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Natalie Bassingthwaighte will deliver an exclusive performance at the 2024 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras — her first since coming out.
The Rogue Traders singer and Australian TV celebrity is locked in for the first-ever Mardi Gras Debutante Ball for First Timers, hosted at Kinsela’s in Darlinghurst.
In addition to being guest of honor at the deb ball, Nat Bass, as she’s affectionately known in these parts, will perform some of her “all-time favorite hits” while “sharing her story,” reps say.
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As singer with Rogue Traders, Bassingthwaighte has landed silverware and international hits. In 2006, two of those Rogue Traders numbers cracked the U.K. top 40, including the club track “Voodoo Child,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart.
Also, the dance act won an ARIA Award in 2003 for “One of My Kind” (best dance release) and two APRA Music Awards, for “Way to Go!” in 2006 (most performed dance work) and “In Love Again” in 2008 (dance work of the year).
“Being able to attend my first Mardi Gras as a new member of the queer community, surrounded with so much love, joy and acceptance is so special to me,” Bassingthwaighte says in a statement, “and what’s even more special is knowing that I get to share this memorable experience with other First Timers of diverse queer identities.”
LGBTQIA+ community trailblazers and Mardi Gras custodians will also be watching on, including LGBTQIA+ advocate Robyn Kennedy, who is an original first-timer having attended the first ever Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1978, plus Making It Australia judge Benja Harney, and trans couture designer couple, Katie Louise Nicol-Ford and Lilian Nicol-Ford.
Johnnie Walker is a sponsor of the 2024 Mardi Gras, and is sponsoring the inaugural Mardi Gras Debutante Ball, which celebrates “those who have, up until now, been unable to attend.” The whisky brand is getting into the spirit of Mardi Gras with a competition, which invites first timers to enter for a chance at an all-expenses paid experience.
The colorful LGBTQI party, march and festival is typically attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and abroad, and is set for Feb. 16 to March 3.
Bassingthwaighte reunited with her Rogue Traders bandmates last year for “To The Disco,” the first release from Rogue Traders in over a decade. The dance act supported the release with a slate of performances.
Kelly Clarkson got nostalgic on her talk show on Wednesday (Jan. 10), taking on Miley Cyrus’ reflective power ballad, “Used to Be Young,” during her popular Kellyoke segment. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “You tell me time has done changed me / That’s fine, I’ve had a […]
You may not be able to catch her now, but the Oscars just might be able to.
As awards season kicks into high gear, Olivia Rodrigo has her sights set on the Academy Awards. At the Academy’s 14th annual Governors Awards on Tuesday, the Grammy-winner dished on the Oscar chances for her song “Can’t Catch Me Now” from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and her plans for her upcoming 21st birthday.
“It’s so incredible,” Rodrigo gushed to Access Hollywood of her Hunger Games prequel track making the Academy’s shortlist for best original song. “There’s just so many people on that list who I’m inspired by, so many songs that I think are incredible, so it’s an honor.”
Rodrigo, alongside go-to collaborator Dan Nigro, co-wrote and performed “Can’t Catch Me Now” for the box-office-topping Hunger Games prequel starring Rachel Zegler, Viola Davis, Hunter Schafer and Tom Blyth. The haunting Americana-inflected track reached No. 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. At the 2023 Hollywood Music in Media Awards, “Can’t Catch Me Now” won best original song in a sci-fi, fantasy or horror film.
In addition to “Can’t Catch Me Now,” other notable songs on the Academy’s shortlist include Billie Eilish‘s “What Was I Made For?” (from Barbie) — which won the equivalent Golden Globe Award on Sunday — Fantasia‘s “Superpower (I)” (from The Color Purple), The Osage Tribe’s “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” (from Killers of the Flower Moon) and Jon Batiste‘s “It Never Went Away” (from American Symphony).
Although she finds herself among stiff competition, Rodrigo didn’t write her Hunger Games track with the intention of entering the Oscar race. “I think that if I was writing a song and thought about how other people were gonna hear it, I just would be so overcome by anxiety that I couldn’t write at all,” she told Access Hollywood. “So I try to kind of block that all out and just write for me.”
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Later on the red carpet, the “Traitor” singer spilled her birthday plans to Entertainment Tonight. “It is a big birthday,” she said. “I think I’m gonna have a party with my friends and pop some champagne, you know? It’s the 21st!” The multihyphenate turns 21 next month (Feb. 20), but she says Vegas isn’t quite in her line of sight yet. “I’ll save that. I’ll save that for later,” she said.
