Pop
Page: 4
03/20/2025
Here’s how Billboard ranks Gaga’s latest chart-topping LP within her stacked catalog.
03/20/2025
As 1995 began, Madonna was still an A-plus-list superstar and one of the most famous people in the world — but she was no longer at the absolute center of pop music. A half decade of increasingly controversial (though often brilliant) albums, singles, videos, movies and appearances had left the public divided and unsure about the Queen of Pop’s standing, while the dance-pop she’d conquered the world with in the ’80s had fallen out of fashion in a top 40 landscape dominated by alt-rock, hip-hop and R&B. But ’95 saw her reclaim her radio supremacy, while still taking huge artistic chances and pivoting to a more mature cross-platform star persona — though hardly all at the same time.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In this week’s Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Keith Caulfield, Billboard‘s Managing Director of Charts & Data Operations (and co-host of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, and longtime M disciple) to express ourselves and not repress ourselves about Madonna’s incredibly fascinating 1995. We pick up mid-Bedtime Stories rollout with Madonna, as she improbably scores the biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit of her entire storied career, and we make it through her LP’s experimental final two singles (and their rather notable music videos), through getting cast in the film role of a lifetime, through the ’95 Video Music Awards, and finally end with her Something to Remember era, while she preps the world for a year of Oscar campaigning.
Trending on Billboard
In the meantime, we brace the most important questions about La M as she reached the midpoint of her 1990s: Which super-cool-and-acclaimed European act made for better Madonna collaborators, Björk or Massive Attack? Why does nobody remember that “Take a Bow” was her longest-running No. 1? Should “Human Nature” have been a bigger hit? Was Evita worth shutting down her mid-’90s touring plans for? Did she really deserve a Razzie for her Four Rooms appearance? And of course: How did she fare in her infamous interview showdown with Courtney Love following the ’95 VMAs?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important moments from Madonna’s 1995, all of which are discussed in the podcast — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!
And if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights. (Madonna would want you to!)
Transgender Law Center
Trans Lifeline
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
Also, please consider subscribing to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed, and giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.
Hours into their Billboard Women in Music photo shoot, the members of aespa are goofing off. High-pitched giggles reverberate through the studio as Winter, Karina, Ningning and Giselle tickle one another’s sides, talk in silly voices and play with the straps on their leathery stage outfits. It’s mesmerizing to watch the four early-20-somethings be so, […]
BLACKPINK‘s LISA dropped a high-energy YouTube Music Nights Special Stage Performance video for her solo single “FUTW” on Tuesday night (March 18). The visual is a static shot of the singer and six backup dancers on a stage framed by blood red columns, with all seven women wearing variations on black leather bikinis. Explore See […]
BTS‘ j-hope is setting ARMY up for his latest masterpiece with a second tease of the upcoming solo single, “Mona Lisa.” The official 30-second teaser of the song due out on Friday (March 21) continues the fine art-theme of the previous sneak, which peeled back a nine-second taste of the tune’s smoothed-out R&B vibe.
In the new look, Hobi sits on a long white bench in a mostly blank-walled gallery space in bedazzled acid-washed jeans, black boots, a black leather jacket and backwards baseball hat, elbows on his knees as he contemplates the silence. The only action comes when he turns around to look at the series of five photos of a woman in various states of profile, each of which is being blown around by a fan behind the singer.
There is no music in the teaser, and the only action comes with j-hope stands up and an unseen hand smears his face with white paint as the song’s title pops up on screen.
Trending on Billboard
Last week, j-hope shared a brief preview of the song, containing a buzzy, glitched-out beat and wavering bass line with inaudible vocals. In a statement, the singer’s label, BIG HIT, described the hip-hop/R&B song as exuding his “smooth, laid-back charm… expand[ing] his musical spectrum, solidifying his status as one of the most dynamic and sought-after global artists.”
It continues, “‘MONA LISA’ is a love song that pays tribute to celebrating one’s unique beauty. It explores an infatuation towards a person whose beauty is one of a kind.” It was, of course, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic masterpiece of the same name with the legendary sly smile, with the track likening “the praise for the alluring person to the timeless masterpiece. It conveys that what truly moves someone is not external beauty, but rather the distinctive characteristics that make each person special.”
BIG HIT promises that the bouncy tune “seamlessly blends a groovy rhythm with a funky chord progression, creating an irresistibly refreshing sound,” noting that “as the song builds, the chorus toward the end invites an infectious sing-along, amplifying the uplifting, feel-good atmosphere.”
“Mona Lisa” is the follow-up to Hobi’s recently released digital single featuring Miguel, “Sweet Dreams,” which will debut at No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated March 22.
Check out the official “Mona Lisa” teaser below.
