Pop

20 Feb 2024

Which of Drake’s Hot 100 Hits Is Your Favorite? Vote!

From his 2009 chart debut with “Best I Ever Had” to his 2023 No. 1 smash “First Person Shooter,” Drake has notched a great many hits on the Billboard Hot 100. In fact, the artist — born Aubrey Graham — has scored the most entries on the 60-plus-year-old tally of any artist in history, with a total of 328 to date.

And with 76 top 10 hits — 13 of which have reached the chart’s summit — the Hot 100 has seen Drizzy through several seasons of life and artistry. He’s released more than a dozen albums since he first made passage on the ranking, many of which were so hugely successful, their deep cuts charted right alongside the singles toward the top of the heap. He’s also famous for his collaborations, and his Hot 100 prowess reflects that; oftentimes, his name in the credits either precedes or is directly followed by fellow hip-hop titans such as J. Cole, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, 21 Savage and more.

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So, in celebration of the superstar’s incredible career — which only seems to reach new heights, 15 years in — Billboard recently ranked every single one of Drake’s entries so far. And while there are almost too many to choose from, we want to know which of those are your favorites.

From the So Far Gone days to “One Dance” to “God’s Plan” to his ongoing For All the Dogs era, tell us which of Drake’s Hot 100 hits is No. 1 in your book by voting in the poll below.

20 Feb 2024

Here’s Why Ariana Grande Chose ‘Yes, And?’ as the Lead Single From ‘Eternal Sunshine’

After a four-year hiatus from music marked by persistent speculation surrounding her personal life, the stage was perfectly set for Ariana Grande to make an epic comeback earlier this year. She did just that by releasing “Yes, And?” in January, with the song debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

And now, the 30-year-old star is giving fans a peek into all of the planning that made her comeback possible. In a newly shared behind-the-scenes video, which was filmed prior to the release of “Yes, And?,” Grande meets with her team and explains to them why she believes the house-inspired dance track should be the lead single off her upcoming album Eternal Sunshine, which, at that point, hadn’t been announced yet.

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“The reason why I liked it, it’s an all-encompassing, like, ‘What the f–k?’” the pop star says in the clip, which she shared to Instagram Reels. “Why aren’t we all thinking with the cap of, ‘Everyone’s tired, everyone is healing from someone or something you can’t see on the surface.’ That’s why I kind of liked [‘Yes, And?’] as a, ‘We’re coming back.’”

Then, before playing the track for her team, Grande sets the scene. “Pretend you don’t know the rest,” she said, laughing. “Pretend it’s been three years since Positions. Pretend this is, you’ve been seeing me in a f–king blonde wig on the Daily Mail for the past year.”

For context, the “POV” singer spent much of 2023 playing Glinda in Jon M. Chu’s upcoming live-action Wicked movies, a character for which she went blonde. While she was shooting the films over the summer, her personal life became fodder for celebrity gossip, with fans and tabloids alike meticulously dissecting the timeline of her divorce from Dalton Gomez and the beginning of her rumored relationship with Ethan Slater, one of her Wicked castmates.

Things reached a fever pitch when Slater’s estranged wife, Lilly Jay, told Page Six that their marriage had ended because of Grande. “[Ariana’s] the story, really. Not a girl’s girl,” she said in July. “My family is just collateral damage.”

Both TMZ and People, however, reported that Slater and the Victorious alum started dating after both of their previous relationships had ended.

Months later, Grande seemed to address the controversy with “Yes, And?” “Your business is yours and mine is mine,” she sings during the bridge. “Why do you care so much whose d— I ride?”

The “7 Rings” artist’s new video comes on the heels of her new “Yes, And?” remix, which co-stars Mariah Carey. Eternal Sunshine is set to arrive March 8.

Watch Grande meet with her team about “Yes, And?” below.

20 Feb 2024

Ashlee Simpson Says 2004 ‘SNL’ Lip Synching Fiasco Taught Her About ‘The Power of No’

It was the performance heard ’round the world. Or rather, not heard, but played on tape. Almost 20 years after the second most-famous lip synch scandal in modern pop history — shout out to Milli Vanilli — Ashlee Simpson dropped by the Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson and Olivia Allen podcast this week to relive that moment in 2004 when her Saturday Night Live debut turned into a car-crash viral moment before such things even existed.