Shortly before her birthday, Rodrigo will enjoy the 66th annual Grammy Awards, where she boasts six nominations, including in album of the year (Guts) and record and song of the year (“Vampire”). The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series alum already has three Golden Gramophones to her name; she took home best new artist, best pop vocal album (Sour) and best pop solo performance (“Drivers License”) at the 2022 ceremony.
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He’ll be the prince and she’ll be the princess! The Kansas City Chiefs made a reference to one of Taylor Swift’s most popular songs in a postseason recap shared to Instagram on Tuesday (Jan. 9), as the NFL team heads into the playoffs. “Valentine’s Day is jealous of the ‘love story’ we have / Who […]
Lil Nas X is continuing his teasers for his upcoming single, “J CHRIST,” and he took to Instagram on Wednesday (Jan. 10) to unveil a sneak peek of the music video. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the brief clip, celebrity look-alikes of stars including Taylor […]
Culture Club singer Boy George names names and does not hold back in his new memoir, Karma: My Autobiography. Especially when it comes to some fellow 1980s celebs he says were not so nice to him back in the day. The flamboyant, technicolor star who once sang “Don’t Talk About It” on his new wave group’s 1984 album Waking Up with the House on Fire definitely talks about it in the book out now.
According to an excerpt in People, George quips, “When it comes to me and Janet [Jackson], let’s wait a while.” George said the two pop idols met during their respective 1980s peaks on the show Solid Gold, where Janet superfan George approached the “Rhythm Nation” singer without his signature bold makeup on to express his love for her.
“She wasn’t friendly and didn’t try to be. But I just walked off and got myself into my best ‘Boy George’ and was walking around backstage to make sure I was seen by everyone,” he writes in the book, where he also notes that a member of Jackson’s crew later approached him with video camera in hand asking him to record a message for Janet.
“‘Next time you meet someone, be nice,’” George replied. Later, George said he was swept into Jackson’s dressing room, where she said she hadn’t recognized him earlier. “‘Are you saying you would have been nice to me if you knew who I was?’ We parted on awkward terms,” he said of their stilted exchange.
Things were not much friendlier the next time they meet at the long-running U.K. music series Top of the Pops several years later, where he reported that Jackson “looked straight through me.” George (born George O’Dowd), 62, told People he has nothing else to say about the incident now, noting that sometimes when you write a tell-all there’s a “chance you’re going to bump into someone that you’ve written about,” and that he’s secure in his truth about how people behaved.
“I’m always someone who’s prepared to bury the hatchet because there’s always another opportunity to be different,” he said, adding, however, that at this point, “there’s certain people I’m never gonna be friends with unless a miracle happens — and I guess I put her [Jackson] in that category.”
“I love Janet Jackson’s music and I love Madonna and I love all the people I’ve written about,” George told People. “I suppose when you write things about other artists, it’s also — note to self — you remember that perhaps there’s been times in your life when you weren’t friendly to everyone you met.”
George also had similar feelings about late rock icon Tina Turner — who he doesn’t mention in the book — though he told People that she also “wasn’t nice to me, which was a shame.” He says he’d been invited to an Elton John show and in a tiny, celeb-packed dressing room afterwards among such luminaires as Faye Dunaway and Ben Kingsley, John introduced him to Turner, who, he said, “turned her back.”
He never figured out why Turner reacted how she did, saying it may have had to do with his drug-taking at the time. “I’d just come off drugs — so maybe she was disapproving of that,” he said. Regardless, George said he’s still “the biggest Tina Turner fan on the planet. I mean, I forgave her and I loved her.”
“It’s 1,000% easier to be nice,” the singer told the magazine. “Not only Is it easier to be nice as it’s better for you.” In an earlier excerpt, People noted that the book covers everything from George’s violent childhood in South East London as as bullied teen to his four-month prison stint in 2009 after a conviction for falsely imprisoning and assaulting a male escort and his $2.3 million dollar legal battle with former bandmate/lover Culture Club drummer Jon Moss.
Jennifer Lopez dropped the first single from her upcoming ninth album, This Is Me… Now (Feb. 16), on Wednesday (Jan. 10). The breezy, summery “Can’t Get Enough” was accompanied by a cinematic Dave Meyers-directed wedding-themed video that appears to make winking references to the singer’s love life.