It would have been a trio for the ages. According to a new interview with Barbra Streisand‘s A&R rep Jay Landers, when the singer was working on her 1993 Back to Broadway album, in the midst of recording some of the Great White Way’s most beloved tunes by Oscar Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim, Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein and Frank Loesser, someone came up with the brilliant idea to cover the Annie Get Your Gun classic “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better” as a duet with Madonna and another very special guest.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“David Foster created a demo and we said, ‘well, who could we do this with?’” Landers said. “And we chose Madonna and… Bette [Midler]. So it was going to be the three of them.” As envisioned at the time, the triple-headed vocal extravaganza would then end with all three women in the lady’s room, with Madonna and Bette kvetching, “‘God, she’s such a b–ch! She’s so controlling’ and this and that and the other thing and blah, blah, blah. And then we hear another stall open and, ‘Ladies! I’m in here!’ And that’s how the song was going to end,” he said.
Trending on Billboard
Landers noted that Foster had cooked up a “brilliant” arrangement for the trio that started off in a manner similar to the Irving Berlin-penned version we all know and love, in which Annie Oakley and Frank Butler engage in a playful musical game of one-upmanship; the original version appeared in the Ethel Merman/Ray Middleton 1946 cast recording for the show. But when it came to the Madonna section where she sings, “Anything you can sing, I can sing sweeter,” Landers said Foster dropped in a “Madonna disco beat.”
Similarly, when it came to Midler’s section, Foster slid in a “Wind Beneath My Wings”-style motif. “So it touched upon their sounds,” Landers explained. “Really clever.” Landers’ job was to wrangle all three women, who, amazingly, all agreed to do the session. That is, he lamented, until Madonna was unable to participate at the last minute for an undisclosed reason.
Watch Landers tell his musical fish-that-got-away story below.
Of course Joe and Kevin Jonas were in the house on Tuesday night (March 18) to support their brother Nick Jonas in his return to Broadway in The Last Five Years. The siblings were reunited on the stage with Nick’s co-star, Adrienne Warren in a family snap at the kick-off of preview performances at the […]
Sir Rod Stewart is not done with Las Vegas. The ageless pop wonder announced another six-pack of residency shows at the Colosseum for this fall, extending his Sin City run yet again. “Las Vegas! You wanted more, so here we go—I’ve added more shows! I’ll be back at @colosseumatcp this September and October, Can’t wait to see […]
Hollywood can be a very lonely place. Whether you’re at the bottom trying to crawl your way up to the middle, or at the top looking down on all the places you’ve been, it’s not alway easy to find people who can relate, and embrace, who you really are.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Snow White star Rachel Zegler knows that journey all too well, and now that she’s earning high praise for her title role in the live action remake of the classic Disney tale, the West Side Story veteran has opened up to Allure in a cover story about all the fellow A-listers who have had her back over the years.
“She reached out to me — kind of apropos of nothing — and was like, ‘If you need anything, I am here,’” Zegler, 23, said of Ariana Grande’s generosity. “She is so deeply kind. She has gone through so much in the public eye, and I have always really, really admired her courage in the face of all of that.”
Trending on Billboard
Among the other women who have stepped up to offer support according to Zegler are actor and activist Jameela Jamil, who she considers to be a “big sister” at this point. “I love that she has no regrets about being outspoken, about being strong-willed and strong-minded,” Zegler said of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law star. She also gotten props from her Shazam! Fury of the Gods costars Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, who she called “my keepers in all of this, where I feel very held by them.”
While Hollywood is always a competitive place, Zegler said she doesn’t conform to the idea that it has to pit women against each other. “All I’m ever really looking for in this business is a sister and they’re not always easy to find. We’re often told that other women have to be your competition and I don’t subscribe to that,” she said, noting that she’s all for “championing your friends” and co-workers.
“So the second that there’s any intimidation or competition, just put on ‘Girl, so confusing’ by Charli XCX and talk it out,” she counseled. “I’ve come to know that in the last couple of years, in search of female friendship in the industry, there is room for all of us no matter what anybody else will have you think.”
The story also touches on Zegler, whose family is Colombian, stepping into the role that was described in the original Brothers Grimm story in 1812 as one inhabited by a woman “white as snow,” at a time when the Trump administration is rolling back DEI initiatives and scrubbing the government’s websites of any words tied to diversity or inclusion.
“The reality is, I was given a chance because I could sing,” she told the magazine about her bona fides to play the role that has traditionally been inhabited by white actresses in the film opening on Friday (March 21). “They saw something. Something they could invest in for the future,” she said of Snow White coproducer Marc Platt and director Marc Webb’s recognition that it was her talent, not her appearance, that mattered when casting her in the role.