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“I’ve never talked about or said, but it’s like the other thing is, learning as a woman, when you say no, or as an artist or a human or whatever, that day I said ‘I will not go on, I don’t care. I can’t speak,’” Simpson, 39, told the hosts about the night in Oct. 2004 when she was the musical guest on SNL amid serious vocal issues that caused her to lose her voice before showtime.

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After rehearsing the day before, Simpson said she woke up and realized she “couldn’t speak,” because, her doctor told her, she had two nodules on her vocal cords that were “beating against each other.” She explained her dilemma to the SNL team in a handwritten note, but despite telling producers the show could not go on, Simpson said she was asked to perform to pre-recorded vocals. “My band has never practiced this, this is not going to go well,” she said she thought at the time. “I can’t do this.”

Simpson, of course, did perform that night, first coming out to sing the single “Pieces of Me,” which went well. But when she came back to play the title track from her Autobiography album, someone cued up the vocal track from “Pieces” by mistake. Simpson busted out some stilted dance moves and when she was caught with the mic by her side, she and the band looked around confused for several awkward seconds while the singer did a silly shuffle and then walked off stage as the group continued to play the instrumental track and the show cut to commercial. Simpson came back later for the closing credits and said, “My band started playing the wrong song, and I didn’t know what to do, so I thought I’d do a hoedown. I’m sorry. This is live TV. These things happen!”

The mortifying moment taught Simpson the “power of my no,” she told the podcast hosts, as well as “the power of me saying absolutely not… that’s what I would go back and say.” To be sure, Simpson said it was a “humbling” incident for her at a time when she had a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart and a top five single with “Pieces of Me.”

“It was like everything was about to go somewhere and then it was just like, whoa, the humility of not even understanding what grown-ass people would say about you… awful, awful things,” Simpson said of the first, and only, time a musical guest had walked off SNL during a performance. Through that trial-by-fire, though, Simpson said she learned to tune all the noise out and find her strength and move on, while, luckily, also avoiding throat surgery thanks to a vocal coach who “saved my life.”

The clip went so viral at the time, though, that one of the friends who was with Simpson that night — and who joined her on the podcast — said when they visited a New York deli the next day in the midst of the Iraq war “everyone around us was talking about it… it was so surreal and such a ginormous moment.” Though she released two more albums, 2005’s I Am Me and 2008’s Bittersweet World, and starred as Roxie Hart in three different productions of the musical Chicago in 2006, 2009 and 2013, Simpson’s musical career never regained that initial peak following the SNL fiasco.

To this day, Simpson said people still ask her about it and she can’t forget the important lesson she learned that night. “I think having to find at a young age that strength to be like, ‘I am good at this and I will keep going, and I will keep fighting,’” she said, noting that she came back to SNL a second time a year later and she can’t find the video. “I’ve searched and searched for that performance. I was really nervous when I was on there and I can’t find it anywhere,” she said.

Though she’s been off the music radar for years, the singer recently told US that she’s starting to work on the re-release of her debut album and may fill it out with additional tracks. “I’m going to celebrate that album,” she said. “Maybe I’ll go in and redo some of the songs, but I’m definitely going to do a performance around the anniversary.”

Watch Simpson discuss her SNL incident below (beginning at 45:00 mark).

20 Feb 2024

Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD & Cécred Fund Announces $500K Cosmetology School Scholarship

Between her blockbuster 2024 Super Bowl commercial with Verizon and her brand new “Texas Hold ‘Em”-led country era, Beyoncé has been the talk of the town — and she hasn’t even revealed all of her cards yet. On Tuesday (Feb. 20), in conjunction with the official launch of her new haircare line, Cécred, Queen Bey announced a $500,000 cosmetology school scholarship fund through her BeyGOOD charity.

“Hairstylists have an immense impact on the people in their chairs,” reads a statement on on BeyGOOD’s website. “They create a sacred space where we can show up how we want and express ourselves through our hair. We’re honored to give back to this amazing community.”

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“Fostering talent, promoting professionalism, and supporting entrepreneurship within the hair industry is deeply important to us,” the message continues. “The Cécred x BeyGOOD Fund … celebrates the influence professional stylists have on hair health and the critical importance of advocating for the salon community. An annual $500,000 will fund cosmetology school scholarships and salon business grants across five cities chosen for their large, diverse community of hair stylists: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New Jersey.”

