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Grammy-winner Olivia Rodrigo was praised as one of the most important songwriters of her generation by St. Vincent at Friday night’s Variety Hitmakers ceremony, where she was presented with the Storyteller of the Year award.
“In order to be a good storyteller, one must—to quote Olivia herself — pay attention to things most people ignore. Olivia sees the cracks and contradictions in herself and others and makes the ineffable understandable and transformational for her listeners,” St. Vincent said. “Her honest songs about the impossible task of growing up have liberated so many young people fighting and fumbling their ways through the same experiences. But it’s not merely paying attention that matters to the craft of songwriting. It’s also how you observe and how you listen.”
Vincent said one of the things that makes Rodrigo’s songs so alluring to fans is that they consider them to be their personal rallying cries thanks to the “Vampire” singer’s openness and compassion. “Her authenticity — not an affect, not a brand — allows her listeners to step inside her songs as their complete selves: struggling, searching, celebrating, just living. Just being,” Vincent continued. “Olivia’s songs pull off the magic trick of sounding like all of us at once, but also uniquely just like her. I call that a sly generosity, which is a beautiful thing to witness and to hear, and it’s one of the reasons I’ve so enjoyed getting to know Olivia over the past few years.”
Searching for words to describe Rodrigo, 20, St. Vincent landed on calling her a “precious baby angel muffin… but if a precious baby angel muffin was tough as nails and cool as hell and f–in’ loved the Breeders. She is shockingly talented, whip smart, and to me, the most important combination, curious and kind. These attributes make her great and will make her a great storyteller for years to come. Olivia’s listening, she’s asking, she’s interrogating the cracks in herself and in humanity. But because of her empathy, what she brings to the surface in her songs are the small frailties and the slivers of joy — those threads that make up our every single day. She pays attention to the things most people ignore, and makes them not just seen, but makes them shine. So I’m happy to call her a friend.”
Clearly moved, Rodrigo thanked Vincent and said her tribute made her want to cry. “I think she’s the most talented, kindest, most wonderful person I’ve ever met and I’m so inspired by her constantly and I’m very lucky to call her a friend,” Rodrigo said of her inductor. The singer also talked about writing “Can’t Catch Me Now,” from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, saying that “telling stores through songwriting has been my favorite thing to do for as long as I can remember. I write to figure out how I feel, to move through my emotions, and to commemorate and honor seasons of my life.”
She added that even though songwriting is one of her favorite things to do in the world, “I wouldn’t say it’s always been effortless for me by any means. Especially making my most recent album, I had so many voices in my head and I felt so much pressure to please everyone with the music I was making.”
Welcome to Green Bay. Taylor Swift headed to Wisconsin all bundled up in a red Stella McCartney overcoat to support Travis Kelce as the Kansas City Chiefs took on the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field Sunday night (Dec. 3). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Like […]
ATEEZ‘s THE WORLD EP.FIN : WILL tops this week’s new music poll. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Dec. 1) on Billboard, choosing the group’s EP as their favorite new music release of the past week. THE WORLD EP.FIN : WILL brought in more than 49% of the vote, inching toward 50%, and beat out […]
Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 9), as the set rises 2-1 for its third total week atop the tally. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Nov. 11-dated chart and spent its second week in the lead, before dipping to No. 2 for the next two weeks and bouncing back to the top on the new chart. The set earned 141,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 30 (up 3%), according to Luminate.
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Swift has a stranglehold on the new Billboard 200’s top 10, as she has five titles concurrently in the region. After 1989 (Taylor’s Version), four more former No. 1s follow: Midnights (rising 6-3), Folklore (9-5), Lover (8-6) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (17-10). Swift’s titles, like many on the entire chart, see sales gains gleaned partially from retail promotions associated with Black Friday and holiday campaigns.
With five titles in the top 10, Swift is the first living act to have five albums concurrently in the top 10 since the Billboard 200 was combined from its previously separate mono and stereo album charts into one all-encompassing list in August of 1963. The only other act to hold at least five of the top 10 at the same time was Prince, on the May 14, 2016-dated list, following his death. That week in the top 10, he had The Very Best of Prince (falling 1-2), the Purple Rain soundtrack (with The Revolution; 2-3), The Hits/The B-Sides (6-4), Ultimate (61-6) and 1999 (31-7).
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Michael Bublé’s chart-topping Christmas returns, vaulting 24-9. The set, first released in 2011, spent five weeks at No. 1 in December 2011 and early January 2012 and has returned to the top 10 in every following holiday season.
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 Dec. 9, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 5. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
With three weeks at No. 1, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) has the most weeks atop the chart of Swift’s four re-recorded projects. The Taylor’s Version releases of Fearless, Red and Speak Now ruled for two, one and two weeks, respectively. Further, Swift’s total weeks at No. 1 – across all 13 of her chart-topping releases – climbs to 66 weeks, just one week from the most for a soloist. Elvis Presley has the most weeks at No. 1 among soloists, with 67, while only The Beatles have more than Swift and Presley, with 132 weeks.
Drake’s chart-topping For All the Dogs falls to No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 with 85,000 equivalent album units earned (down 42%), after its rush back to No. 1 a week ago in the wake of its deluxe reissue with six bonus tracks. Swift’s Midnights rises 6-3 with 65,000 units (up 16%), Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time climbs 5-4 with 63,000 units (down 7%) and Swift’s Folklore flies 9-5 with 60,000 units (up 33%).
