.

Previously, Clarkson has covered Perry’s “The One That Got Away” and “Roar” on her Daytime Emmy-winning talk show. 

Perry recently sat down with Billboard at Women in Music 2024 to have a quick chat about her upcoming Rock in Rio performance and her love of dance music. On the red carpet, she talked about presenting the executive of the year honor at the event, her love of Karol G and her decision to leave American Idol.

See the video of Clarkson’s version of “Wide Awake” that Perry shared her thoughts on below.

Sabrina Carpenter Shares Eras Tour Photos, Reflects On ‘Taybrina Era’

Sabrina Carpenter has shared a collection of photos from The Eras Tour, including a snapshot from her visit to the Sydney Zoo with Taylor Swift.

The singer commemorated her time on tour with Swift, which concluded on March 9, in a post on Instagram two weeks after the most recent Eras Tour leg ended. Carpenter was Swift’s opening act across several dates in Latin America, Australia and Asia. The Eras Tour returns in May for a European leg, with Paramore as opener.

“that’s a wrap for us on the eras tour,” Carpenter wrote Saturday night (March 23). “sitting at home reflecting on what a whirlwind this was and how very honored i feel to have been part of it. I want to thank every crowd for being so welcoming and generous to us and making some of the most impressive friendship bracelets I’ve ever received. also a huge thank you to the incredible crew for being so hardworking and talented.”

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She then penned some heartfelt words directly to Swift: “and the most thank you’s I’ve ever thank you’d to Taylor. I feel so lucky to witness the magic that is you and this tour. there is truly no one like you and there never will be! i love you with all my heart and i will cherish this taybrina era (and all the eras) till the end of time.”

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Photos shared included Eras Tour stage shots, backstage moments and a picture of Carpenter walking by Swift’s side at the zoo in Sydney.

Another special Eras memory happened in Sydney: When Carpenter was unable to perform her set one night due to rain delays, Swift invited her to sing a mashup of Evermore‘s “Coney Island” and Fearless‘ “White Horse” with her.

“She heroically sacrificed her show, which I think is a crime against Sydney,” Swift explained during the acoustic section at Accor Stadium on Feb. 23.

Swift said “White Horse” was a favorite of Carpenter’s. YouTube footage exists of the “Nonsense” singer (and longtime Swiftie) covering the song when she was a young girl.

See Carpenter’s photos from The Eras Tour on Instagram.

Lana Del Rey Hypes Up Camila Cabello’s New Song: ‘I Luv It’

Lana Del Rey appears to be a fan of Camila Cabello‘s new music.

On Saturday (March 23), the “Summertime Sadness” songstress took to Instagram to show some love to Cabello’s recently teased song.

“i luv it,” Del Rey captioned two black-and-white photos of the “Senorita” singer.

In one snapshot, the newly blonde artist is seen with a lollipop in her mouth and the “Parental Advisory” warning on the bottom right. The other image finds Cabello donning an off-the-shoulder white top while flipping off the camera and flashing a subtle smirk.

The former Fifth Harmony member took to the comments section of Del Rey’s post, leaving a series of crown emojis. She also shared the post in her Instagram Story on Saturday.

In early March, Cabello shared a 30-second teaser of what appears to be her upcoming untitled single, accompanied by the caption “coming soon(er than you think).” In the brief clip, she’s riding in the passenger seat of a car, her blonde tresses whipped by the wind, as she sings an exuberant, summery pop ditty.

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“I’m seeing stars/ Oh my God/ I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it,” Cabello joyfully exhales in her breathy voice, adding, “I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it,” while making a hand heart in the song that features a sample of Gucci Mane’s 2009 single “Lemonade.”

Cabello’s last album was 2022’s Familia, which featured her No. 21-charting Billboard Hot 100 hit “Bam Bam.”

During an early March episode on the Call Her Daddy podcast, the musician said the making of her upcoming album has been “such a journey.”