The cosmetology schools in each of the five communities must have “inclusive curriculums” to qualify for the fund; they will receive $250,000 to be used toward financial aid student scholarships. Cécred x BeyGOOD-awarded institutions include Beaver Beauty Academy in Atlanta, Trenz Beauty Academy in Chicago, Universal College of Beauty in Los Angeles, Franklin Institute in Houston and Janas Cosmetology Academy in New Jersey.

The other half of the Cécred x BeyGOOD fund will be awarded annually to “qualifying salon business owners” in the same five areas. “We recognize running your own business is difficult, no matter if you rent a booth, operate a salon, or work out of your home,” the statement reads. “Each year, 25 $10,000 grants will be awarded to qualifying salon business owners in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New Jersey so they can continue their transformative impact in the community.”

No stranger to giving back, the new Cécred x BeyGOOD fund echoes the Black Parade Route that accompanied her historic Renaissance World Tour. Initially launched back in 2020, the Black Parade Route dispersed more than $1 million “to celebrate people, communities, and small businesses impacted by economic inequities worldwide” during the sold-out stadium tour.

In addition, the trek also boasted the Renaissance Scholarship Fund, which granted $100,000 to 10 colleges and universities along the production’s route. In 2021, Queen Bey teamed up with husband Jay-Z for a collaboration among BeyGOOD, the Shawn Carter Foundation and Tiffany & Co.; together, the three cultural giants pledged $2 million in scholarship funds for arts students at five select historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Cécred, Beyoncé’s latest venture, is now live. Featuring a hydrating shampoo and a fermented rice & rose protein ritual, the new haircare line is infused with patent-pending technology and the legacy of Beyoncé and mother Tina Knowles.

“I have vivid memories of my mother working as a hairstylist right from our home. She built a small salon at the back of our house,” the “16 Carriages” singer told Essence. “So much of the fabric of who I am came from her salon. It is something that just connects to all of my senses, and it’s a beautiful place to grow up.”

See the announcement posted on BeyGOOD’s Instagram account:

20 Feb 2024

Justin Timberlake Announces Emotional New Single ‘Drown’: Here’s When It Arrives

Justin Timberlake is looking to make waves with his new single “Drown,” which he announced on Instagram Monday (Feb. 19). 

Sharing a video of himself performing a snippet of the song’s emotional lyrics while playing piano, Timberlake confirmed that his new track will drop Friday (Feb. 23). “Showed me exactly who you are and I should’ve believed it/ Leave me alone out in the dark with all of the demons,” he sings in the clip. “Should’ve never followed you this far, now I’m in the deep end.”  

“Made it out to London, still recovering from this flu,” the “SexyBack” singer captioned the post. “But trying to power through. So excited for new music and everything coming this week…” 

“Drown” will mark the Trolls star’s second single release ahead of his sixth studio album Everything I Thought It Was, which arrives March 15. In January, he dropped “Selfish,” earning his highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 in six years (No. 19). 

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In addition to fans and the charts, the track was also well-received by Britney Spears. The pop star said on Instagram that she was “in love” with her famous ex’s new song just days after “Selfish” dropped, then issued a blanket apology to anyone she may have “offended” with her The Woman in Me memoir, in which Timberlake was mentioned many times, and not always in a flattering light. 

That moment of hatchet-burying was seemingly short-lived, however. At his Memphis concert shortly afterward, the “Cry Me a River” musician declared, “I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to absolutely f—king nobody,” which many interpreted as being a dig at Spears. 

Timberlake has been doing a handful of one-night-only concerts in the lead-up to his new album — which will mark his first since 2018’s Man of the Woods — starting with his hometown show in Memphis before performing in New York City. Next up, fans can catch him at the Roundhouse in London Friday (Feb. 23), the same date “Drown” is set to arrive. 

In April, he’ll kick off the North American leg of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour. 

See Timberlake’s “Drown” announcement below. 

20 Feb 2024

Sam Mendes to Direct Four 2027 Beatles Feature Films — One For Each Member

Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes (1917, Spectre) has gotten the green light to begin work on four separate feature films that will tell the individual stories of all four Beatles. According to a release from Sony Pictures Entertainment announcing the project on Tuesday morning (Feb. 20), Mendes will direct the films focused on George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr due out in 2027.

The project will mark the first time the band’s Apple Corps Ltd. and the group — McCartney and Starr and the families of Harrison and Lennon — have given full access to life story and music rights for a scripted film. “I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” said Mendes in a statement.