Swift’s Lover bumps 8-6 with 53,000 equivalent album units earned (up 4%), SZA’s chart-topping SOS ascends 10-7 with 48,000 units (up 8%), Olivia Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Guts bolts 14-8 with 47,000 units (up 20%), Bublé’s Christmas climbs 24-9 with 46,000 units (up 56%) and Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) flies 17-10 with nearly 46,000 units (up 23%).
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.
Mariska Hargitay recently introduced her new cat Karma to the world, and no one is more thrilled than Taylor Swift.
The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star shared a photo of her sweet pet on Instagram earlier this week. “Karma is a Cat @taylorswift Meet Karma. My Cat. #MeAndKarmaVibeLikeThat #AndIKeepMySideOfMyPawClean #KarmaIsACat,” Hargitay wrote, revealing the inspiration behind her cat’s name is, of course, a lyric from a song by Swift.
On the chorus of the Midnights track “Karma,” Swift sings, “Sweet like honey, karma is a cat purring in my lap ’cause it loves me.”
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On Saturday (Dec. 2), two days after Karma the cat made their debut on social media, Swift publicly shared her reaction to the kitty’s arrival.
“Are you serious?!!!! Nothing has ever come more full circle,” Swift wrote in the comments section of Hargitay’s post. “LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!”
Hargitay and Swift — who in 2014 named one of her own cats Olivia Benson after the actress’ starring role on SVU — have been connected for years.
After becoming friendly, Swift invited Hargitay to appear in 2015’s “Bad Blood” music video alongside Ellen Pompeo, whose Grey’s Anatomy character Meredith Grey inspired the name of Swift’s first cat in 2011. In June 2015, Hargitay walked the catwalk as one of Swift’s celebrity guests on the 1989 World Tour. More recently, Hargitay’s taken in more than one Eras Tour show and showed her support for the singer at the premiere of the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour film.
“She’s pure magic,” Hargitay told Entertainment Tonight in October. “There’s nothing she can’t do. It’s been so beautiful to reconnect to that innocence, you know? I think Taylor gives such a beautiful message to kids and unlocks these girls’ emotions.”
“I see how it affects my daughter, and she cries and just opens up like a flower,” Hargitay said of Swift’s impact. “And [I see] how meaningful it is, and I’m grateful to be part of it and watch that journey.”
“It’s been so beautiful [to see] how she gracefully walked through her journey and allowed herself to evolve and truly step into her power pose, her talent and all of her glory. And she’s got quite a bit of it … I think she is a magicmaker,” she added.
Swift released a remixed version of “Karma” featuring Ice Spice in May, giving the track a boost to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Billie Eilish wasn’t aware that a recent interview would be perceived as a coming out story, but she’s cool with it.
“I didn’t, but I kinda thought, wasn’t it obvious?” the pop star said to Variety on the red carpet for the Variety Hitmakers Brunch, where she and brother Finneas were being honored with the film song of the year award for their Barbie soundtrack tune “What Was I Made For?” on Saturday (Dec. 2). “I didn’t realize people didn’t know.”
In the publication’s Nov. 13 cover story, Eilish had mentioned that she’s attracted to women: “I love them so much,” she said. “I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real … I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”
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Eilish has only ever been in public relationships with men, most recently The Neighbourhood’s Jesse Rutherford before their breakup in May.
Speaking on the red carpet Saturday about the Variety cover story and the concept of coming out, she casually said, “I just don’t really believe in it. I’m just like, why can’t we just exist? I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just didn’t talk about it. Whoops.”
“But … I saw the article and I was like, ‘Oh! I guess I came out today!’” Eilish said with a laugh.
“It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, so it’s cool that they know,” the singer added. “But ooh, I’m nervous talking about it.”
“I am for the girls,” confirmed Eilish, who will soon be seen as the musical guest on the Kate McKinnon-hosted Dec. 16 episode of SNL.
“I’m still scared of ’em,” she added in the red carpet interview, “but I think they’re pretty.”
Watch the interview clip via Variety below.
Olivia Rodrigo brought “Can’t Catch Me Now” to the stage for the first time at iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball in Inglewood, California, Friday night (Dec. 1). “So, has anybody watched The Hunger Games?” Rodrigo teased the crowd at Kia Forum before launching into the ballad. She added, “I was super lucky because this year I got […]
Taylor Swift was bejeweled at the Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé London premiere on Thursday night (Nov. 30), and the pop superstar took to Instagram to shower the “Alien Superstar” singer with love. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Got invited to London by The Queen…✨?✨ Renaissance: A Film by […]
Doja Cat isn’t too happy with her performance at her Thursday night (Nov. 30) concert. After leaving the stage in Newark, N.J., the 28-year-old rapper posted an apology to fans on her Instagram Story. “I’m so f–kin sorry New Jersey,” Doja wrote, placing text over a seemingly random photo of a crushed-up chip. “I don’t […]
Like always, Selena Gomez is cheering on her best friend. A few days after Taylor Swift earned this year’s Apple Music Artist of the Year title, the Only Murders in the Building star joined in with a handful of Swift’s other famous friends to praise the “Anti-Hero” singer in a celebratory video. “I think it’s […]