“It started off with me really having that intention of going back to how it started with me,” she told host Alex Cooper. “Sitting with myself, and really getting back to that first passion of songwriting.”

Del Rey, meanwhile, announced in February that her next album, Lasso, will arrive in September. The announcement arrived while she paid tribute to Jack Antonoff at the Billboard and NMPA Songwriter Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 31.

”If you can’t already tell by our award winners and our performers, the music business is going country. We’re going country. It’s happening,” she told the crowd. “That’s why Jack has followed me to Muscle Shoals, Nashville, Mississippi, over the last four years.”

Del Rey’s forthcoming release is the follow-up to 2023’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart.

See Del Rey’s post about Cabello’s new music on Instagram here.

Normani Announces ‘1:59’ Single Featuring Gunna

New Normani is officially on the way, as the singer announced her new single “1:59,” featuring Gunna, appropriately at 1:59 p.m. ET on Saturday (March 23).

“soo basically my first single 1:59 will be coming out 4/26,” she captioned a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“1:59” will arrive April 26 via RCA Records. It will be the first single Normani has dropped since announcing her debut album Dopamine one month ago.

“cryingg typing this rn. DOPAMINE THE ALBUM,” she captioned her Feb. 21-dated Instagram post, which features the black-leather bikini-clad singer riding on top of a black rocket. But when inquiring minds on X (formerly known as Twitter) circled back with the singer regarding her silence after the initial album announcement, she sent a follow-up message: “Hi, Thank you for your patience. This matter will be addressed tomorrow at 1:59pm EST. – Management.”

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The ex-Fifth Harmony member has yet to reveal the release date of her album, but it will come out sometime this year. In her recent Who What Wear cover story, she said, “The album feels like liberation, like a season of freedom. Not just because the record is finally coming out, but because it’s a celebration of everything I have been through to get to this moment.”

Since embarking on her solo career in 2018, Normani has released only seven singles as a lead artist, with 2019’s “Motivation” and 2022’s “Fair” being the only songs she’s released without another artist on it. She’s had two Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits with the Sam Smith-assisted “Dancing With a Stranger” (No. 7) and the Khalid-assisted “Love Lies” (No. 9). “Motivation” and “Wild Side,” featuring Cardi B, have also charted on the Hot 100, peaking at No. 33 and No. 14, respectively.

Eras Tour Openers Girl in Red & Sabrina Carpenter Team Up on ‘You Need Me Now?’: Stream It Now

Two of Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour openers collide on “You Need Me Now?,” the new single from Girl in Red and Sabrina Carpenter set to appear on the former’s upcoming album I’m Doing It Again Baby.

On the uptempo, rock-infused pop track released Friday (March 22), the 25-year-old “We Fell in Love in October” artist — born Marie Ulven — laments over an ex that constantly leads her on. “Don’t tell me you need me now/ You got your feelings back,” she rants. “I’ve heard it before/ I’m tired of waiting around/ Letting you let me down/ I’m done being yours.”

Mid-song, she pauses singing to say, “You know what would be really f—ing cool on this? Sabrina — like, if we could get Sabrina on this, oh my God.”

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“Oh my God, you’re so right,” enters Carpenter before diving into the song’s bridge. “I’m gonna sing now.”

Both Ulven and Carpenter shared the track on their Instagram Stories, with the 24-year-old Girl Meets World alum writing, “i <3>

The Norwegian singer-songwriter and Carpenter are linked through their respective stints on Swift’s global Eras trek, which kicked off in March 2023. Girl in Red joined the pop star in June for shows in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, while the “Feather” singer played support for the tour’s Latin America, Australia and Singapore legs.

Carpenter’s latest album Emails I Can’t Send arrived in summer 2022, debuting at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 that July. Ulven’s debut record If I Could Make It Go Quiet peaked at No. 67 on the chart in 2021.

Listen to the two stars’ new duet below.