Mendes will direct the four stand-alone theatrical movies — with each one told from one band member’s point of view — as well as intersecting to tell the full story of the Fab Four. SPE, which will finance and distribute the movies conceived by Mendes, will share the details of the roll-out, which it promised will be “innovative and groundbreaking.”

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The director’s Neal Street Productions partner, Pippa Harris, added, “We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time. To have The Beatles’ and Apple Corps’ blessing to do this is an immense privilege. From our first meeting with Tom Rothman and Elizabeth Gabler, it was clear that they shared both our passion and ambition for this project, and we can’t think of a more perfect home than Sony Pictures.”

One of the most scrutinized and studied groups in popular music history, the Fab Four have been the subjects of hundreds of books and docs, including Peter Jackson’s acclaimed 2021 four-part documentary series, Get Back, which incorporated previously unseen and unheard audio and video.

Apple Corps Ltd. CEO Jeff Jones said the company is “delighted to collaborate with Sam, Pippa and Julie to explore each Beatle’s unique story and to bring them together in a suitably captivating and innovative way. Sony Pictures’ enthusiastic support, championing the project’s scope and creative vision from the start, has been invaluable for all of us.” 

20 Feb 2024

Olivia Rodrigo Celebrates Her Last Day of (Hypothetical) Underage Drinking at Early 21st Birthday Party: See Pics

While today (Feb. 20) is officially Olivia Rodrigo‘s 21st birthday, the singer jokingly celebrated her milestone bday a day earlier with friends in an Instagram post on Monday in which she joked, “Today is my last day of being able to under age drink (hypothetically) !!!!”

The series of snaps included Rodrigo rocking a plunging neckline black dress and blowing out the candles on a funfetti cake during a party with a number of friends, including Tate McRae, The Kid LAROI, actress Iris Apatow and Conan Gray.

Last month, Rodrigo was already gearing up for her big 2-1, telling ET on the red carpet at the 14th annual Governors Awards that she was planning something special. :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!”

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The night before her birthday blowout, at the 2024 People’s Choice Awards on Sunday night, Rodrigo took home two awards for song (“Vampire”) and album (Guts) of the year. The singer is also one of the leading nominees for the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards, set to air live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 1 on Fox. While Taylor Swift leads all nominees with nine nods, Rodrigo is just behind with seven noms.

Rodrigo is gearing up to launch her GUTS World Tour, which kicks off on Friday (Feb. 23) with a gig at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, CA and is currently slated to keep her on the road through a four-show run at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on August 13, 14, 16 and 17.

Check out the snaps from Rodrigo’s party below.

19 Feb 2024

Beyoncé Reveals Chopping Off Her Hair for a Pixie Cut in 2013 Was an Act of Rebellion

Beyoncé was ready for her renaissance back in 2013 when she chopped off her long locks for a stylish pixie cut, and now, she’s explaining why she made the major hair transformation at the time.

“I remember the day I decided to just cut all my hair off. I didn’t have a particular style in mind. It wasn’t an aesthetic choice, but it was a very big emotional transformation and metamorphosis that I was going through,” she told Essence magazine in an interview promoting her new hair-care line Cécred, which launches Tuesday (Feb. 20) on Cecred.com. “So much of my identity as a performer has been connected to flowing hair. Cutting my hair off was me rebelling against being this woman that society thinks I’m supposed to be.”

“Something about the liberation of becoming a mother made me want to just shed all of that,” continued the star, who welcomed her and Jay-Z’s first child, daughter Blue Ivy, in January 2012. “It was a physical representation of me shedding the expectations put upon me. I just wanted it off.”

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The superstar went on to say that at the time, her hair was luscious and long, and that her longtime friend and hairstylist wasn’t exactly excited about her decision. So naturally, she took matters — and her hair — into her own hands. “I just got the scissors and chopped it off. It was very intentional. And it was what I needed to do,” Bey revealed. “And after that, I became super brave. It was the first step to many more audacious decisions I made in my life and my career that have led to who I am now.”

That was one of several hair memories that the 32-time Grammy winner, who has more gramophones than than any artist ever, shared with the magazine. The “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer revealed that she also struggles with psoriasis on her scalp.  “The relationship we have with our hair is such a deeply personal journey,” she said. “From spending my childhood in my mother’s salon to my father applying oil on my scalp to treat my psoriasis — these moments have been sacred to me.”