“I’m still in love with you/ You know I can’t get enough/ I love that/ You know I can’t get enough/ You love that,” Lopez sings in a breathy voice over the beachy arrangement of the song co-written by the Shotgun Wedding star and produced at her home studio in Los Angeles alongside Rogét Chahayed (Doja Cat), HitBoy (Drake), and Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman (H.E.R); additional songwriting/production on the track comes from Angel Lopez (Jack Harlow), Drew Love (G-Eazy, The Chainsmokers), INK (Beyonce) and Prince Chrishan (Meek Mill, Chris Brown).
The sumptuous video opens with Lopez in a daring peekaboo bellybutton- and-thigh-baring wedding dress pledging “til death do us part” to her beloved (spoiler: it’s not hubby Ben Affleck) at a lavish, rain-soaked wedding as a skeptical attendee snipes, “I told you she couldn’t be alone.”
After the groom takes JLo’s veil off, the singer busts into the song, dancing in front of an enormous fountain amid a lush garden, waving her bouquet in the air as she sings, “I feel like startin’ somethin’/ You got my engine running,” while the wedding party fall in line for a dance routine. The happy couple jet off in a classic white convertible, with Lopez emerging in a new poufy white dress for the first dance, as the naysayer doubles down on a cynical bet about the couple’s chances. “This guy don’t stand a chance,” says another reception attendee.
The happy couple show off their dance moves as the groom transforms into a series of different men with an onlooker sneering, “third time’s a charm,” in a seeming winking reference to Lopez’s four marriages. “Don’t catch it, it’s cursed,” one of the guests says as Lopez tosses her bouquet. Cue an elaborate group dance number amid a rain of flower petals as the camera zooms in on Lopez dancing with her handful of grooms. The clip ends with a forlorn JLo staring out as the unseen men complain about her defensiveness and “constant criticism.”
The video — with a story by Meyers, Lopez and Chris Shafer — will be part of the upcoming This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, a Prime Video special debuting on Feb. 16 described as “a narrative-driven, cinematic musical odyssey, steeped in storytelling and mythology, humor and healing.” The special was co-written by Lopez and husband Affleck along with Matt Walton.
This Is Me… Now, Lopez’s first album in almost a decade, is available for pre-order here now. The follow-up to 2014’s A.K.A. will be available in a number of bespoke and limited edition versions, including a deluxe CD with a 40-page booklet featuring exclusive photos, standard vinyl in Lopez’s favorite color of green and eight additional exclusive vinyl configurations with a variety of covers and vinyl colors; fans can also order a signed vinyl with an emerald disc and exclusive cover available here.
A release accompanying the single describes the album as a collection featuring “an unprecedented rawness, vulnerability, and searing honesty,” crafted by Lopez as a “powerful and heartfelt ode to her journey of self healing and everlasting belief in fairy tale endings.” It promises a “rich tapestry of sounds and emotions, seamlessly blending elements of pop, R&B and hip-hop influences to create a fusion of genres,” with lyrics that plumb the highs and lows of “life, love, and relationships with unflinching honesty and introspection as she unveils a genuine story of growth, resilience, hard work, and the transformative power of self love.”
Additional producers on the album include: HitBoy, Tay Kieth, Yeti Beats, Carter Lang, Kim “Kaydence” Krysiuk, Jason Derulo, and Brandon Riester.
Watch the “Can’t Get Enough” video below.
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We all know and love The Plastics: Regina, Gretchen, Karen and … Megan? In a new Extra interview, Mean Girls star Reneé Rapp gushes over Megan Thee Stallion and recounts her journey with the character of Regina George.
“It’s been like five years of my life now,” Rapp joked. “I’m milking this IP for jobs until I can’t anymore.” Before taking Regina George to the big screen in the new Mean Girls movie musical, Rapp portrayed the character in the Broadway stage musical for several months during 2019-2020. The original Broadway production of Mean Girls earned 12 Tony nominations. Although her stint on The Great White Way eventually gave way to her reprisal of the role in the film adaptation, Rapp quipped, “I’m tired of wearing pink! I’ve had it, I’m good on it!”