“Snow White has an optimistic, youthful grace. Even in her darkest moments, she finds humanity and beauty in others,” Webb said. “I think Rachel has that in her spirit. And it doesn’t hurt that during her screen test, she made us weep with her rendition of ‘Waiting on a Wish.’”
Feeling good can definitely lead to sounding good. That’s the lesson Selena Gomez said she learned while working in secret on her first album with fiancé Benny Blanco, I Said I Love You First.
In an joint interview with Rolling Stone, the happy couple said that while they are super psyched to plan their wedding — “I think every day she’s planned a new wedding in her head” said Blanco — for now, they are focusing on promoting and talking about the LP due out this Friday (March 21).
On her first album since 2020’s Rare, Gomez said the sessions were the “most intimate” she’s ever had in a studio, helped by the fact that she was working with her beloved and their trusted group of friends and collaborators. “We did everything from home, and we created it with people that we love,” she said, citing a re-team with songwriters Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, who she worked with a decade ago on her Billboard Hot 100 No. 5 hit “Good For You.”
Trending on Billboard
And while the seating arrangements for their nuptials are not being worked out just yet, Blanco said the sessions were a love-filled supplement to their relationship. “I hadn’t seen her excited about music for a long time. And I remember she was like, ‘I have to pull over the car because I’m so happy,’” Blanco said. “And then I knew at that moment. I was like, ‘Well, if it’s making both of us happy, then hopefully it makes a few other people happy.’”
Gomez said she was “very frustrated and kind of confused” about where she wanted to go next musically, confiding in Blanco that she wasn’t sure what her sound is now. Luckily, 11-time Grammy nominee producer/songwriter Blanco was there, with a pad and pen, writing down whatever was on Sel’s mind as soon as she woke up, then jumping right into their home studio to make it a reality. “It was such a cathartic and therapeutic experience,” he said of the sessions they purposely kept “really close to the chest” so that they could write “exactly how we wanted it and to feel exactly now we wanted it to feel.”
After the success of her 2019 No. 1 hit “Lose You to Love Me” Gomez, 32, said she realized that storytelling was her strength and that her vocal sweet spot was in a lower register with a softer tone. Plus, given Blanco’s platinum status contact list, roping in current chart queens like Gracie Abrams (as well as Billie Eilish collaborator and older brother Finneas for two songs) was easy, and made perfect sense.
Blanco has known the “That’s So True” singer since she was 14 — she used to date one of his close friends — so when it came to inviting Abrams, 25, into their circle of trust to record “Call Me When You Break Up” he said it was not only a slam dunk, but seemingly meant to be. “One day, me and Selena were just talking about stuff, and Selena started following her, and they started commenting on each other’s things … She has so many unique characteristics about her, but she also has so many similar ones to Selena,” he said of Abrams. “When they hang out, they’re like, ‘Oh my god, we’re like, the same person.’ And they’re both little hermits that want to stay in and they’re both pretty shy, but somehow turn it on and become the biggest stars in the world.”
During the shoot for the song’s video, Blanco said the two women had what he described as “almost like telepathy” when they were talking to each other, with Gomez easily slipping into the big sister role. “And low-key, I got cool points from my little sister for having her on [the album],” Gomez added.
The ease of the sessions also helped produce one of Gomez’s cheekiest love songs to date, the lascivious “Sunset Blvd.” which is simply dripping with innuendo that Blanco said had them laughing during the sessions. “‘Can we really get away with it? Is this really something we’re gonna do?’” he remembered asking. “That’s when the best moments come out. A lot of artists won’t do stuff like that. And Selena has the perfect way of dipping her toe in the water of, like, almost too far, but not — but, like, is it? And it’s because she’s so multifaceted.”
Gomez said that toe-dipping came as a result of her being more comfortable playing around with lyrics that she used to be, crediting acts like Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Abrams and Charli XCX for giving her “a little bit more freedom to play.”
Clearly at ease in each other’s company, Gomez said the title of the album perfectly describes their relationship and “embodies his stories combined with my stories,” while also leaving some things unsaid. “They have meanings that are really just personal to both of us,” he said. “So one song could actually mean two different things.”
At this point, Blanco said he’s just “happy to be along for the ride” thanks to his “put me in, coach” attitude about his professional and personal relationship with Gomez. “I’m doing whatever it takes,” he said.
Thanks to the “massive” marquise-cut diamond ring Blanco slipped on Gomez’s finger in December, it’s only natural that questions about their wedding plans keep coming up. Blanco said they’re just taking things one day at a time for now, even as Gomez can’t stop staring at the sparkler. “I genuinely feel like this is such a special time that we get to apply it to this album and really just pour our heart into it, and completely translate what we feel and bring it to the world,” she said. “That’s my main focus right now, at least.”