She later added in the interview: “Hair is our lineage — it’s our family story.”

See Beyoncé’s Essence cover below:

19 Feb 2024

Madonna Laughs Off Onstage Fall After Dancer Trips & Drops Her

Forget like a virgin — more like a queen! Madonna not only lived to tell, she lived to laugh it off and recover like the pro that she is after taking a tumble on stage during her Sunday (Feb. 18) show at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena.

In multiple fan-captured videos shared online, the Queen of Pop is performing her 1987 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Open Your Heart” during her second night of the Celebration Tour in the Emerald City when her show hit a brief snag. While the seven-time Grammy winner sitting on a chair and singing to a camera, a male dancer in stiletto heels begins to tilt her seat back and pulls her along the stage while running. He suddenly slips and falls, taking Madonna down with him.

Ever the consummate professional, the superstar continues on, rolling over to keep singing her hit before smiling and audibly laughing off the fall.

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The pop icon first announced her Celebration Tour in January 2023. The global trek celebrates her four decades of music, and was initially set to kick off in July that year. However, Madonna was hospitalized due to a “serious bacterial infection” over the summer, and was forced to postpone the tour. The delayed trek ultimately began with a series of sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena, and is set to wrap in late April with five shows in Mexico City.

The Material Girl addressed her health scare during her Oct. 21 show in Belgium. “Less than four months ago, I was in a hospital and I was unconscious, and people were thinking, predicting that I might not make it,” she told fans at the concert. “It’s a f–king miracle that I’m here right now. My mother, god bless her, she must be watching over me. She said, ‘Girl, it’s not your time to go.’”

Watch Madonna recover from her onstage fall like a pro below:

19 Feb 2024

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ & Taylor Swift Led Cassette Album Sales in 2023

The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack franchise and Taylor Swift unspooled big numbers on cassette tape in 2023, as the combined sales of the two accounted for 29% of all cassette albums sold in the U.S. last year, according to data tracking firm Luminate. Further, the top five-selling cassette albums of 2023, as well as six of the top 10, were all Swift and Guardians titles (see list, below).

2023’s top-selling cassette album in the U.S. was the Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 soundtrack, released in 2014, with 18,000 sold. Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version), released last October, was the No. 2-seller, with 17,500 sold.

TOP 10-SELLING CASSETTE ALBUMS OF 2023 IN U.S.

  1. Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (18,000)
  2. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (17,500)
  3. Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 (16,000)
  4. Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 (13,000)
  5. Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (11,500)
  6. Nirvana, Bleach (8,000)
  7. Metallica, 72 Seasons (7,500)
  8. Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Mix, Vol. 1 (6,000)
  9. Soundtrack, Barbie: The Album (5,500)
  10. Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher (5,500)

Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023.

In total, 436,400 cassette albums were sold in the U.S. in 2023, down just 0.75% as compared the configuration’s volume in 2022 (439,700).

Cassettes accounted for a mere 0.41% of the total 105.32 million albums sold in the U.S. across all configurations combined – cassette, vinyl, CD, digital download, etc. Cassettes were once the leading configuration for all album purchases in the U.S. – from the early 1980s until the early ‘90s. In 1994, for example, 40% of all albums sold were on cassette – with 246 million cassettes sold that year of an overall 615 million albums. Though the configuration now accounts for a tiny slice of total album sales, cassettes have staged a mini-comeback in the last decade. The once nearly dead cassette went from just 50,000 copies sold in the U.S. in 2014 to over 400,000 in each of the last two years. Once widely available at retail stores, cassette tapes are now frequently sold exclusively on an artist’s webstore and in collectible editions.

‘Guardians’ & Swift Sizzle on Tape

In 2023, the four Guardians soundtracks available on cassette (three film soundtracks and one TV soundtrack) sold 52,500 copies. As literal mixtapes factor into the story of Guardians of the Galaxy films, it’s not surprising that Guardians’ soundtracks on cassette sell well.

As for Swift, her catalog of albums available on cassette sold 74,500 in 2023.

Combined, the cassette sales of the Guardians albums and Swift’s albums totaled 127,000 in 2023 – accounting for just over 29% of all cassette album sales last year (127,000 of 436,400).

The Guardians albums have been consistent sellers on cassette tape since the first Guardians album, Awesome Mix Vol. 1, was released in 2014. Overall, the four Guardians albums have sold 295,000 copies on cassette, through Feb. 15, 2024.