Rapp handles most of the film’s soundtrack — alongside co-stars Auliʻi Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey and Avantika — and she even co-wrote and recorded some new original songs for the album. In addition to co-writing “What If’s” with Nell Benjamin, Rapp collaborated with Grammy-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion for the single “Not My Fault.” Paired with a pink-tastic choreography-laced music video, “Not My Fault” features the two stars thriving in all of their plastic glory. The pair’s joint dance scenes have gone viral across social media, and those happened to be the scenes that made Rapp swoon.
“Actually best a– I’ve ever seen in my life,” she gushed. “We were in dance rehearsal and I was like, ‘Wow, this is incredible! ‘I’ve actually never seen anything like this.” “Not My Fault” has so far peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 — Rapp’s first entry on any Billboard singles chart. The “Tummy Hurts” singer — who unleashed Snow Angel, her Billboard 200-charting debut studio album last year (No. 44) — continued: “I’m a true Meg supporter. I hate that other man, so I love Megan Thee Stallion. I love her. If anybody tries her when it comes to that sorry a– man, it’s a do or die fight for me.”
Rapp is likely referencing Tory Lanez, the Canadian rapper and singer who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot back in 2020. On the Mean Girls premiere red carpet Monday (Jan. 8), Megan told Entertainment Tonight, “I love Reneé. As soon as I met her I was like, ‘Oh, you my friend. OK.’ I love it. I love her and I love Mean Girls!”
Mean Girls hits theatres this Friday, Jan. 12, and the accompanying soundtrack will be available on all digital streaming platforms the same day.
Watch Rapp chat about Megan Thee Stallion below.
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Joey Fatone and AJ McLean are crossing over. The *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys members announced on Tuesday (Jan. 9) that they are hitting the road together in March for an eight-date joint tour they’ve dubbed “A Legendary Night.”
In a post announcing the one-of-a-kind outing, Fatone wrote, “This is going to be fun!!!! @aj_mclean my dude … here we go!!!!,” with the BSB singer responding, “LEGENDARY [sign of the horns emoji].
The outing is slated to kick off on March 15 at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, CA and hit the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, CA before moving on to the East Coast for gigs in Wallingford, CT, Boston and Newark before wrapping with a trio of shows in Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando and Jacksonville, FL. Click here for details on the artist pre-sale and general on-sale, with the latter slated to kick off on Friday (Jan. 12) at 10 a.m. local time.
According to a release from promoter Live Nation, the tour will find the old friends teaming up to perform choreo, their beloved 1990s and early 2000s hits accompanied by a seven-piece band and “intimate conversations of never-before-told stories from their time on the road.” The singers, both 46, booked the tour after performing together at a gig dubbed “Joey Fatone & Friends — Welcome to Tampa 90s Party” in September; they also previously shared the stage in 2021 during Fatone’s “The AFTR PRTY” Las Vegas residency, which featured the *NSYNC member performing with McLean, Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men) and McLean’s BSB bandmate, Nick Carter.
In an Instagram Live chat hyping the tour on Tuesday, Fatone promised fans that the new dates will be a “crazy” twist on the previous team-ups, with plenty of songs from both men’s groups, as well as some tracks “that never really hit on albums or records” and some throwback 90s tracks. The show will also include a “wheel of songs” segment in which they’ll spin and sing different tracks ecah night. “Obviously a blast a lot of fun,” Fatone promised.
“You guys are in for one hell of a show,” McLean added, noting that fans will know “every song,” while teasing that he will also be performing a couple of his new tracks.
Fatone reunited with his *NSYNC mates at last year’s MTV VMAs in a surprise moment that preceded the release of the defunct group’s first song in 22 years, the Trolls Band Together single “Better Place.”
Check out the “A Legendary Night” tour announcement, teaser video and dates below.
March 15 – Temecula, CA @ Pechanga Theatre
March 16 – Rancho Mirage, CA @ The Show at Agua Caliente
March 21 – Wallingford, CT @ Toyota Oakdale Theatre
March 22 – Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues
March 23 – Newark, NJ @ New Jersey Performing Arts Center
March 28 – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ AuRene Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts
March 29 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
March 30 – Jacksonville, FL @ Florida Theatre
Selena Gomez is taking another social media break. According to People magazine, the Only Murders In the Building star posted an Instagram Story on Tuesday (Jan. 9) detailing her latest social rest in an attempt to focus on “what really matters.” The Story was accompanied by an image of of boyfriend producer Benny Blanco goofing […]